This is a public service announcement for everyone who uses Microsoft Word, Frontpage, Expression or some other separate WYSIWYG editor to write your blog posts and then paste them onto JoeUser:

Don't do it.

These tools do their own special formatting, and all a lot of junk tags that don't play nice with the site (they didn't play nice with the old site either, but you didn't always notice since we weren't doing half the things we're trying to do on the new site.

Windows Live Writer is one of a number of blog writing/management tools out there, and personally, it's my favorite.  It's completely free to download and use, works with both Windows XP and Vista.

Grab Live Writer here.

Essentially what Live Writer is, is a word processor for blogs.  Type and format until you're blue in the face.  Spell check, save a copy to work on later, insert rich media easily etc.  It makes writing long and complex blog posts incredibly easy.

Plus, it does auto-thumbnailing of images if you have somewhere to post them.

Configuring Live Writer is the only tricky part, and to do that you need only a few bits of information:

1. The URL of your blog (i.e. http://zoomba.joeuser.com/ )
2. Your login information (username/password)
3. The JoeUser MetaWebBlog API File:
   http://www.joeuser.com/api/MetaWeblog.axd

Now, once you have Live Writer downloaded and installed, it's time to start it up and configure it to connect to your blog.

I missed my Friday Fidget last week, but I blame that on simply being insanely busy.  You see, we launched Sins of a Solar Empire at the start of the week to retail and digital distribution.  This means there was a fairly constant flow of work related to Sins that needed to be taken care of, on top of everything I do on a daily basis already.  This week things were starting to calm down, then we decided this coming weekend was the perfect opportunity to do our massive database migration.  No rest for the weary.

Anyway, on with the Fidget...

Today I present the final part of our Ask a Moderator series.  For the last four weeks, I've been putting questions, submitted by the community, to the folks who help keep this site humming along day-in and day-out so you could get a better picture of who these people actually are, and why they put so much time and effort into WinCustomize.

With this being the final set, I'd like to thank all of the moderators who participated, and all the users who submitted questions.  I hope ever...

After months of teasing, today I'm extremely happy to let you all know that we're ready to let everyone take a crack at the new site.  It's open to anyone who wants to take the new blog community for a spin

http://www.joeuserbeta.com/

A few very important notes before you start:

1. The beta site is 100% test data
   Every post, comment, blog edit etc that takes place on the beta site WILL BE DELETED when the site goes live.  This is a sandbox for you to play with the new site, its features etc.
2. You will have to create a new blog on the test site
   We only imported a handful of the top blogs for testing.  Chances are that once you log in, you will need to create a blog on the beta site.  Again, this is all test data that will be wiped and overwritten when we do the full import from the existing JoeUser.  Your basic login information will however still work.  Do not create a new account, just a new blog site.  Your current JoeUser blog will be automatically imported when the site goes live.
3. Not Every Feature from JU1 is in JU2
   This is phase 1 of the site.  We have not ported each and every feature to JU2 just yet.  Things like blog "skins" are not implemented yet.  We have a long list of additions for the next several months as we go through Phase 2, 3 etc.

We are specifically looking for the following feedback at this moment:

1. Critical-Stop Bugs
   Anything that prevents you from posting, commenting or interacting as normal on the site.  Any page errors, any script errors etc.
2. Incorrect/Missing Links
   Did you click on a link and get taken somewhere completely wrong/unexpected?  Do you get to a page that has nothing on it?
3. Browser Problems
   Does the editor actually work on your web browser?  Does everything show up in neon pink?

Please post all feedback, questions, comments and concerns regarding the beta site on this thread.

When: Sunday February 17th, 8pm EST - Monday February 18th 9am EST

This weekend we will be conducting extensive maintenance on the database systems that power Stardock's forums, articles systems and blogs across all websites.  During this period we will be locking the database preventing anyone from posting to the forums (new threads, replies, private messages etc).

For full details on the upgrade, go here.

