Blog

A network can run a blog on its own domain - program updates, methodology notes, a look back at how a question resolved, or anything else you want to publish as an article. The blog is off until an admin turns it on. Forecasters read articles at /blog and discuss them with the other members of the network.

Turning the Blog On

The blog is configured on the Settings tab of the network's Blog admin area. Two switches control it:

• Enable blog - serves the blog at /blog on the network's domain. Members can read published articles.
• Allow anyone to read published posts - when on, a visitor can read published articles without signing in. When off, only signed-in members can read them.

Discussion is restricted to members whichever way this second switch is set. A signed-out visitor reading a public article does not see the discussion below it.

The blog takes the /blog path on the network's domain. If a page already uses blog or a path beneath it, enabling the blog fails and names the pages that conflict. Rename those pages, then enable the blog. While the blog is on, no page can claim a path under /blog.

Navigation Links

The settings page also lists the network's navigation placements - sidebar, top navigation, and footer. Tick a placement to add a link to the blog there, and untick it to remove the link. Once a link exists, you can rename it, re-order it, and change its icon under Site Navigation.

Turning the blog off removes /blog from the network. Blog links disappear from the navigation, and blog entries disappear from every forecaster's notification feed. The articles themselves are kept, and they come back when the blog is turned on again.

Writing an Article

The Posts tab lists every article on the network with its path, its status, and its publication date. Start a new article with New post. Save it once to create the draft, then add images and publish it.

An article has these fields:

• Title - the article's heading.
• URL slug - the last part of the article's address, after /blog/. It is generated from the title and you can edit it until the article is first published. Publication fixes the slug, so links that people already shared keep working.
• Summary - a short lede. It appears on the blog index and in link previews on social media and chat.
• Byline - the name shown above the article. Leave it blank to use the author's display name on this network.
• Content - the body of the article, authored in a rich text editor or directly as HTML.

Images

Upload PNG, JPEG, and GIF images from the editor. Each upload is inserted into the article body, and every image you upload for an article can also be chosen as its cover image. The cover appears at the top of the article and in link previews. The cover's alternative text describes the image to a screen reader.

Blog images are served through the same access check as the article that holds them. An image on a members-only article is not readable by a signed-out visitor, even with a direct link to the file.

Publishing

A new article is a draft. Only network admins can open a draft, and the Admin preview link on the edit page shows it as it will appear. The draft is not listed on the blog index and search engines are told not to index it.

Publish now makes the article readable by its audience and adds it to the blog index. Before you publish, you can tick Notify members to email every member of the network about the article. The email goes out once per article, on the publication where you tick the box. The box stops being offered afterwards.

Unpublish returns a published article to draft. Readers lose access to it immediately, and the notifications that pointed at it are removed from their feeds. Existing comments are kept, and admins can still read and moderate them. Publishing the article again restores it at the same address.

Discussion

Every published article carries a discussion below it. Members of the network can comment on an article and react to each other's comments. Comments are paginated, and a member can edit or delete their own comment while the discussion is open. Comments use each contributor's display name on this network, so a network that hides member names shows handles in the discussion too.

A member can @-mention another member in a comment. Every active member of the network is available to mention on a blog article.

Admins can edit or delete any comment. A contributor can flag a comment, and the flag arrives in the network's moderation queue labeled with the article it came from.

Commenting requires the article to be published and the blog to be enabled. Unpublishing an article closes its discussion to members while leaving the thread intact for admins.

Notifications and Email

Three things generate a notification for a forecaster:

• A new blog post - sent to every member when an admin publishes an article with Notify members ticked.
• A comment on your post - sent to the article's author when someone comments on it.
• A mention - sent to a member who is @-mentioned in a comment.

Each notification appears in the forecaster's feed and, depending on their email preferences, as an email. Forecasters control the publication email under New blog posts in their email preferences. Blog comment and mention email follow their existing comment and mention preferences. Visibility is checked again when the email is sent, so a member who lost access to an article between publication and delivery does not receive it.