A new feature has been added to Blogstream, the ability to "rate" a blog from 1-5 stars. 1 star being worst, 5 stars being best.

If you are logged in, a rating box will appear in the top right. Just click on the star you wish to rate the blog at. For example, if you rate the blog 4 stars out of 5, place your mouse on the 4th star and press the mouse button.

You should see the first 4 stars light up orange.

After a blog receives 20 ratings from 20 different members, the stars will show up blue to indicate the average rating given by members.

You can change your rating at any time by just clicking on a new star. Only your most recent rating counts (you cannot vote multiple times).

Currently if you rate a blog on one computer, and then visit blogstream from another computer, your old rating will not appear in orange in the stars. Do not worry, your rating is still recorded in the system, it is just not appearing on that computer. You can rate it again if you wish, but it is not necessary and will not do any harm. The last rating entered is stored in the web browser of the computer you used (for display purposes), but it is also recorded on our computers permanently.

Someone had asked me privately how to remove unwanted comments from their blog...

Make sure you are logged in. Then go to the blog post you want to remove comments from. There should be a little [del] link next to each comment. Click on that link and you will be given options to remove or delete the comment as well as an option to block the member from posting further comments on your blog.

If you can't find the answer you are looking for here, please check out our FAQ by clicking on the "Help" link in the top right of the front page, or in the "Blog Bar". This FAQ has much more detailed help on all areas of Blogstream.

There are many ways to get images in your blog. The easiest way is to use the Gallery feature we provide you.

If you have never uploaded images into your gallery, you will need to go to "My Account" and click on the gallery link next to your blog name. After you have submitted an image, a Gallery link will appear on your blog page near your Name, Bio, etc.

Once you get to the Gallery, click on the "Upload Image" link. This will bring up a page with instructions on how to upload images from your computer to our site.

If you want to create an "Icon/Headshot" for yourself (an image that appears on the blog page near your name, after you upload an image click on the "Icon" link that will appear underneath the thumbnail. This will turn that image into an Icon which will then appear on your blog.

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To have an image appear directly in your post:

If you want to have an image appear directly in your blog post, the image must either be hosted in your Blogstream Gallery or on a third party hosting service.

If you use a third party service, get the URL of the image. This should look something like:

http://www.somewebsitename.com/image.jpg

If you use our Gallery, go to the gallery locate the image you wish to appear in your blog. Click on the "URL" link under the image. This will bring up a window that shows you the URL to use below. (Unfortunately you will have to copy it manually at this time... we are working on a way to fix that.)

Now, when you post a message enter:

{{IMAGE:__URL_OF_IMAGE__}}

For example:

{{IMAGE:www.somewebsitename.com/image.jpg}}

However replace the { symbol with [ and } with ] above. (I had to do this so it did not actually show the image above.)

Advanced Users:

If you are an advanced user and familiar with HTML you can also use the "Standard with HTML" editor by clicking on the link on the right side when posting. This will allow you to use standard html such as:



The other option is to use the "Advanced" editor which works like a word processor. There is an image link avaialable in that editor which will ask you for the URL of the image.