About Raising Maine
Maine is a great place to live and raise a family but it's not always the easiest place to meet other moms. RaisingMaine.com was created to help Maine moms connect with each other and share ideas, find resources and chat about the joys and pitfalls of raising children. It's also about women too, who often forget their own needs in place of their children's.
We have Blogs, Photos and a Forum for every member to post whatever they choose about their daily lives—the good, the bad and the ugly.
If you're uncertain where to make your posts, here's the low-down. Blogs are first person stories about your experiences and are generally written in a narrative format. The Forum is best suited for short posts with discussion topics, tips, announcements, workshop information and business reviews.
RaisingMaine.com does not however permit direct solicitations for businesses/services on posts made to the site. If a business/service is referenced in a Blog entry or Forum post, it should be done in the context of your own personal experience. You can contact Kevin in our sales department for Raising Maine's advertising rates (which offer a variety of price ranges and features for both online and print) by email or phone (207) 791-6299.
RaisingMaine.com is moderated by content producer Wendy Almeida. And while Wendy monitors the site regularly, the group is actually governed by its members. The community is expected to show respect for one another and the opinions and views posted. It is up to the community members to be respectful of each other and help keep discussions supportive, informative and entertaining.
Discussions on RaisingMaine.com will have a variety of viewpoints that may not always align with your own values/morals/lifestyles. We suggest when posting a comment to discussion topics that you ask yourself if the words you are about to post are ones you would say face-to-face to women you have just met. And when asking a question, be sure it's something you really want feedback on from the community at large.
RaisingMaine.com will remove vulgar, obscene and/or inflammatory comments immediately and the posters reprimanded or removed. FCC-accepted 'naughty' words, while not encouraged or condoned, are tolerated. We're moms, and we hope our community members will speak to one another with kindness, respect and appropriate language.
Q:How do I log on to the site to make a post/comment?
A: Go here to register.Note: If you are already a member of MaineToday.com, you'll be prompted to add your username and password for that site and your information will transfer to RaisingMaine.com. Any changes you make here will not be reflected in MaineToday.com. We set up this system to make it less redundant for our branded partner sites.
Q: I've been trying to register but the 'thinking' bar never stops.
A: If you are already a member of RaisingMaine.com, you can log in here to avoid that bit of fancy scripting your browser doesn't seem to like. If you are registering on the site for the first time, go to our new registration page to sign up. It's easy and takes two minutes - and not a lot of personal questions - to do.
Q: How do I start a discussion?
A: At the top of the page (above the Raising Maine logo) is a pull down box "edit your stuff." Choose "ask a question" to start your discussion - or just go to this page...
Q: Can anyone have a blog on the site?
A: Yes, all of our members can have a blog! RaisingMaine.com has a team of "pro-bloggers" who are moms as well as writers with an interest and/or expertise in a particular area. But we encourage all our members to start blogging and share their thoughts, ideas and experience about being a mom. Post your first blog entry here...
Q: What browsers does RaisingMaine.com support?
A: Our site works on a wide variety of computers and browsers, but we recommend you use Mozilla Firefox 2.0+ . The site will generally work fine with Internet Explorer 6.0+ and Safari 3+ however, for many reasons - including your own security and privacy - we recommend Mozilla Firefox. If you have another browser, you can do most things on RaisingMaine.com but the photo upload might be a little less cooperative with other browsers.Download Firefox (it's free)
Q: Can I add html code like bold and hyperlinks to my posts?
A: Yes, you can! Blog and Conversation posts are enabled for basic html code. Here is a list of sample html code you can use.
Q: I made a typo on my blog, how do I fix that?
A: At the top of the page (above the Raising Maine logo) is a pull down box "edit your stuff." Choose "edit your BLOG" (or just go here). You will see all your blog headlines. To the right of each headline is a yellow shaded box with a link to Edit or Delete that entry.
Q: I need to edit a Conversation post I made in the Forum, how do I fix that?
