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Frequently Asked Questions about Blogs

How do I reset my password?

Answer: If you login with your Cornell NETID credentials (Shibboleth), then you should not have to reset your Cornell Blogs password. 

However, if you do NOT login using your Cornell NETID credentials, and need to reset your password, go to the CU Blog Service login page at http://blogs.cornell.edu/wp-login.php and click on the Lost Your Password? link. Enter your email address or NetID and you'll receive instructions on how to reset your password.

How do I add a blog?

Answer: How to add a Blog

Do I have to pay for the CU Blog Service?

This service is a free service of Cornell Information Technologies.

What is an RSS Feed and how does it help my CU Blog?

Answer: If you are new to Really Simple Syndication (RSS), then we suggest reading the following article to get started: http://www.problogger.net/what-is-rss/. If you already understand RSS feeds, then read about how RSS feeds work with your Edublogs blog at the Wordpress Codex: http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Feeds.

What is the difference between a blog and a wiki?

Answer [source, wikianswers - http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_differences_between_a_blog_and_a_wiki]: A blog is a like an online journal. It is updated daily or weekly, or whenever the author desires. A wiki is a platform that is meant for anyone to update in real time. A blog is owned by an individual whereas a wiki is being updated by many people.

For blogs, the time-line is more important. For wikis, when an article was published matters less, because articles are supposed to be updated as new information becomes available. Blog posts are usually one person's opinion, followed, optionally, by comments. Wiki articles represent consensus, but can have an associated discussion/talk page.

A wiki allows multiple users to create, modify and organize web page content in a collaborative manner. A blog is a Web site that maintains ongoing posts. A blog is frequently updated and acts as a personal web site featuring diary-type commentary and links to articles or other Web sites.

Wiki:

  • Multiple Authors,
  • Edited by a group or team,
  • Contains links to other Wiki pages,
  • Continuously changing and growing rapidly,
  • Many-to-many communication.

Blogs:

  • Usually a single author. Sometimes can have multiple contributors,
  • Author posts, user comments,
  • Opinion Sharing ,
  • One-to-many content.

What is the difference between post tags and categories?

Answer: Tags differ from post Categories in that Categories, unlike tags, can have a hierarchy. You might have a Jazz category, and under that have children categories for Bebop and Big Band. Categories and tags are optional. Essentially, categories are another method of labeling your blog’s posts.

How do I prevent spam from getting on my blog?

Answer: CU Blogs has an excellent spam filter built-in, and you can also activate the Akismet spam filter plugin as well. Note: This plugin requires that you have an API Key from WordPress. These keys are free to individual, non-commercial users of the plugin. Visit the WordPress web site to learn more.

On the Settings > Discussion page, WordPress gives you three more tools to combat spam. You can set these to your liking.

  • Automatic moderation of any comment with more than 2 links (Lots of links in a comment are often a sign of spam). You can adjust this number of links if it's moderating more legitimate comments.
  • Automatic moderation of any comment if certain words appear.
  • Automatic blacklist (complete rejection without notification to or moderation by administrator) if certain words appear. Note: Use this very cautiously as it will reject any comment that contains part or all of these words without notification.

How do I set my blog to be private?

Answer: If you do not want you blog to be publicly visible, you need to set it to be private, so that only those who you invite to participate/view your blog can access it. Follow the instructions here: set your blog to be private.

What are the differences between a plugin and a widget?

Answer: Plugins are functions that do something to your blog's website. They mainly serve a back-end purpose and are rarely visible to you or your blog audience. A widget is a plugin that is visible to you and your blog audience.

What is the subscribe feature and why are my users getting so many email messages from my blog?

Answer: The new tool, Subscribe by email, allows blog administrators to either subscribe blog users to receive email notifications or allow users to subscribe themselves. This tool, built by Edublogs, is intended to replace the third party plugin Subscribe2 which has some performance inconsistencies. By default, all blogs have the Subscribe by email tool enabled and all users of their blogs are automatically subscribed.

To turn off this feature:

  1. Login to CU Blogs.
  2. Click on My Blogs under your main Dashboard (upper-left).
  3. Go to the Dashboard of your Blog.
  4. Click on the Subscriptions menu (bottom-left) and then on the Settings sub-menu.
  5. Set Auto-subscribe Enabled to No.
  6. Click the Save Changes button.