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marilyn_pratt
Active Contributor

This week in Mark Finnern's absence, a good number of complaints have been channeled my way about blog approval. I thought I would use this blog to clarify a few things about the blog approval process (and perhaps even save Mark a little of the grief that this subject seems to evoke).

So you wanted to blog?

You went to Submit Content on the Top Navigation of the SDN homepage and saw Weblogs -> Become an SDN Weblogger

Hopeful, you pressed that link and were given a form to fill

Your expectations are set. You receive the message: "Please fill out this form and we will contact you within a week"

But some conveniently don't remember that they have 3 different email addresses in SDN.

Some feel entitled. "I have filled this out; they had better get back to me"

Never mind the fact I didn't really take the time to fill out the form completely and read what I wrote.

Hmmm.. plans for weblogging? When the muse strikes me?

No. We need to know WHAT you are thinking of writing about.

Perhaps this subject has already been written about a gazillion times in exactly the same way you intend to write it. Maybe your topic isn't really represented in any of our developer areas or knowledge centers. Hmmmm "I think I'll write about... my new puppies..?"

Seriously, maybe you don't keep up with reading the blogs in your subject area and suggest redundant topics or subjects that are fully covered in forums.


I know that there are a great many modest and humble people in our ranks who balk at expanding self-flattering description. Hey, we are not looking for brag, just substance.

How can we judge interest when someone says they are going to blog on "subjects that interest me"; or "about making this technology better" .WHAT technology, how improved?

So, friends, what I experience here occasionally (and forgive me as I am relatively new to this space) is that a few folks are a little huffy about our slow response to approve, yet I also see that it might be a little unfair for some folks to take great pains to read through applications and go the extra step to invite others to enhance their submission contents only to find that some other folks don't even bother finishing a sentence or proof reading.

The bar has definitely been raised on SDN. We expect contributors to fill their business card details and, although it is optional, we also encourage attaching pictures, to the weblog application as well as Business card, to personalize and enhance community identity.

When it comes to the format of the actual content of the blogs, much has already been written here by SDNers.

Brian: The 1-2-3 Steps To Producing a Weblog and Mark: Weblog formatting Tips and Tricks

If I may add a small additional reminder that descriptions used in blogs should DESCRIBE and they are used in RSS feeds as well... and finally, as some discovered this week, aesthetics DO matter.

So I've finished my rant of "why they don"t let me blog."

And after I've taken a little personal inventory I might discover that "some" of the responsibility for why I am not yet blogging, just maybe, possibly, is mine.

Cheers,

Marilyn Pratt

SAP Developer Network

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