PMF - Preguntas Más Frecuentes
- What is a "blog" ?
- Who can set up a blog ?
- Are blogs online diaries ?
- What´s the sense of writing a blog ?
- How are all those posts organized ?
- What´s a "permalink" ?
- What are "comments" ?
- What´s a "blogroll" ?
- What´s "Trackback" ?
- Who´s behind all this ? How can I see who the author of this blog is ?
- What´s "RSS" ?
- Ok, how do I get started with my own blog now ?
- What are tags ?
- What is the meaning of: "Tags are open/closed" ?
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1. What is a "blog" ?
"Blog" is the short form for "Weblog" (which is something like an internet diary). When you are writing a blog, you are "blogging"and as a blog owner, you are a "blogger". "Blog" is simply the shorter way get your blogs across, which is why it is used.
A blog then is a personal website that displays your posts in reverse chronological order. Other readers can then comment these posts.
2. Who can set up a blog ?
Anyone.
3. Are blogs online diaries ?
They can be. It´s what you make them be. There are a lot of bloggers around that post personal thoughts and feelings on their blogs. Some of those diaries have more readers than a newsstand magazine. You usually also find a calendar tool on every blog that allows you to browse through past days.
The world of blogs however, is far too diverse to reduce it to online diaries. There are blogs for every topic. Be it scientists that discuss their research, companies that communicate internally or simply individuals or groups discussing the latest sports buzz.
There are also so-called "Moblogs". These "Moblogs" are written via mobile devices such as your mobile phone or PDA. You often find videos and photos on them as well and there are also blogs that completely define themselves as "photoblogs" or "videoblogs".
4. What´s the sense of writing a blog ?
- A blog gives others access to information, experiences and knowledge.
- With a blog it is easy to keep in touch and make new and interesting contacts in your field of interest.
- A blog propels news.
- A blog is a personal reference of your life and/or work.
5. How are all those posts organized ?
All posts are displayed in reverse chronological order, the latest post being displayed on top.
Categories:
You can categorize each post by picking one or more categories. Your readers can then browse your posts by category.
Calendar and archives:
Just as well as via categories, you can browse people´s post via the calendar or archives tool. Via the calendar, you can look at posts for each day while browsing through the archives will give you longer time frames.
Search function:
Plus there´s the search function that you will find on most of the blogs which can of course deliver fast and accurate results to you.
6. What´s a "permalink" ?
A "permalink" is the permanent internet address of a post. You can use this internet address to simply link to a certain post so that other people can find it.
7. What are "comments" ?
Comments are some saved thoughts from other people regarding a post you have written. You can always leave comments regarding certain posts. Other readers can again comment these comments. Usually, every reader also leaves an email or the internet address of his or her blog with the comment so people can learn a bit more about the person.
However, please beware that spamming other people´s blogs by including commercial ads in your comments is definitely NOT welcome.
8. What´s a "blogroll" ?
A blogroll is a list of other blogs that you find interesting. It is also a reading recommendation for your visitors and supports the network between blogs.
9. What´s "Trackback" ?
Trackback is a function similar to a link that allows you to indicate to a referring post with a similar or adequate topic on another site. Every Trackback also has a unique internet address that one needs to use in order to refer to the proper post.
You'll often find the Trackback function pretty close or right next to the commenting function.
Here's an example:
- Joe has a blog on sailing.
- Tom, who has a blog regarding the sea, reads Joe's blog.
- Tom just wrote a pretty interesting post that would perfectly supplement Joe's last post. Tom wants Joe´s readers to read his entry as well.
- Therefore, Tom copies the Trackback-URL of Joe´s post into his Trackback function. Done. Tom's blog now sends automatically a signal to Joe´s post and Joe´s post shows that there is a "Trackback", another interesting article somewhere.
Um auf einen anderen Beitrag zu verweisen, können sie die Trackback-URL des anderen Beitrages bei dem Verfassen eines neuen, eigenen Beitrages angeben.
10. Who´s behind all this ? How can I see who the author of this blog is ?
Usually, every author has a short profile on his blog. Often, the authors display their email addresses not quite the way you are used to seeing it because they are afraid of search engines grabbing them. That´s why they are often spelled out like this: joe dot smith a t yahoo dot com
11. What´s "RSS" ?
RSS ("Real Simple Syndication") is a data format based on XML. This format allows people to receive new posts via a programme (usually a "RSS reader") and display the new posts without having to visit the website. You can subscribe to these feeds by klicking on the XML-Buttons on blogs you are interested in and are thereby practising something that is called "syndication".
12. Ok, how do I get started with my own blog now ?
Either download and install the proper blogsoftware or simply set up your own blog online with us or another blog hoster.
What´s a "tag" ?
A tag works like a keyword. Like categories, they are used to describe people, groups, or posts. You can tag a post with several tags separated by commas.
Example: tags for the post your wrote about your holiday in Australia could be: holiday, australia, down under, sun, hot, melbourne, sydney, dingos
What is the meaning of: "Tags are open/closed" ?
This features allows to have your readers tag your posts as well which results in a deeper description of your post in the long run. If you do not want others to tag your post, you can simply close them.
open: people can tag your posts
closed: only you and/or your co-authors can tag your posts, nobody else.