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BigBlog is an easy to use blogging service with a extensive range of features brought to you by BigPond. (BIGpond weB LOG ? get it?) It gives everyone a chance to have a voice on the web, to share experiences and interests with the world.
Every BigBlog is like is like someone's personal website. Your BigBlog can be an online diary? a forum for your ideas? a site where friends and family can view photos? a place to express yourself? And it can be interactive. People can post their comments and feedback, if you want them to.
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A BigBlog site is included with every BigPond Membership ? so if you have a BigPond account you can have a BigBlog site at no extra cost.
If you're not a BigPond Member yet, check out our great range of Broadband Plans here.
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There is no cost. A BigBlog is a bonus feature of BigPond Membership and includes 10MB of online storage for ADSL, cable and wireless broadband MB and GB members. Even uploading site content is unmetered usage for these BigPond Members. For BigPond Dial-Up, Satellite and Wireless Broadband hourly plan customers, use of BigBlog will count towards your monthly usage allowance.
You can choose to buy extra storage if you want to store more than 10MB of content..
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We include one BigBlog site with every BigPond Membership. Please note: that's one per account, not one per person using the account.
This means that if your family shares a BigPond account, you'll have to share a single BigBlog site or do some negotiating about who gets to 'own' the site..
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That's really up to you. It's your space on the web ? so let your imagination run free!
You can upload and post almost any kind of file ? including digital images, video, audio, Flash animations and games, documents (Word, Excel, PDF, etc) and even applications.
We just insist that you don't breach the BigBlog Terms & Conditions or the Acceptable Use Policy, and that you don't post material that breaches anyone's rights including their moral or intellectual property rights (copyright).
So basically you can post anything you like ? as long as it's legal, socially acceptable, and you are the creator or owner of the material.
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Your BigBlog is published on the internet, so anyone can visit ? from The Queen to your Year 5 maths teacher? So be careful what you say! They'll be able to see what you have to show ? and you can let them post comments on your BigBlog content. Your BigBlog will keep statistics on how many page visits you get.
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At this stage ? nothing in particular. We won't delete your BigBlog just because it's inactive.
However, you'll find people will stop checking back for updates and your BigBlog will soon drop off the Most Active and Most Popular listings, so it won't attract much traffic.
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By using our setup wizard, creating and maintaining your BigBlog is a piece of cake.
Start by visiting bigblog.com.au and click on Create My Blog. You'll need your BigPond Username and Password. You'll be asked to choose a unique name for your BigBlog site (this is also the URL and cannot be changed later); then you can set up your personal profile, choose a template and start blogging.
Later, you can use the Edit screens to add posts, update your details and more. Or you can upload text, photos, video and audio straight to your site from your associated Telstra Mobile phone. (You 'associate' your phone with your BigBlog as part of your user set up.)
It's really that easy! Point and click, point and click?
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No, you don't need to own or download anything special.
BigBlog works through your normal web browser ? Internet Explorer 5.5 and above or Firefox ? and can be enjoyed on a PC or a Mac.
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There are two basic ways to post things to your BigBlog ? online and via an 'associated' (that is, pre-nominated) Telstra Mobile phone.
' Online ' via a web enabled computer, PDA or WAP mobile phone.
You can add content to your BigBlog via the web, using the Edit pages in your BigBlog site. You can then change your details, and post content from any web enabled device like a computer (your own, one at work, or in an internet café if you're travelling), 'access / view your blog on a compatible mobile handset' , or PDA using the easy online tools.
You can also upload and post almost any kind of file ? including digital images, video, audio, Flash animations and games, documents (Word, Excel, PDF, etc), applications and more. (Remember that you need to be the legal owner of anything you publish on your BigBlog.)
All you need is web access plus your BigPond Username and Password, then go to your BigBlog page and log in.
- Via an associated Telstra Mobile phone.
Any media that your Telstra Mobile phone is capable of recording can be posted to your BigBlog. These days, that might include photos, audio and video, as well as text.
You first need to associate the Telstra Mobile with your BigBlog using the online setup pages. Then you can simply SMS or MMS your posts to 125 BLOG (125 2564). Our systems will automatically recognise the 'from' phone number and post the content to your BigBlog.
Note that a phone number can only be associated with ONE BigBlog. See Your mobile and your BigBlog for more info.
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You need your BigPond username and secret password to edit your BigBlog content and user details online. Those details are the security key for your entire BigPond account and so they're extremely confidential. Even if your family is sharing your BigBlog, the primary account owner should act as the 'webmaster' and log other contributors in.