A: At the top of the page (above the Raising Maine logo) is a pull down box "edit your stuff." Choose "edit your CONVERSATION" (or just go here). You will see all your Conversation starter headlines. To the right of each headline is a yellow shaded box with a link to Edit or Delete that entry.
Q: I made a typo in a Comment I made, how do I fix that?
A: Currently, the only way to fix a typo in a Comment is to delete it and re-post. To delete your comment, go here.
Q: How do I change my profile?
A: At the top of the page (above the Raising Maine logo) is a pull down menu "edit your stuff." Choose "Edit your PROFILE" - or just go to this page ...
Q: What do the abbreviations, such as dh, ds and dd mean?
A: They stand for dear husband, dear son and dear daughter. You can learn more about common abbreviations in our forum: Online language/acronyms.
Q: What action should I take if I am verbally attacked or threatened, or spammed?
A: You can use the "report abuse" option attached to each blog, question and comment entry on the site. You can also contact Wendy by e-mail.
Q: What happens when a comment is reported as 'abuse'?
A: A flag appears with the reported comment to the content producer for review. If the comment is against our guidelines, then it will be deleted. Q: How can I locate a previous discussion?
A: You can use the site's search tool (at the top of the page on the right side is the search box). Enter a key word from the discussion, and you will get a list of results containing that word.
Q: Can I delete a post?
A: Yes, you can. Go to
the top of the page (above the Raising Maine logo) to the pull down menu "edit your stuff." You can edit or delete a question, delete a comment or edit or delete a blog entry. Q:What are the star ratings?
A: We allow members to rate posts so they can let the member know they enjoyed their contribution. It's also a way for members to sort posts on the site based on the most highly rated content at any given time. And just to set the record straight that no one-star rated posts will be terminated (the 'Report Abuse' takes care of the policy guideline issues). When we see that kind of stuff on the site we assume (1) it's a systems problem or (2) we have a lurker on the site with a mean spirit.
Q: How do I change the name of my blog?
A: When you edit an entry or add a new one, you can change the name in the white box labeled "Your blog title:" It's just above the "Post an Entry in Your Blog" text at the top of the page.
Q: What are Categories?
A: These are keywords created by the site's content producer as a way to round-up posts that are in a similar topic area. For instance, if you're a member interested in Health issues, you can go to the Health Category page and see all the posts other members have made in this topic area. To find a listing of categories on the site, go to the tabs at the top of the page and click on Categories.
Q: What are Tags?
A: Tags are keywords YOU make up. Adding tags is a way to get more specific than a general category allows. You can also use them as a way to keep similar posts organized. Plus, the tag 'clouds' (found on the right of most pages on the site) can draw attention to your posts depending on the keywords you use. For instance, Harpswell Fairy Trail in the tag cloud is going to draw additional attention to that entry because, well, what mom of a little girl isn't going to be curious and click on that link?
Q: How do you add tags to your posts?
A: When making a blog entry, at the bottom of the page you will see a Category box and to the right of that box is the TAG box. Type in whatever keywords you'd like to into that box. There is no limit on the number of keywords you add but make sure you put a comma between words.
Q: What's the difference between the tags "single moms" and "Single Moms?"
A: The tag index is case sensitive and will automatically capitalize the first word of the tag. But after that, it doesn't touch your tag. You can change your tags to consolidate them by editing that entry (edit conversations here or blog posts here).
Q: How do I get my tag on the site's tag cloud and make that text bigger?
A: If you want to make the text of your tag 'grow' on the site, you want to make sure you use the SAME tags in your posts. For instance, the Homeschool tag is large on the site because so many users have used that tag on their entries (both in Blogs and the Forum). The short, easy tags tend to grow more quickly because it's likely others will use that same key word. Educating Mama is also a large tag in the cloud because every entry that blogger uses includes her blog name (but be CAREFUL that if you do this, make sure EVERY entry has that tag or the ones without it will not appear on that tag page). And tags also grow by the number of comments made on entries. So if you make a forum entry and tag it "books" and 20 people comment on that entry, that "books" tag will grow in relation to those comments as well. If you're still confused - or find this topic vastly interesting - check out Wikipedia for more information about how tag clouds are used on the web.
