Today sees the start of user community blogging functionality at NZMac.com - Welcome!

I wanted to take a moment in this very first blog to explain a few things in terms of how I see the blog fitting into the site...and also stress, once again, that this is all a learning experience for me, so please have patience as the blog grows, adapts and refines itself.

Registered users are able to blog and comment - Please login to get access to the Blog dashboard in the left menu (hidden to the public).

The intention of the Community Blog area of the site is for a location (in concept) that lies somewhere between the discussion forum and the “Local Voices” section of the site. Think of it as an area for comment and reflection by users not wanting to post quick comments, links and participate in discussions....whilst also not wanting to develop a detailed commentary that would best go into the “Local Voices” section. Another way we might evolve it is to make the “Local Voices” section more about you telling us about yourself and the blog an area for open commentary...just a thought?

Many of the rules related to behaviour and etiquette as outlined in the Site Rules and Guidelines page (http://www.nzmac.com/site-rules-and-guidelines.html) apply here. Post can be more generic than simply Mac related, however they should be relevant to the average user of this site.....so I would suggest as a minimum, they should in some way be computer related. Obviously the boundary on this will be one that we develop together, but remember that this is a communal blog in many ways...you’ll be contributing blogs to one that others are also posting on.

What this section of the site isn’t...otherwise known as “The blindingly obvious, but Phil feels he needs to mention it regardless” list...

The Community Blog section is NOT an area to...

* Post news
* Have or start a discussion
* Publish articles, how to’s or reviews
* Offer quick tips to other users
* Publish useful links for other users that are best placed in the useful links section
* Announce events
* Try to buy or sell things
* Discuss your business or a service that you provide...we call that “advertising”

I’m really excited to be able to offer this service up to you all and hope that you will join in the community and participate/contribute.

Cheers, Phil

Note :
- Due to complex technical reason, I was unable to go with the Joomla component that used Word Press. The component was in beta and there were many issues created that would have taken a while to solve. The component I purchased is by the folks who made the comment component
- I’ll be adding an RSS feed into the site and the NZMac.com widget, so you can keep up-to-date with Blog posts

Update 4/2/2008

You'll now see entries in this blog area previous to this 'first' post. These posts were once held in a 'commentary' section on the site and have been moved here.