However, going online is only ONE way to add content to your BigBlog. You and your friends can submit posts directly from previously nominated Telstra Mobile phone ? which means you can let several people add text, images, audio and even video via SMS or MMS.
See How do I post things to my BigBlog? for more details.
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You can't actually limit access to your BigBlog by creating a list of permitted visitors or having a password. However you can make your BigBlog hard to find. Then you start to control who sees your BigBlog by only giving the URL out to your preferred visitors.
The things you can do to 'hide' your BigBlog include:
- Choose a BigBlog title that is impossible to guess, even at random. Make up a title as you would a password, with a random combination of letters and numbers instead of using common names or words.
- Choose NOT to list your BigBlog in the Communities directory. If you choose to have an unlisted BigBlog, it won't show up on the list, and it won't come up as a result even if someone searches our directory for it by name.
- You can also control who is allowed to post comments on your BigBlog, so even if other people find your BigBlog they won't be able to add their remarks.
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BigBlogs only include 10MB of complimentary storage. If you try to add more content, your oldest posts will start getting deleted to create space.
If 10MB is not enough, Members that have been upgraded to BigPond's new environment can purchase BigPond Online Storage and allocate more space to your blog as it grows.
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Posting images to your BigBlog is really easy. (You should also visit the Photo Galleries section to learn more about organising the images on your BigBlog.)
- Web access and WAP devices
Make sure that your computer, phone or PDA 'find' the images you want to upload. (You might have them saved on your computer or handset already, or they may be on a connected device like your digital camera or a disk.)
Step 1. Log into your BigBlog and click 'Create a new post'
Step 2. Add any text you'd like as a caption or comment, then click the 'Attach' image icon in the toolbar.
Step 3. A window will open that allows you to browse the files on your computer to find the image you want.
Step 4. Click on your chosen image and click the 'Choose' button, then the 'Save & Close' button.
Step 5. Repeat the process to add pictures and save your post when you're done.
- From a Telstra Mobile phone
If you have an image saved on your phone, or you've just taken a photo with it, you can post it straight up to your BigBlog. (The mobile phone you're using needs to be 'associated' with your BigBlog first. See Your mobile and your BigBlog if you need to know more about this.)
Step 1. Create an MMS message which includes the image(s) and any text caption you'd like to post with it (or them).
Step 2. Send the MMS message to 125 BLOG (125 2564).
That's it. Our systems will automatically direct the incoming MMS to your BigBlog.
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You can post just about any kind of computer file you like on your BigBlog. (As long as you don't breach copyright, the BigBlog Terms and Conditions or the BigPond Acceptable Use policy, and that you won't exceed your available storage). If the device you're using to make your post can provide the file, you can post it.
- On computers, that might include images, video, documents, files and even small applications.
- PDAs and other handheld devices can usually store (and therefore upload) the same types of files as a computer.
- On mobile phones you're probably limited to images, audio, video and text.
Posting your 'other types' of file is as easy as posting an image file. Just follow the steps in How do I post an image? ? but find and choose your alternative file after you click the 'Attach' paperclip in the toolbar, or include your alternative media file in your MMS message.
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Sometimes a browser problem might cause a page to lose its formatting. It usually happens if the browser can't fit a post into the page width available ? and the most common cause is content which has been pasted in from another source (e.g. another web page or a Word document).
To fix the problem, find the post where the text isn't wrapping onto the next line properly. Then go into the Edit screen and either insert a new line manually or insert a space so that the line breaks. Save your post and check your blog page again. (You may need to have a few goes before things get back on track.)
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Photo Galleries are like online filing cabinets for the images you post on your BigBlog. Actually, they're more like photo albums. They make your photos easier to find (for you and your visitors) and easier to manage.
Once you've logged in to your BigBlog, you can click on the Photo Galleries page and create new Photo Galleries. Then, by assigning images to a Photo Gallery as you post them, you can keep all the images from one trip or event together in the appropriately named Photo Gallery.
Visitors can also enjoy the photos in each Gallery as an automatic slideshow, if they like.
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There's no set limit to the number of images that you can have in each Photo Gallery ? apart from the storage space available on your BigBlog.
However, there's no limit to the number of Photo Galleries you can have either, so creating lots of small Photo Galleries will make your photo collections easier to browse and manage than if they were all on one or two giant pages.
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Yes you can ? but the Photo Gallery needs to exist before you can create a link to it. So you either need to create the Photo Gallery first, or go back and edit an old post to include a Photo Gallery link once you've uploaded your images to create a new Photo Gallery page. (Whenever you create a new Photo Gallery, a post automatically appears on your BigBlog home page so that your readers will know about it.)
