How do I post a comment?

You have to register with the site to post comments about stories. We require this so there is some accountability in the discussion. We strive for a civil community and annonymity is not helpful to this purpose.

To register click on the “Make a new account” in the Login box, or in the Menu box click “create account.” This will take you to a screen that asks for your user name. This can be a creative name that helps create your persona on the site. You also need an email address that will not block spam. If you do not receive an email from KickTime, it might be held up in a spam filter. The email you do receive will have a password and you are ready to login. After you login it offers you the option of changing the password to something you can remember (which is a good idea.) Then you are ready to be part of the conversation.

To post a comment: find the story/comment you wish to respond to, then click on "Post a comment" near the bottom of the screen. This will open a new comment box. Put a title for your comment in the title box. Put the body of your comment in the large box. Use any html formatting you want to (more on html later.) If the spell checker box is checked the comment or story will not post, it will continue to be previewed, so uncheck the spell check feature before sending the comment to post.

How do I post a Story?

You have to register with the site to post stories (see above about registering.) That said, to post a story:

1. find the blue box on the right side of the main page titled “Menu”
2. click on the "submit story" link
3. when you get to the story page, you need to pick a section it will appear in. It may be voted onto the front page as appropriate, but it will need a section to appear in too. We set this site up with the idea that it was a small community, with a library, medical clinic, city hall and surrounding hills and valleys. This may someday be translated into a schematic map that you can click to get to a section--for now it is a matter of imagination. So if you have a fishing story, put it in the “hills and valleys” section, or a government notice or comment = “City Hall”. You get the idea.
4. Give you story a snappy but appropriate title so that people know what they're getting. A deliberately misleading title is uncool. In addition, a title like "Look at this", "Must read", or "How long has this been going on?" is not very helpful.
5. Put an introductory paragraph in the "Intro Entry" box. This is the only story text that will appear on the main page.
6. If you reference a story (and this makes the post much more interesting,) include an embedded link (See "How do you embed a link?" below.)

7. Put the bulk of your entry, including any graphs or pictures, in the "body" box.

8. If you want to post a poll, put the poll question in the title box and the available responses in the answers box. It's usually better to limit the responses to four to avoid splintering the votes too severely, unless it's just for fun.

How do I embed a link?

In your post, type the following text all on one line:

<a href =”http://www.kicktime.org">KickTime</a>

to create an embedded link that looks like this:

KickTime

Posting Modes and Common Idioms
When you type up a comment or story, there is a dropdown menu (found next to the Section dropdown) that lets you select 1 of 3 input modes:

* Plain Text - everything typed appears directly in the post. There is no way to make a link in this mode, but you can in the other 2 modes.

* HTML Formatted - everything typed is interpreted as HTML.
o extra "white space" (such as spaces, tabs, and carriage returns) is ignored. Carriage returns are treated the same as spaces and have no effect on formatting. To cause line breaks you need to include explicit HTML such as "<br>".
o some characters which have meaning within HTML may have to be spelled out in ampersand code so they are not processed as HTML. The most important ones are:
+ &lt; = < (Less than sign)
+ &gt; = > (Greater than sign)
+ &amp; = & (Ampersand)
+ &quot; = " (Double quote sign)
o "Ampersand code" is also useful for presenting accented Latin characters (&Atilde; = Ã), non English characters such as German sharps (&szlig; = ß), and random symbols (&clubs; = ♣). Wikipedia has a section on special characters.

* Auto Format - This mode tries to convert plain text to HTML. Things that look like web-links turn into real links, and carriage returns are not discarded but converted to HTML formatting. In this mode you can use the HTML idioms shown below, but do not include any carriage returns or extra white space within the HTML tags (i.e. between an opening "<" and closing ">") because that may prevent the idiom from working.

"Auto Format" is a more concise and readable input "mode" for displaying certain HTML effects without having to use real HTML. For simple posts, normal typing instincts (without knowlege of HTML) will generally produce a good translation into HTML. But with a little knowledge of the "Auto Format" conventions you can call for specific HTML effects.

