Jackson Free Press

Long time JFP visitors will know that we went through a major upgrade to the site's plumbing a year ago, and that while there are many strengths to the new system, one of the weaknesses is the way it treats comments in the Forums -- they don't feed through the Recent Comments feeds used elsewhere on the site, including on the main page.

So, the solution we've come up with is a simple one that we're finally ready to test -- the Community Blog. Now JFP Members and Guests can add their own entries to the community blog, and they'll be treated link any other blog entry or JFP story -- comments filter through the main Recent Comments system.

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/community/

Check it out, let me know if there are questions, concerns or other features you'd like to see. Once we get a few entries we'll also make better use of the categories, sprinkling them throughout the site as relevant and making it so that you can few the entries by category at the Community Blog.

(Kudos, btw, to former JFP intern Logan Holleman who did a lot of the heavy lifting on this a few months ago; I just dusted off the interface and put it live in a fit of web-dev passion yesterday. :-)

Previous Comments

ID

145733

Comment

OK, I'll bite and try this thing. I encourage others to as well. This promises to be way cooler than the forums if it works right. ;-)

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-04-09T10:11:03-06:00

ID

145737

Comment

I'm hoping to see Golden Eagle and some of the other regular Forum folks here as well. Let me know if there are questions about what we're trying to do.

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2009-04-09T12:41:16-06:00

ID

145739

Comment

I'll give it a try!

Author

golden eagle

Date

2009-04-09T13:51:00-06:00

ID

145743

Comment

I can't make a comment. But then again, I'm not one of the regular Forum folks. Maybe that makes a difference.

Author

Lady Havoc

Date

2009-04-09T16:27:26-06:00

ID

145744

Comment

It won't let me comment, either, so don't feel bad. I've requested help on this, but don't seem to have any pull in this joint. Sniff.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-04-09T16:40:03-06:00

ID

145745

Comment

You can't comment on an existing entry? Whoops. Let me check.

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2009-04-09T16:44:52-06:00

ID

145746

Comment

See, he listens to you, Lady. I told him hours ago. Sniff.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2009-04-09T16:47:38-06:00

ID

145748

Comment

I just figured it was because I'm irregular. I figured if I ate more prunes, the comment box would show up. :) Donna: two words for you. Nerf Bat. ;)

Author

Lady Havoc

Date

2009-04-09T17:20:12-06:00

ID

145749

Comment

This is neat. How's it going to work again?

Author

Ironghost

Date

2009-04-09T17:33:50-06:00

ID

145753

Comment

I thought that one of the advantages to this would be that the entries would be viewable under "recent comments". If so, that isn't working on my end...

Author

Rico

Date

2009-04-09T23:49:32-06:00

ID

145755

Comment

@Rico: No, the comments on the items will feed through Recent Comments. The posts themselves will appear under their own tab and elsewhere just like the Forum entries do. (So, if you go comment on a Community Blog entry, you should see that comment in the Recent Comments feed, like Golden Eagle's comment on the entry "Good Neighbor Clause.") That does remind me, though, that I need to put a recent comments feed *on* the Community Blog page. I thought it looked a little barren. ;-)

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2009-04-10T07:33:40-06:00

ID

145756

Comment

@Ironghost -- like a combination between the Forum and a typical blog (ala Jackblog). Go to the Community Blog page, click Add Entry and you can add your own entry to the Community Blog, thus starting a thread of conversation. Unlike the forum, that conversation won't be locked into a separate section of the site; the comments on those entries will filter through Recent Comments like the comments on any other story. Soon we'll also have a feed of the headlines on the main page (and under a "tab" in the interface) so that the Community Blog entries are "front and center" for visitors to the site.

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2009-04-10T07:36:37-06:00