Can anybody see this post??

[dreamshark]

I have now been migrated to Dreamwidth for 2 years and I still can't figure it out. With some effort I found the Mnstf Community back when I first migrated. Joined it and subscribed to it. Silly me - I thought that meant I would see posts here on my Reading Page. But I never do, so I figured the community was DOA.

I was poking around today (trying without success to figure out how to see the recent posts of a particular person whose precise user name I have forgotten) when I found the Mnstf Community again. I opened it up and saw nothing except a few old posts by sraun and quadong about board minutes and meetings. 

Then I clicked on Member Posts in the sidebar and a bunch of new posts appeared!  Some of them are ones I have already seen on my Reading Page, but others are new to me. WTF?  I have absolutely no clue how this Community thing works, and everything I thought I knew is apparently wrong.  So I guess I will experiment.

I am posting this by

• explicitly going to the MNSTF community page (from Home->Organize->Manage Circle ->[scroll to bottom of page]->Communities->mnstf
• selecting post from the menu at the top of the page
• using settings:  Everyone   Post to: mnstf

If you can see it, would you please let me know in comments?  And did you see it by default on your Reading page or did you have to jump through hoops to make it turn up?  Thanks.

Comments

[pameladean]

I can see it and it just appeared on its own, I didn't do anything extra.
P.

[dreamshark]

Are you subscribed to the MNSTF Community?

[pameladean]

Well, yeah, I did that a long time ago, but I didn't have to do anything new extra.

P.

[dreamshark]

Okay, so now I have one data point. You are subscribed to both my journal and the mnstf community. When I posted as a member on the mnstf community my post turned up in your Reading feed.

That leaves 3 other combinations:

1) subscribed to neither my journal nor mnstf community. It's probably safe to assume that in this case they don't see the post.

2) Subscribed to my journal but NOT to mnstf.

3) Subscribed to mnstf but not my journal. I think I know how that one turns out because I myself am in that position with regard to at least one other lonely poster on mnstf.

[sraun]

I see this. I am subscribed to the Minn-StF community, and you and I have mutual subscriptions.

[carbonel]

Yes, I'm seeing it. Didn't have to do anything. I'm subscribed to the Minn-stf group.

[0ftgx]

I saw this post on my network page, which means somebody I'm subscribed to is subscribed to the mnstf community.

I'm not subscribed to either this comm or your journal.

[dreamshark]

Okay, a data point I didn't expect.

I'm just trying to figure out how communities work on DW, and whether there is any actual reason to try to use them. I was confused before, and now I'm even more confused.

That is a very appropriate user icon, under the circumstances.

[0ftgx]

I don't know if this helps, but comms work pretty simply. To see posts in the comm, you need to be subscribed to it. People who are subscribed to your journal, but not to the community, will not see any posts in the comm. The only people who will see posts in a comm are those who are 1) subscribed to it, or 2) subscribed to somebody who is subscribed to the comm, like me, but on their Network page, not their Reading page.

Network pages are only available to paid accounts.

The "Member Posts" in a community are not posts to the comm itself. They're the posts in the individual journals of everybody who is subscribed to the comm. They're the comm equivalent of the Reading page on individual journals.

None of the Member Posts are actually posted to the community. You'll only see those posts if you go to the comm and click on Member Posts. You'll never see them via your personal journal's Reading page.

What you'll see on your Reading page are any posts made directly to the community by any member. That's all you'll see. This particular community hasn't had any new posts since last year, which is why you've seen none on your Reading page, but if somebody posts something new to the comm, you will see that post.

Some comms are active, which makes them useful and fun. Others get little activity. It all depends on how much the members contribute to a comm.

[sunshinenilkcub]

I can see this in my reading page. I just joined Dreamwidth a week ago. I've imported my livejournal here. I was lisathedreamer in livejournal. I'm still trying to figure Dreamwidth out. I haven't figured out how to connect to my LJ friends.

[sunshinenilkcub]

I'm subscribed to MNStf and one or two people so far who were connected to me on LJ.