AF: repeated spaces and (repeated) carriage returns

Auto Format mode does not eat repeated spaces the way that HTML does. Instead it turns them into an alternation of real spaces and non-breaking spaces (&nbsp;). Somewhat similar, carriage returns are not interpreted as eatable spaces (as does HTML) but instead are either mapped to a line break (<br>) or to a paragraph break (<p>) if there are more than one. Note: 5 carriage returns in a row will cause only a single paragraph break rather than HTML to cause a 5 line space break.

Every space you type is displayed. A single carriage return indicates a line break (\<br\>),
while a double carriage return

indicates a paragraph break (\<p\>).

Every space you type is displayed. A single carriage return inserts a line break (<br>),
while a double carriage return

inserts a paragraph break (<p>).

The above input/output pair (red/blue boxes) looks rather uninformative because they are practically identical. This is the point of Auto Format - they are supposed to be the same.

However if you examine the I/O in terms of input characters and output HTML, you can get an idea of what Auto Format is actually doing. Let "a, b, c, d" be normal printing characters and "S" represent "space" and "C" represent "carriage return". Auto Format produces the following transformation between characters and HTML:

abScdCaSSbSSScdCCabcd

ab cd<br>a &nbsp;b &nbsp; cd<p>abcd

When the above HTML is rendered on the page it appears as:

ab cd
a b cd

abcd

AF: character styling

normal, *bold face text*, /italic text/, =monospaced text=, and combinations like */bold italic text/* or /=italic monospaced text=/.

normal, bold face text, italic text, monospaced text, and combinations like bold italic text or italic monospaced text

AF: monospaced tables(not functioning yet)

Monospacing is a simple way to display small tables and get columns to line up by inserting spaces:

=. Bush Kerry
Red 53.2 46.7
BLUE 41.5 58.5=

=. Bush Kerry
Red 53.2 46.7
BLUE 41.5 58.5

One catch in creating such tables is that Auto Format will not start mono-spacing when "=" is followed by a space. That is why there is a "." heading the first column above. You can also trick Auto Format to start monospacing with "=&nbsp;" which contains the non-breaking space &nbsp;.

(Auto Format could work so that "= " becomes "=&nbsp " which would trigger monospacing, but it currently does these steps in the wrong order.)

(Note: Auto Format wraps monospaced text in <code> not <tt> HTML tags.)

AF: naked and named links

Naked URLs like http://www.kicktime.org/ will be turned into links.

AF: "\": defeating Auto Format from interpreting special characters

Since AutoFormat interpretes some characters such as "\*" to be special formatting instructions, there needs to be a way to say that you really want a "\*" (e.g. you really want to display "\*bold\*" rather than "*bold*".) To block Auto Format from interpreting a special character you must precede it with a backslash ("\\"). This means that if you really want a backslash to appear you have to double it ("\\\\").

Since AutoFormat interpretes some characters such as "*" to be special formatting instructions, there needs to be a way to say that you really want a "*" (e.g. you really want to display "*bold*" rather than "bold".) To block Auto Format from interpreting a special character you must precede it with a backslash ("\"). This means that if you really want a backslash to appear you have to double it ("\\").

AF: lists

Unordered lists (\<ul\>) are created by starting each line with "\* " (asterisk followed by space). E.g.:
* First item
* Second item
For ordered lists (\<ol\>), use a number followed by a period rather than "\*". E.g.:
1. First item
2. Second item

Unordered lists (<ul>) are created by starting each line with "* " (asterisk followed by space). E.g.:

* First item
* Second item

For ordered lists (<ol>), use a number followed by a period rather than "*". E.g.:

1. First item
2. Second item

AF: including HTML

"Auto Format" input mode may seem limiting, but you <b>can</b> <i>indiscriminatly</i> include <i><b>real HTML</b></i> in this mode, such as a HTML style HTML: Embedding a Link
Typing this text

Has anybody seen the <a href="http://www.KickTime.org/">KickTime</a> site?

produces

Has anybody seen the KickTime site?

