Yesterday we launched Outside Blogs beta and as expected we have discovered a few issues with the product. I would like to use this post as a place to update all of our members with the list of known issues and their current status.
Outstanding Issues:
- New issue - DNS rerouting does not seem to be working correctly. We found one bug and fixed it, but that did not seem to solve the problem. This is of highest priority and we will keep you updated. (This is the reason some custom domain names are not working yet)
- No Index tags should be placed on all sub-domain Outside Blogs. See Bob's duplicate content post for further explanation.
- Some changes on ActiveRain blog posts are not showing up on the Outside Blog
- Single sign on functionality for commenting on Outside Blogs is not always working.
- Outside Blogs need to add an email field for commenters so that they can be notified of new comments and blog owners can contact them.
- Email address of blog owner should not be displayed on Outside Blog (front page and about me page). Fix to include similar contact box as ActiveRain.
- Under blog post title on Outside Blog, authors name should like to about page on Outside Blog, not back to ActiveRain.
- Front page of outside blogs doesn't have meta-description and meta-keywords set.
- Alternative "about me" text entry field
Resolved Issues:
- Header Image not able to upload from Internet Explorer.
- Header Graphic section is suggesting that the header image should be 760x105, when the image should be 742x105.
- Link to Localism on Outside Blog is not showing correctly.
Thanks Jon! Some of these things I had noticed, some I didn't...Thanks for your help and continued awesomeness with AR!
Wow! Good luck! This is a really good idea:)
Thanks for the heads up. I will keep an eye out. I used Mozilla to upload my Header.
J.
Jonathan,
Thanks for the update! There are many Rainers excited about this who, like me, are probably holding back until the kinks are out...keep the good stuff coming, and don't get discouraged...onwards and upwards!!! Thanks, Fran
Tomorrow is June 26th, you guys rock and we are ALL so excited.
I think we should be able to get most if not all of these issues handled in the next couple days. We are all working hard on this and apologize for any inconvience this has caused.
Jonathon - Keep up the good work. I appreciate what you are doing, and I hope somewhere down the road you and your staff are rewarded for all your hard work.
Jon- You all have worked hardOriginaially there was going to be a fee for the outside blog...is this nixed for now, or forever? If nixed, how will revenue be generated? Any advertising on the outside blogs?
Thanks Jonathan, can I add:
Jonathan, this whole product is amazing! I will be waiting for the fixes tonight since for some reason I can't load my header on FF either. Please don't apologize - we are all so stocked I can't imagine anyone feeling inconvienced - oh well maybe I can ;). Anyway RedBulls on me :)
Hi Kathy,
We are not planning to ever charge for the basic Outside Blog that is being provided at this stage. We may however charge for additional templates for your Outside Blog, or additional services, like IDX home listings, and lead management tools.
Mike,
We do know about the problems importing HTML from your about me page. We have a solution for this and will add it to the list. Thanks for the heads up.
Jonathan, thank you for all you do for this community, Active Rain is the best!
Just how many blogs do you expect me to keep uo with?
Stop the insanity.
Johathan: Thank you and all involved for developing this for us AR users. I do have a question:
My blogs appear differently than on AR. There is a lot of space above and below photos and the captions don't always appear with the correct photo. What can I do to correct this?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Is that Pacific time...it is 1120 and I still cant upload...Guess I'll check back tomorrow. thanks for the updates.
I really appreciate the update and all that you folks at AR do. You make it easy to market my business and contribute my voice to the great www.
Thanks for the update we will be looking forward to the fixes.
Thank you Jon for keeping us on the leading edge of technology with AR and the outside blog feature is exciting.
All the best!
Jon - thanks for the update - Once I get unconfused and start it, I can go back and edit posts and choose where or both places to put one or all of my past posts, right?
Jonathan thanks for the heads up and the fact that they are being addressed so quickly :)
Is there a way to disconnect the feature on the "outside blog" that leads to Localism? By having an "unfiltered Localism" linked to the "outside blogs" the "outside blog" loses the exclusivity of an "outside blog" that is perceived to be unique to that agent. The Localism postings and links are all the agent's competitors in their geo area. An "outside blog" should not have to include all of an agents competitors in their geo area..... our 2 cents.
