If you already know your way around WordPress, you probably don’t need this information. Just remember, we’re using wordpress.com, not the self-hosted wordpress.org.
If you’re new to WordPress or similar content-management systems (CMS), the wordpress.com support might be for you. In the following, we’re assuming some knowledge of CMSs.

This help is supposed to be extensive. It’s really very easy to use this website for most people. We’re just covering our bases here.

You can read here why we built this website on wordpress.com, and how we migrated the old stuff.

How to Join

To post content on this website, you have to be a member of I4S. Joining is really easy:

  1. You join I4S (or you’re already a paying member).
  2. You get an invitation to register with wordpress.com. (Watch your SPAM folder etc.). (This takes 1-2 business days).
  3. You sign up to wordpress.com and set up your short profile on wordpress.com, adding your name, affiliation and whatever else you’d like to share. (More on that below).
  4. Done! There is no fourth step!

Remember:

By “joining” qmethod.org, you’re entering into a contract with Automattic Inc., a reputable US-based web services company and our wordpress host. The service is theirs (Automattic), the content is ours (I4S). Their terms apply and only they can reset your password.
If you already have a wordpress.com account, let us know by email (info@qmethod.org) or during (new) I4S registrations. If you’ve hung around the internet for a while, there’s a fair chance you already have an account. Search your email. Do not register for wordpress.com again. (No one wants duplicate accounts.)
(Hosted) WordPress.com ≠ (Self-Hosted) WordPress.org
If you don’t know what this means, you can probably ignore this (or read this). The two are completely separate.
If you don’t know what kind of wordpress account you have, go to the (other) wordpress site in question, scroll way down, and look for “Blog at WordPress.com”. If you can’t find it, that’s a self-hosted wordpress.org account.

How to Enter a Short Profile

Set up a short profile at wordpress.com upon signing up for the service, including:

  • your full name (as “Public Display Name”)
  • a short bio (“About Me”)
  • one or more websites (“add URL”)
  • a picture of you
This profile will help you gain recognition for your contributions to qmethod.org, including at popular (academic) search engines.
Recall, again, that this profile works across wordpress.com; it’s not limited to qmethod.org.
You can always change your profile by clicking on the round avatar at the top-right corner of the website, if you’re logged in.

We don’t offer more profile information than this, but users can explore content by member to learn more about a particular user’s interests etc.

Advanced Profiles

If you’re web-savvy and would like a more extensive profile including social media links, go to gravatar.com – another service by Automattic Inc. –, sign in with your wordpress.com account, and edit away.

Your gravatar profile will be shown on qmethod.org, along with other websites that use the service.

You’re All Set!

You can now edit, post, like and comment most of the content on qmethod.org. Newcomers start with a “contributor” status, which means that your posts will be moderated by the editors (this might take 1-2 working days). More experienced users graduate to “author” status, which means they can post things directly.

To start writing, click on the little pen and plus sign at the top right corner. Once your done, change the status to Published (if you have the requisite rights), or Pending Review, and we’ll publish it within 1-2 business days.

Qmethod.org is for and by Q methodologists, so go ahead and make it yours.

Some more tips and tricks after the break.

Some Friendly Suggestions for Using qmethod.org

Images and Other Assets

If possible, add a good photo as a “featured image” to your post or page and people will engage more. The photo can be loosely connected to the topic of your post.

If you’re looking for an image to feature in your post or page, try these great sources of free and creative commons-licensed photos:

Keep the media library tidy.

  • Do not upload duplicates. Check the library first.
  • Always add good meta-data to your uploaded images, like so:
    Title: something meaningful, short, internal (this is hidden from visitors)
    Caption: short licensing information, creator and source URL (external, this will be seen underneath/within pictures).
    Alt Text: description (for blind people etc.) what happens in the image
    Description: longer context, optional.
If at all possible, upload images to qmethod.org directly, if you have the requisite rights. Do not just hotlink to another location: we have plenty of storage space, and hotlinks have a tendency to rot and disappear.
Always respect license restrictions on images and other assets (except when fair use under US law). If you’re unsure about the legal situation, don’t upload the material.
Authorship

Proper credit and recognition are very important at qmethod.org.

There are several ways to reflect authorship on this site:

  • Authorship of posts and pages (if the authors are signed up to the platform)
  • Authorship of comments (available to everyone, not just I4S members)
  • @mentions (like so: @maxheld) anywhere in texts and comments.
Generally, whoever posts content, is also its author.
However, this general rule can be odd when a post is primarily about someone else’s work, as when you’re posting a link or an abstract.
In this case, when the original author (of the source pointed to) is active on qmethod.org, authorship should be offered to that original author as a matter of courtesy.
If the original author does not wish to be listed on qmethod.org as author, or is unavailable, the poster should make every effort to give credit to the original author in other ways, including links to personal web pages and @mentions (like @maxheld).
Posts vs. Pages

Pages are about static, or canonical information, such as a Q conference, or the Q listserv. Posts are about dynamic, or partial information, such as some Q event, or some Q resource. (There’s also testimonials of Q-fans and portfolios of canonical sources in our setup, but that’s accessible only to editors and above).

In short: the thing you want on the website is probably a post.

You can choose different kinds of post (aside, link, regular, video etc.) depending on the kind of content you would like to post.

You (almost) cannot post too many posts. Whatever it is, it’s probably worthwhile as a post.

Tags and Categories

… are how we organise all this content on the website.

Generally, it is better to tag and categorise more, rather than less. Feel free to add your own (tags).
Do not use tags to reference people. Use the above authorship information, instead. Exception: When a person is the topic of debate and/or deceased (example: tag William Stephenson).
Fill in All the Blanks

There are lot of other fields in posts, including:

  • author (if not you)
  • excerpt
  • date (should be correct, can be in the past)
  • location

Fill in all that apply. The more, the better.

Comments and Likes

You can like and comment on pretty much anything you see at qmethod.org. We encourage you to use these features liberally.

Comments can be quite long and nested; knock yourself out. These comments would also be retained in the event this website ever moves to another service, because we’ve built a future-proof setup.

Apps

Oh, and yeah, there’s also an app for that!

Use wordpress.com apps for iOS, Android, OS X, Windows Phone and more to access qmethod.org.

Advanced Formatting and Features

We have some advanced formatting and features available here, that can help your content stand out.

To learn more, read the documentation for our theme.

In addition, we have two more – yet undocumented – formatting options:

Calls to Action

You can add something like this

Take This Important Action

by pasting the following (in < brackets):


a class="custom-call-to-action">Take This Important Action</a
Callouts

To highlight some sections, use these:

This is an example of content in a notice callout container. Callouts work great when wanting to call attention to a particular bit of content.
This is an example of content in an info callout container. Callouts work great when wanting to call attention to a particular bit of content.
This is an example of content in a success callout container. Callouts work great when wanting to call attention to a particular bit of content.
This is an example of content in a error callout container. Callouts work great when wanting to call attention to a particular bit of content.

Do add them, change over to the text (or HTML) editor in your post and wrap your content with <div class="notice"> and </div>, respectively.

Or, all together:



Your Content


Happy highlighting.

	

	

			







			

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