Journal Entry Using the new MH Fun Journal (1 Viewer)

[Revolvor]

I'm sure that when Jim first posted about the new MH Fun Journal feature, a lot of people were very interested and keen to post a Journal. Reading about other people's travels can be both entertaining and informative.

Earlier in the year Jane And Rog kept us all engrossed, and currently Lenny HB, Otter Spotter and DBK are posting about their latest trips.

But back to the Journal - so far only suavecarve seems to have fully mastered the technique for creating and posting a journal with multiple entries. Others have published information, but they appear as disjointed posts.

Is this because people would rather just post on a thread, or is it because they don't fully understand how the Journal works? Personally, I think it maybe the latter.

I have tried (unsuccessfully) to create a Journal, though I never actually published anything.

Would people create more Journals if they fully understood the process? I believe part is the problem is understanding the difference between Creating a journal, and Posting a journal entry. Maybe if they were named slightly differently their functions would be more obvious.

I hope that as the year progresses, more people master the techniques (maybe a more in-depth guide could be produced) so that we can all enjoy reading about others' experiences.

 

[LesW]

I like reading the Travel Journals, especially because they are devoid of the constant comments (albeit pleasant) from well meaning posters.

Look at Lenny HB latest thread, getting clogged up.

 

[suavecarve]

I think the journal is absolutely brilliant and well underused.

Both my journal entries have been done retrospectively as in I thought about where I had been that I had stuck information on here about and went back and butchered them into a journal.

I tend to post in the photo of the day thread, and put quite an amount of photos on there, so for the "bergues" journal, I just went back to the time I was entering it and copied and pasted the photos over and wrote a little bit, tried setting the photos in different places and that was the end result. I also create individual threads for cycle routes on disused railway lines and post in the photo from the inside so all my information is there it just needed butchering

Then adding pages confused me at first but a couple of minutes thinking time sorted it out, so the reader, if they are reading about a trip, can click "View all" or just turn pages over.

I ve been thinking about Lenny HB and DBK type threads especially the fishgate from last year where it went off thread completely (this years is as well occasionally already) and they would be quite easy to make into journals which could be publishable should the inclination take them. Another one that would make a cracking journal is the couple where the woman writes and they make numerous errors and I remember the bike breaking down and her sitting down posing as an orange seller and convincing her husband to do a helicopter in a Welsh campsite but their name escapes me.

The thing with a journal over a thread, is not everyone gets a following like Northernraider when they are writing it up whilst on holiday for a thread (even though we all just want to read it and look at the photos) and journal can be sent to family members not on here and is much more of a memory for future years for loved ones.

Having been "succesful" with the first, I did the dangerous roads one and I reckon that took about a couple of hours for the whole thing. I have been wondering whether to expand the Bergues one with our Luxembourg/Belgium trip this year or create a new one (when time allows which might be this week with Easter break)

The journal could be done daily whilst youre away or retrospectively if you do what I do AND you dont have to let anyone see it on here. Jim will know how many decent journals there are that are still private.

I would urge people to have a go at the Journal as well as the thread, and if apprehensive, definitely the journal, keeping it private, and letting it go public if the desire so wishes just for the ease of reference for family and friends. The thread's advantage, if you are writing every day will give you the high probability of someone saying "I ve been there and great boulangerie behind the church" and you can decide whether to act upon it or not. The Journal's plus point is it is your memory without the boulangerie behind the church for your loved ones (and nosey parkers like me who are trying to plan places to go)

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[DBK]

I confess I haven't seen the Journal section but if it means folk can't reply like they can to a thread then it doesn't appeal much to me. I enjoy the interaction and above all suggestions where to go next.

 

[Revolvor]

I confess I haven't seen the Journal section but if it means folk can't reply like they can to a thread then it doesn't appeal much to me. I enjoy the interaction and above all suggestions where to go next.

People can still interact and make comments, under the "Discussion" tab, but the comments are not embedded in the journal entries.

 

[Jim]

People can still interact and make comments, under the "Discussion" tab, but the comments are not embedded in the journal entries.

The discussion tab is a regular thead

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[Revolvor]

I think the journal is absolutely brilliant and well underused.

Both my journal entries have been done retrospectively as in I thought about where I had been that I had stuck information on here about and went back and butchered them into a journal.

I tend to post in the photo of the day thread, and put quite an amount of photos on there, so for the "bergues" journal, I just went back to the time I was entering it and copied and pasted the photos over and wrote a little bit, tried setting the photos in different places and that was the end result. I also create individual threads for cycle routes on disused railway lines and post in the photo from the inside so all my information is there it just needed butchering

Then adding pages confused me at first but a couple of minutes thinking time sorted it out, so the reader, if they are reading about a trip, can click "View all" or just turn pages over.

