What is a Blog? A blog is short for weblog, which simply means a website that is updated frequently with new information and is organized by date and submission. Blogs are typically a way of journalizing information whether it be personal, business, or what have you. It’s like an editorial and a journal all mixed together and available online for constant updates and submissions. The author of a Blog is called a Blogger. Blogs are like a keynote speech where the speaker (blogger) is in control of the discussion, but allows questions and comments from the audience.
How can you use Blogs on The Dog Show Network?
Well, we use them to share information with our membership. The Membership Packages, Help Wanted, Who’s Who, About TDSN, Dog Shows 101 as well as this TDSN 101 are all Blogs. We’ll also be using them to offer exclusive training advice in the near future.
You can use Blogs for any number of things, below are just a few ideas.
Chronicle your show life, your life, your dogs’ life.
Share your expertise with others.
Are you a Handler? Post show results daily at the shows in a “Friends Only” Blog. You can save yourself making all those phone calls nightly if you have your clients just checking your Blog to see how their dogs did while on the road with you.
Are you a Breeder? Create “Friends Only” Blogs that chronicle each litter for your puppy people from the breeding to birth till they go home. After they have all gone home allow your puppy people to take over the Blog to post updates as the puppies grow. This will allow you to keep track of all the puppies in a litter in one place but it will also allow all the owners in a litter to communicate with each other over the lifetime of there dogs.
How do you create a Blog?
Click on the “Blogs” tab at the top of the page, its right next to “My Show Net”.
Click on “Create Blog” (right above the Red Barn ad).
Choose your audience.
Everyone (anyone visiting the TDSN can view your Blog, all members can post comments)
Friends Only (Only your TDSN Friends can view your Blog)
Private (Only you can view your Blog)
Name your Blog’s URL
Add Tags if you desire (search words).
Give your Blog a Title.
Give a brief description of your Blog.
Select a Template.
Customize your colors if you choose.
Start your Blog! You can even Tweet your Blog if you have a Tweeter account and have hooked it up with your TDSN account.
Invite the people you want to see your Blog.
You can add people later by clicking on “Invite to read my Blog” under “My Options” on your Blog page.
How do you add to your Blog?
Go to Blog.
Click “Add Blog Post” under “My Options”
Add your newest Blog post.
How do others add to my Blog?
Only you can add to your Blog but others can make comments on your Blog Posts.
If you want others to be able to make Blog Posts (like puppy people) rather than just comments you make another membership profile that you allow others of your choosing to have ownership access to and create your Blog from that membership profile.Just give your profile sign-on password to those you want to have access.
How do you add comments to a Blog Post?
Just click on “add comment” at the bottom of the Blog Post.
Forums are meant to be an ongoing conversation between members of a web site, an ongoing group chat of sorts. This form of communication enables members of a site to have ongoing discussions with each other about a variety of different subjects. Forums are different than Blogs but we’ll cover Blogs at a different time.
About our Forums:
How to post:
You’ll find a list of different main topics on the Forums page (next to last tab between Video and Polls). This is the place to start if you want to create a new discussion. Just click on one of the main subjects and then click on the New Topic tab on the top left.
Be sure to look through the list of current Forum Topics to see if someone has already started “your” Topic before starting a New Topic. If you see “your” topic already click on it and post a reply rather than starting a whole new topic. This will make it easier for everyone to follow the whole conversation rather than having it broke up into several “different” topics.
You’ll also find a list of the most recent Forum posts on the right side of the Home page (Recent Posts). To post on one of these current discussions just clicks on the post headline and then on Post Reply (not New Topic).
How to read the Forums:
Our Forums are run in chronological order, oldest to newest posts as most Forums are.
If you have not been to a particular Forum Topic before you should start at the oldest post (first one listed) and read through to the last, this way you will not become confused about something said on a new post that refers back to an older post. Not reading a Topic from the beginning is akin to joining a conversation in the middle when you don’t know what anyone has been talking about up to that moment. This is most important on Topics that are having in-depth or heated discussions, not so important in a Topic like “Brags”.
Once you’ve become active reading Forums you don’t want to have to page through all the posts you’ve read already. You can eliminate those from view by clicking on the button “View Unread Posts” on the right hand side. Now you will only see posts you have not read yet.
What can I post?
Just about any dog related subject. We’re dying to hear everyone’s opinions! Unlike at the Dog Shows, you won’t get benched for stating your opinion here. We do ask for a few things though.
Be Polite! Think twice before you type something that might hurt someone else. We’re all for heated discussions and would like to encourage lively debates but let’s try to be polite to one another even if we don’t agree. Words like “stupid, idiot, moron, etc.” do not belong in intelligent debates.
Remember that if you didn’t see it or hear it yourself the story is probably not 100% accurate so it would be wise not to put it in writing. This includes statements about people and dogs.
Spell words out; we don’t all understand that shortened “texting” language. It is ok to use Dog Show shortened language such as WD, WB, etc. but do remember we have members from other countries who may not know those either so if you want everyone to understand, spell it out.
Most important of all… have a good time and enjoy the friends you’ll make, the laughs you’ll share and the knowledge you’ll gain in the forums!
