Wed 10 Dec 2008
Please “Speak Up!”
Posted by Jr. Mom under All Things EphBlog, Spoken Up at 11:58 am
In case you didn’t notice, there was some recent discussion on how, and where, a ‘non-author’ can easily post a comment that may not readily fit within a currently running thread. It might be anything from a bit of campus news, a suggestion for a post, a question from a prospective student, an essay or anecdote from an alum, even a comment for a thread that can’t be found.
Well, now you can speak up, on “Speak Up!”. If you look to the top left corner, you will see this new category highlighted under “Of Interest”. Submit your comment and it will then come to the attention of all EB readers and authors. At that point, depending on what it is, an author may choose to highlight it as a topic, or let it run it’s course there.
Think of it as our very own EphBlog bulletin board. From time to time, the comments will be deleted or categorized, to make way for current news. At this point, you can see this very idea hatched within the comments now there. I will leave them up for a short while, and then delete them to make way for your posts.
Henry, here is where you, and anyone else, can post an anecdote or essay that might be unrelated to a current discussion. You can invite your friend Chien Ho to drop in at any time. Parent’12, in this way you can post your terrific ideas without having to depend on an author. This isn’t to say that any author won’t be happy to collaborate with you on a topic, but it does give you a quick and easy way to ‘author’ on your own should you so desire.
In any case, “Speak Up!” is there for your convenience and we welcome your contribution.
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8 Responses to “Please “Speak Up!””
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lgeorge says:
SophMom – I posted a comment (which I know you saw) to provide a sample — not a good example of a “bulletin board” item but it was something Henry’s comments had inspired. Before you delete a comment from the pool, would you please archive it somewhere so it won’t be lost? Mine might go under something like “post ideas.”
Thanks for setting this up. Hope it works well for everyone.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:29 pmsophmom says:
I saw your comment, LG, and IMO, that is something I would leave up for quite a while, in hopes that someone will get inspired to follow through on your ideas, or suggest some of their own.
Ronit, once I decide to ‘archive’ something…um…how do I do that?
Instructions, please?
December 10th, 2008 at 12:36 pmDavid says:
Many thanks to Soph Mom for taking the lead on this effort.
I don’t think that people who post something to Speak Up should assume that anything will necessarily happen. By definition, this is a place for temporary items that may not be kept. Soph Mom will have little choice but to clean things up. She may find permanent homes for some items, but she may not.
If you want to ensure that a comment you make is kept forever, then make it any place else but there (no worries if you do not think that it belongs). I have no doubt that Soph Mom will end up collecting/saving anything of real permanent value, but other Ephs may define “value” differently in this context.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:43 pmDavid says:
There is no easy way of “archiving” something beyond adding it to a new post. So, my advice would be to do just that. On a regular basis (once a week? once a month?) create a new post like “Spoken Up” that lists all the entries/comments from Speak Up that are worth keeping forever. You could just list them or you could add comments/material of your own. That’s the archive. You could also create a new category (Speak Up?) for these posts.
Then, once you have copied over the things worth saving, you can delete those comments and make Speak Up empty, awaiting the next set of comments.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:46 pmlgeorge says:
“Spoken Up” is a good idea.
December 10th, 2008 at 1:04 pmDavid says:
I have created a category called “Spoken Up.” When Sophmom collects her first set of to-be-saved material, she can just assign that category to that first post and all subsequent ones.
December 10th, 2008 at 1:11 pmsophmom says:
RE #3:
Just to clarify:
Any comment of substance, like an anecdote, or essay, or even an announcement of an event, I will ‘re-post’, as a topic on the front page, which will mean it gets categorized and archived in the traditional way.
Ideas and suggestions, (like Larry’s) will get posted in a regular ‘clean-up’ post called “Spoken Up”, which will get archived in the category (of the same name) that David just created. So expect to see that appear from time to time. I will post most of it ‘below the fold’ so it won’t take up space.
Basic chit-chat will be deleted, unless someone requests otherwise.
Thanks for your help, Dave. I think it will be fun to see what comes up. I think it could come in handy for everyone, even an author, as a way to make a ‘quickie’ post, or to communicate other issues, like tech problems, for example.
December 10th, 2008 at 2:06 pmsophmom says:
Re #7, Another point:
It is my hope that all authors will be inspired to ‘re-post’ from “Speak Up!”…
…for there is no way that I could do as good a job as an Eph, in framing some of the historical anecdotes that have already cropped up.
December 10th, 2008 at 10:22 pm