How did I screw up my [more inside]?

February 11, 2006 10:31 AM

OK, I f***ed up. I put 6 paragraphs on the front page when I only intended to put one and five on the flip. I thought I'd done everything right. What went wrong?
posted by hwestiii to Etiquette/Policy at 10:31 AM (21 comments total)

don't sweat it, hwestiii - many of us have goofed early on. But you will get a bunch of negative comments, take them as a hazing ritual. Don't get discouraged.

I compose my post in notepad, separating the main post and the "more inside." I post the main part, with a notation of -more- at the end; then I preview the post, check links & spelling, and then post. Then I copy & paste the "more" stuff in the first comment. Other people may do it differently.
posted by madamjujujive at 10:38 AM on February 11, 2006

Hard to say what went wrong, when we weren't looking over your shoulder when you hit post! Fear not, I am sure Matt or Jessamyn will be along shortly...
posted by mzurer at 10:40 AM on February 11, 2006

There's no 'more inside' on the blue. You should compose the post in advance, and make whatever you don't want on the front page the first comment.
posted by sohcahtoa at 10:41 AM on February 11, 2006

And find better links than amazon and imdb.
posted by goatdog at 10:48 AM on February 11, 2006

Yeah, your best bet is to put a single expository paragraph, two at most, on the front page, and put any extra stuff as a "more inside." The way to do this is to compose the whole shmeer in advance (in Notepad or the equivalent) and copy and past your "more inside" immediately after making your FPP so that your "more inside" will be guaranteed to be the first comment.

And yeah, make it better than the IMDb and Amazon. I was gonna say before it was deleted, I love me some Gene Kelly and classic musicals, but some good articles on the subject would be much better than a couple of sites that we all know about already.
posted by Gator at 10:50 AM on February 11, 2006

I removed the post. It was two IMBD links and five Amazon links connected by a sort of interesting story. If you've got a cool, original or interesting point to make or story to tell, that could make a good post as long as your post points to cool, original or interesting stuff on the web. Your story is interesting, but MeFi is sort of about when you've "Found something cool on the web." So, if you'd like to try again tomorrow, please feel free.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 10:51 AM on February 11, 2006

Thanks for keeping "fuck" off of the front page.
posted by Kwantsar at 10:55 AM on February 11, 2006

Echoing goatdog and jessamyn -- I clicked on the first few links really hoping that you'd found some interesting websites or articles, so was actually sort of irritated that it was just imdb and amazon listings. Put the same care into selecting your links as you obviously put into writing those 6 grafs and you'll have yourself a great post.
posted by scody at 10:58 AM on February 11, 2006

What you need is a web blog, hwestiii.
posted by crunchland at 11:02 AM on February 11, 2006

Multi-paragraph FPPs are uniformly bad posts.
posted by orthogonality at 11:06 AM on February 11, 2006

it's not the length, it's what you do with the length you have.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:09 AM on February 11, 2006

I've found that when you exceed a certain length, the length is all you need. ;)

(But then, I've always been tall.)
posted by orthogonality at 11:14 AM on February 11, 2006

It's not the size of your post, it's how you use the paragraphs.
posted by smackfu at 11:20 AM on February 11, 2006

I'm sorry, I guess I'm just feeling full of myself -- my ego's inflated and I guess I'm being a bit cocky. Sorry to be such a big dick.
posted by orthogonality at 11:22 AM on February 11, 2006

orthogonality, I'm not entirely sure what you're giant throbbing phallus
posted by cortex at 11:54 AM on February 11, 2006

hwest, you can email me or most of us, if you want any tips on anything. it was an interesting topic. don't let this turn you off on posting. : >
posted by amberglow at 12:52 PM on February 11, 2006

we're oddly nice, today. what happened?
posted by matteo at 12:59 PM on February 11, 2006

matteo: nothing to rage about in US gov't stuff, i suppose...
posted by slater at 1:01 PM on February 11, 2006

or maybe because it's the weekend less people are feeling P.O.-ed?
posted by raedyn at 1:19 PM on February 11, 2006

matteo - for some of us, it may be the calm before the storm. We are happily hunkered down with good food & beverage waiting for a blizzard.
posted by madamjujujive at 1:21 PM on February 11, 2006

I hate you all.

whoops
posted by scody at 1:50 PM on February 11, 2006