HTML: Gray Boxes for Quoting Sources

Gray boxes are for quoting from web sources. This HTML

<div class="blockquote">Text to go inside the quote box</div>

will produce

When quoting a source you should always provide a link to the source. Here is one example where the link to the article is casually embedded in the lead up text to the quote:

Many reputable sources think the "Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades" is bogus.
there is question as to whether it exists at all beyond one person with a computer and a fax machine.

HTML: Cite Bars for Quoting Comments

(Note: "Cite Bars" display correctly with Mozilla/Netscape/Firefox but don't show the blue vertical bars under SP2 Internet Explorer. Does anybody know an IE compatible version of doing this?)

Cite bars can be used to quote sections of nearby comments. This HTML

<blockquote type="cite">And that is my opinion</blockquote>

produces:

> And that is my opinion

This form can cleanly quote involved exchanges. E.g.:

>>>>> And that is my opinion
>>>>
>>>> You are totally off base.
>>>
>>> You are an idiot.
>>
>> No, you're the idiot.
>
> neener, neener, neener!

HTML: Embedding an Image

When embedding an image you found on some web page, you should always include a link to the source page. You can provide a text link, link the image (so that clicking on the image takes you to the source) or both.

To add Bill G's image to a story you would upload the image (in a box provided below where you write the story). Another option would be to upload the image by going to "Your Files" and uploading an image and then noting the url of the file. Then when you write the story use the command (in <'s) img src="http://the pic's url" and close with the > at the end. This will work with any image on the web since you put in the url of the picture. You can also include in your story a link to the webpage providing the picture, which is good practice.

Even if the source page is irrelevant to whatever point you are trying to make, you should let people know where you found the image.

While the above example with the picture of Gates is pretty, inclusion of pics can be gratutious - especially if most people know what the person looks like and the picture does not illustrate any particular point.

HTML: Scaling Large Images

Sometimes, an image worthy of including is too big. Embedding the image in a comment may unfortunantly mess up the layout of the list of other comments in the thread.

For example, to scale the above picture you can scale down such an image by giving the HTML attribute width= a value. 400 (pixels) seems to be a reasonable choice. E.g.:

<img width="400" src=
"http://your pic url">

When you present a scaled image, you should always provide a link to the full sized image or its source page.

You can include two links one to the full sized image and another to the website. Generally it is more responsible (in terms of attribution) to provide a link to the page where the image was found. You could always provide both links.

Image Embedding Issues: Practical, Legal, Ethical

First, don't embed images that are large memory-wise. News sites compress their images and they are usually under 10 Kbytes. Amateur sites don't always compress. Large images slow down page loading and cost somebody for the extra bandwidth.

Second, please when possible limit the screen size of your images. While you might think a 700 x 400 headshot of Bill Clinton is impressive, it will annoy many people. You should instead post a small image and link to the larger one. At sites like news.yahoo.com you can often find 3 or 4 different sizes of the same image.

Issues like hosting images and hot linking need not be fleshed out here

What is a "trusted user"?

This site uses a system called "Mojo" to try to keep the comments as high-signal as possible. All users can rate all comments, except their own, between 1 and 5. When your comments are rated by others, those ratings are combined into a weighted average -- newer comments count more than older ones -- called your "Mojo". This, roughly, represents the rating we could expect your next comment to receive based on your past comments. Users who have a mojo greater than a certain minimum and who have posted a sufficient number of comments are considered "trusted" users, and have the added capability to rate comments below the normal minimum rating. If enough of a user's comments are rated below 1, that user becomes "untrusted", which means that respected members of the community have repeatedly indicated that the user's input is offensive, content-free, or merely intended to annoy others.

What are the comment viewing options?

At the bottom of each story, you can set how you view the comments about the story. You have several options that allow you to make it easier to read and follow a discussion: Display: Minimal, Flat (default), Threaded, Nested and Dynamic. Of the 4, minimal just shows the comment names in a nested format. The other three show more information. Flat and Nested show ALL the body of the comments, in either a flat format, or a nested format. Threaded shows the comments in a nested format, with any comments that are replies to other comments in a minimal format. In addition, dynamic mode allows you to expand and collapse comment and threads without refreshing the entire page. Try them and see what works best for you. Rate: This is whether you want to be able to rate comments. We recommend that you leave this on and rate comments. Feedback is always a good thing. Once you have made your changes, click the set button and watch them come into effect. We recommend you try several different settings. Fiddle around and see what works best for you.

