Hi everybody...for those of you who don't know me, I'm Joe, an AOL employee who programs the AOL Journals main page. I also help choose and manage the AOL Journals Editor's Picks (which you can find on said Journals page -- a new five every Friday.)
I'm also involved with a bunch of other screens and areas for AOL Community, and you can also see my other AOL product blog, The Expressions Factory.
Like the description above says, the purpose of this Journal is to give you a look at some of the behind-the-scenes stuff involved with AOL Journals (and AIM Blogs), give you an idea of what we're working on, get feedback on things we've done, and tell you when we have scheduled outages or when stuff breaks.
(Some of the Journalers who've been around a while may remember the previous AOL Journals Journal, which was a great Journal that Christy, one of the previous product managers, kept. I want to do something similiar with this here Magic Smoke journal, though I decided to do it under this screen name, which I use for all the Editor's Picks stuff anyways.)
By way of background, I am not a super-technical person, but I do know a few of them, and I plan on bringing in some of them from time to time. (This means you, John, Ian and the lot of ya.)
You may ask, "Joe, if this is an AOL Journal, how can you use this to tell us when something is broken with AOL Journals?" And I would answer, "I guess I didn't think about this very clearly."
I'm not sure how frequently I will be posting to this Journal, since we also have John Scalzi's great By the Way... blog to communicate with you, so you may want to subscribe to the Alert by clicking up top where it says "Alert Me as Entries Are Posted."
Lastly for now, a little bit about the term "Magic Smoke." Here's a link to the Wikipedia definition. It's pretty much a technical in-joke about how computers work, and I thought it was a little more evocative than just calling it the Journals Journal.
That's it for now, talk to you later. Feel free to leave a comment below or to send me an e-mail at this screen name (JournalsEditor@aol.com). Have a great weekend. -- Joe
25 comments:
Joe !! our own personal AOL Journal Editor !!! and the best we've had so far i must admit !!
i look forward to seeing what you've got to blog about
thanks for all the help you've lent so far .. it really is appreciated
pamela
http://journals.aol.com/his1desire/GirlsHeadNoise
Hi Joe. As much as we love Scalzi, it will be very nice to get to know someone who is also on the technical side. I think it's very cool that you try to maintain an actual dialogue with those of us in the trenches.
So Joe...how do I get one of those cool headers...
;o)
~~ jennifer
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome!
Magic Smoke! Looking good!
WELCOME......WELCOME.....AND THANX.....LOOKING FORWARD TO WHAT LIES AHEAD......IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER...HAVE A GREAT ONE,JOE!,LIL' MUSE
great welcome there have been times when learning about ftp space and things like that with my journal I wanted to jump off the bridge before getting pic sized from my new digital camera and using my ftp space. I'm looking forward to what lies ahead. I'm very happy I found your journal
http://journals.aol.com/judypearllove/ToBlessedToBeStressed/
this is gonna be good! look forward to more entries.
~ http://journals.aol.com/cneinhorn/WonderGirl
all i gotta say is YAY!!! -=)
i've read the The Expressions Factory off and on. i'm glad you are doing this for all of AOL-J.
Nice meeting you :). I was wondering if you have any suggestions creating a picture bar with text? I would love to add to my blogs when featuring different entries. As you can tell I'm a novice.
http://journals.aol.com/rap4143/MyDayMyInterests/
http://journals.aol.com/hosthomedecor/HomeLifesDecoratingTalk/
Welcome, welcome, nice to meet you :o) Glad I found you, Joe!
http://journals.aol.com/valphish/ValsThoughts
Hiya Joe!!! Welcome!!! Penny
Welcome to J-Land Joe, guess we can never get to much technical advice.
*** Coy ***
Joe,
I'm glad to see that you have started a journal of this type. I hope that by allowing those of us who blog on AOL to get to know those who manage the process, we can avoid any troubles of the past here in the neighborhood.
I look forward to reading more.
