Just Post Events Here

This is an events list. Please publish your dharma events here. Please don't publish practice texts, poetry, transcripts of teachings, discussions, links lists, etc here. It's better to put those on your group's site.

Keep it Local

Event listings should be in and around the SF Bay Area, within reasonable driving distance.

Exceptions: Dalai Lama teachings & Karmapa teachings anywhere in North America, since many of us will travel to attend them.

Write a Brief Informative Title

The title should be short, simple and clear. Don't make people guess what your listing is about. Use keywords at the beginning of the title.

Keep the title as brief as possible. You can usually omit the words lama, rinpoche, yogi, buddhist, sangha, and center. Dates should be in brief numerical format. You only need to include enough information to get someone's interest. They will scan the list and click on a title to read more.

Just include the basics in the title. Please use this format: Who, What, Where, When. Example follows:

Teacher Name, Teaching Topic, City, 2007-04-01

Create an Excerpt

In the Edit window, click on the Excerpt button above the Content box. This will open the Excerpt box. Type the first sentence of your listing into the excerpt box. Type the rest into the content box. Don't repeat the same text in both places. Don't use images in excerpts.

Site users will see the short excerpts instead of the entire text of each listing. This makes it easier to quickly scan the list of events. After each excerpt are the words Continue reading ... When people click on those words, they see the rest of your entry. Clicking on the entry title will also make the full entry visible.

Don't Use All Capital Letters

Don't use all capital letters in titles or excerpts. Don't do anything to grab more attention for your listing than other people's listings.

DON'T USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS IN THE BODY OF YOUR LISTING EITHER. USING ALL CAPITAL LETTERS DECREASES READABILITY. IT TAKES 10% LONGER TO READ TEXT IN ALL CAPITALS. THE VARIATION OF SIZES AND SHAPES OF LETTERS IN NORMAL TEXT MAKES IT EASIER TO RECOGNIZE LETTERS QUICKLY. CAPITALS ARE ALL THE SAME SIZE AND SHAPE. THIS IS HARD TO READ.

Using all capitals is the internet equivalent of shouting. Don't shout.

Don't Use Boldface Type

Don't use boldface type in titles or excerpts. Don't do anything to try to make your listing get noticed more than other people's listings.

Don't use boldface for blocks of text in the content of your listing. The meaning of  boldface in content is to call attention to a few words. If you use boldface for entire sentences or paragraphs it becomes meaningless. Don't overuse boldface.

* ! Don't Use Unusual Punctuation ! *

Don't use asterisks, exclamation marks, stars, symbols, any kind of unusual punctuation in the title or the excerpt. Don't do anything to make your listing more noticeable than others. Don't use unusual punctuation in the content either. Don't use exclamation marks at all.

Don't List an Event More Than Once

Don't list an event more than once. Don't do anything to draw more attention to your event than to other people's events. If you have a listing which describes all your events, don't create a listing for one of those events by itself.

When someone reads your duplicate listing and realizes that they have read it before, they will feel frustration that their time is being wasted. Then they will not be as eager to return to the site in the future.

When someone reads your duplicate listing and realizes that they have read it before, they will feel frustration that their time is being wasted. Then they will not be as eager to return to the site in the future.

Don't Underline

On websites, underlined text denotes clickable links. On this site, links are not blue, and the only thing that distinguishes links from normal text is the underline. If you underline words, users will try to click on them.

People feel confused if they try to click on underlined words and nothing happens. If something doesn't do what they expect, they distrust the site. If site users succeed at recognizing and using links, they feel good about the site.

Break Text Into Chunks

Short paragraphs are easier on the eyes than long paragraphs. If you have set your user preferences, you should have WYSIWYG mode enabled. Hitting the Enter key will create a new paragraph. If you're not using WYSIWYG mode, select a block of text and choose paragraph from the toolbar drop-down.

Delete Your Listings of Past Events

Please don't leave notices of past events on the site. They will slow down site users who are looking for fresh information. Keep it current. Delete all your listings within a few days after the event. Be nice to your webmaster, clean up after yourself.

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