Troubleshooting: I can't post a diary or comment!

You have to register with the site to post comments or diaries.

Troubleshooting: Troubles logging in

99 percent of the time, login problems can be traced to cookies. You must have cookies turned on. Scoop uses them to remember your user preferences, display preferences, and comment preferences. If you have cookies on, and it still doesn't seem to work, then it might be a cookie logjam. You might have an old, non-working cookie lying around which prevents the setting of a working one.

First try going to logout and then try logging in again.

If that doesn't work, try pulling up the cookie manager or file on your browser and look for any cookie that mentions kicktime.org. Delete any you find, restart the browser, and give it another try.

If it *still* doesn't work, then try turning on cookie notification/approval and first seeing if it tries to set a cookie on login, and if so copy down what exactly is in the cookie, and send it in to me admins@kicktime.org so I can see if there's something wrong with what the site is sending out.

Next, we might want to explain the rating system. There are almost as many systems as there are users, but the way it's designed to work is this:

* A 5 means the comment is superb. Generally, 5's get handed out for comments that are particularly insightful, informative, moving, or just plain funny.
* A 4 is for above-average comments. Not great, not terrible.
* A 3 is for a fairly marginal comment. These comments don't add much to the conversation, a 2 serves as a kind of "shot across the bow" to warn that you may want to reconsider adding such comments in the future.
* A 1 is a "troll-rated" comment. These are comments that are basically devoid of content, add nothing to the conversation, and/or are offensive.
* A 0 is a "super-troll" comment. Generally speaking, 0s are reserved for auto-generated comments, or for comments that serve no other purpose than to sow hurt, confusion and dissent among the posters. Only Trusted Users may give 0s.

Comments that fall below an average ranking of "1" become hidden comments, meaning they disappear off the thread. Trusted Users can see hidden comments, and are allowed to either rate this comment down to keep it off the board, or to give it a higher rating so it remains visible, if this helps the conversation. If a comment collects two 0 ratings, it automatically becomes hidden, regardless of its average rating. Users are encouraged to exercise caution in what they say and how they rate.

Ratings reflect an evaluation of behavior, not of agreement. Users should not give 1s or 0s to comments simply on the basis of disagreeing with another user's perspective. They should give out 1s for language that is rude, abusive, insulting or otherwise offensive. This is a self-policing community, and we covenant with one another to make this board a place where all voices can be heard without fear of ridicule, hostility, or overtly hurtful responses.

MOJO: this site relies on what's called the mojo system. The system boils down to this: hang around the board long enough and collect enough 5s, and you become a Trusted User. This enables you to see and review hidden comments, and to give comments a 0. In return, Trusted Users are asked to take extra responsibility in policing the site by helping to banish trolls and ensure the fairness of comment ratings. Trusted User status is not permanent for most folks: if you collect enough 1s and 0s, you can lose it. But it can also be regained by more productive contributions.

Hang around long enough and collect enough 0s and 1s, and you become a troll, and are liable to get kicked off the board. Most banishees are removed by an automated system.

The precise workings of mojo are shrouded in mystery deliberately to prevent gaming the system. How do you know you've become a Trusted User? When you see 0 included in your rating options, or when you can access the "Review Hidden Comments" page. How do you know when you've become a troll? Presumably, you get a notice informing you that you're no longer welcome to post.

A helpful guideline is to treat people as if you were meeting them at a diner. Until you get to know them: be polite, don't make assumptions, listen carefully to what they have to say. They may be the biggest jerk you've ever met; but they may also have something to teach you.

Whew. Anybody have anything to add? Well we should credit much of this content came from the very excellent DailyKos website FAQ. Why re-invent the wheel on Scoop?