How To: Posting a Chat Log
Table of contents
- 1. Checking
- 2. Adding Comments
- 3. Other Edits
If you've got a chat log of your meeting ready for posting and are wondering what to do with it, wonder no more.
Many people have difficulty getting their pages to appear in the right place and in the right order, because the wiki confounds the habits and expectations we have from other programs. In Microsoft Word and Excel and the like, you create a file first and then decide what you will call it and where it will go.
The wiki is different, you must start by deciding where the page will be (i.e. which month of which year) and moving there before you create it! (You don't need to decide on a name until you are ready to save the page's contents.) Note also: these instructions are for the current version of the wiki software. Older versions had a slightly different built-in editor and some details were different.
- Make sure you're logged in as a wiki user before starting to edit. Some people log out and then back in, just to make sure of things.
- You should have email, from the auto-logger in the discussion area, sent to the Guardian who claimed the log during the discussion. It will have a (complicated looking) link. Open this link in your Web browser window. You will notice it has some predefined text for title and other information.
- In a second Web browser window, navigate to the chat logs page on the wiki, using the navigation sidebar at the left.
- From the Chat Logs page, click in the navigation sidebar until you reach the page for the current year and month.-
- From the Month page, click on the "New Page" button.
- If you have a title ready, type it in now in the title field at the top of the edit area; otherwise you can return to this step once you think of a title. If you like, you can go to the chat log you opened in Step 1 and copy the title text. The title goes in the title field (the first edit field) of the new page, replacing the words "Page title". The title should be in the form YYYY.MM.DD HH:00 - Make up a title here. For example 2009.07.22 13:00 - Being, Large or Small? (Please don't use single or double quotes -- these seem to confuse the month-page generating software). Each guardian prefers to do this differently. Some write the date and time in the title field, and leave the rest of the name to be filled in later; that way, if one saves without completing the title, the page will still be created in the right place. Others prefers to paste the chat log text, then add the title, before saving, then go back to add comments if they like.
- Now is the time to copy and paste the log that was sent to you by the auto-listener via email. Open the chat log window, Select All text and then Copy from the editor's edit menu (or press CTRL-A to select all and then CTRL-C to copy). Then move back to the "new page" you have created on the wiki. Click in the edit area for the text body, and then choose Paste from the edit menu of the browser (or press CTRL-V).
- Click the "Save" button on the top left of the editor. After that, what you've done is saved on the wiki and comments can be added by you or someone else later if you wish.
- Briefly confirm that your page is properly titled and is in the correct location by running through the steps below.
Checking
The most important thing after saving your chat log file is to make sure that you have saved it in the right place, and that the title conforms with the exact same format as used by everybody else. This check takes only a few seconds, if all is well. If you find a problem, you can then repair it in less than a minute. Please make this checking a habit.
[Note: if you write the title correctly right away, there will be no problem. However, we often make a small mistake in the title. The title can be edited separately from the body of the text, as described next.
- After you have saved your file, click on the numerical month link in which your chat log belongs. You can click either the numerical month link in small font above your chat title (ex: "01" in the long link if it is January) or the numerical month link on the left menu.
- Now, as soon as you are on that page, look for your chat log. If it is the correct order with respect to the other chat logs, you are done!
- If it is NOT in the right order with respect to other logs, something is wrong in the title and URL of your page (technically, pages are ordered with respect to their URL, NOT with respect to their title line).
- If this happens, go back to your chat log by clicking on the title as it appears on the Month page "01" (if it is January, "02" for February, and so on).
- Looking at your new page again: If you click on the title, an edit link appears near it and then you can change the title if necessary.
- Confirm the new title is correct by going back to Steps 1 and 2.
- Pat yourself on the back for being a wiki-navigating-name-saving expert!
- Note also some typical mistakes that cause things to be displayed in unexpected ways:
- Using a date format like "2009/01/10" instead of "2009.01.10"
- Using a time format like "2009.01.10 7pm" instead of "2009.01.10 19:00".
- Extra spaces (double instead of single) inside the date/time/title line.
Adding Comments
You may want to break up the log lines so that you can add a comment between existing lines of text. General guidelines for highlighting and comments can be found here:
General Guidelines for Session Log Editing and Commenting
It's useful to remember that pressing Enter creates a new paragraph which can have different formatting than the ones next to it. If you just want to break a line within one paragraph, press shift-enter.
- Move the cursor to the end of the line after which you want to add the comment.
- Press enter.
- Click the button "decrease indent"; (its position might vary -- currently it's in the second row of editor buttons more toward the right side). This assumes the chat lines are indented one step, so the comments are less indented. You might also use italics to distinguish the comment.
- Type in your comment.
Other Edits
- The host Guardian should edit the text of comments made by visitors who did not give their consent to have their words published in the wiki. You can change their name to Visitor (and remove obvious identifying information).
- Select URLs (web addresses) in the chat text and make them into links, by using the link tool button. (It looks like a blue sphere with a link symbol).
- Correct people's obvious typos. Often they use an askerisk on the next line flag these errors:
Master Magoo: I have very snarp eyesight.
Master Magoo: *sharp
- Tag page (Edit tags)
- What links here
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