Friday, August 11, 2006

Reminder: New Entry Alerts Only Go Out Once Per Entry

Hi folks -- got kind of a non-entry entry here; Editor Jeff and I are each working on some different Journals tutorial/how-to entries for next week. They cover some blogging basics and more advanced features, so please stay tuned for that.

If you have any Journals or blogging topics that you'd like to see us cover, please let us know via comments or e-mail.

There was one thing I wanted to address -- in case it's not 100% clear: Journals New Entry Alerts only go out when you publish your entry the first time.

I'm told there was a period of time where every time you updated your entry, a New Alert went out, but that was a bug, and it was fixed before I even came on the scene.

The first couple of times I got asked this, it was kind of a head-scratcher for me; believe me, if you got an Alert every time I fixed a typo or tweaked an entry after I published it, you'd probably start sending me dead fish or something.

Changes you make in your entries will get picked up in your blog's feed, but they won't trigger a new Alert. I subscribe to my own Alert for testing purposes (it involves subscribing to your New Entry Alert from another screen name and sending yourself the "Send to a Friend" link), so I know of what I speak.

So don't be afraid to edit your existing entries -- you won't be bombarding your readers with new Alerts.

That's about it for this week. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Thanks -- Joe

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I got 2 alerts for this entry.  How did you do that?
Sometimes I would like to add an update to an entry but it won't send out a new alert is there a work around if we want to do that?

Kathy

Anonymous said...

You are a freakin' mind-reader!!  Was just talking about this earlier today.  I had been misinformed...or told about it when it had "the bug".   Thanks much for the clarification!!

Nancy

Anonymous said...

oops, my bad.  I did not get 2 alerts for this entry. sorry about that.

Kathy

Anonymous said...

Kathy -- Unfortunately, in order to prevent the multiple, unwanted Alerts, there's no way to re-trigger an Alert for an entry that already exists. You would have to do a new entry (even one that just includes a link to the original entry). Thanks -- Joe

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that must have been during your Expressions days.  One night I had been testing and tweaking backgrounds and plittle sent me an email asking me when I thought I might be through with my editing.  (He's a schmoe anyway...LMAO)


andi

Anonymous said...

Happy to there this........I am the typo princess and I always wondered if every time I read and re-read my journal and saw things I had to change made others batty with all the alerts! Enjoy your weeked joe!!!

Anonymous said...

Other than when I asked for the Running Man doll, have I ever come to you with a question THAT dumb?

Anonymous said...

I have a practice journal I do my entries in over a few days to make usre its what I want and the links work. I woudl like to see tutorials on aol hometown and adding pics that way. I have tried with some and cant seem to makea good tutorial and howto add pics via YGP

Anonymous said...

Me tooo constantly reediting....
Betty

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info.

Krissy
http://journals.aol.com/fisherkristina/SometimesIThink

Anonymous said...

Kat,
  If you want to make sure an alert goes out, make a new entry saying, "hey, I've updated this previous entry." You can always delete it later if you want.

Andi,
  I believe "Hoser" is the word you are looking for. Either that or "assface."

Joe,
  I've asked before, but I'll keep on pestering you about it. How about instructions on adding a javascript statcounter.com counter so we can make use of all off their cool referral stats? Pretty please?
-Paul
http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/

Anonymous said...

coughguesteditorspickscough

Anonymous said...

Hi Lori -- check out my existing tutorials on adding photos and see if those are what you're looking for (they're linked off my main page sidebar):

http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/entries/2005/12/15/how-to-add-photos-step-by-step/934

http://journals.aol.com/journalseditor/magicsmoke/entries/2006/06/21/adding-photos-to-your-journal-with-aol-pictures-permalinks/1501

Thanks -- Joe (posted & mailed)

Anonymous said...

Monponsett - What about the Guest Editor's Picks? They haven't stopped; Editor Jeff has just been posting the updates in his blog (instead of me in mine):

http://journals.aol.com/editorjeff76/pixelpusher/

And of course, they're still being posted to the Journals main page, in the Message Boards, and in the New Editor's Picks Alert.

Thanks -- Joe (posted & mailed)

Anonymous said...

Hi Joe, I remember when this used to happen. That was "years" ago now. Wow. A really long time ago.

Brandi
http://journals.aol.com/brandilynneliz/SomethingNew/  (lookie here, I am back and about .. oh no! lol)

Anonymous said...

I really love to see simpler and more detail guide about how to do almost anything that is possible in Journals and advise about online Journal safety.
I know like myself my Journal has personal tidbits of my life, like few others and like myself some of us aren't the most tech savy as you are perhaps you could advise us bit more or tell me where to look so I can create guide for us inexperience, non tech savy bloggers.
Thank you for telling me how to post my journal on the forum by the way.
Still learning...
http://journals.aol.com/Seattleoutsider

Anonymous said...

Oops also I got error message when I added your site to my rss feeder and I keep losing the blogs I add how do I fix this? When you have time please let us, me or somebody know how to avoid error message if its possible. Thanks