A few people have run into some problems while posting comments, so I thought I would review the commenting form so we all now have a reference if needed.

1. Anyone on the web, who visits the site, can comment

2. No need to log in in order to comment

3. Comments are currently on an approved-only status. Meaning, they won't show up on the site/blog until either the blog owner or the admin approves the comment. There are some developments coming that will change this 'rule' a bit. But we'll discuss when that happens.

4. Nothing in the form is 'required' - except the actual comment, of course - so don't feel obligated to fill things in if you are short on time, forget what goes where, or just plain don't want it.

5. FORM OUTLINE (see image below):

  NAME
- This is where you put your name. It can be your full name, your first name, a nickname, an initial or anything you want... or it can be nothing, if you leave it blank.

  E-MAIL ADDRESS
- This is where you put your e-mail address, if you desire. Really, this is the one blank that is really pointless.. especially with all e-mail addresses listed in the tree network. This field is more for outside commenters, if they'd like to leave a contact for the blogger/admin to then contact them.

  URL
- This is where you put your individual url. This is not required - so again skip it if you want - but I like this feature because it makes our site more dynamically linked within itself. This feature is also helpful to outside commenters, should they want to leave a link from our site to theirs along with their comment.

- You'll see from my example, that to correctly leave your web site address you must type in the entire address (I hadn't realized this from the get-go). For another example, Brian's blog page would be: [ http://www.mckinneytree.info/brian_mckinney ] (should you need help figuring out your blog address, just ask).

  COMMENT
- This is where you put your comment to the blog. Again, this is the main point of the comment feature, so fill something in. :)

  POST BUTTON
- Once you are finished filling in your comment (and any other fields you choose) then it's time to post your comment. To do so, click the "post" button once. Loading the comment takes a few moments, so just wait (without clicking the post button again) until you see a page that says "Thanks for commenting", or something similar.

Again, your comment won't officially post until the blog author (or admin) approves the comment - so don't think your comment didn't work if you don't see it immediately. Usually, if it works or not, the system will keep a log of all activity for the admin and I'll see the problem when/if it occurs.

  FORM SAMPLE:

If you do run into further problems, feel free to e-mail for help or use this handy-dandy 'help desk' section to get more specific answers.