I like the new look. But I need some clarity.
When you click on "More about Me" and scroll to the bottom, the website URL reads: http://activerain.com/janiceslaven
I want it to show my actual website: http://www.mysuwaneehome.com Is this a change I can make?? If so, how?
One more...if you are in the process of chaning your email address, how do I change it on the outside blog? Within ActiveRain we can make those changes ourselves.
Thanks, Janice
Has anyone tried redirecting their domain name. I set mine up this afternoon. I have checked in and it is set up. I went to my outside blog set-up page and enabled the domain name and it doesn't work.
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Janice
Mine domain is not working yet either and I set mine up yesterday afternoon. I can lay it at the feet of go daddy for 72 hours and that is all.
Thanks! I even tried forwarding to the subdomain and that is not working either. Patience is not my virtue. My provider has processed it and says they have done what they are suppose to do. So that is why I am wondering if there is another problem.
Janice
Hi Jonathan - I have two issues to add. The outside blogs are only rendering images at 60% of the original size. Graphs that are easily read on AR can be very difficult to read on the outside blogs. I've also seen some unexpected wrapping in HTML tables on the outside blogs. What is the width of the content area on the outside blogs?
Hi Jonathan....I post some of my articles from Publisher (which I will probably quit doing), but to piggy back on what John mentioned, articles written in a "table" format (ie: Publisher for me) are extremely difficult to read.
I also notice that all the photos have boxes around them. Can the boxes be eliminated?
I know ya'll are working hard.
Thanks for your efforts.
Janice Slaven - Prudential GA Realty, Suwanee GA
What about the tag cloud, will users be able to close that up if they want to? Please and thank you.
http 404 error message recieved when attempting to see brads sample or my own
http://bradandersohn.activerain.com/
I know ya'll are being inundated with "stuff"! Bless you all!
Question: How do we get our listing widget onto the outside blog?
Thanks,
Janice Slaven, Suwanee Georgia Real Estate (Prudential GA Realty)
Growing pains are to be expected. I really apprecaite AR doing this. I have taken the opportunity to rethink how I blog altogether. Hopefully it will increase traffic and client gathering.
Jon -- There is a conversation about domain mapping issues going on over here http://activerain.com/blogsview/569547/AR-Outside-Blog-Nameservers Just in case it helps with the debugging process.
On my Outside Blog, I changed from DNS nameserver mapping, which didn't want to work -- to simple forwarding, which is working just fine.
But, if it would help resolve issues on your end, I'll change it back....
Cheryl - I read your comment. If I understand, you are not using the ns1 and ns2 nameservers. I did change mine. Can you tell me the nameservers you are using so I can switch it back and try the forwarding. I did try forwarding but I have the ns1 and ns2 and that did not work.
Thanks.
Janice Slaven
Cheryl - I checked mine this morning. It is working - SuwaneeTalk.com
This is using ns1 and ns2 NO forwarding.
It took 48 hours.
Janice
Janice -- You wouldn't want to change to forwarding now that it's working .... But if you were going to use forwarding, you would set the nameservers back to your registrar's default nameservers. With GoDaddy, that means just clicking the radio button for Default Nameservers, but for the record, GoDaddy's nameservers are something like ... the numbers after the NS will vary for every domain....
NS25.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
NS26.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Barrie - the reason you got the 404 error is because my subdomain blog is http://ActiveBrad.ActiveRain.com.
I use to have it at bradandersohn.activerain.com but changed it after the launch. The first one was just for testing purposes. :-)
Hi Jonathan - Here are a few things I've noticed:
Hope this helps.
Here is a big plus - My ABOUT JO page is now updated and AWESOME!! The problem with my images that I changed to a smaller size is now updated there and WOW!!!! Ok - still waiting on the domain - but this was something I had to share :)
I made an edit to a post...deleted pics. When I did the re-post, the changes are not showing up on my outside blog.