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As you can post virtually any type of computer file onto your BigBlog, it stands to reason that you can post just about any type of video file. Some of the more common types include .wmv, .mpg, .mpeg, .avi, and more. (Our systems are most familiar with .wmv files.) Just ask yourself who you want to watch your video ? and how likely they are to have the necessary software to play it. The rest is up to you.
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While you can upload any number of different video file formats to your BigBlog, our system can only recognise and create thumbnails for only some of those files. If we can't create a thumbnail for your video post, we will show a default video icon within your blog and your profile image on public pages like the BigBlog home page
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We don't put a limit on the maximum length of a single video clip ? however there is a 50MB file size limit, and you may be limited by your available storage space long before that. If you have video software that lets you manage the compression level and display size of your video file, you'll be able to get more minutes per megabyte.
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Of course you can. Simply log in to your BigBlog and edit the page with your video clip on it. (Remember, you may have stored it as a post, in a Photo Gallery or as an MMS post.) You can either choose to delete the entire post or clip; or choose to edit the post, then highlight the attached video file and just delete that using your computer's delete key.
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Of course you can. Simply log in to your BigBlog and edit the page with your video clip on it. (Remember, you may have stored it as a post, in a Photo Gallery or as an MMS post.) You can either choose to delete the entire post or clip; or choose to edit the post, then highlight the attached video file and just delete that using your computer's delete key.
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Your BigBlog can accept posts directly from up to six nominated Telstra Mobile phones, via SMS or MMS. These posts can include digital media recorded or saved on your mobile ? including photos, video, audio and text.
All you need to know is:
1. The BigBlog system is only able to process direct posts from Telstra Mobile phones.
2. Each Telstra Mobile phone number has to be associated (registered) with the BigBlog, via a web login, before SMS or MMS posts can be accepted.
3. A phone number can only be associated with ONE BigBlog.
4. The number to SMS or MMS to is always 125 BLOG (125 2564)
So make sure that you are definitely entering details for a Telstra Mobile phone, and remember that each number can only be associated with one BigBlog -? otherwise it won't work.
Okay, so let's start posting:
Step 1. Associate the Telstra Mobile phone number.
- Log in to your BigBlog, click 'Settings', and scroll down to 'How to post' under 'General Settings'.
- Enter the Telstra Mobile phone numbers you want to let post to your BigBlog.
- Click 'Save Settings' and log out.
Step 2. Create a post.
- Use your phone to write a text message, take a photo or record video or audio.
- Then create an SMS or MMS on your phone ? using the text and media you want to post.
Step 3. Send your post.
- Now just send your SMS or MMS message to 125 BLOG (125 2564).
- Your text and media will be posted to the MMS Posts or SMS Posts page of your BigBlog.
- Alternatively, send your post as a draft, to 125 DRFT (125 3738), then go online to post it onto the public part of your BigBlog later.
Please note that different handsets put different restrictions on the size of SMS and MMS messages. You should check the limits for your mobile phone before you use it to post anything to your BigBlog, otherwise the message may not get sent.
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You can associate up to six Telstra Mobile phone numbers with your BigBlog contradictory with statement highlighted above ? which means your BigBlog can accept SMS and MMS posts from you plus five of your friends and/or family members.
See How do I set up my BigBlog to accept SMS and MMS posts? for more details.
When our system receives a post from a mobile phone, it checks the number and looks for an associated BigBlog. The SMS or MMS content is then automatically directed to the right BigBlog site.
So all you and your friends need to do (once you've set it up) is create your SMS or MMS posts and send them to 125 BLOG (125 2564).
If you'd like to check the posts before they go 'live' on your BigBlog site, tell your friends to send their SMS or MMS to 125 DRFT (125 3738). That way, the message will be saved as a private draft post, until you go online and post it on the public part of your BigBlog.
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To automatically post SMS and MMS messages to the right BigBlog site, our system needs to be able to recognise the sending phone's number and then associate that number with a BigBlog. To do this:
1. The sending phone must be a Telstra Mobile phone; and
2. The phone number can only be associated with ONE BigBlog site.
If a friend can't post from their mobile, check that:
1. Their mobile is definitely with Telstra.
2. They haven't already associated their number with another BigBlog.
3. You've entered their number correctly on the 'General Settings' page of your BigBlog.
If their number is associated with another BigBlog, they'll have to ask the owner of that BigBlog to remove the association by deleting the number from their 'General Settings'. You can then add the number to your BigBlog 'General Settings' and things should start working.
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The only cost is the usual SMS or MMS charges set out in your mobile plan. BigPond doesn't charge anything for receiving and processing posts from your Telstra Mobile.
If you visit your BigBlog via WAP, you will be charged the standard WAP rates.
