Main Street Oshkosh actively seeks new contributors to broaden our coverage of ideas, events, and policies. As of May 2011, we have 14 approved contributors, though many post sparringly.
As a contributor, you are given the freedom to post on any content of your interest, whenever you want, so long as the post is somehow tied to Oshkosh. As an important element of the success of any online news website is frequent updates, ideally any contributor would take initiative to post at least once per month.
If you wish to become a contributor, please send us a message on facebook or get in touch with Ron or Justin, detailing what content areas you are interested in posting on. Those approved will be granted author status and sent an email welcoming them to our team.
We retain the right to deny requests (though it is extremely rare), and maintain the ability to remove any harmful and malicious content as we become aware.
How To Post (once granted author status):
1. Go to http://www.blogger.com/ (or click on Staff & Log-In on MSO). Log into your account.
2. This should take you to your "Dashboard", in which you'll see a display of any blogs you contribute to. Click the NEW POST button under Main Street Oshkosh.
3. You are now on the Posting Page. Complete the following:
- Add a title
- Near the top of the post box, you'll see "edit html" or "compose". For individuals looking for simple, basic posting, I recommend "compose" mode. This allows writing similar to any word processing program. The remainder of instructions are using compose.
- Type your post.
- For editing features, use the buttons just above the post box. To bold, highlight (scroll over with your mouse holding down the mouse button) what you want in bold and click B. Italics = I. Underline = U. To change font color, use the underlined A. To highlight, click the marker and down arrow button.
- Tips: Instead of adding in a long website address, use the LINK button. First, highlight the words you would like to have serve as the link. Then click the LINK button in blue from the editing bar just above the posting box. Enter the URL (web address) there, and you've created a link. RECOMMENDED: You are encouraged to include links with posts, as this helps improve the status with internet search engines making your post easy to find on the Internet.
- Pictures: Whenever possible, add a picture. You can get pictures from your own computer or from other web addresses. To add a picture, click the small picture icon from the editing bar (to the right of LINK). An ideal size for pictures (for purposes of the "featured post" image box on the main page) is 450 wide by 275 tall, though this is not mandatory and should never deter you from posting any image of another size.
- To add a video, click the icon to the right of the picture icon and follow the steps.
- Spelling: You can spell-check using the ABC button on the far right of the bar. Note that this isn't going to catch everything (yes, we often have errors...). You are encouraged to proof your post before clicking Publish Post from the bottom.
- Add a Label: Below the post, you'll see a box for Labels. Click "show all" and select any appropriate labels. This is an important step that should rarely be skipped.
- Preview: You can preview your post if interested by clicking Preview below the post.
- Publish Post: Publish the post by clicking Public Post!
- Not finished? Click "Save in Progress" and come back later to finish.
