“Queuing” means how to connect an already-published article/diary/story (yours or someone else’s) OR your not-yet-published draft, to the publishing-process (“hopper/chute”) of a group you’re in, so it’ll post at that group’s blogview.
You do have to be a member of that group for the process to work, and If you’re at contributor rank, you’ll need help from an editor or admin to complete the process. Ditto for reblogging/republishing, member or not.
“Reblogging” a published diary/article/story is easiest to do, so that’s section A —<big>§ A</big>— below.
<big>§ B</big> tells how to find a currently active ed or admin and send her/him a message/kosmail requesting help if you’re a contrib in the group or a nonmember requesting the group reblog your posting.
<big>§ C.</big> is how to queue drafts for initial posting at a group where you’re a member so the group’s name will follow yours on the “by” line.
If you’re new at any of this, you’ll probably want to keep these instructions readable in a separate browser tab so you don’t have to memorize how-to steps.
BTW, this is not an “official” site tutorial diary, so you can also see:
► Cranky Users: Group Publishing (2015) by belinda ridgewood for origins of today’s instructions from before DK5/Nov 2016, and the comprehensive ► New Diarists tutorial for formatting drafts, adding tags, publishing options, and editing (2016) by nomandates, and ► New Diarists: How to get feedback on your draft from us (2016) also by nomandates — belinda says that below the fold at that diary, “steps 4 & 5 and figures 2 & 3, while directed toward queuing to New Diarists, are pretty good!” Also: Finding Your Queue (2018) by peregrine kate, See also tag pages: ■ tutorials ■ tutorial ■ dk5How-To■ and of course, the site Knowledge Base at the HELPDESK pages.
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<big><big><big>§ A. Republishing/ Reblogging a Published Diary</big> — yours or other writers’ — to a group you’re in.</big></big>
Prep-step: Keep this diary readable in a separate browser tab, so you can come back to it step by step, and not have to memorize.</big>
[A.1] When you’re at the diary you want to reblog, find the Add to Blog button at the left margin of the published diary, Just below its title & writer’s name & date, as the illustration at right shows. It’s got an almost-circular arrow next to it. Click on it and you’ll get…
[A. 2] ...a white-black-orange drop-down window/box, conveniently headed Add to Blog, which displays the name of one of your groups on its top line, with the rest of the white-space in it blank. Of course, if you’re only in one group, that’ll be it, but you still have to do the rest of the steps.
[A. 2. a.] Click at that top line/that group to display in the larger lower space a list of ALL the groups you’re in. (Yes, even if you’re only in one group.)
[A. 2. b.] Then, select ONE in the larger lower section as a group where you want to reblog/republish the diary whose Add to blog button you clicked. (Even if you want to reblog it to more than one group, you can only do it one group at a time.) Click on that ONE group in the larger lower section.
[A. 2. c.] If you’re an editor or admin at the selected group, click on the orange PUBLISH button —the right-hand one of the two rectangular buttons at the foot of the Add to Blog box...
[A. 2. d.] ...and confirm when you get an “Are you sure…?” query.
<big> That’s it! That’s all a newly-hatched editor has to do in order to republish/reblog.
You can repeat the process for other groups you’re in, if the diary is suitable for them. Please DO reblog diaries only appropriately, since admins might bust you back down to contributor if you pile a lot of inappropriate diaries into the group posting history that only they can weed out, a very annoying chore.</big>
[A. 3.] What if the group you want is not displayed in the Add to Blog box but you ARE a member there? That usually means either the diary is already reblogged to that group, or else it’s sitting waiting in what’s called “the group queue” (waiting line, chute, hopper, etc, put there probably by a contributor, because contributors can only get as far as quueing using the Add to Blog box —they can click the orange QUEUE button, and they can click on the SEE THE QUEUE query they get, but the orange PUBLISH button won’t work for them — they cannot complete the process on their own. That’s where editors and admins come in!
