Not that I’m a mind-reader or anything, but I thought I’d try to drive the point home further AND he’ll be more than happy to correct if I’m wrong

I know I’m not alone in saying that I appreciate all the advice and guidance I’ve read so far.

I am writing in partial defense of my “short diary” postings. Although I am familiar with the “tell ‘em what you’re gonna tell ‘em, tell ‘em, tell ‘em what you told ‘em” technique, I don’t agree with it in the context of this site. (At least I wasn’t aware that was how the quality of postings would be judged on this site.)

I visit this site for information, not education. I stop by to look at the front page and other headlines for comments on current events and links to more information. I’ll look at the “Recommended Diaries” section for interesting stuff (like this diary), but my interest is generally inversely proportional to the length of the posting.

If I want to read articles (speeches) I’ll go the National Review site, or the Weekly Standard site. And if I really want an education I’ll go to the National Review Digital area and read the magazine online (this rarely happens).

I appreciate this site for the timely information that it contains, links to other articles on sites like I’ve already mentioned, and posts by people like “blackhedd”. But people like blackhedd are the exception, not the rule.

If you’ve got a point to make, make it, but if you want to teach a seminar on something that’s important to you, at least give me fair warning. If “diaries” are going to be limited to speeches and seminars, than maybe you should consider having a section entitled “Recommended Diaries” and another entitled “Recommended Briefs.”

OK, it looks as if I’ve run on quite a bit here. Maybe this should be a “diary” rather that a “comment.” (I’ll leave that up to management to decide.)

Thank you for the opportunity to express my opinion, for what it’s worth.

I got caught up in the nitty-gritty of how you can “navigate” when you do not have a good starting point to click from within existing Diary entries. Not all Category/Tags, Members, etc… are active on the Front Page all the time. So, setup Favorites in your browser, but with my previous post you now know how to get there if no other option is apparent. As very few of the Category (aka: Hot Topics) are listed directly on the Front Page reference bar at any one time.

Category/Tag

Now, trouble is that you can’t get to all the tags/categories. Here is the Solution.

Using your browser address bar you can go directly to any Category by using the correct address. They all start the same. An example, from this Diary, is the “Diary” tag/category bs chose. In your browser address bar you can put in…

http://www.redstate.com/tags/diary/

… which will get you to all the Diaries that have been tagged/categorized for such. To go to other categories, you just replace the word “diary” (in the address bar) above and hit enter. Simple! Once you know.

The only other twist, is when it is a multiple word (like is here in EPU’s Recommended Diary list discussion) he used Recommended List. For multiple words, you must place the text “%20″ (percentage sign and 20) between each word. It is a Internet navigation thing, you don’t really need to understand it, just that you can make use of it. To get to “Recommended List” items the web-address is:

http://www.redstate.com/tags/recommended%20list/

While the site formats them into Proper-case when displayed, you can put everything in lower-case letters for ease. Just don’t forget the %20 rather than any actual ” ” (spaces). NOTE: Your browser may (should) automatically put in the %20 should you just put the space in, but I wanted to explain it long form in case some are using different/older software that won’t convert the space.

It’s an IT thing, don’t sweat it.

From there you can scroll/click through the Pages of Diaries related to that subject matter.

The Category works for so many things. So if you want “Sarah Palin” or “Taxes” or whatever, give it a shot. If there is NO category for what you are attempting to look for, you’ll just get an error page. No biggie, just click the Back button and try another category until you find what you are looking for.

Members Diary entries

You like a particular member, you can go directly to their Diaries. Just put in the address bar the following:

http://www.redstate.com/diaries/JLenardDetroit/

Hit enter. That will get you to my Diaries. Simply substitute your favorite RS member to go to theirs. From there you can scroll through the Diary items they created from latest to oldest.

You can get that same list by clicking on a Members name from any one of their Diary entries to see the rest of theirs. I give this example because if a person does not have one currently visible in any List, you can still go directly to their “Page” to see what they may have done you might not have yet seen.

Happy Red Stating… I know I am loving this place.

Sorry, no don’t remember where I got it. Obviously if you go to Google and search for “google toolbar” you should find it no problem. Download, install, setup, and BINGO – a spell-checker for all your data-entry boxes within IE.

As I said on bs’ Unofficial FAQ Diary, not only should be Recommended, should be REQUIRED – but there was not button for me to select to vote for that.

I’m a 20+ year IT guy, so it is easier for me to (either guess) or understand what is going on faster than some, and I was confused. I still have no clue what they are going for in a difference between a “Section” and a “Category/Tag” item?!?! I sent Erick an email regarding inconsistent Read More (pagination) function across the site (no, it isn’t your eyesight or memory issues).

Thanks for this post. I wonder if there is also a post that gives the basic overview of RS and basics of beginning a diary?

In conclusion, I hope to find even more basic info on RS, and posting here. Thank you.

Perhaps I should have done more “due diligence” by watching for many days and trying to figure out the requirements for posting here.

I did not realize a “diary” was going to be posted. At first, I thought it was just a “diary” where I could post my concerns etc.

It was a very rude awakening to find out my thoughts, feelings, ideas, fears were construed as thoughtless or without substance.

Now that I understand how this site redstate is set up, I will be happy to at least have an option to ask a question or express my idea.

I am looking forward to “rebuildtheparty” and signed up with them.

Not sure what to expect, but hopefully it will be a place where folks on the same team will be greeted with open arms.

This election has been traumatic on hundreds of thousands of citizens.

I am one of those. I saw the writing on the wall with BHO. I was scared and needed to have a place to go where I could get support.

I welcome your change here, enthusiastically and hope it draws more folks like me.

To those who were impatient with me or upset with me, I apologize.

I was scared and just needed compassion and support.

I have 2 sons serving our country. I am a patriot, republican and citizen.

thank you

In the meantime, a good way to search Redstate is to use Google, and in the search, specify “site:www.redstate.com”. It should find all but the most recent posts (for example, I searched for ‘steinbeck’ and used the site: qualifier, and did not find this posting). If you use site:redstate.com, you will also search the old archive site (RS 2.0).

I could have sworn I saw a search box on RS somewhere, now I’m going nuts because I can’t find it.
I wrote recently about Shariah-Compliant Finance, and could not find out if it had been previously addressed.

That’s awesome

Good suggestion. With respect to spell checking, at least Firefox has a built-in checker that does it in real time.

If I may be so bold as to make an additional suggestion/tip offer that I follow myself almost every time………..It may pay to write your diary/post on word processing software, do the spell check and make sure all is in order before c/p and then posting.

I always learn at least one thing new daily and today I figured out the following:

Az phar az mye sphellink ghoz, dat dere gubmin’t edumakashun lernt mee dem grammahs reil guud !

Now if I can only get my 12 thumbs to type properly, I’ll be set.

Cheers !

I’m asking for three simple things:

1) Put some thought into it and be original
2) Format the sucker so it’s readable
3) Write more than one or two sentences, and if you don’t have any more than that to say, put it in an open thread.

I’m not looking for War & Peace. Like I said, this is just my opinion and not necessarily the views of this station.