MB Blog FAQ – PLEASE READ!
At long last (drumroll please!) we can post the official FAQ of the MB Blogs. This document tries to address the questions I get most frequently, and attempts to hold hands and walk people new to blogging through the how-to’s of Michael’s blogs. I will post it here, but if you need to check it in future it is available one line, and can be accessed on the tool bar on the right hand side of the front page of the blogs, under the “NAVIGATION” heading. Just click on “F.A.Q.” or you can bookmark it – it is at: http://www.michaelbutler.com/blogFAQ.html
I look forward to any comments or questions you may have – let me know what isn’t there that should be. It’s a work in progress! And please remember that this FAQ is just the first step in trying to solve any difficulties you may have. If you cannot find the answer to your question or problem within it you are still always free to contact me with questions or problems.
Thanks, Nina
The MB-Hair blog is for discussions about Hair, its politics, its messages, and other related subjects, such as entertainment issues. It also acts as a bulletin board and allows worldwide Hair Tribe members to stay in touch with each other.
The MB-Civic Blog – http://www.michaelbutler.com/blog/civic/
The MB-Civic Blog is about social and political issues.
The MB-Blog – http://www.michaelbutler.com/blog/mbutler/
Michael Butler’s thoughts about anything that takes his fancy, both personal and political.
HOW TO REGISTER: In order to participate in any of the above blogs you must register. Each blog must be registered for separately. To register, go to the specific url for the blog you wish to register for (urls listed above). On the far right of the screen you will see links under the heading “NAVIGATIONâ€. The first link under that heading is “Registerâ€. Click on that. This will take you to the registration page.
On the registration page you will be asked to choose a Username and to enter your email address. Then click on the large button which says “Registerâ€. IMPORTANT NOTE: The software that tracks registration is case sensitive, meaning that in order for it to recognize your username when you login later it must be typed exactly as typed when you registered, so make sure you note any capital letters or spaces used in your username.
The system will choose an arbitrary password which will be emailed to you shortly. If you have spam or junk mail filters set on your email program please put the email address wordpress@michaelbutler.com in your email address book. This is the email address that your password will come from. If you do not receive the password email within 24 hours please check your junk mail folder, or your trash for an email from this address. If you do not receive this email please contact the moderator at dayton3@rcn.com
Once you have received the password you can login to the blog.
HOW TO LOGIN: Go to the main page for the blog you are registered for. Under the “NAVIGATION†toolbar on the right hand side of the screen you will see the word â€Loginâ€. Click on that. This will take you to the login page.
On the login page enter your user name and the password sent to you. IMPORTANT NOTE: The software is case sensitive, so your user name and password must be written exactly as registered, meaning that all capital letters must be capitalized, all lower case letters must be lower case, any spaces used in your user name or password must be in place, and there can not be any extra spaces or characters. For example, if the username you registered was “Joe Smith†none of the following would work: JoeSmith, joe smith, joesmith, joe Smith, Joe smithâ€, etc. Even an extra space at the end of your username or password will get you an error message.
After you enter your Username and password click on “Login†and this will take you to your dashboard page.
Problems with login: If you cannot login first make sure that you have written your Username and password exactly as written when you registered. If this does not work then contact the moderator at dayton3@rcn.com
THE DASHBOARD PAGE: This page is the central index page of the blog, like the dashboard of a car, giving you links to do any of the things that you might want to do there. It is worth noting that on this page you can see, on the right hand side a little way down, a listing of the most recent posts and comments. This is a good place to check and see what is new since your last visit to the blogs, and to check up on conversations that are active, regardless of their place on the main page of the blog (for instance a conversation that is old enough to be down near the bottom of the main page may have active conversation going on. This is the place to check for that).
There are several other things of note on this page: On the very top left you will see the name of the blog and then in parentheses the words “View site†Click on this to go to the front page of the blog and read posts, comment on them, etc.
