My apologies

[Don Ray]

I received a message from Bob, stating that several complaints had come in about my Chiriqui Life blog. The complaints were that the CL blog post only contained a title and a link to my primary blog.

 

Bud offered a simple solution of adding a few more descriptive sentences to assist the CL readers in deciding to click the link or not.

 

After giving this some thought, I have asked Bud to remove my blog from CL, I think the Blog section is really intended for those that don’t have content space on the Internet and i obviously do. 

 

Also, for me to add enough description to allow readers to decide to click or not click is too much like having to write a summary of the original post.

 

My sincere apologizes  to those that wasted time clicking on the URLs.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Don Ray

[Twin Wolf Technology Group]

That is a disappointment and a loss for CL.   Your faithful readers will still visit your blog but those new to the area may miss out.  Personally, I believe you provide much information that is not posted elsewhere.

[Franagain]

I received a message from Bob, stating that several complaints had come in about my Chiriqui Life blog. The complaints were that the CL blog post only contained a title and a link to my primary blog.

 

Bud offered a simple solution of adding a few more descriptive sentences to assist the CL readers in deciding to click the link or not.

 

After giving this some thought, I have asked Bud to remove my blog from CL, I think the Blog section is really intended for those that don’t have content space on the Internet and i obviously do. 

 

Also, for me to add enough description to allow readers to decide to click or not click is too much like having to write a summary of the original post.

 

My sincere apologizes  to those that wasted time clicking on the URLs.

It could be that some computers are very slow in loading your Chiriqui Chatter site, frustrating some since they did not know even IF they would be interested in the subject contained.  I would like to continue seeing links to your blog here on CL and hope that you can place your links within a related topic.... OR, that CL will reconsider it's decision to remove your blog links.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Franagain

[Keith Woolford]

"..that  CL will reconsider it's decision"

If I am reading correctly, this was not CL's decision.

 

 

[Franagain]

"..that  CL will reconsider it's decision"

If I am reading correctly, this was not CL's decision.

 

 

You are right, Keith.  The decision to remove the blog links to Chiriqui Chatter was apparently Don Ray's, not CL's.  I'm hoping that Don Ray will attach his links to an appropriate Topic within CL or, at least, include a word or two about the subject linked to.

[Ken and Becky]

Why not just post the content here?

[Bonnie]

I can understand that the administrators of Chiriqui Life do not want their website to be used for the purpose of directing readers to other websites. I think they offered Don Ray a simple (as he acknowledges) and reasonable solution. I hope he will reconsider.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Bonnie

[JoJo]

Don Ray's site is one of the most informative around, especially for David. I too hope he continues to post his link with just a few words to indicate the topic. All it needs to say is the heading on his own site.

I get his site emailed to me every day, but newbies might otherwise miss it, so please Don Ray don't give up here.

[Admin_01]

Don Ray's blog links are appreciated by some, but not all of our members. The CL sense is that there are technical and expediency reasons why some people complain. Consider that the use of slow computers or poor Internet service cause members to be reluctant to execute links that slow them down. In no case was there any hint that the complaints were coming from people who did not like his content or that they had a vendetta against Don Ray.

In the spirit of transparency, I am posting the private messages between myself and Don Ray on this matter. The reason for posting these private communications is that CL wishes not to be in the censorship business or acting in a heavy handed manner. To date we have not arbitrarily or unilaterally deleted any content; the only content deleted has been at the request of the originator, and in all of those cases it was because of confusion about how the software used on this website functions. [Further, the only members who have been 'banned' are those who have failed to successfully complete the registration process, meaning they were not banned because of what they had posted, but rather for the information they did not provide that was required for registration purposes. That number as of today is 12.]

Again, what you see below are the two (there were only two) private messages between CL and Don Ray:

Don Ray,

Several of our members have complained about your blog entries. Their specific complaint is that you are providing only a title and a link, and they don't have enough information to decide whether they want to click on the link or not. What you are doing is not contrary to our rules.

However, in the interest of promoting community harmony, we are asking that you simply add a sentence (or three) around the URL link so that people will have a general idea (beyond just the sometimes cryptic title) about the content that they will find at the end of that link.

Just a request.

And now Don Ray's response to my private message:

Understood.

Thats fine. The simplest thing to do is just delete the blog and I won't post in it any more. That should ease the difficulty. "Blog" is really intended for those that don't have blog space on the internet anyway.

