I knew there was a place I forgot to crosspost to! Last week, when Delicious suddenly lost all basic functionality, I posted in my journal about contacting me if you have a newsletter script that pulls from Delicious and you want to move your bookmarks to a different site, like Pinboard. In that post I say something like "if I wrote you a newsletter script and it's not operational, get in touch with me so I can help" but really, it doesn't matter to me who wrote your script. If you use a script to generate your newsletter and it no longer works because of recent Delicious changes, drop me a line and I'll see what I can do.
Kink meme posts were making the script take forever (sooooo many comments) so I updated the code to be faster. Get the new version here: LJ/DW Title Rewriter.
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I don't work on any newsletters right now, but I recently had to post a bunch of links to Delicious using a common newslettering format: all the bookmark titles are formatted as "username: post subject" and all the links are clean (no style=mine, etc). This should be really easy to do, but too often it involves tedious manual c&p work to get the username in there when using the clean link*. If a journal uses custom comment pages, instead of having the username in the post title, often the very useless user-specified "Name" is in there. And on comms, only the comm name appears, never the poster name.
So this script fixes that! Any time you load an entry page in DW or LJ, it makes a quick call to the format=light version of that page to get the "username: post subject" or "username in community: post subject" info, and then sets that as the current page title. When you go to bookmark that page to Delicious, your Delicious posting tool should now automatically fill in a more useful link title for you.
LJ/DW Title Rewriter
It should work out of the box in Opera, but I haven't tested that. I forget what Chrome's user script limitations are, but I suspect it might not work in Chrome. I can make a Chrome version, though, if anyone is interested enough to speak up.
Let me know if you find any bugs and then I will fix them!
*ETA: This script doesn't change the URL! I only mentioned the clean links bit because the two requirements of clean links AND "username: post subject" format are often mutually exclusive. It's pretty easy to get that format (for non-community posts, anyway), but only if you dirty up the URL with ?format=light or ?style=mine.
So this script fixes that! Any time you load an entry page in DW or LJ, it makes a quick call to the format=light version of that page to get the "username: post subject" or "username in community: post subject" info, and then sets that as the current page title. When you go to bookmark that page to Delicious, your Delicious posting tool should now automatically fill in a more useful link title for you.
LJ/DW Title Rewriter
It should work out of the box in Opera, but I haven't tested that. I forget what Chrome's user script limitations are, but I suspect it might not work in Chrome. I can make a Chrome version, though, if anyone is interested enough to speak up.
Let me know if you find any bugs and then I will fix them!
*ETA: This script doesn't change the URL! I only mentioned the clean links bit because the two requirements of clean links AND "username: post subject" format are often mutually exclusive. It's pretty easy to get that format (for non-community posts, anyway), but only if you dirty up the URL with ?format=light or ?style=mine.
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There's some bad news for newsletters who used delicious.com automated script for generating newsletter issues [eta: or just used delicious.com for general organization/archiving purposes]:
Although the closing of delicious.com may be a long time off, I think there's currently limited alternatives to delicious.com in terms of being able to generate links into a customized format. I don't know, what are your thoughts on the feasibility of Diigo, AO3's bookmarks feature and other alternatives?![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bluemeridian has a related discussion on this here [eta: there's also a links roundup there].
Addendum:renay discussed here about the would-be impact of delicious.com closing on ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ff_press, the Final Fantasy newsletter, and possible alternatives to delicious.com.
Other links:
I don't know how many of you still read this comm, but I'll post anyway! On Tuesday Yahoo laid off the entire Delicious team and today it announced at a company all-hands meeting that it will be "sunsetting" Delicious [eta: smaller version of the screencap], aka shutting it down, although there are no details yet on when or how, from any of my sources inside Yahoo. It could be months or years - although they'll almost certainly announce it ahead of time (at some point), like Geocities.And from TechCrunch: Is Yahoo Shutting Down Del.icio.us? [Update: Yes].
- Goddamnit,dreamyshade aka Britta from delicious.com
Although the closing of delicious.com may be a long time off, I think there's currently limited alternatives to delicious.com in terms of being able to generate links into a customized format. I don't know, what are your thoughts on the feasibility of Diigo, AO3's bookmarks feature and other alternatives?
bluemeridian has a related discussion on this here [eta: there's also a links roundup there].Addendum:
renay discussed here about the would-be impact of delicious.com closing on ff_press, the Final Fantasy newsletter, and possible alternatives to delicious.com.Other links:
- AlternativesDelicious (big collaborative Google Docs, geared toward educators/education usages)
- merlinkinkmeme: Delicious discussion forum (discussion of delicious.com alternatives)
- hermitsoul: some whining and some contemplating (list of pros & cons for delicious.com alternatives)
- cupidsbow: diigo vs delicious, and how to set up diigo
Has anyone else played with Yahoo Pipes to gather content? I've made a rudimentary pipe to try out: True Blood Pipe.