If you are going to use your mobile to post a lot of items to your BigBlog, or to view your BigBlog on your mobile, why not consider one of the BigPond Photos Packs
which offer discounted MMS rates to BigBlog and BigPond Photos and free WAP viewing of both sites as well.
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Access to your BigBlog via mobile is virtually as flexible as full web access: You'll be able to view your BigBlog posts, SMS and MMS posts, and Photo Galleries. Plus you'll be able to browse around the BigBlog WAP portal to check out other people's BigBlogs.
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You can use your WAP phone to create text posts, delete posts, update settings like friends? phone numbers, and modify options to make your BigBlog public or private. The functionality is quite basic, but very useful for updating your BigBlog when you're out and about.
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Communities are groups of BigBlogs with a shared subject? Or simply, groups of BigBlog owners with shared interests and BigBlogs based around the same subject.
Our main communities include subjects like Sport, Music, Movies, Games, V8 Supercars, NRL, AFL and more. Each community has a large number of different BigBlogs within it. However, any BigBlog owner can start and control their own community of BigBloggers, sharing almost any subject they like.
You can find all our communities, and look for those that might share your interests, by visiting our communities directory.
Each community has its own home page, which includes links to all the member BigBlogs; plus quick links to the most recent posts, most popular posts, most popular MMS posts, and most popular video posts. The community administrator can also post community notices on the home page ? and there's a list of all the member BigBlogs here too. So all in all, it's a great place to find out what a community is about.
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Joining a BigBlog community is easy ? and any BigBlog owner can join. Each member BigBlog and their community home page features a 'Join this community' button. All you need to do is click on the button, then submit your BigPond username and password to register. (Don't worry, your login details will not be passed on to the community administrator.)
Each time you subscribe to a community, it will be added to a list of 'My Communities' on your own BigBlog's settings page. So you can check your current community memberships there, and 'un-join' a community if you wish.
Some community administrators choose to approve each new community member. If you want to join one of these communities, the administrator will need to approve your membership first. You'll then receive an email telling you if your application has been successful.
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You can join as many communities as you wish ? providing the administrators are happy to let you join.
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You'll see a number of 'Most Popular' categories on the BigBlog home page (bigblog.com.au) as well as on each community home page. These BigBlog home page rankings are taken from all posts, while the community home page rankings are only from posts to BigBlogs that are part of that community.
The Most Popular posts are rated in slightly different ways, depending on what they are:
- The 5 Most Popular posts are rated according to votes cast by the community members. If there aren't enough votes, then we rate the most commented-on posts as the most popular (although they could possibly be the most unpopular, depending on the comments!). If none have been commented on, then the most recent posts get listed.
- The 5 Most Popular MMS posts are rated according to the posts that have received the most 'hits' (views) over the last 7 days. If there's not enough activity to rank the posts, then we'll just list the 5 most recent posts.
- The 5 Most Popular Video posts are the most viewed over the past 7 days or, if activity is low, then the most commented on or the most recent.
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If you have a BigBlog, you can start your own community for you and your friends.
You can start a community by clicking on the 'Create A Community' button ? which you'll find on any community home page or the home page of any BigBlog already in a community. There's also a 'Create A Community' (as above) button on your own BigBlog settings pages, if that's easier to get to.
You'll need your BigPond login details to create a community, plus a unique community name. You'll then be asked for a brief description of your community's interests and a message for the Community Noticeboard. And you'll need to choose whether to accept or reject community members as they apply, or to accept all new members automatically.
Owning a community comes with responsibilities ? you automatically become the Community Administrator. That means if you cancel your BigBlog service then your community will be cancelled as well.
If you choose to screen your community members, you'll also have to accept or reject each application that comes in. And you'll have the ability to remove member BigBlogs from your community later, if you wish.
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You can only administer one community at a time.
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If you've chosen to approve or disallow new members, you'll be sent an email each time someone applies to join your community. This will include a link to your community administration page and you'll need to log in to register your decision. If you reject someone's application to join your community, we'll simply send an automated email response telling them that their application was unsuccessful.
If you didn't set up your community so that each new member is screened, you also have the ability to remove BigBlogs from your community via the community administrator page.
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If you decide you don't want anyone else joining your community, you can click this option on your community administrator page. If you do, the 'Join This Community' button will no longer appear on your Community Home Page or on any of your member BigBlogs.
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You can let people know when you post new content to your BigBlog by using our automatic notification service. That way, the people you want to keep up with your posts will be notified whenever you have something new to show ? and you won't have to contact them all separately.