When: Sunday February 17th, 8pm EST - Monday February 18th 9am EST

This weekend we will be upgrading the database that powers Stardock's forums & articles system.  This upgrade will impact every site across the Stardock Network.  During the upgrade, you will not be able to post threads, comments, or blogs.  The database will be locked during the maintenance window to prevent data loss.

You will be able to read any content posted prior to the 8pm lock.  You will not be able to post anything new.

Today I was handed a nice 8gb Zune 2.  It was a gift from Microsoft to Stardock CEO Brad Wardell and had www.wincustomize.com engraved on the back.  It came in a very nice bag and I took it home with me with the intention of writing a review on it this week.

So far I've been using it for about 15-20min and I just wanted to toss out my initial impressions:

So tiny and light.  Box is very reminiscent of iPod packaging These earpohones hurt! Woo!  Radio on an mp3 player! T...

Writing an article that attracts readers is as much about formatting as it is about actual content.  Attractive images, lists, clear paragraph breaks and more can turn your blog from an intimidating wall of text into an easy-to-read post that invites the reader in.

I'm sure you've seen the blogs/articles where the author just puts everything down as a giant block of text.  No breaks.  No pauses.  Nothing to visually divide the content.  The result?  A post that is incredibly hard to read, and may drive the reader off immediately, never bothering to even scan to see if there's interesting content worth reading.

You could write the most interesting article ever posted to the Internet, but unless you know how to format it, no one will read it.  Formatting is the key to taking a good article and making it great.

Another Friday, another series of questions from the community answered by our moderation staff!

This week, we hear from WOM, Koasati, Starone, Zubaz, Quentin94, Fuzzy Logic, Hankers, Jafo, Erk and Snowman.



Question 1 -

Is there anything you miss about not being a moderator (i.e. a regular user) (HG_Eliminator)

Wizop WOM Yes, not having to watch what you say when people piss you off.Super Wizop Koasati No, not really. Wizop starone no.Sir Zubaz Believe it or...

Here's a fun question to start everyone's week out:

How did you pick the handle/nickname you use online?

We have an odd collection of names out here.  Ranging from Little-Whip and EmperorOfIceCream to Locamama, DrGuy, Frogboy and more.  It's always interesting to see what names people pick for themselves when they are given the chance to create a completely new persona for themsleves. 

So, how/why did you come up with yours?

Mine?  Everyone alwasy figures there's...

Ok, this can be chalked up as being one of the absolute worst weeks I've had in quite a while.  If it could go wrong, it did, and after going wrong it seemed to just compound and get worse.  I'm so glad it's almost the weekend, I could dance.

So, even though this has been a more active blogging week for me than most, I'm still doing my new weekly bit, if only to get into the habit.

What I'm Playing

Burnout Paradise
Last weekend, I grabbed the Burnout Paradise demo from XB...

We're back again with another set of questions asked by you, and answered by members of the WinCustomize moderation team.  Today we hear from WOM, Koasati, Zubaz, Elvee, Erk, Jafo, Starone, Quentin94 and Fuzzy Logic.

Remember to check back again next Friday for Part 3!



Question 1 -

What is the best thing about being a moderator?  The worst?  (Zubaz)

Wizop WOM Being able to contribute to WC.  I spend hours a day modding and watching the general forum.&nbs...

The other night, I turned on the State of the Union Address to hear what the plan was for our nation going forward into the last year of the Bush Presidency.  I expected a little bit of reflection on the last 7 years, and a strong push for something new in the final year.

I also expected some amusing verbal slips

Unfortunately, it feels like I got neither.  From what I could tell, there were three primary topics:

The Economy Education The War on TerrorNow, I know everyone...

Since I don’t often have time to blog anymore (though you could argue that with all the time I spend on forums and writing content for WinCustomize that I post more now than I did when I was actively blogging) I wanted to find a way to do at least one regular bit every week.  So, instead of one blog on one topic, I’m going to do one post with a bunch of mini-blogs.  A hodge-podge of topics floating in my head.

The idea is to do this every Friday to wrap up the week…

What I’m Play...