I don't see a way to remove the blog, but maybe admins have that ability.

Thanks.

From the above you can quickly discern that there was nothing but a sincere request on the part of CL to improve the member experience on CL, and a warm and understanding response on the part of Don Ray.

CL has not yet acted on his request to delete his blog because we are trying to find a better solution. Don Ray's postings do add value, and we would have preferred that he simply add a few sentences around the links to his website.

For Don Ray, we ask for your reconsider simply adding a few sentences to encapsulate the content of your blog material.

[Twin Wolf Technology Group]

Testing to see if this works as a summary with the link...

 

<a class="embedly-card" href="http://www.chiriquichatter.net/blog/2015/11/01/it-was-a-scary-night-in-the-neighborhood/">It Was A Scary Night In The Neighborhood</a>
<script async src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>

[Twin Wolf Technology Group]

Bud, you may want to look at this site:   http://www.embed.ly.    If your software allows it, it will automatically put a photo and short description around a link similar to the way Facebook does when you post a link.   I tired to post the code directly but it looks like the editor does not accept it from the users, so it would have to be integrated into the software.   Some software already has the hooks in place to be able to do this automatically without any interaction from the user.    Just a thought.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Twin Wolf Technology Group

[JohnF13]

It would be a shame to lose the links to Don's blog

[Admin_01]

Testing to see if this works as a summary with the link...

 

<a class="embedly-card" href="http://www.chiriquichatter.net/blog/2015/11/01/it-was-a-scary-night-in-the-neighborhood/">It Was A Scary Night In The Neighborhood</a>
<script async src="//cdn.embedly.com/widgets/platform.js" charset="UTF-8"></script>

Members are not permitted to post HTML code because of the threat to security. If you have a special reason for wanting to use HTML code, contact us in a private message or email.

Bud, you may want to look at this site:   http://www.embed.ly.    If your software allows it, it will automatically put a photo and short description around a link similar to the way Facebook does when you post a link.   I tired to post the code directly but it looks like the editor does not accept it from the users, so it would have to be integrated into the software.   Some software already has the hooks in place to be able to do this automatically without any interaction from the user.    Just a thought.

CL does not see our role as one that includes inputting the content for members unless there is a problem that needs to be resolved.

I was not aware of this web link you highlight, but will look into it. But the bottom line remains that it is the responsibility of those wishing to post to input their content (in a manner that complies with our Terms & Rules). The [limited] staff here at CL simply doesn't have time to routinely input the content for the membership.

[MarkoBoquete]

I appreciate the respect and consideration shown by Don Ray and the admins of this site in this discussion. 

Posting links to another site is I think, perfectly acceptable if a description is provided, which is also enlightened self interest by the poster, who wants to draw readers. I seldom respond to bare links in emails or forums. 

As a poster, it is very time consuming and difficult to present a quality, well formatted posting across multiple platforms. Every site has an idiosyncratic editor which treats your text and pictures differently. We have seen some disastrous attempts by well meaning people to copy and paste from one forum to another. Much better to just provide a link. 

Personally, I like to read Don's articles in their "native environment" with all the care and attention he puts into his site. So I hope he will continue to post links with descriptions here at least for important stories. 

None of the Boquete forums are in fact competitive with each other. Each brings a unique and valuable angle to our discussions. Cross-promoting benefits everyone and widens the audience - or as I recall from a semi-famous former POTUS, a rising tide lifts all boats.

[Don Ray]

Don Ray's blog links are appreciated by some, but not all of our members. The CL sense is that there are technical and expediency reasons why some people complain. Consider that the use of slow computers or poor Internet service cause members to be reluctant to execute links that slow them down. In no case was there any hint that the complaints were coming from people who did not like his content or that they had a vendetta against Don Ray.

In the spirit of transparency, I am posting the private messages between myself and Don Ray on this matter. The reason for posting these private communications is that CL wishes not to be in the censorship business or acting in a heavy handed manner. To date we have not arbitrarily or unilaterally deleted any content; the only content deleted has been at the request of the originator, and in all of those cases it was because of confusion about how the software used on this website functions. [Further, the only members who have been 'banned' are those who have failed to successfully complete the registration process, meaning they were not banned because of what they had posted, but rather for the information they did not provide that was required for registration purposes. That number as of today is 12.]

