Revisiting Some 2.0 Features

It's been a week since Waggle Room switched over the new platform, and the reaction I've heard has been largely positive. Every new look, every new blogging platform, takes some getting used to, however. As the tech guru pointed out in his welcome message last week, SBN 2.0 is still considered beta, and there are still some bugs in the system. As courtgolf, alas, discoverd the hard way when he lost a post.

If you encounter any bugs, any glitches, any technical issues you want to point out, add a comment to the tech guru's post linked above, and please also consider sending a bug report to bugreport@sbnation.com, describing the problem you encountered.

I'd like to remind everyone about a couple features of the new system, and ask that you take advantage of these when adding a FanPost, FanShot or comment:

• Recommend: You can recommend posts (and even comments) to your fellow Wagglers by clicking on the "Rec" link that appears below the post when you click onto the individual post page (as opposed to the front page - click the title of a post to get to the individual post page). You must be logged in to see the "Rec" link.

  Recommending a post isn't just a way to say you think it's a good post, it can actually get that post extra exposure. When a certain minimum number of recommends have been logged, a FanPost or FanShot (or comment) will be highlighted in the right sidebar. As an example, note the tech guru's original welcome note, which still appears under a "Recommended FanPosts" header above the "regular" FanPosts.

  Posts that meet the minimum recommendation threshold (which is pretty low at the moment) will remain in that spotlighted area for two weeks.

• Attach Event: When you're in the process of adding a FanPost or FanShot, you'll see some fields and buttons over to the right. One is labeled "Attach Event." Click that button, and you'll find a list of more than 200 upcoming tournaments I've added to the Schedule page. If your post is related to any of those tournaments, find it in the list and "attach" your post to that event. Then, when anyone visits the Event page - either by finding it on the Schedule or via search - they'll see your post.

   

• Tags: And finally, tagging. One of those aforementioned fields you'll see to the right when adding a FanPost or FanShot is one labeled "tags." Tag your posts with keywords. For example, if you're writing about Annika Sorenstam playing the LPGA Sybase Classic, you could add the tags "annika sorenstam," "lpga," and "sybase classic" (separated by commas). These tags appear at the bottom of your post. You can click on a tag to find related posts. So someone reading your post can then click on your "annika sorenstam" tag and find other posts about Annika.

Update: One more thing to point out - the autosave. As you are writing a post, SBN 2.0 autosaves the post in the background once a minute. If you lose a post through some snafu (or 2.0 bug), or the power goes out, or whatever, you should be able to find the last-autosaved version of your post in the dashboard. The tech guru says: "... to retrieve those, just go to the Manage FanPosts link and switch the 'Status Filter' drop-down to 'Draft'."