[A.3.a.] So, how can you tell if the diary you wanted to reblog already has been reblogged or is it sitting in the queue? Look for the PUBLISHED TO section of the diary, at the left margin, just below the buttons for Add to Blog, RSS, & whatever other buttons there. If the missing group’s name is displayed in that section, the diary is already reblogged there. In the example shown, the diary was written and blogged by morgansmom, and reblogged to the Community Fundraisers group.
[A.3.b.] If the group’s name is not in that section, editors and admins can check the group queue to see if it’s waiting for one of their kind and industrious crew to click PUBLISH NOW in the Publish column. Here’s an only slightly out-of-date illustration of a group’s “queue” page.
[A.3.c.] You get to the queue by finding your way to the group’s blogview page —see the illustration in the next section for how to use the drop-down menu for that— and clicking on the QUEUE button there, on the same line near the right margin as the group’s name is in blue at the left. Here’s an example of where to look for that button — the illustrator drew a blue box around it.
So, if that diary is indeed queued there, any editor or admin can click on PUBLISH NOW.
Once you get comfortable with the process, —and especially if you’re an admin— be aware that for good coordination among, and courtesy to, your fellow members— you’ll want to check the group’s blogview page before you publish a new diary or reblog an existing one, to make sure you won’t stomp right on top of another diary only just published there. To check on that if you’re in Add to Blog mode:
[A.3.d] click QUEUE rather than PUBLISH
[A.3.e.] Click on “see the queue” when that question is asked.
[A.3.f.] if you’re a group member at contributor level, this may only show you that your draft or diary is queued preliminary to being published, and any Queue notes* you’ve included, but won’t allow you to see what other drafts or diaries are queued there, and won’t give you anything further you can do except [5.c.] and [5.d.] above.
[A.3.c.] If you’re an editor or admin there, you can “publish now” (depending on what the group’s calendar routine is) or schedule it to automatically publish at a date and time you specify by using those buttons in the queue. If you do put those schedule settings on a diary, do not set the diary to publish at the same time for multiple groups. Not even at 2 groups. BAD THINGS HAPPEN WHEN 2 GROUPS ARE ELECTRONICALLY FIGHTING OVER ONE DIARY AT THE SAME TIME. And worse if it’s 3 groups. Etc. So, first set the scheduling at the group whose name you want following the author’s on this diary. Then at the next group, set the timing to be 5 minutes later, and for each additional group another 5 minutes later, and another, and so on until you run out of appropriate groups!
Obviously, simply reblogging is way easier. REMINDER: if you schedule a draft to automatically publish at a particular group on a particular day&time, DO NOT touch any scheduling for that draft inside your drafts folder if it’s your diary, and if it’s someone else’s draft, remind them touch no schedule in their drafts folder for that draft too.
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[A. 4.] Again, if you’re a contributor at that group, nothing happens if you click on PUBLISH in the Add to Blog box or anywhere. You can only get as far in the reblog process as clicking on ADD TO QUEUE and then clicking to see yr diary/article/story there. (Earlier I said the queue is like a chute or hopper — it’s also like a baseball dug-out with team members {diaries} lined up waiting to bat.) The Add to Blog box will then ask you, See The Queue so you can look to be sure your diary is there. But that’s as far as you can go. To complete the publishing process, you need to:…
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<big><big><big>§ B ...send a message/kosmail to an editor or admin in the group</big> who is currently fairly active in DK, therefore often online here, and available to act on your kosmailed request.</big></big>
IMPORTANT: messages to entire groups do NOT generate any new-message alert at the envelope icon of any member’s blogview page, and not in anyone’s <big>Welcome Back </big> box, either. That’s why it’s best to send private kosmail to an admin or ed of the group.</big>
To send that message, you need to reach the <big>Members</big> page of that group. FIRST:
<big>[B. 1]</big> COPY THE URL OF THE PUBLISHED DIARY.
<big>[B. 2,a.]</big> If it’s a group you are or aren’t in, click on its name in the PUBLISHED TO section of any diary/article already published there —or anywhere else its name operates as a link— to reach that group’s homepage).