Janice Slaven
Jon- I featured this in the group Outside Blogs
I loaded the outside blog yesterday and the formatting was off..I don't know how to describe it other than to say I would have to go into my AR blog, edit each post to a narrower width, and then save each one.
Does anyone know of a way to have the formatting be consistent? Right now mine looks too awful to have online with the mismatched formatting.
Good Morning...Jonathan..i'm excuited, I have a positive feeling you guys are going to put us all on the Map, even more so than you already have....Thanks! I cannot wait to see what you are doing with localism, I posted a lot of photos there over the last year, how about bring back points for localisim photos?
I want to hit the ground running with my New outside AR Blog. When you have a moment could some look at my new blog mega tags, heading, etc, for maximum expose in the search engines. www.realestatevictoriabcblog.com.
Thank You For Your Support to Our industry.
I set mine up yesterday. Some "issues" that I see are ...
The reason many of us began using an "outside" blog like WP is because of the control it gives us. Having so many links back to AR or to Localism really doesn't provide a "true outside" blog. I'm sure some folks without other real outside blogs may need to keep all the back links to AR, but there may be some of us who prefer to have those links go elsewhere. Maybe we need to have the ability to edit the links to fit each of our objectives.
I just tried leaving comments on my outside blog. This function is not working correctly.
I logged into AR first (above the comment space on the outside blog). The comments then do not show up on the outside blog - just the date stamp, but no comments. they also show as empty comments on the post on my AR blog (just a date stamp). I tried this twice with the same results.
Then I "Logged out" on the outside blog. Not a problem. Comments appeared in both places.
There has been no email notification of any of the comments.
I too had some of these issues, and I know you are overwhelmed with all these issues. Mine is up and running, I have patience to just wait till the kinks are out.
You guys are doing a great job, keep up the good work!!!!!
I am still trying to see if you folks can do anything about fixing my profile page because now I have my outside blog....and it's transferring all the About Me stuff....that I want to change.
I just set up an AR outside blog with help from Brad Andersohn's posts and my local fellow ActiveRainer Byron Lewis's help. The problem I primarily have is that I like to post Vflyer listings of my current rental availabilities on my AR blog. Unfortunately the width is not the same on the outside blog and about a fifth of the right side of the vflyer is cut off. It would also be nice if when you click on your authoring name above each post if it would open your outside blog profile info instead of the AR profile.
Jonathan,
It seems today that the RSS feeds from the outside blog are now working.
UPDATE: The RSS feeds are not fully operational. The main title feed seems to open, but the individual posts do not link. At least what I am doing does not work.
Richard
Yesterday I worked on my AR profile to make it look right in the outside blog. I found that by putting the copy and images into a table format fixed the layout problem that occurred with the About Me section.
Just a FYI... I'm having the same problem as Richard. I was trying to add an rss feed to my website from the outside blog. The title link works fine, but the article links try to go to *.activerain.com/blogsview/...
Jon,
Here's one for the wish list: I know you are planning to offer more theme options ... how about one with a main content column that is wide enough to accomodate a listing flyer - the kind generated by VFlyer or Real Estate Shows?
I know lots of members like to use the flyers to promote their listings ... but the main column in the outside blog just isn't quite wide enough to fix in a flyer.
Thanks.
Jon - My domain resolved quickly as soom as I checked enable. Thanks for the list of issues; I will be patient and wait for them to be solved. I too will be happy when the picture problem gets worked out. I would like my posts to look the same in both blogs.
I do posts in Publisher. The outside blog diminishes the quality. Can this be fixed? I want to do a new post using Publisher but am hesitant. really want to.
Janice Slaven
How do we get our listing widget to the outside blog?
Other issues: postlets posted on the AR blog show fine, but the fixed width of the outside blogs cut off the right side of postlets. No ability to add alt tags to the banner and logo pictures used on the outside blogs.