Below that is a blue bar with the choices “Dashboard†“Write†“Manage†and “Profile†The “Dashboard†is where you are. “Write†will take you to the page where you can write a new post to the blog. “Manage†is another way of viewing posts to the blog, and is probably best ignored, and replaced with just going to the blog itself, as explained in the above paragraph. “Profile†is where you would change your password, add a web site to link to your name, change your email address, etc. There is more on this page below.
Below this there are several links. The top two say “Write a post†and “Update your profile or change your password†These are other ways of going to the same pages that the blue bar navigational buttons “Write†and “Profile†will take you to.
HOW TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD OR PROFILE: Go to the blog, click on “Loginâ€, login, and on the Dashboard page go to “Profileâ€. On the profile page you can change or add to your profile. Under the category “Name†you can change the name that appears with your posts, although you cannot change your registered Username. Under “Contact Info†you can change your email address or add an url of a web site that will be linked to your name on your posts. To change your password use the box labeled “Update Your Password†You are asked to enter your new password twice. IMPORTANT NOTE: After making any changes to this page be sure to click on the button in the lower right hand corner of this page, which says “Update Profileâ€. This will take you to the updated version of your profile page, but you will see a colored bar across the top of your profile which says “! Profile Updated†If you do not see this acknowledgment then your changes did not go through.
HOW TO POST TO THE BLOG: In order to post to the blog you must be registered and logged in. After logging in, on the Dashboard page click on either “Write†on the blue toolbar on the upper right, or on the link “Write a post†also on the right.
On the Write page you will see a lot of stuff, but the only two things that matter are the two boxes under the words “Write Post†The first one, labeled “Title†is where you write the title that you would like to accompany your post on the blog. The Second box, labeled “Post†is where you write the text or put the photos that you would like to have appear with your post. This box also has a row of icons along the top of it that allow you to alter your post in various ways. Placing your curser on one will cause a label to pop up telling you what each button does: A few are discussed in more detail below. When you are finished writing your post you have several options. There are three buttons below the posting box on the right – “Save and Continue Editingâ€, “Save†and “Publishâ€. “Save and Continue Editing†saves your work, but returns you to the editing page to continue working. It is like the save feature in a word processing program. “Save†allows you to stop working on your post, but save it for later work. “Publish†posts your post to the blog.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you do not see these boxes or the icon you may need to update your browser. The software works best with newer browsers, and in the case of some older browsers does not work at all.
ACTIVATING A LINK WITHIN A POST: On the MB-Civic list we ask the editors to post links to the stories they share with us on the blog, so as not to infringe on copyrights. These and other posters may need to know how to make an active link to another site. To activate a link in a post highlight the text you wish to link. On the toolbar at the top of the “post†box you will see a small picture of a chain with two links connected, or a tab marked “link†(Different images appear in different operating systems). Click on this. It will open a small dialog box labeled “Inset/Edit Link†In the line marked “Link URL†enter the URL of the web page that you wish your link to go to. Click on the button “Insert†To unlink text click on the text to unlink and then on the picture of the broken chain.
TO INSERT A PHOTO IN A POST: The easiest way to place a photo in a post is to copy (from wherever on your computer the photo is) and paste it into the posting box.
Alternatively, go to the box below the posting box labeled “Upload Files To Server†Type in the location of the file on your computer, or click on the button marked “browse†and locate the photo you want to upload that way, highlight it, click “Open†in the dialog box, and then click on the button labeled “Upload†in the lower right hand corner of the “Upload Files To Server†window. When it has finished uploading place your cursor back in the posting box where you want the photo to be, click on the “Insert/Edit Image†button (a small picture of a tree or a tab, depending on operating system) on the posting box toolbar. When the Insert/Edit Image dialog box opens select the photo that you just uploaded, and click “Insert in the lower left hand corner of the small dialog box. We ask that you do not upload photos any larger than 100K without permission from the moderator or Michael Butler. Large photos will eventually be taken off the server, so will not remain in archived posts indefinitely.