I ve been thinking about Lenny HB and DBK type threads especially the fishgate from last year where it went off thread completely (this years is as well occasionally already) and they would be quite easy to make into journals which could be publishable should the inclination take them. Another one that would make a cracking journal is the couple where the woman writes and they make numerous errors and I remember the bike breaking down and her sitting down posing as an orange seller and convincing her husband to do a helicopter in a Welsh campsite but their name escapes me.

The thing with a journal over a thread, is not everyone gets a following like Northernraider when they are writing it up whilst on holiday for a thread (even though we all just want to read it and look at the photos) and journal can be sent to family members not on here and is much more of a memory for future years for loved ones.

Having been "succesful" with the first, I did the dangerous roads one and I reckon that took about a couple of hours for the whole thing. I have been wondering whether to expand the Bergues one with our Luxembourg/Belgium trip this year or create a new one (when time allows which might be this week with Easter break)

The journal could be done daily whilst youre away or retrospectively if you do what I do AND you dont have to let anyone see it on here. Jim will know how many decent journals there are that are still private.

I would urge people to have a go at the Journal as well as the thread, and if apprehensive, definitely the journal, keeping it private, and letting it go public if the desire so wishes just for the ease of reference for family and friends. The thread's advantage, if you are writing every day will give you the high probability of someone saying "I ve been there and great boulangerie behind the church" and you can decide whether to act upon it or not. The Journal's plus point is it is your memory without the boulangerie behind the church for your loved ones (and nosey parkers like me who are trying to plan places to go)

Thanks for your comments. You've obviously appreciated the benefit of the Journal.

Being cautious by nature, I started experimenting with the journal by keeping it Private, but found there to be limitations. Can you answer a couple of questions, based on your experience?

1. If a journal is Private, can it still be shared with family members? If so, how?

2. Can a Private journal subsequently be published to the Forum?

3. I couldn't find a drop-down list with "View All" on the journal I created. Is it still there on a Private journal?

 

[Jim]

Thanks for your comments. You've obviously appreciated the benefit of the Journal.

Being cautious by nature, I started experimenting with the journal by keeping it Private, but found there to be limitations. Can you answer a couple of questions, based on your experience?

1. If a journal is Private, can it still be shared with family members? If so, how?

2. Can a Private journal subsequently be published to the Forum?

3. I couldn't find a drop-down list with "View All" on the journal I created. Is it still there on a Private journal?

A Private Journal is forever private. There is no faciity to make it public

 

[suavecarve]

Thanks for your comments. You've obviously appreciated the benefit of the Journal.

Being cautious by nature, I started experimenting with the journal by keeping it Private, but found there to be limitations. Can you answer a couple of questions, based on your experience?

1. If a journal is Private, can it still be shared with family members? If so, how?

2. Can a Private journal subsequently be published to the Forum?

3. I couldn't find a drop-down list with "View All" on the journal I created. Is it still there on a Private journal?

No worries.

1) No idea, but I know a man who will Jim
2) Yes, there will be a "Make public" somewhere within the dropdown menu on the right hand side I see Jim has answered that one more correctly than i did !
3) I would expect so as long as you have at least 2 pages (entries) created. It is here

As an aside I just updated the Belgium/Bergues thread in about 3 minutes with our return to drink the blue beer which we failed to do on the first visit.

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[suavecarve]

I suspect you might be able to copy and paste the private journal into a new Public one as a workaround

 

[Jim]

I suspect you might be able to copy and paste the private journal into a new Public one as a workaround

Thinking about it. if you go to your main journal and Edit it. You can uncheck the Private box and it should become public

 

[Jim]

I confess I haven't seen the Journal section

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[LesW]

I confess I haven't seen the Journal section but if it means folk can't reply like they can to a thread then it doesn't appeal much to me. I enjoy the interaction and above all suggestions where to go next.

This sort of stuff isn't too bad , but things get a bit silly when others try to go completely off topic.

I can understand 'thread drift' it's all part of chat, but take a look at the Lenny HB thread, people discussing their television ariels and weddings!.. it's just bad manners... and spoils the thread for others.

 

[Revolvor]

Thank you Jim, I don't recall seeing this before.

 

[Lenny HB]

This sort of stuff isn't too bad , but things get a bit silly when others try to go completely off topic.

I can understand 'thread drift' it's all part of chat, but take a look at the Lenny HB thread, people discussing their television ariels and weddings!.. it's just bad manners... and spoils the thread for others.

When a thredad runs well it's good but when it goes topic it's acceptable on a lot of threads but it ruins a travel thread.
My latest loads of people discussing when they are going to meet each other.
Think I'll ask Jim to tidy it up.

I'm not keep on journals/blogs rarely ever read any.

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