Good afternoon -
I'm taking advantage of a holiday to try to get my outside blog up and running. I've purchased a domain at GoDaddy, and have changed the nameserver. But when I go to My Home and click on the Outside Blog tab, I just get this message:
"That (stantonhomes) subdomain is reserved"
I couldn't find a reference anywhere to fix this. If there is a post about this, please let me know!
Thanks....
I'm still having trouble with my outside blog in that when I post listings (via Point2) the right side is cut off. Is there something I can do to correct this? I don't want to advertise my outside blog until this is fixed. Please advise.
Thanks Jonathan. I know you'll have my custom domain blogs up and running soon :~)
This posts explains another issue that I and at least one other member have noticed. Outside Blogs: Might Want to Check Your Recent Posts If it's on your list it's stated in a way I didn't quite catch.
Any update on DNS rerouting bug?
I am fairly new to Active Rain and think this is a wonderful service.
I have a question about posts to my outside blog http://robertlerner.activerain.com
When I go back to make changes to the content of some of my earlier blogs, the changes are not being reflected on my outside blog http://robertlerner.activerain.com
Do you know why these changes are not being updated on my outside blog? Is there a glitch in the system or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks,
Robert Lerner, CRS
RE/MAX Premier Properties I
Plano, Texas
Email Robert@RobertLerner.com
I don't want to complain but if you launched this back in June and it still has so many problems, wouldn't it be best to turn it off, get the issues resolved then launch it again?
I've submitted a trouble ticket but only received the "We know it's a problem" response. Not the best service I'm sorry to say.
Great idea though... hopefully you guys can get it all sorted out! Cheers!
-Tre
Hi Jon. Any news on what's up with the most recent changes? Several rainers have commented today about not being able to "return home" and I cannot change my header photo, due to format changes. If there is a place to direct me to, that would be great. ~Pat
I am confused... I am trying to understand how to effectively blog on Active Rain under my own .com. I believe this is called an "outside blog." However, there are no concise and easy to follow instructions. Can anyone tell me. Also, what is the purpose of the "individual blog?" This is offered at a monthly fee through active rain. Is this a way to create an "Outside Blog." And, many of the links showing on Adams Blog are outdated... and don't work. Can anyone tell me where the "Library" is located??? And where the templates that are mentioned are located. And, now... has this turned into a "profit center" for Active Rain, in that, do I need to purchase the "Individual Site" in order to accomplish an outside blog address... And how does localism fit in...
Where are the most up to date instuctions??? Thanks, Lynn Cooper, Charlotte, NC
http://activerain.com/blogsview/535622/ActiveRain-Launches-Outside-Blogs
Lynn - to find out more about setting up an outside blog on AR, here are a few posts that may help:
http://activerain.com/blogsview/888279/How-To-Create-an-ActiveRain-Outside-ActiveBlog-10-Easy-Steps
http://activerain.com/blogsview/900095/5-Important-Tips-Outside-Blogs
http://activerain.com/blogsview/907266/ActiveRain-Domains-and-Blogs-The-AR-Staff-LIVE-and-Uncensored
http://activerain.com/blogsview/913559/New-ActiveRain-Widgets-for-ActiveBlogs
If you still have any questions or need any assistance, feel free to click on my name below and give me a call, I'd be happy to assist you in setting up one of your own. Thanks. :-)
Thank you Brad! You are wonderful!
Lynn
Mine still doesnt work.
agentspaces not responding when i go to my url.
Hi Jonathan.
I read a few posts by yourself and Brad, and skimmed over the comments here, but can't seem to find what I'm after.
Is it possible to post ONLY to my outside blog? If so, is there a post you can point me to that explains how?
Thanks Jonathan. Really starting enjoy AR!
Bob
Hi Jonathan.
I read a few posts by yourself and Brad, and skimmed over the comments here, but can't seem to find what I'm after. Is it possible to post ONLY to my outside blog? If so, is there a post you can point me to that explains how?
Thanks Jonathan. Really starting enjoy AR! - except for the proxy/gateway errors of course :)
Bob