Q: Can I post events to the calendar?
A: We would love all of our members to share events happening in their community of interest to moms and families! Post an event here. You must be logged in to the site to post an event and be sure to ** put the words "Raising Maine" in the event description ** for your listing to appear on RaisingMaine.com.
Q: My event is not appearing on the RaisingMaine.com calendar. Why not?
A:
It's likely that you forgot to add the words "Raising Maine" in the event description. To add that to your listing, go here and choose "edit" next to the listings (in the right column) of the event you need to change.
Q: How do I make a change to one of my event listings?
A:
On the events page look in the right column (under the ad) and you will see a listing of the events you have posted on the site. Just choose the 'edit' button next to the event you'd like to change.
Q: How do I add photos to my blog entry?
A:
When you make a blog entry, you can choose to "post entry and add photos" to add photos directly to your blog (an album or a single photo). The screen will darken and a box will appear asking if you wan tto "add a single photo" or "embed an album." If this box does NOT appear then simply click on the screen and save your blog entry. To add a photo to that blog entry go to "post photos", upload your photos and choose the title of the blog entry you want to associate your photos with in the "Embed album in blog entry?" box.Q: How do I upload a single photo to my blog entry?
A:
If you choose to upload a SINGLE photo be careful when you copy and paste the code for your single photo upload in to your blog entry. If you miss a bracket (<), that will break the image code and your photo will not appear. you can upload as many single photos as you'd like for your blog entry, just upload each photo and paste each photo's code in to the blog entry.Q: I uploaded a photo but it's not appearing on the site, why?
A: Check your photo's file name. You can NOT use apostrophes or spaces in photo file name. Also, keep your file names to less than 10 characters. Longer than that might cause the system problems. Another issue with uploading photos to the site is that sometimes images larger than 1MB may cause the server to time-out. If you are trying to upload several photos larger than 1MB, this is likely to happen. To avoid this issue, check out download.com for freeware to resize your images (Fast Stone is pretty easy to use) so they are smaller. If none of these suggestions are working, go to the photo troubleshooting thread in the forum.Q: What company runs RaisingMaine.com
A: This website is part of the MaineToday Media, Inc. online division, which includes: MaineToday.com, Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram, Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel, Coastal Journal, Maine Pets, Maine Business and The Maine Switch
Q: How do I advertise with RaisingMaine?
A:
We would love to talk to you about advertising opportunities with both our web and print products. We have a variety of options to fit all budgets. You can contact Kevin Qualls directly by email or phone (207) 791-6299.
Frequently Asked Questions
I've been trying to register but the 'thinking' bar never stops. What browsers does RaisingMaine.com support? How do I log on to the site to make a post/comment? How do I start a discussion? Can anyone have a blog on the site? Can I add html code like bold and hyperlinks to my posts? I made a typo on my blog, how do I fix that? I need to edit a Conversation post I made in the Forum, how do I fix that? I made a typo in a Comment I made, how do I fix that? How do I change my profile? What action should I take if I am verbally attacked or threatened, or spammed? What happens when a comment is reported as 'abuse'? How can I locate a discussion that was posted awhile back? Can I delete a post? What are the star ratings? How do I change the name of my blog? What are categories? What are tags? How do you add tags to your posts? What's the difference between the tags "Single moms" and "Single Moms?" How do I get my tag on the site's tag cloud and make that text bigger? Can I post events to the calendar? My event is not appearing on the RaisingMaine.com calendar. Why not? How do I make a change to one of my event listings? How do I add photos to my blog entry? How do I upload a single photo to my blog entry? I uploaded a photo but it's not appearing on the site, why?What do the abbreviations, such as dh, ds and dd mean? What company runs RaisingMaine.com? How do I advertise with RaisingMaine?Wendy Almeida is the managing content producer for RaisingMaine.com. You can contact her by e-mail.
