Salon Blogs
Frequently Asked Questions
As of Feb. 1, 2006, this Salon Blogs program is no longer accepting new participants. Blogs that started before that date are welcome to continue as before.
How do I get help?
You'll find full technical support information here.
If you have a problem with your purchase of the Salon edition of Radio UserLand, you can e-mail customerservice@userland.com.
How does Radio UserLand work? What's the difference between my "desktop Web site" and my blog's public home page?
Radio UserLand runs a Web server right on your own computer, builds your Web pages locally on your computer's hard drive and then automatically syncs them with a public Web server (this is called "upstreaming"), making them available to the general Web user. (You can turn off this automatic syncing, if you wish to.) Radio gives you access to a variety of screens in your browser that let you post to your blog, control its appearance and functioning, and collect news and information feeds from other sources (and easily post links and commentary based on those feeds).
Radio Userland is available from UserLand Software directly. What are the differences between the UserLand version and the Salon Blogs version?
The software itself is functionally identical. There are two main differences: (a) The default template, or look and feel, of the Salon Blogs version is different (once you start using the software you are totally free to modify these templates if you want); and (b) only users of the Salon Blogs version of Radio will connect with the Salon Blogs community listings of recent updates and most widely read blogs.
Why should I set up a blog with Salon Blogs when there are free alternatives?
We know there are lots of choices out there for blogging software. Radio UserLand stands out for its ease of installation, its strong integration of news feeds, its flexibility and its community features. No other blogging tool gets a non-technically skilled user on the Web as quickly and painlessly. Also, Salon Blogs users will automatically be part of a community of Salon-based bloggers, which will help you get the word about and bring visitors to read what you write.
How will Salon link to Salon Blog users' pages?
From the beginning, Scott Rosenberg, Salon's managing editor, will operate a blog -- linked to from Salon's main headlines -- that will keep track of new arrivals among Salon Blogs and point readers toward them. And we'll be providing links to two main listings pages that report the most recently updated blogs and rank the most-often visited blogs.
Other Salon staffers may also start their own blogs, and we may also decide to link to other users' blogs from Salon's home page. Salon Blogs is an experiment, so we'll keep building on whatever works and throwing out whatever doesn't.
What are news feeds and how do they work?
With Radio Userland you can sign up for headline feeds from a variety of sources. Your Radio "news aggregator" will regularly pull in headlines and updates from these sources that you can read in your browser and, if you choose, easily post to your blog. (Technically, these are feeds in a flavor of XML known as RSS.) The Salon edition of Radio Userland is by default signed up for the Salon news feed and several others. You can configure your news feeds any way you like.
What are categories? What are stories?
You can use categories to route your weblog posts to different RSS feeds that other Radio users can subscribe to.
Categories in Radio can also generate HTML renderings, so you can create category Web sites with a separate homepage and archive pages. You can also publish your category Web site to a different server or change the template for the category Web site.
Stories in Radio are an easy way to post an essay or article on your public Web site when you want it on a separate page.
Salon places advertisements on its own pages. Will there be ads on Salon Blogs?
Your Salon Blog is your own Web site, hosted by Salon and UserLand and supported by your payment of the $39.95 fee. We will not place ads on it. Salon may place ads on blogs run by its own staffers, however.
Who owns the material I place on my Salon Blog?
You hold copyright to whatever you publish via Salon Blogs. Salon and Userland will not interfere with what you publish on your blog, except to enforce the Radio UserLand software license or in response to violations of the law.
Can I host my site on a different server?
Yes. The Radio UserLand for Salon Blogs software is preset to work with the main Salon Blogs server but you can change the settings to automatically FTP to any one or a number of different servers of your choosing.
How do I make Radio faster on Macintosh Classic?
See this important note about enhancing the performance on Macintosh Classic when running Microsoft Internet Explorer.
I already have a Salon blog that's up for renewal -- how do I renew?
Just follow this link to purchase your renewal and then follow the instructions here to enter your renewal code.
How do I purchase additional storage space for my Salon blog?
Your Salon Blogs Radio Userland license entitles you to free use of up to 40 megabytes of storage space per year. If you find you need additional storage space on the server, you can purchase it here, and then follow the instructions here to enter your upgrade code.