HOW TO COMMENT ON EXISTING POSTS: To comment on someone else’s post you must first be logged in. After reading the post you want to respond to, scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will see a gray box. Above it are the words “Leave a reply†and your name if you are logged in. If not logged in you will see a reminder, and can click on that to log in. Type your reply in the gray box. Click on the button below the box labeled “Submitâ€.
BEHAVIOR: It is to be expected that in discussions people will not always agree with each other. Discussion of differing opinions is encouraged on the blogs, and one is always free to state one’s position, and go into reasons and explanations for holding that opinion. However, it is expected that people will express their opinions in a way that does not insult the person with whom they are disagreeing. No personal insults will be tolerated on the blogs. If a member’s conduct does not live up to these standards in the opinion of the list owner or moderator, they will be given an official warning. If any member accumulates a third warning their registration will be revoked.
Members are encouraged to acknowledge that their posts are their opinions only, and to not state their opinion as fact.
The owner and moderator reserve the right to remove any posts or comments that do not meet the behavior standards listed above.
If you have any questions or problems please contact the moderator at dayton3@rcn.com
This entry was posted on Monday, December 11th, 2006 at 8:31 AM and filed under Uncategorized. Follow comments here with the RSS 2.0 feed. Skip to the end and leave a response. Trackbacks are closed.
Mahalo NINA for the helpful information.
Many of us have become caught lately in some kind of technological dead-end when attempting to log in.
I think this little misunderstanding / glitch /attack of stupidity or what ever (at least for me) had me running me in circles on the sites.
AHHHHH, Now, Nina, I believe everything will be okay. I’ll tell the kids — again —- yes, there is a Santa Clauds– she’s Nina!!!!
Julie (Winn) McKay
Posted on 11-Dec-06 at 5:17 pm | PermalinkLas Vegas
Dear Julie,
Posted on 11-Dec-06 at 5:51 pm | PermalinkThank you for your very kind words. If you are still running around in circles let me know and I will try and help!
Love,
Nina
I am sure the information you posted today was well-intended and very much needed by all. It’s the timing that concerns me.
I hope Lyle did not feel his hard and artistic work for Roxanne was unappreciated.
I think the pictures are beautiful.
So, as it turns out, this has turned into a good thing for everyone. Because, not only do we have more reunion photos, but some specific guidelines about the site(s).
By the way, did you ever add that Las Vegas Claude (in the final scene) photo Lyle sent to you?
[[You would never guess, would you(?), that I am his OLD friend and nearly life-long advocate.]]
As I have told you — I’ve got quite a few photos to scan or just send to you — just as soon as I can find them. SOMEONE has been in my house messing up all my stuff so I can’t find a thing..:-)
Please don’t consider this meddling. It’s a tricky balancing-act to hold onto caring, love, understanding, logical, educated input, meddling and co-depenendant behavior so they don’t knock into one another and dangerously topple over.
In most cases, I am ever-protective of caring and love. After all, that IS our message…right?
Aloha
Posted on 12-Dec-06 at 1:26 am | PermalinkDear Julie,
If it is the timing of the FAQ you are questioning, that had nothing to do with the photos Lyle posted. It is a document we have been working on for a long time, and its release was timed to go with Michael’s mailing about his Blogs.
If you are questioning the timing of my post about photos on the blog it was definitely in response to Lyle’s posting of the LA Be-In photos. When there is a jump of 28MB in server space used it catches my attention. I would be surprised to hear that Lyle felt unappreciated since I not only thanked him for what he did in my posts, as both Michael and I were genuinely touched at his efforts, but I made sure to say that I appreciated what he had done, and was sorry to have to take the photos down. I only wish he had looked at the Alumni section of the Archives web site first, as he would have seen that these photos were already on line there, and wouldn’t have had to go to all the trouble and work he went through for this purpose. I have even left these photos up here at the blog, despite the fact that I should be taking them down already, because I did not want his work to be for nothing. I am sorry that you object to my posting of the rules Michael set for his blogs at this time, but the 28MB jump in server space needs to be addressed quickly. Lyle is lucky to have a friend who is so willing to look out for him, but if he is offened by my doing what I have done I would encourage him to either contact Michael directly and discuss his objections to the rules Michael sets for his blogs, or if he is upset by my response then I would suggest he contact me directly at dayton3@rcn.com.
