Frequently Asked Questions
At Mme Martin, we realize that some of our members are not native speakers so here is an English version of the FAQ which, hopefully, will clarify things for you.
- What is Madame Martin ?
- Who are the members of Madame Martin ?
- Can I join in and participate ?
- Glossary: post, comment, syndication, RSS. What is all that ?
- What can I post ?
- How do I post ?
- Can I use html in my posts ? What is pseudo-code ?
- How does the sidebar work ?
- I have a question. Who can I contact?
- I've lost my password !
What is Madame Martin ?
Madame Martin is a collective blog. A blog (or weblog) is a sort of web diary, that is, a webpage on which you write down the last interesting website you came across, often together with some personal comment. Blogs are usually written by one single person and focus on a specific subject. In contrast, collective blogs like Madame Martin are done by many people with their own interest. As a consequence, many more subjects can be discussed and many more points of views are expressed.
In short, the aim is to share links, to discuss and, more generally, to have fun !
Who are the members of Madame Martin ?
Anyone can join in, so the demographic is fairly varied. Originally, Madame Martin is the name of a group of computer science students but really, we're outnumbered by the other members so it doesn't really matter. The site engine was designed by Chris Ladroue, using Monkeyfilter as a model for the layout, the user interface and... the good fun! Thanks to Tracy Hope for her help, Patchan and Coug for the β-tests and again to Patchan for the logo and to Coug setting up the domain. And of course, special thanks to the developpers of PHP and MySQL !Can I join in and participate ?
Of course! And you are most welcome! All you need to do is to subscribe here and you'll be able to post and make comments 24H afterwards.You can also spread the good news and advertise our community to the entire world by using the Mme Martin sticker
Adding it to your site is as simple as:
<a href="http://www.madamemartin.com">
<img src="http://www.madamemartin.com/images/sticker_mme.jpg" width="80" height="15" border="0" alt="Madame Martin" />
</a>
Important: once you've subscribed, you'll receive an email (the one and only you'll receive from us) asking you to confirm your email. To do this, just click on the link that is provided in the email and you're done. The link should look like this:
http://www.madamemartin.com/confirmation.php/455bde456affc
You'll be allowed to post and comment only when your email is confirmed.
Glossary: post, comment, syndication, RSS. What is all that ?
Most of the terms come from the newsgroups communities. A 'post' is the article or the link posted by a member, a 'comment' really is self-explanatory and a 'thread' ('fil de discussion') is the set post+comments.
Syndication is a way of distributing the content of a website over other sites. Technically, a small file (in RSS format) is used that contains parts of the last posts. By reading out this file, people can be aware of the late activity of the site without having to actually visit it. it's very useful for monitoring many websites very quickly. If you're using FireFox, you can use the SAGE extension for that. However, if all this seems rather technical to you, just forget what you've just read; it's mostly a service we provide for non-members.
What can I post ?
Whatever you fancy really, as long as you think it's worth a post.
However, be careful not to:
- post links to your personal website or sites you're involved in; self-linking is a no-no. However, feel free to link to your website in your comments if it's appropriate.
- post links that have already been posted before ('doublon'). Do a search if you're not sure.
Self-links and double-posts will be deleted. Deleted posts don't disappear from the surface of the earth, they simply don't appear on the front page.
Important for non-native speakers:
Don't be shy and don't worry about your French! We fully realize how difficult and intimidating it can be to post in another language and we appreciate that some of you are still learning and we won't criticize you for not having a full command of the language. If you're not sure, just state in your profile that you're not a native speaker so that people know.
How to post ?
If it's the first time you've used this kind of website, just watch what others do and imitate them. Typically, you come across a page or website that you find interesting, bizarre, revolting etc. and you share it with the community to discuss it, to laugh at it or whatever. In this case, the post is usually very short, sometimes consisting of the link only (example).
You can also write more researched posts, with a number of relevant links and a short text to put everything together and your personal opinion (example). People often like it.
To post, click on Poster in the navigation bar and follow the instructions. Once sent, posts cannot be edited; so do make use of the preview button ('Aperçu') and make sure that your post is ready before sending it.
Can I use html ? What is pseudo-code?
For security reasons, html is not enabled. Instead, use the following pseudo-code (very close to usual html):| bold | [b] bold [/b] |
| italic | [i] italic [/i] |
| underlined | [u] underlined [/u] |
| small | [small] small [/small] |
| this is a link | [url=http://www.madamemartin.com] this is a link [/url] |
| quote | [quote]quote[/quote] |