My thinking was it could easily aggregate content from youtube, wordpress, livejournal, ao3, etc, and it does seem to be easier to manipulate than manually syndicating sites to a watcher journal flist, plus you can filter content for relevance/keywords etc.
There is a PHP output option so conceivably it could be autoformatted, bypassing delicious entirely? I don't know! Anyone got any insight?
My thinking was it could easily aggregate content from youtube, wordpress, livejournal, ao3, etc, and it does seem to be easier to manipulate than manually syndicating sites to a watcher journal flist, plus you can filter content for relevance/keywords etc.
There is a PHP output option so conceivably it could be autoformatted, bypassing delicious entirely? I don't know! Anyone got any insight?
Hello - it's been awhile since newslettering has hosted an open thread (such as it is)!
murklins and I are editors for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dotcoms_refresh, a Bandom newsletter, and this year, due to scheduling craziness, the newsletter will be on hiatus for a week long period next week. It'll be the first time that dotcoms_refresh has gone on a break and we're quite anxious about it.
That brings today's topic: hiatus and holidays!
Has your newsletter ever gone on a hiatus? Will it this year? What were the reasons for the break and how long was it? How do you deal with the missed links? Let us know your blueprint for the perfect newslettering break!
If your newsletter doesn't go on break during the winter holiday season and your newsletter is fanwork-centric, how do you deal with the busy season? When most of fandom is busy with holiday exchanges and challenges and RL for most editors is hectic? Let us know how you deal with holiday craziness!
newslettering has hosted an open thread (such as it is)!murklins and I are editors for dotcoms_refresh, a Bandom newsletter, and this year, due to scheduling craziness, the newsletter will be on hiatus for a week long period next week. It'll be the first time that dotcoms_refresh has gone on a break and we're quite anxious about it. That brings today's topic: hiatus and holidays!
Has your newsletter ever gone on a hiatus? Will it this year? What were the reasons for the break and how long was it? How do you deal with the missed links? Let us know your blueprint for the perfect newslettering break!
If your newsletter doesn't go on break during the winter holiday season and your newsletter is fanwork-centric, how do you deal with the busy season? When most of fandom is busy with holiday exchanges and challenges and RL for most editors is hectic? Let us know how you deal with holiday craziness!
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One of the hotbutton issues for newsletters is whether to cut or uncut newslettter issues, especially when they are long. the_dw_herald recently came up with a possible solution: Display Options.
So, I guess, the idea is to create a CSS class for your newsletter like:
the_dw_herald recently came up with a possible solution: Display Options. So, I guess, the idea is to create a CSS class for your newsletter like:
<div class="newslettercommunity-content"> [body of newsletter issue a.k.a. the content] </div>.newslettercommunity-content {
display: none !important;
}Tags:
In the last post, people came forward to say yes, they will cross-post to DW, or have started already. Fabulous! I applaud the migration of fannish content to DW. And now I would love to hear people's thoughts on the best ways of actually doing that, and the advantages/disadvantages of various methods.
The methods as I see them:
1. Post to LJ, create a syn account of the LJ RSS feed on DW
2. Post to DW, create a syn account of the DW RSS feed on LJ
3. Post on both DW and LJ (actual cross-posting)
Posting on DW offers what seems like only a small advantage but to newsletters can be hugely important: a really easy way to make links to user names on all kinds of different sites. The <user name=murklins site=livejournal.com> style of tags is amazing and can immediately make it clear on a newsletter who is making a post and where that post is located. Unfortunately, they only work on DW, so to cross-post an entry coded with those user tags, you need to either use the DW cross-poster which maps the DW-specific tags to LJ-friendly code for you or you need to do that mapping *yourself* somehow. ICK. (Or, I suppose, you could be content with a newsletter that looks great and links properly on one site but looks/links less well on other sites you cross-post to.)
Unfortunately, the DW cross-posting functionality only works for personal journals right now, not comms. Argh! you say. (Well, I say.) If you are desperate, though, you can still harness the DW crossposter to convert DW user tags to code LJ recognizes. It is just really clumsy. You need two personal journal accounts, one on DW and one on LJ, to make it work.
The syndicated feed methods have their own issues, too. For example, feed accounts on LJ and DW allow comments to be posted to them, and you cannot turn them off. This means people probably will comment on the feed posts. Not necessarily a bad thing, except you can't automatically get comment notifications on those feeds. For example, this xkcd feed post has a few comments on it, but unless the XKCD guy comes to check on his DW feed, he has no way of knowing they're there. Nor is there a tracking mechanism that allows you to select "notify me of all comments made to any posts in this account." Instead, if you want to be notified of comments on feed accounts, you need to first track all the posts made in that account, and then once you are aware a new post exists you can choose to track all comments made on that specific post. Hassle! If people are used to commenting on your newsletter posts to tell you about links or make corrections, they will probably comment on your feed's posts thinking that you will be notified of those comments. Unless you are diligently watching your feed account, you may end up missing a lot of comments.
I think I've babbled enough. Please jump in and share your thoughts!
The methods as I see them:
1. Post to LJ, create a syn account of the LJ RSS feed on DW
2. Post to DW, create a syn account of the DW RSS feed on LJ
3. Post on both DW and LJ (actual cross-posting)
Posting on DW offers what seems like only a small advantage but to newsletters can be hugely important: a really easy way to make links to user names on all kinds of different sites. The <user name=murklins site=livejournal.com> style of tags is amazing and can immediately make it clear on a newsletter who is making a post and where that post is located. Unfortunately, they only work on DW, so to cross-post an entry coded with those user tags, you need to either use the DW cross-poster which maps the DW-specific tags to LJ-friendly code for you or you need to do that mapping *yourself* somehow. ICK. (Or, I suppose, you could be content with a newsletter that looks great and links properly on one site but looks/links less well on other sites you cross-post to.)
Unfortunately, the DW cross-posting functionality only works for personal journals right now, not comms. Argh! you say. (Well, I say.) If you are desperate, though, you can still harness the DW crossposter to convert DW user tags to code LJ recognizes. It is just really clumsy. You need two personal journal accounts, one on DW and one on LJ, to make it work.
- Make sure that the DW personal account is set up to be able to crosspost to an LJ personal account.
- Make a post that uses DW user tags and put it into a DW post. Set it up to post to the personal account, not a comm, because that disables the DW crosspost stuff. Enable it to crosspost to the LJ personal account.
- C&P the DW personal post into yet another DW entry and post this one to your DW newsletter comm.
- Go to LJ and find the crossposted entry -- C&P it into a new entry and post it to the LJ newsletter comm.
- Done!
The syndicated feed methods have their own issues, too. For example, feed accounts on LJ and DW allow comments to be posted to them, and you cannot turn them off. This means people probably will comment on the feed posts. Not necessarily a bad thing, except you can't automatically get comment notifications on those feeds. For example, this xkcd feed post has a few comments on it, but unless the XKCD guy comes to check on his DW feed, he has no way of knowing they're there. Nor is there a tracking mechanism that allows you to select "notify me of all comments made to any posts in this account." Instead, if you want to be notified of comments on feed accounts, you need to first track all the posts made in that account, and then once you are aware a new post exists you can choose to track all comments made on that specific post. Hassle! If people are used to commenting on your newsletter posts to tell you about links or make corrections, they will probably comment on your feed's posts thinking that you will be notified of those comments. Unless you are diligently watching your feed account, you may end up missing a lot of comments.
I think I've babbled enough. Please jump in and share your thoughts!
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Dreamwidth has just launched Open Beta! Do you have any newsletter plans for Dreamwidth? Are you planning on opening a newsletter on Dreamwidth? Or moving or crossposting a current newsletter to Dreamwidth? Tell us about it! What are your ideas and how are you going to make them happen?
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Welcome to newslettering, a community for all things related to newsletters -- fannish or not, automated or not, on Dreamwidth or elsewhere. You do not have to be a newsletter editor or volunteer to participate, but we especially encourage current and past editors as well as anyone who is interested in starting a newsletter to use newslettering as a resource. We welcome posts asking for newslettering advice or troubleshooting, discussions on the logistics of running a newsletter and the selection of its policies and guides on how to make newslettering more effective and automated. Essentially, we welcome any posts related to newslettering.
Occasionally,murklins and wistfuljane will host an open thread, either on a specific topic relating to newslettering or simply a free-for-all, to facilitate discussions.
Posting rights are accorded to all members and comments are encouraged; however, we reserve the right to delete posts and moderate discussions in order to ensure respectfulness.
newslettering, a community for all things related to newsletters -- fannish or not, automated or not, on Dreamwidth or elsewhere. You do not have to be a newsletter editor or volunteer to participate, but we especially encourage current and past editors as well as anyone who is interested in starting a newsletter to use newslettering as a resource. We welcome posts asking for newslettering advice or troubleshooting, discussions on the logistics of running a newsletter and the selection of its policies and guides on how to make newslettering more effective and automated. Essentially, we welcome any posts related to newslettering.Occasionally,
murklins and wistfuljane will host an open thread, either on a specific topic relating to newslettering or simply a free-for-all, to facilitate discussions.Posting rights are accorded to all members and comments are encouraged; however, we reserve the right to delete posts and moderate discussions in order to ensure respectfulness.
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