<big>[B.2.b.]</big> If you’re a member, you can click on your own name up near the top right corner of your screen (where “jtg” is in the illustration at right) to get the drop-down menu for clicking on My Groups to reach that page of yours and select from it.
Your groups page will look vaguely like this DK4 illo below, except DK5-style.
<big>[B. 3 ]<big> At the group’s blogview, look for its name displayed in a pretty blue color near the left margin after <small>GROUPS></small), on level with a square orange button with a monitor-screen sketch at the right. Click on the group’s name in blue to reach their homepage.
<big>[B. 4 ]</big> In the illo above, find and click on the <big>Members</big> list, and scroll down at the list you get. Admins will be displayed first, followed by editors. Look for someone among them who’s posted a diary or commented within the last 2 days or so — they’ll likely go on being active online a day or so more, in order to reply to comments, and able to see an alert for a message from you.
NOTE: If you’ve been working with an admin or editor who’s mentoring you in that group, that’s probly the best one to kosmail to, unless s/he isn’t often onsite. Some kosaks do set their profile pages to generate emails forwarding private kosmail to them, but not everyone does, so use yr best judgement about effective communication. If you’re not being mentored at the group, it’s sometimes a good idea to send your message to more than one editor or admin. Find the Send Message link near the top of his/her profile page.
<big>[B. 5 ]</big> Click on the name of ed or admin to reach his/her/xe’s own homepage, to use the SEND MESSAGE button there. Word a courteous, friendly but efficient note (no one has time for eloquence in an election year) of request, maybe something like this:
Subject:
<small>Please post to _______ group my diary queued there. Title & link are:</small>
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OR THIS
Subject:
Please consider reblogging this diary to the ___________ group. Title & link are:
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— make SURE you specify the exact group name!
Many admins are in a lot of groups!!!!
<big>[B. 6 ]</big> In the <big> Body </big> of the message/kosmail, type in quotes or all caps the title of the diary, just to make it identifiable in a snap, whether it’s in the queue —there might be a dozen others there— or already posted onsite. Make it EASY for them to help you!
AND PASTE IN THE URL YOU COPIED at step <big>[B.1] </big> So, more or less, your message body might look like this, clearly legible to the eye,
The diary is REGIONAL FOODS I HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED, PART 22.
https://www.dailykos.com……
Thanks either way,
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<big>[B. 7]</big> Sometimes the recipient will reply saying they’ve posted it. Many only do what’s requested.
Or might neither reply nor comply with your request. They’re not obligated to, and admins set group policy on things like what to reblog or not. So, that’s where your courtesy and respect toward them can really help. But also, the person you messaged to might not be onsite to even find your request. It’s up to you to keep an eye out for what does or doesn’t happen, and —again— use yr best judgement on what’s best to do next. (See DK Rules of the Road for obligations of diarists, commenters, and site members generally.) If the requested article/story/diary doesn’t get posted or reblogged there fairly soon and you’re confident that it’s suitable for the group but there’s no message back, you can try messaging to another editor or admin, or even to the group. (Obviously this is why editor rank simplifies everyone’s life.)
ADDED NOTE: There’s actually only ever one “copy” of a diary. It “lives” at your own blogview page. A group’s blogview page just connects the group to your diary, kinda like a telescope from theere to you. The comments will be all exactly the same, regardless of what direction your or anyone else looks from. Host your diary and reply to comments at your own blogview or from any group’s where it’s published — the effect will be exactly the same, regardless.
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§ C. Queueing DRAFTS for publication at a group where you’re a member.
A story/diary/article draft “lives” in your drafts folder ‘til it’s published...
… After that, it “lives” on your blogview & homepage, simply 2 “directions” for looking at the same posting, just as a group’s blogview & homepage are 2 more directions from which to see/read it.
If you’re an editor or admin in the group, you can do the entire queue&publish-there process yourself. If you’re at contributor rank, you can only queue your draft and request editor or admin help to complete the process (section B, above, for requesting help.) THEY are who decides what’s suitable to publish at their group (and when to do it) so good communication with them is essential if you’re a contrib. Some groups have a set of series of diaries they publish regularly, allowing other suitable individual diaries in between. Other groups are more scattershot. The key task of a contributor is learning the group’s expectations and practices.