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Notifications send an automatic message to your listed friends and family members, telling them when you've added an update to your BigBlog. It saves people having to check your BigBlog every couple of days, and means they never have to miss an update ? no matter how infrequently you post new content.
It's easy to add people to your automatic notification list.
Step 1. Log into your BigBlog, click the 'Settings' tab and go to the Friends page.
Step 2. Enter each friend's name, along with their email address and Telstra Mobile number.
Step 3. Select whether each listed friend will receive their notifications by email or SMS. (You'll be able to edit the email notification message, but not the SMS notification text.)
Step 4. Save your finished list.
Step 5. Whenever you update your BigBlog, you'll be asked if you want to send email and SMS notifications to your listed friends. You'll also be offered a draft email notification text which you can edit if you wish.
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It's easy! Just log in to your BigBlog, click the 'Settings' tab and go to the Friends page. You can enter, edit or delete your friends? details right there.
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Every time you make a new post to your BigBlog, you'll be given the option to send out a notifications announcement. If you've listed your friends? email addresses, so that they'll be sent the notification by email, you'll also be able to review and edit your notification message ? using our default email as a base.
If you're notifying friends by SMS, the SMS text can't be changed.
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The SMS notification message reads 'Click to see the update has just made to their BigBlog.'
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No, there's no charge. It's a special complementary service for BigBlog owners only, and can be sent to most mobile phone numbers.
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People can comment on all type of posts : including your text, Photo Gallery, MMS and video posts.
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You can choose to only allow comments from other BigBlog owners, to control the number of comments you receive and feedback from every web surfer in the world. If you choose this second option (in your Settings) people who want to comment on your BigBlog will need to provide their BigBlog username and password first.
At the same time, if you want to leave a comment on someone's BigBlog and you're asked for your BigBlog details, it's just because they've chosen to only allow comments from other BigBloggers.
And when people want to post a comment on your BigBlog:
- Non-members will need to provide a name with their comments (if allowed), and are given the option of providing a profile image, plus a URL and/or e-mail address if they want.
- BigBlog members will need to log in before they can post their comments. We'll then attach their BigBlog display name and BigBlog URL to their comment. They'll also have the option of attaching their profile image if they want.
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Comments from other BigBloggers will have a little icon next to them, so you can tell them apart from general web users.
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Comments from other BigBloggers will have a little icon next to them, so you can tell them apart from general web users.
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You can choose to receive an email notification whenever someone comments on one of your posts. Of course, you need to have added your email address to your BigBlog Settings first. Then, whenever you create a new post online (not via SMS or MMS) and choose to allow comments, you'll also be able to turn on the comment notification feature.
If the comment notification is greyed out, it's because you haven't provided your email address yet.
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No , the comments people leave on your BigBlog don't count towards your complimentary 10MB storage allocation or any additional storage that you purchase to expand your blog.
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Your BigBlog posts can be rated by your visitors, using a very simple five star system. First you need to choose to 'Allow Ratings' on your Settings page, otherwise people won't be given the option to rate your site at all.
People can rate your posts, depending on how much they enjoyed them. There will be a choice of ratings ' from one star to five stars ' just above the post. Visitors just select their rating and the system will include their vote in the overall average star rating for that post.
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Anyone who visits your BigBlog can add their rating to a post ? providing you allowed ratings when you first created the post, of course.
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People can rate your BigBlog overall, or an individual post ? including text, Photo Gallery, MMS and video posts.
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To stop people 'stuffing the ballot box' as it were, the system restricts each person to one rating vote per post per day. If someone attempts to rate the same BigBlog twice on the same day, their second vote simply won't count.
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Yes. You can choose to allow or not allow ratings as you create each posting.
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No. You can choose not to display it, but that still won't reset your rating. And when you choose not to display your rating, you also stop people from being able to rate your site any more.
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RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and is a web technology that lets people receive website (and BigBlog) updates automatically. Registering for an RSS feed is kind of like making an advanced addition to your Favorites list. Instead of just being able to find the target page again ; your browser can find it, check it and download any updates for you.
So if you have a favourite BigBlog, you can subscribe to its RSS feed and have updates emailed to you ; so you don't have to manually go and check for new posts and updates.
And if you publish a BigBlog, you can invite your regular visitors to take advantage of the RSS feed to keep up with your posts more easily.
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Podcasting is a type of web broadcasting ; but instead of continually broadcasting audio (or even video) programs on the web, you simply provide your programs as a file for people to download and enjoy at their leisure.
You can use your BigBlog to provide podcasts on almost any topic (within the acceptable use guidelines, naturally) by simply creating program instalments on your computer and posting them in a suitable file format for other people to download. Just attach your audio or video files to your posts in the normal way.