#Specific Implementation of the Stack Overflow Blog
Specific Implementation of the Stack Overflow Blog
Because the SO blog currently fills the role of the network-wide blog, there would be unique challenges in bringing community blogging to Stack Overflow. Below are some ideas for how to approach this site and the transition from SO's blog being for everyone to being run by the community:
##Implementation
Implementation
Network-wide posts should appear on the front page along with all other posts under the "all posts" tab. They would all be marked with their own special tag, stack-exchange. This would denote that the post applies to the whole network, and is not a community blog post but an official, SE, Inc. approved post. This tag would be a moderator-only tag (like community-ads or status-completed on Meta) so that only approved people could post network-wide announcements. Certain other tags (such as podcast) should also be moderator-only.
In the tabs for the SO blog, there would be a "stack exchange" tab for network-wide stack exchange posts, a podcast tab for the SE podcast, and then a few other tags for SO site-specific stuff, like tutorials, QOTW, or whatever else the site may want to promote.
##Transition
Transition
A blog post explaining the change in what "blog.stackoverflow" is (since it would now be allowing community posts) would be posted to the current blog before a switch.
Once switched, both network-wide posts and SO-specific posts would appear on the site.
The current RSS address for the SO blog (http://blog.stackoverflow.com/index.php/feed/) would continue to only point to posts tagged stack-exchange and podcast, so that people currently subscribed would not suddenly start getting posts about question on Stack Overflow. Tag-specific RSS feeds could be used (exactly like how you subscribe to a tag on any SE site) for new subscribers.
For consistency, blog. stackexchange.com would contain only posts tagged stack-exchange, and function essentially as it does now.
##Mockups
Mockups
Here is a mockup specifically for the Stack Overflow blog. Click for full-size.
Note: I posted this as a separate answer as it deals with implementation for blog.stackoverflow.com exclusively, and does not apply to other sites. This is so that this portion of the proposal can be considered separately from the general suggestions of how the system could work.
#Specific Implementation of the Stack Overflow Blog
Because the SO blog currently fills the role of the network-wide blog, there would be unique challenges in bringing community blogging to Stack Overflow. Below are some ideas for how to approach this site and the transition from SO's blog being for everyone to being run by the community:
##Implementation
Network-wide posts should appear on the front page along with all other posts under the "all posts" tab. They would all be marked with their own special tag, stack-exchange. This would denote that the post applies to the whole network, and is not a community blog post but an official, SE, Inc. approved post. This tag would be a moderator-only tag (like community-ads or status-completed on Meta) so that only approved people could post network-wide announcements. Certain other tags (such as podcast) should also be moderator-only.
In the tabs for the SO blog, there would be a "stack exchange" tab for network-wide stack exchange posts, a podcast tab for the SE podcast, and then a few other tags for SO site-specific stuff, like tutorials, QOTW, or whatever else the site may want to promote.
##Transition
A blog post explaining the change in what "blog.stackoverflow" is (since it would now be allowing community posts) would be posted to the current blog before a switch.
Once switched, both network-wide posts and SO-specific posts would appear on the site.
The current RSS address for the SO blog (http://blog.stackoverflow.com/index.php/feed/) would continue to only point to posts tagged stack-exchange and podcast, so that people currently subscribed would not suddenly start getting posts about question on Stack Overflow. Tag-specific RSS feeds could be used (exactly like how you subscribe to a tag on any SE site) for new subscribers.
For consistency, blog. stackexchange.com would contain only posts tagged stack-exchange, and function essentially as it does now.
##Mockups
Here is a mockup specifically for the Stack Overflow blog. Click for full-size.
Note: I posted this as a separate answer as it deals with implementation for blog.stackoverflow.com exclusively, and does not apply to other sites. This is so that this portion of the proposal can be considered separately from the general suggestions of how the system could work.
Specific Implementation of the Stack Overflow Blog
Because the SO blog currently fills the role of the network-wide blog, there would be unique challenges in bringing community blogging to Stack Overflow. Below are some ideas for how to approach this site and the transition from SO's blog being for everyone to being run by the community:
Implementation
Network-wide posts should appear on the front page along with all other posts under the "all posts" tab. They would all be marked with their own special tag, stack-exchange. This would denote that the post applies to the whole network, and is not a community blog post but an official, SE, Inc. approved post. This tag would be a moderator-only tag (like community-ads or status-completed on Meta) so that only approved people could post network-wide announcements. Certain other tags (such as podcast) should also be moderator-only.
In the tabs for the SO blog, there would be a "stack exchange" tab for network-wide stack exchange posts, a podcast tab for the SE podcast, and then a few other tags for SO site-specific stuff, like tutorials, QOTW, or whatever else the site may want to promote.
Transition
A blog post explaining the change in what "blog.stackoverflow" is (since it would now be allowing community posts) would be posted to the current blog before a switch.
Once switched, both network-wide posts and SO-specific posts would appear on the site.
The current RSS address for the SO blog (http://blog.stackoverflow.com/index.php/feed/) would continue to only point to posts tagged stack-exchange and podcast, so that people currently subscribed would not suddenly start getting posts about question on Stack Overflow. Tag-specific RSS feeds could be used (exactly like how you subscribe to a tag on any SE site) for new subscribers.
For consistency, blog. stackexchange.com would contain only posts tagged stack-exchange, and function essentially as it does now.
Mockups
Here is a mockup specifically for the Stack Overflow blog. Click for full-size.
Note: I posted this as a separate answer as it deals with implementation for blog.stackoverflow.com exclusively, and does not apply to other sites. This is so that this portion of the proposal can be considered separately from the general suggestions of how the system could work.
#Specific Implementation of the Stack Overflow Blog
Because the SO blog currently fills the role of the network-wide blog, there would be unique challenges in bringing community blogging to Stack Overflow. Below are some ideas for how to approach this site and the transition from SO's blog being for everyone to being run by the community:
##Implementation
Network-wide posts should appear on the front page along with all other posts under the "all posts" tab. They would all be marked with their own special tag, stack-exchange. This would denote that the post applies to the whole network, and is not a community blog post but an official, SE, Inc. approved post. This tag would be a moderator-only tag (like community-ads or status-completed on Meta) so that only approved people could post network-wide announcements. Certain other tags (such as podcast) should also be moderator-only.
In the tabs for the SO blog, there would be a "stack exchange" tab for network-wide stack exchange posts, a podcast tab for the SE podcast, and then a few other tags for SO site-specific stuff, like tutorials, QOTW, or whatever else the site may want to promote.
##Transition
A blog post explaining the change in what "blog.stackoverflow" is (since it would now be allowing community posts) would be posted to the current blog before a switch.
Once switched, both network-wide posts and SO-specific posts would appear on the site.
The current RSS address for the SO blog (http://blog.stackoverflow.com/index.php/feed/) would continue to only point to posts tagged stack-exchange and podcast, so that people currently subscribed would not suddenly start getting posts about question on Stack Overflow. Tag-specific RSS feeds could be used (exactly like how you subscribe to a tag on any SE site) for new subscribers.
For consistency, blog. stackexchange.com would contain only posts tagged stack-exchange, and function essentially as it does now.
##Mockups
Here is a mockup specifically for the Stack Overflow blog. Click for full-size.
Note: I posted this as a separate answer as it deals with implementation for blog.stackoverflow.com exclusively, and does not apply to other sites. This is so that this portion of the proposal can be considered separately from the general suggestions of how the system could work.