Patrick
http://journals.aol.com/pattboy92/PatricksPlace
Welcome to the 'hood, Joe. Yeah, I know you've been here awhile, but until you dip your toe in (until you blog), you won't know what the water reeeeeally feels like.
http://journals.aol.com/andreakingme/Unhinged
h
Welcome Joe! Glad to have a journal of this type to turn to. -Krissy
http://journals.aol.com/fisherkristina/SometimesIThink
h
Glad you're here, Joe.
Welcome to our town. Now I know you are the "mayor" but you have not been down here among the masses! LOL
Celeste
http://journals.aol.com/csandhollow/Mydayandthoughts/
http://journals.aol.com/csandhollow/CelestesJournalJar/
http://journals.aol.com/csandhollow/GardenTime/
Hey Joe, I don't have the AOL software on my computer anymore (got a new rige and didn't reload AOL), but I still have an account. So I'm confused whether I am journaling through AIM, or is my journal a regular AOL journal? Seems like I don't have all the access I should from the web, so maybe I need to put AOL software on the computer? Do AIM bloggers have less to work with than regular AOL bloggers? Also, a few items haven't been terribly intuitive. Like how to change your journal from a standard format to a custom one.
This is my first blog. I write fundraising letters for a living, so this is giving me a good outlet to try other things. I would like to get consideration in your "Weekly Picks" at some point. I assume you have your own way of sorting through the zillions of potential "picks." But in case I can sway you . . . my links is http://journals.aol.com/odell8619/ThePostScript/
Thanks for this helpful blog. I added it to my alerts so I won't have to ask you folks questions you've probably been asked a hundred times before. Also, there is a young firefighter gal whose blog seemed really gripping. If you haven't picked her yet, I thought it was very good. Naturally, I can't remember her link.
Odell8619 - when you sign in with your AOL screen name, you get all the same features for your Journal whether you're using the AOL client or a standalone Web browser. (You can sign in by clicking "Sign On" in the top nav bar when you visit your Journal or when you visit www.aol.com).
If you had an AIM Journal, you would sign in with an AIM screen name, and there would be a banner ad at the top of the page.
Also, to customize your Journal, just sign in, then click the blue "Edit Journal" button at the top. From there, depending on what you want to change, you would click on one of the 3 links in the "Customize Your Journal's Appearance" area.
Thanks -- Joe (posted & emailed)
PLEASE TURN MY COUNTER BACK ON AND CHANGE
00000000000000 to 3,512 the count as of two days ago.
Please.
Barry R Bartle BBartle3@aol.com
http://journals.aol.com/bbartle3/Vengeance/
Hello Joe,
I've been exploring and self-teaching myself all night seeking to learn more about using the computer and all of the various components and infinite tools that are beyond my comprehension. I have enjoyed myself to the fullest. I created my first every home page, ( still in the making) and then came to creating your own journal. Am just a babe in the tech world. However, I enjoyed reading and exploring the journals and blogs site. This is a positive new beginning for me. It has awaken a inner desire for me to embark upon.
How do u turnt he welcome vocie off or customise plz its driving me insane!
hi joe: iam very new to the pc and new to journals on aol. I keep a journal of my own, but i am wondering, is this the same as writing my thoughts down on paper?
Iam not familiar with pc talk yet, HELP!
carolynspice2006@aol.com
thank you.
Hi carolynspice2006 -- sorry for the delay in responding. Blogging (or online journaling) is a lot like keeping a paper diary, but it is different. For instance, if you're putting a blog online and making it public, you're kind of expecting that other people will see it, even if you are doing it for yourself. (If you wanted to, you could create a private Journal so that only you could read it.)
Besides the other differences (like being able to add pictures, sounds, links, etc), public online Journaling is a lot more interactive than paper journaling -- you're opening yourself to other people's comments and opinions, and most bloggers also participate in other people's blogs. It's very give-and-take, which is why people say that "Blogging is a conversation."
Just a few thoughts on blogging.
Thanks - Joe (posted & mailed)
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