How To: Posting a Chat Log

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.)

1. In your Web browser, navigate to the chat logs page on the wiki, using the sidebar at the left.
2. From the Chat Logs page, click ---> Current Month
3. From the Month page, click on the "new page" button.
4. If you have a title ready, type it in now;otherwise you can return to this step once you think of a title. The title goes in the first line 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? (Note the lack of quotation marks, 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. This way one doesn't have to "move file" (as outlined toward the bottom) afterward.
5. The first paragraph in the page text should be something like "The Guardian for this meeting was Fael Illyar. The comments are Fael's." Change to match the meeting and commenter if necessary. This text should also be italic, you can do that by selecting the text and clicking the Italic button in the editor.
6. Second paragraph is the opening comment. If you choose to add comments later, you can move forward by simply pressing enter again here.
7. 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, select all text and select copy from the editor's edit menu (or press CTRL-C after selecting the text). Then move back to the "new page" you have created on the wiki, and choose paste from the edit menu of the browser (or press CTRL-V).
8. 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.
9. There is one more thing left. Next to the "Print page" button is a dropdown box called "More." Click there and choose the item "Tag". Type in "date:YYYY/MM/DD" where YYYY/MM/DD is the meeting's date in that format. For example "date:2009/07/22". Add more tags as appropriate if you have time, using the tagging guidelines page in this wiki.
10. Briefly confirm that your page 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.  When we notice that, after doing a first "save", and then change the title, the page we have changed looks fine, but the URL will still reflect the old mistaken title.  At this point you have to go into the "Move Page" window - see Step 4 below.]

1. 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.
2. 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!
3. If it is NOT in the right order with respect to other logs, something is wrong in the URL of your page (all pages are ordered with respect to their URL, NOT with respect to their title line). 
4. To change the URL, go back to your chat log by clicking on the title as it appears on page "01" (if it is January, "02" for February, and so on).
5. In the menu bar click on More->Move Page.  A window appears named "Move page".
6. The first box should contain "Chat_Logs/2009/01/" (if it is 2009, January).  If anything appears there that is NOT the correct year and month, please correct the year and/or month.
7. Now ensure the second box is correct. Correct as necessary as follows:

1. The second box should contain the EXACT SAME line as your title line.  For example, if the chat log has the title:
   
         2009.01.10 19:00 - Deep Appreciation or Wonder
   
   then the second line should also be exactly and precisely:
   
         2009.01.10 19:00 - Deep Appreciation or Wonder
    
2. Once corrected, click the "Move Page" button.
3. Confirm it is correct by going back to Steps 1 and 2.
4. Pat yourself on the back for being a wiki-navigating-name-saving expert!
5. [Note also that any of the other typical mistakes show up as soon as you go to the "01" or equivalent monthly page: mistakes like writing "2009/01/10" instead of "2009.01.10" stand out like a sore thumb there -- as do "2009.01.10 7pm" instead of "2009.01.10 19:00", and so on.]

Adding Comments

1. To break up the log lines so that you can add a comment:

   1. Move the cursor to the end of the line after which you want to add the comment.
   2. Press enter.
   3. Click the button "decrease indent; it's the fourth from right side on the lower row.
   4. Type in your comment.

   If you make a mistake and need to edit the log back to what it was, it's useful to remember that pressing enter creates a new paragraph. If you want just a linefeed, press shift-enter.