{Originally published at Connect with Your Teens through Pop Culture and Technology}

A new book has come out about Wikipedia, How Wikipedia Works: And how you can be a part of it. I plan to write a review of the book during the coming week, however I thought that in the meantime I would share some important facts about Wikipedia that everyone should know, but might not be aware of.

1. All content in Wikipedia is completely free for anyone to use. There are no copyright restrictions.
2. Not all information is included in Wikipedia. It must be encyclopediac, neutral and verifiable.
3. The mission of Wikipedia is to make the whole world’s information available in all languages.
4. Wikipedia is just one form of a Wiki. The acronym Wiki stands for What I Know Is. A Wiki is a web page that anybody can edit (although passwords are needed in private wikis ).
5. Every page on Wikipedia has its complete history saved of every version from its first edit on.
6. Anybody can edit articles on Wikipedia.
7. As of August 2008, there were over 2,500,000 articles on Wikipedia.
8. There is no censorship on Wikipedia as long as an article meets the guidelines in number 2 above to be encyclopediac, neutral and verifiable. Therefore, there will be articles with language and material not appropriate for all.
9. There are 3 types of hyperlinks used in Wikipedia - a) external-links to pages out of Wikipedia b) internal-links to other articles within Wikipedia c) redlinks-links to articles within Wikipedia that don’t exist yet.
10. Every article has a discussion and talk page for the editors to discuss it.
11. If you see an article in Wikipedia with a yellowbar and a broom chasing dust, that means that this article needs a lot of cleaning up. This is an article ripe for edit.
12. The name for members of the Wikipedia community is Wikipedians.

{Originally published on Bird on a Wire}

This is not a plea for comments for THIS blog. I talk about my chronic commentitis here. I use my blog only as a reference point. Instead, this is a reminder that comments are like chocolate, really good if they’re rich and have some substance to them. And that if you can’t comment, you can still help out the bloggers that you like. A big shout out to Mommie Pie and Bloghernot 2008. I’ll be participating in a big way!

At the time of this blog posting, over 543 people receive this blog in their RSS reader (or via email).
Another 2,000 - 4,000 come to the site directly, depending on the day and the post. Add those up, and let’s say that around 5,000 people come here daily to read my stuff. (Hey, don’t laugh, I’m pretty jazzed about those numbers.)

If 1% of you commented, that’d be 50. (I’m bad at math. Did I do that right?) The average post on here gets a respectable 10 or so comments, but that’s about 1/3 of 1% then, of the folks who get a copy of each post. Ok, enough of the math class stuff.

This got me thinking about the other great blogs that I love.

I read several hundred blog posts a day. I comment on maybe five or six, if there is something I feel compelled to say. So I’m in there with you. I’m not commenting much, either. Does that make us bad ? Not really. If I’m able to leave a decent and thoughtful comment, I know that the other blogger will appreciate it. Sometimes, I even get a nice little email from them saying so. Comment Relish is a great little Word Press plug in that sends an e-mail message to users who comment on your website who have never commented before.

{Originally published on The Bloggess}

Yesterday someone asked me how to deal with trolls and haters. I have no damn idea.

Trolls are just like you and me. Only shittier. Or more honest. Or likely to murder gypsies. Fuck, I don’t know. I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know the motivation of everyone reading your blog but what I do know is that in real life you come across assholes and weirdos and someone out there is selling computers to these people. People like the guy who left me this comment:

“I was right, you aren’t that hot. Damn.”

I didn’t mind that some stranger thought I was un-hot but what was disconcerting was that in the photo the guy was referring to? I was seven. And totally hot.

Originally published at Blogging Basics 101

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could post
our little hearts out, sit back, and watch the dollars roll in? The
truth is that there are very few people getting wealthy from blogging.
If you’re doing it solely for the bucks, you’re probably going to be
disappointed.

There are, however, a few ways to generate a bit of bloggy income.

The most obvious way to earn income is by having ads in your
sidebar, or elsewhere on your page. You can try selling these
yourself–a lot of work, but it works for some people. Many bloggers
have had success using an ad service that sells the ads for you, giving
you a percentage of the income. (They give you the code to insert on
your blog, and your ads will appear in that spot. Any ad service worth
its salt will offer you pleny of editorial freedom to block certain
types of ads from your blog.)

(click title for more)

Originally published at The Social Path

Yes, I
know. We’re all tired of lists. But studies have shown that they’re
still the most effective way to list things, and I can’t argue with
science.

(click title for more)

Originally published on Social Impressions

As you become increasingly active in social
media, you will find a wide variety of competitiveness across the
board. Some want to be regarded as A-list bloggers, to reach a top
status on social bookmarking sites, and to have the most number of
friends on Facebook. While some can maintain genuine relationships with
people, others see them as part of their massive network. Competition
is usually healthy, depending on the amount of competitiveness involved.

Although there are many gray areas between each level, I have
observed roughly five main levels of social media competitiveness and
involvement.

Lurker

Lurkers exist online; they just aren’t visible. These people don’t
actually participate. They quietly watch the activity on their favorite
sites. They may identify core sites and users that they admire or enjoy
and follow them religiously. Even the most offensive of posts won’t
incite a comment from them. Although these lurkers might sign up for an
account on a social site, they are usually the users without an avatar.
Their activity on these sites is minimal, and their contribution is
non-existent.

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Originally posted on Blogging Sueblimely

Words of wisdom from the world’s greatest thinkers are timeless
providing advice which is as relevant now as when first spoken. All of
these quotes could easily be applied to blogging:

Advice for Bloggers

1. They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. Carl W. Buechner
2. When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but creatures of emotion. Dale Carnegie
3. Speech is power: speech is to persuade, to convert, to compel. It
   is to bring another out of his bad sense into your good sense. Ralph Waldo Emerson
4. The ability to speak eloquently is not to be confused with having something to say. Michael P. Hart
5. My opponent can compress the most words into the fewest ideas of anyone I’ve ever known. Abraham Lincoln
6. Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind. Rudyard Kipling
7. You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother. Albert Einstein
8. I don’t let my mouth say nothin’ my head can’t stand. Louis Armstrong

Research Tips

1. First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak. Epictetus
2. Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not
   believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
   not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your
   religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of
   your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they
   have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and
   analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is
   conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and
   live up to it. Buddha

Writing Tips

1. What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure. Samuel Johnson
2. Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they
   will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above
   all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. Joseph Pulitzer

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Originally Published on Sally Walker

With all the fuss these days about social media, social networking,
twitter this and plurk that, are all these ‘ways of communication’
actually needed by Mums?

There are a host of social media and networking sites these days,
ranging from simple ideas like Twitter to full on website making
profile page ideas such as Facebook or MySpace.

However, as a Mum, do you need them? Will they benefit you?

As Mum’s we have enough on our plate with housework, being a taxi
for our children, cooking, cleaning, working out the weekly menu, doing
the shopping, washing etc. We might also have a full or part time job
on top of all that, so do we really need endless websites to try and
keep track of too? Well maybe…

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