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What is the main reason that keeps you from volunteering to help with SoylentNews?
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There *__is* intelligent life on Earth, but I leave for Texas on Monday.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Fnord666 on Friday June 04 2021, @06:33AM (4 children)
That's good feedback and something for the staff to review. Maybe I should put together an "Ask Soylent" story to get a discussion going with the community. There are some guidelines at https://soylentnews.org/faq.pl?op=editorial [soylentnews.org] but I'm too close to things at this point to be able to tell how useful those are for a newer person.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Friday June 04 2021, @07:57AM (3 children)
Thanks, you're truly one of the great workhorses of SN, and we could not thank you enough.
There's some saying that I can't exactly remember, but it's about people who write about something- often write from their own perspective and knowledge. I encounter this constantly, esp. in tech manuals, instructions, etc.
The FAQ you pointed to is awesome, and thank you. I'm thinking more of a template for a submission. IIRC, my first submission I just sent a link to an article. Someone (probably martyb) kindly gleaned out a summary. Then I realized what was needed. And it's all well and good, but when I spent a little bit of effort (not whining, really!) and got a rejection, I though: "okay, I don't really 'get it', like what's a good submission vs. rejection material, so I'll do something else." Sorry to ramble- tired and I type too fast.
Bottom line: it may seem obvious, and maybe is to most, but a simple template would help us who are verbally disinclined. (English / composition was by far the most difficult subject for me in school...)
(Score: 3, Informative) by martyb on Friday June 04 2021, @12:35PM (2 children)
You raise a great point, thank you!
The code base for soylentnews.com (which is now called "rehash") is based on a version of the code base for slashdot. Slashdot started in late 1996(!). Sure there were updates over the years but it was designed and implemented by internet nerds for internet nerds. IOW, everyone was expected to know HTML.
Also keep in mind that HTML was much more limited then! HTML 2 was published on November 24, 1995 [wikipedia.org] and HTML 3 was published on January 14, 1997 [wikipedia.org]. There was a short learning curve and it was the obvious choice at the time — why reinvent the wheel?
It's now 2021 and HTML is less well known. I'd dare say most people are more familiar with using web pages than in writing them.
Several years ago, I started to write a "primer" on basic HTML for soylentnews but that fell by the wayside. It seems there is still a need for it — thanks for the reminder!
Thinking about it now, offhand, I am thinking these are the basic, supported tags (actually HTML elements) that would get a new user started:
Next might be:
Not sure where OL, UL, and DL as well as LI would fit in.
My plate is pretty full right now, so no telling how soon I (or someone else) could get to it, but this discussion has certainly given it a higher priority. Thank You!
Wit is intellect, dancing.
(Score: 3, Informative) by DECbot on Friday June 04 2021, @02:27PM (1 child)
I can say that OL, UL, LI are supported, but I think you can only nest 2 or 3 levels deep before it breaks as there are some "optimization" in the slashcode/rehash that covers for the lazy editor that forgets to close a tag. I use the UL, LI tags all the time for the poll submissions and OL for the 1., 2., 3. ???, 4. Profit memes. Never used the DL personally, so I can't say.
Also <quote> tag works if you're too lazy to type out <blockquote> like me. We also support <user> if your trying to link a user in your post like this martyb.
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by martyb on Saturday June 05 2021, @11:44AM
Thanks for the feedback!
My focus on the GP post was to aim for a minimal subset that could help a person -- who was new to HTML -- to get started. IOW, if I were new to the site and am looking at a blank text-entry field... what do I do?
Agreed, the other tags ARE useful. Looks like this is turning into a mult-page "primer". =)
I use <blockquote>...</blockquote> very frequently, so it was helpful to *me* see <quote> mentioned as it looks like it will save me time and typing. Thanks!
I have directly used DECbot before, but had forgotten about <user>DECbot</user> so thanks for that, too!
Wit is intellect, dancing.