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As we enter into our 3rd week without a blog entry, it has become obvious that it's going to be difficult to maintain a weekly entry pace.

We have begged, bribed, nagged, and harassed folks to contribute. Despite our best efforts, the well has run dry.

What else can we do to get folks to contribute?

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  • 1
    You can nag people like me who promised but haven't delivered :) I'll try and get something sorted this week.
    – ChrisF Mod
    Mar 26, 2012 at 20:22
  • 1
    @ChrisF Oh. forgot, we tried that too.
    – Tester101
    Mar 26, 2012 at 20:24
  • 2
    With 13 users, it shouldn't be this hard. One entry every 13 weeks doesn't seem like a lot to ask for (that's only 4 entries a year!).
    – Tester101
    Mar 26, 2012 at 20:27

4 Answers 4

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Ask and ye shall receive. In my most perfect 7 years of Alabama education (my worst 3 years being the 5th grade) I have articulated some verbage over the last 3 hours. I'm still getting over sinus surgery and as long as I have pain pills I have full uses of what little brain I have.

On all seriousness, I think communication would help. I probably could have gotten this out of my brain a little quicker if there was something posted on the DIY Blog chat room or some email sent up as a flare.

The reason I didn't do it earlier was I didn't pay attention to Trello and this will be my 4th of the year and thought somebody else would contribute. I'll try to get 1 a month until others get posting. I just hope what I give is what the site is looking for.

Another thing is I just signed on DIY and did an ALT-F search for blog. There were 3 (not counting the captain) and none of them lead to our blog. If we made the blog available on the main page then we might get more people reading it and thinking 'I can do that too!'. Also when I clicked on the questions link only 1 blog link came up and that was to the stack exchange blog.

No links for our Google+ or Facebook on main page either. No follow us on... We do have the links to post questions I guess onto our personal(?) Facebook or Google+ pages.

So my answer to your questions is;

  1. Make the blog accessible from the main page and sub pages.
  2. Add links to our Facebook and Google+ to main page and sub pages.
  3. Add good posts (Q & A's) to Facebook and Google+ more often. Maybe picking questions and or answers with 10 or more votes.
  4. Add something at the end post asking "If you have a DIY experience and would like to share it click here."
  5. It would be nice to see a blog about some DIY Easter stories if any are around ;)

As always, let me know when I can help.

Please make sure my article is reviewed before you put it out. I am terrible at proof reading my own stuff. If I'm posting wrong let me know what to do and I will do it right.

Edit April 10, 2012 Is there actually a lead person on this or is it more just a community working together?

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  • Thanks for your help. I've posted another questing asking if the blog link (at the top of the page) could be made permanent.
    – Tester101
    Mar 27, 2012 at 13:08
  • The entry looks good. Only thing missing was your Flair. We try to add our DIY.SE Flair (the little picture of you that links back to the main site) to the end of each post. The HTML code for your flair can be found here, which can be reached through a little link at the top of your DIY.SE user page.
    – Tester101
    Mar 27, 2012 at 13:33
  • 1
    Oh. I also added "Enjoy the blog? What to be a part of the action? There are many ways to Contribute to the Blog." after your flair. The wording can be changed/modified/updated, but the idea is to encourage readers to contribute.
    – Tester101
    Mar 27, 2012 at 13:35
  • Thanks @Tester101, thanks for the help!
    – lqlarry
    Mar 27, 2012 at 15:32
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just realized I, too, have been neglecting my role as a blog contributor. I recently upgraded my phone, so I now have a "camera" on me at all times. This has been a big reason why I haven't contributed: no images.

For the past month or so, I've been remodeling a room in my house and have posted a few questions on DIYSE (1, 2 & 3) relating directly to this room. I updated these questions with pictures and with my process to fix [insert problem here].

I'm on the blog as we speak drafting a few posts and I'll let an admin decide when they want them published.

I agree with Tester101's comment, I think a schedule would be a great idea.

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I also need to contribute one. I have been busy at work, and I know that quality writing takes time. I will try to start drafting one today, though.

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  • I'm really looking forward to seeing it.
    – lqlarry
    Apr 8, 2012 at 0:40
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I too would still like to contribute but I am finding it difficult to find topics that are not already well covered on the internet, at least within the realm of what I am knowledgable enough to write a blog post about...

I did notice that some of the more recent posts are on the shorter side - is this just a matter of content, or would everyone prefer more frequent but shorter posts?

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  • Length of the post is not that important. Short posts can be just as informative as long ones.
    – Tester101
    May 30, 2012 at 13:43

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