Last night, we made a long-planned upgrade to give your blog an individualized Internet address (URL) based on your display name. Gone will be the charmingly impersonal "user_blog.php?..." replaced by: http://open.salon.com/blog/YOUR DISPLAY NAME
The posts on your blog will have more content-specific URLs, as well. We'll be lifting the headline from posts to create the URL.
Why are we doing this?
For a variety of reasons, the big ones being:
• Personal URLs have been a top-requested feature
• It should streamline some technical issues on our end
• It will help your search results.
Don't expect a traffic surge overnight, but including searchable content in the URL is one of the most basic ways for you to get better pickup in the search engines -- and better traffic for your posts. We're always looking for ways to make Open as optimized for great search results as possible.
Here are some answers to some likely questions you may have:
Will links to old Open Salon URLs still work?
Yes, they'll work just fine. The old gobbledygook URLs still work, too -- they're just hidden from the public eye by the newer, easier URLs.
What happens to all of my previous posts?
New URLs will be generated for those.
What happens if I change a headline after I publish it?
The URL will not change after you first publish the post. You can change your headline, but it won't be reflected in the URL.
If I change my display name, will it be reflected in the URL?
No. We chose the Display Name for the URL because it was the name you chose as your public name. For new members, their screen names will be used for their URLs.
If you have other questions about this, please post in the Comments below, and I'll do my best to address them during business hours. If you have a specific, serious problem related to this, please contact us open.problems@salon.com.
Emily Holleman
Mignon Khargie
Scott Rosenberg
Thomas Rogers
Rebecca Traister
Dan-onymous
Salon.com
Comments
rated for change
(thumbified for Urliciousness)
I'm a little too happy over this. I think I may make a martini and its 9:30 am. Your fault.
Thank you!
Denese
bbd, jk, bill, chicago, gmg, jodi, tom, M B, Bill: Thank you!
Beth: Never a bad time for a martini.
excellent stuff here. I would send you a good stout for it!!
I promise to enjoy it ... and also no longer tease the sponsors. I've joined Grammar And Punctuation Fiends Anonymous. GAPFA. I think it will help.
BBD: Good point -- but, those were fairly faulty milestones, which is why *I* never used them. Spam attacks inflated some numbers a bit, for example. But it would be nice if we could come up with more concrete numbers to share -- we'll work on that.
I should also give some credit to: Jerry for all the hard work coding this up, Jim for managing the transition, Rachel for testing it, and Thomas for the very clever headline on this post.
I noticed though, in your comment just made that it changed from your first posting of it. Does that mean that comment editing is around the corner or did you just delete and repost to put the team member's names in bold?
Just curious.
Thank you very much for not running the old posts through that awful transformation that happens when you click Edit on a post in Manage Posts. (If you don't now what I'm talking about, it reprocesses the text as HTML if it smells HTML in the resulting post, which is a total disaster if you try to edit posts like my CSS tutorial... I always have to submit edits to that from the original source because it is impossible to Edit using the conventional means. I'll send a bug report about this sometime.) Anyway, whatever technology you used for doing the upgrade was appropriately conservative and did not perturb my CSS tutorial.
Anyway, a fine upgrade.
Oh, and cool logo during the downtime, too. Very artsy.
"They've taken away your number...and they've given you back your name."
Hope you guys all have a great weekend and take some much deserved down time.
Barry, low-number loyal betas can feature original blog numbers in our profiles, kinda android-like... Originally Known As Barry123 Before the URL Wars. (okay, I need more Daquil now)
And I can't believe I'm the first to say it, but your own URL for this post is great: "upgrade_my_name_is_url"
I know that it can be challenging doing upgrades like this and ensuring a smooth transition. Well done!
I just posted my first blog this morning on Salon, and had no sense of the old ways of the past. So it all looks good from here. I appreciate the constructive nature of the community. Seems like a thoughtful bunch of people.
I notice that shortly after my blog post was entered, it was tagged as "Editor's Pick" and was listed on the home page. I was impressed with how quickly it all happened. What is your process for reviewing blog posts?
Thanks, jay
I would also suggest doing a search on "OS User Manual" an unofficial member generated posts and comments that make it easier to understand how to navigate the site, implement stuff, etc.
Welcome and congratulations.
Barry
thanks.
paula
Like allowing us to block sender in the private mail, or expanding the allowed html in the TinyMCE editor, you know... something we could REALLY benefit from, as opposed to the bit of fluff the URL customization provides.
But I guess ego gratification is more important than members security or usability issues.
What is wrong with breasts?
When I try to upload my posts to my Facebook account, it's not loading so that you can click to the page here and the title doesn't show up either. That link is how I let some of my friends know I have something new up to read. Waaah!!!
Yeah, I know you want to hear anymore whining about as much as get bitten by a dog.