<big>What queueing a draft is good for</big> is ► simultaneous publishing at your own blogview & homepage AND at one selected group whose name will follow yours on your byline. Simultaneity happens automatically when it’s published from draft form via a group queue. ► being able to set publish-date&time in advance so it works well with the group’s overall schedule and for the writer’s ► receiving help from mentoring editors or admins in the group, who can go into your queued diary to look at problems or help make changes you don’t know how to do yet Etc.
To queue a draft for initial publication at a group you’re in, you need to use the honking black&orange toolbox in the right side of the draft screen. (You may need to find and click a menu-type button with 3 horizontal lines, in the top right corner of your draft in order to make the black&orange toolbox appear)
But <big>FIRST:</big> YOU HAVE TO HAVE STARTED COMPOSING THAT DRAFT — see New Diarists tutorial for formatting drafts, adding tags, publishing options, and editing by kosak nomandates. And <big>SECOND: THE DRAFT HAS TO HAVE AT LEAST ONE APPROPRIATE TAG ON IT</big> or the system will NOT let you publish it at all, queued or not. If you’re familiar with that <big><big>scroll down to READY? HERE GOES!</big>.
If not, here’s brief info (for more thorough instruction, see about ¼ of the way down at nomandates’ tutorial):
The ADD A TAG bar/field is at the foot of your draft.
Key point: dk tags don’t operate the ephemeral way that twitterverse etc tags do — ours are more like subject headings in a library’s catalogue that we might follow for years! e.g.,
Tag for the article’s/diary’s topics both generally —e.g. ► Economics ► Energy ► Healthcare ►USHouseOfRepresentatives ►the name of the state or city or region if the diary is geo-specific ►— and more specifically, e.g., many or all proper nouns in your diary might be valuable tags readers are already following (some for years!) or may start to. Good guidance are the tags on already-published diaries similar to yours. Our much-missed tag librarian aoeu (r.i.p.) sometimes said, ‘the more tags the better, if they’re all appropriate ones.’
Tag for ► the name of the series if it’s part of one, ► the name of the group[s] where it posts if that’s what that group’s policy is.
A diary’s tags will be displayed in the left margin after it’s published. Readers hover on the heart outline next to a tag and click n order to start to follow it — a solid orange heart shows them they’re getting in their activity stream all diaries so tagged — and they click on a tag itself in order to reach the page showing all such diaries even if not following it.
For activity streams to get all yr diaries, use conventional tags, e.g., ■ people are tagged FirstnameLastname (you don’t type the hashtag — the system adds it) hence: ElizabethWarren, not Warren or SenatorElizabethWarren or LizWarren. For people with very common names, you can include middle names, and for names from other languages than English, be aware that CHARACTERS NOT IN OUR ALPHABET will not display even if you past them in, so do yr best in English alone or the tag will display rong.
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<big><big>READY? HERE GOES!</big></big>
<big><big>[C. 1.]</big></big> While you’re “in” your draft (with the headline/title and text and images already in, for current purposes), you either have a big, honking orange&black toolbox looming over you on the right side of your screen (see illustration below this one) or that toolbox doesn’t show and instead you have 3 buttons labelled SAVE, PUBLISH and with 3 horizontal lines...
The 3-lines button is for clicking to get the big-honking toolbox to slide in from the right margin, and you click it again to slide it away. Lather, rinse, repeat as needed. But most people have this kind of draft screen.
<big>[C. 2.]</big> Click on SAVE DRAFT up in the top orange section of the toolbox OFTEN, just to be on the safe side, and to develop a good better-safe-than-sorry habit you will be glad of someday. ;-)
<big>[C. 3.]</big> Now click on the white-print-against-grey <big>Add a publish group</big> bar/button (red-arrowed in the illo below) to get the toolbox to display all the groups in which you’re a member, in gray print against black below the <big>Add a publish group</big> bar/button
<big>[C. 4.]</big> Click on the name of the group for your draft to be queued/”saved to” that will put that group’s name after yours on the diary by-line upon publication.