You ask about the photo Lyle sent me on November 19th. There are literally thousands of photographs of Hair here at the Archives that are not on line at the web site. The majority of the work I do has to do with researchers/writers/producers etc. who come here to research Hair, and only a portion of the photos that are donated to the Archives for that research are put on the web site. The photo you refer to that Lyle sent has a good chance of making it to the web site because it depicts a moment of the show that is not well represented. However, there is a significant lag between when things are donated and when they appear on the web site. I prioritize based on either time sensitivity (for instance updating the Current Productions page, or putting up photos after a reunion when people want to share them)gets top priority. Second priority is based on what companies are less well represented than others on the web site. Currently I am prioritizing the Detroit company, the Venus Tour, Turkey, Argentina, Yugoslavia, and the Las Vegas company. As Lyle’s photo is from the later company it is likely that it will get up on the web site comparatively soon. However, it often takes time from donation to web site. I have never had anyone complain, as I think everyone is aware that I give a lot of thought and care to this process. So while the photo of Lyle is likely to be put up on line I would not look for it in the next few days, unless there is a reason I am unaware of that makes it need priority, in which case please let me know.
We would love to have any photos and memorabilia you can locate from those days, as I have said. I look forward to seeing it, when you find it.
Posted on 12-Dec-06 at 6:41 am | PermalinkNina
Thank you, Nina, for your thorough response
to my questions and concerns.
Please do not misinterpret my queries as criticism of YOU in any way. I know you do an outstanding job. I SEE it — and so do thousands of other people who are lucky enough to have acccess to these sites.
Remember my topic during the summer “What Happened to Las Vegas?” At that time I began doing research about our company to find more visuals for you to put up on the site and to correct many glaring historical omissions regarding the Hawai’i/Las Vegas Paka’lolo Tribe.
An example: I was checking Wikipedia the other night. There are links to Las Vegas, shows, timelines, history and other pertinent stuff. The write-up on the history of the International Hilton (built in 1969) has information about who opened (Striesand), followed by Elvis’ long engagement …blah blah blah. No mention of the new (and only one in Las Vegas at the time) legitimate theatre venue; a beautiful creation with continental seating, where HAIR ran for a year. (This was the start of the NEW Las Vegas.) There was nothing to describe the show nor was there even a HAIR link. This is one example. There are at least hundreds more.
My collaborator in researching this issue is Lyle K’ang. In the virtual world in which we live (he’s in WA state, I’m in NV), we decided to emerge from the silence — with a loud but harmonius primal scream of sorts — and let it be known: we were THERE and we’re still HERE.
We’re discovering, continually, glaring errors of fact or ommission when it comes to HAIR and the beautiful young men and women who worked so hard yet were vilified, followed, searched, and arrested continually.
The myriad stories of police surveillance and harrassment of Tribe members in Las Vegas in ’69 – ’70 is a small part of what we were about and fighting back then.
We are changing and fixing errors of fact and ommission where ever possible.
So, if I (we) sometimes seem overly assertive in posts, it’s because we continue to “do the work.” There’s much to be done — especially for our HAIR brothers and sisters who are no longer able to speak out, and the others — gone from our realm — who made loving contributions to humanity that must be remembered.
I don’t want the memories of the passion, love and youth to die — even though they have.
I now belong the Human Tribe.
Again, Mahalo Nina
Me ke aloha pumehana
Julie Winn McKay
Posted on 12-Dec-06 at 10:59 am | Permalinkjoolee@netzero.net