Again, what you see below are the two (there were only two) private messages between CL and Don Ray:

And now Don Ray's response to my private message:

From the above you can quickly discern that there was nothing but a sincere request on the part of CL to improve the member experience on CL, and a warm and understanding response on the part of Don Ray.

CL has not yet acted on his request to delete his blog because we are trying to find a better solution. Don Ray's postings do add value, and we would have preferred that he simply add a few sentences around the links to his website.

For Don Ray, we ask for your reconsider simply adding a few sentences to encapsulate the content of your blog material.

From my standpoint, as I mentioned in my initial response to Bud, I think the CC Part II blog on CL should be removed. 

 

No, I won't continue to use it, because as I said in the apology post on CL, that would require me to create a short introduction to aid a reader in deciding to go to the blog or not. That starts to become work and more effort.

 

Anyone that has signed up to receive CC blog post notifications on CC, receives an email with an introduction included. That is done by the WordPress software and takes no effort by me. People can then read it or not.

 

In looking at the small number of posts I had placed on CL, I think the title pretty well indicated what many of the posts would contain. Anyone with much time on CC has a pretty good idea what they will find.

 

Responding to Bonnie, thinking that having my posts contain a URL to my blog in any way affects the readership of this forum or any other forum is silly. My website is a blog and all discussion there is relative to a specific post. CL and Ning are social site forum based systems.  

 

Blogs don’t compete with social sites. They typically augment them. If they compete with anything it would be other blogs, but even then, most blogs are covering different items or the same items differently.

 

To Ken and Becky on “Why not just post the content here?” Because the content is first placed on my blog and if I felt it relevant to CL readers, I posted the link here. In the past on Ning, I posted all Embassy related notices. I have had several times when the Embassy had to correct their message. All I did in those cases was to correct their message on CC. Not in multiple different places.

 

However, since CL is not a commercial site contrary to Ning, there is no problem with anyone copying any CC post and posting it here. The Creative Commons license is listed at the top of the CC blog. For a non commercial site, it merely requires attribution and link to the source. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/

 

In summary, I will quite using the Chiriqui Part II blog on CL. It might as well be removed.

 

If I see a thread on CL that I think a particular post on Chiriqui Chitter has addressed, I will respond to that thread with the link to that post.

 

 

 

[Admin_01]

Bud, you may want to look at this site:   http://www.embed.ly.    If your software allows it, it will automatically put a photo and short description around a link similar to the way Facebook does when you post a link.   I tired to post the code directly but it looks like the editor does not accept it from the users, so it would have to be integrated into the software.   Some software already has the hooks in place to be able to do this automatically without any interaction from the user.    Just a thought.

Twin Wolf,

I did check out the embedly website that you highlighted. Interesting and "neat" functionality, but not something that I cannot permit on CL. To allow raw HTML code to be inputted and executed is simply too risky.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I just keep learning, and learning, and ....

[Twin Wolf Technology Group]

Members are not permitted to post HTML code because of the threat to security. If you have a special reason for wanting to use HTML code, contact us in a private message or email.

CL does not see our role as one that includes inputting the content for members unless there is a problem that needs to be resolved.

I was not aware of this web link you highlight, but will look into it. But the bottom line remains that it is the responsibility of those wishing to post to input their content (in a manner that complies with our Terms & Rules). The [limited] staff here at CL simply doesn't have time to routinely input the content for the membership.

I think you were misunderstanding my intent.   It was not that CL would input content for the users.   It is a simply a way for a brief summary of the content at the link location to be added automatically without either you or the user doing anything additional.   The HTML script code does it automatically.   I certainly would not expect you or the members to post the HTML code necessary to accomplish this.   I was trying to suggest that perhaps it could be incorporated into your current software as a nice feature to make links on your site richer and also alleviate the issue raised in this case.

Not trying to add to your workload nor violate your Terms and Rules.

[Admin_01]

 

...

In summary, I will quite using the Chiriqui Part II blog on CL. It might as well be removed.

If I see a thread on CL that I think a particular post on Chiriqui Chitter has addressed, I will respond to that thread with the link to that post.

Don Ray,

We will do as you wish and remove your blog.

Please continue to post content of significance on CL.

[Penny]

There is a very simple solution -- the one Tom Brymer employs in his newsletter. He copies and pastes the first 3 - 5 sentences into the post and then he hot links the words "continue reading" to the entire article.

Don Ray didn't want to summarize his post but a copy and paste is easy, simple, and quick.