<big>[C. 5.]</big> If you’re an editor or admin at the group, skip down to step [C. 6]. If you’re a contributor, click on SAVE DRAFT again and:
<big> [C. 5.a.] </big> click on the 3-Lines again to disappear the toolbox (if there’s no 3-lines, ignore this step);
<big> [C.5.b.] </big>click on the white-on-black name of the group in the toolbox to reach that group’s queue. You won’t be able to see anything that’s in the queue except your own draft, but to editors and admins a queue looks more or less this:
<big> [C. 5.d.] </big>use yr browser’s back-arrow to exit your draft and arrive back in your draft, and back-arrow again to arrive back in your Drafts folder.
<big> [C. 5.e.] </big>Click on the group’s name in your <big>Welcome Back</big> box to reach the group’s blogview, looking something like this.
<big> [C. 5.f.] </big>Go to the two buttons that look like these at the right end of the line above where the current diary is displayed, and click on the LIST button (it’s not labelled, it just shows 4 lines with 4 square bullet-points on white background).
<big> [C. 5.g.] </big> If an admin is mentoring you, click on her/his name where it shows among other admins below the group’s name. If an editor is mentoring you, look for a link for “Members”
Send a polite and friendly kosmail to the editor or admin mentoring you in the group (or others there) to request their cooperation for publishing your diary: to do this, you should open another browser tab to use, get a DK blogview page, and follow the steps in <big> § B. </big> above, except that because your diary is still an unpublished draft, you will not have any URL useful to copy for saving to paste into that message — instead, you’ll be saying it’s in the queue of group XYZ.
Since you know that messages to group DO NOT generate a new-message alert to anyone — not at the envelope icon at the top of their blog-view page and not in anyone’s <big> Welcome Back </big> box , the only way the message will be read in timely way is by sending private kosmail (as distinct from message-to-group) to individual editors or admins.
Head the message something like,
“Please schedule my queued draft to post at [groupXYZ] at [00:00 pm] on [day/date].
with the name of the group clearly stated and the time of day and date you’re requesting clearly stated. Don’t worry if there isn’t enough space in the message title — recopy the entire thing into In the body of the message, and add something like
If this time or date isn’t available, please reply so we can work out better scheduling. Thanks very much!
This may be necessary because many groups want a 2-hour to- 3-hour schedule-gap between diaries, and you may have asked for a date or time that’s crowding things.
If the diary is meant to be published at more than one group where you’re a member, the easiest way to do it is wait until it’s posted/ published/blogged, and then kosmail to admins or editors at each group to request reblogging, as detailed in <big>§ B.</big> If you’re feeling ambitious, use steps C. 3. through C. 5 to add more groups in the orange&black toolbox, being careful to request a time A FULL 3 MINUTES LATER than requested at all previous groups when you put your scheduling request into the queue note.
<big><big>[C. 6.] ...if you are an editor or admin, </big></big>click on the name of a group you’ve used the <big>Add a publish group</big> button to display in the black&orange toolbox. That will take you to the group queue. If you’re new at this, be excruciatingly careful not to touch anything else queued there, only your own draft/diary.
<big> [C.6.a]</big> If you’re an editor or admin in that group, you can click on PUBLISH NOW, or you can set automatic scheduling by clicking on SCHEDULE LATER to display the calendar (not shown in this illustration, but it will appear along with the SCHEDULE THIS DIARY box, and disappear once you’ve used it) and the time-of-day field.
<big> [C.6.b.] No need to do any separate scheduling of your draft for your own blogview </big>— the settings in the queue will automatically make publishing there and at the group simultaneous, and so will clicking PUBLISH NOW.
<big>If any of the above instructions doesn’t work for you on your first try, you can request help by kosmail to the an experienced admin at the group, to click the HELPDESK button up top at all DK pages. But you may have to settle for publishing your diary as simply as possible until you get good at it.