Good evening, my Crankies. Some of you know that I missed the early DK5 festivities here due to my dad’s illness and subsequent death. However, I am not here to speak about that — I already had enough trouble at the supermarket earlier, when I came to the big shelf of his beloved mincemeat tarts and almost bought some. I am here to talk about a piece of DK5 that I have seen confusing a lot of people, as I mostly lurked here in the last couple of weeks.
Here’s the issue: people are having trouble posting community diaries posts articles stories, and indeed, other things that they’d like to post through a group initially (as opposed to republishing). Far be it from me to claim that the process is not buggy! I know that some will read this and say, “But I DID that!” ::looks at brillig:: But I seriously think that the tools for publishing have gotten a little murky and are adding to the troubles of many.
Follow me below the squiggle, because I WILL have a squiggle, and we’ll break this down.
So, think of it this way: in DK4, when you clicked PUBLISH in your draft, you got 3 choices: publish now, schedule later, or queue to a group. All these choices were rounded up in a box, with radio buttons so you could see that you had to choose one out of three.
These new publication tools are basically the exact same three choices, except they are not presented in the same way so it looks as if they could be combined. When you add a publish group, then you sort of get the idea that now, clicking publish or schedule for later is going to publish or schedule to that group. But NO! They have nothing to do with any groups. They’re exactly like the first two radio buttons in DK4, and they will publish your diary to your own individual “blog” immediately, or schedule your diary to your individual queue. Once you do that, then the other editors in your group are locked out.
If you want to publish initially through the group you picked, you have to save your diary and exit. I mean, just close that browser tab/window. Then go to the group, and to its queue. Your draft will be sitting there and you can publish or schedule it to the group from there just like you always could. If you still can’t get it published through your group, or you still find that other editors are locked out, then you have a bug you should report. Otherwise, fool me twice… you can’t get fooled again!
I feel like what’s missing, aside from that radio-button presentation, is something that offers to take you to the group queue once you pick the group. It looks like your only way out of the draft is to hit that PUBLISH button, and that is so not what you want. Step outside the box and close that tab!
To recap:
1. Click Add a publish group and pick your group.
2. Save the draft, just for good luck.
3. Get the hell out of there! Just close the tab! Do not be tempted by any of the other buttons! Eject!!!
4. After your escape, make your way to your group queue. You should see your draft in there.
5. Schedule your draft from there.
[LOL: I just tried to number that numbered list using the “numbered list” button. It numbered my list 1, 2, 1, 1, and 1. While it is true that all the steps are very important, it was more the sequence of events I was going for. Thanks anyway, Numbered List Button!]
Do you have questions about this or something else? What in DK5 is making YOU cranky today? We know that many fixes have already been promised, but as always, feel free to vent here, and if I or anyone else has any information, we will share it. Also as always, Cranky Users encourages everyone to share information and feelings, but it is NOT okay to be rude or condescending to anyone. Just because something is obvious to you, or was stated by an Important Person in some particular place, doesn’t mean that everyone can or should know it. We’re all allies and we’re here to help each other use the site, so that MANY voices on the left can be heard. Hugs to all Crankies, old and new.
UPDATE: Way down the thread, Garrett tells us that, once you choose your “publish group”, you’ll see the group name below the Add a publish group button, at the left. That group name is a link to the group queue. So you don’t have to bail out of the draft — you can use that link. IF it works. As I told him, when I tried clicking it earlier, to see if it was a link, it didn’t work for me (others agree: works sometimes). If you find that, just use the close-the-tab method.
Further update: Some users report (see some of Besame’s comments) that, in at least some groups, scheduling a draft in any way, even just to the group, locks other editors out. If you want to collaborate, postpone step 5 above until everyone is completely done editing. elfling says they will soon have a fix for this bug.
If I had a custom tip jar, I’d put this in there: