blogTV.com blog

NEW AND IMPROVED CHAT LAYOUT!

In our constant attempt to make blogTV user-friendly and well, pretty, we have streamlined the chat layout for you! Now you will find all of your necessary items on convenient buttons under your broadcasting screen and chat window. No more taking up useful space under your profile picture and no more searching for the elusive features that are right under your noses but somehow hard to locate.

However, the most important aspect of this new chat layout is one new answer to the LAG issue so many of you made wishes about on the wishlist. Now you will be able to close or open the "ALSO LIVE NOW" show area (now located above the broadcasting screen, the full length of the window) so that you do not experience constant refreshing, lag and over all irritation. Simply press to open and press again to close when needed.

You may also see that there is a new button above the chat window called "blogTV chat." This is a clue as to other possible chat options to come...

More Live Shows Closed (default Position)


More Live Shows Opened

WOO-HOO WE'RE TWO!

Celebrate two fantastic years of rocking the blog with us! You're all a part of it, so use this as an excuse to let it all hang out!

PARTY OVER HERE!!

MORE NEW FEATURES AND SOME INFRASTRUCTURAL CHANGES!

Yet another new version of blogTV has just been uploaded. You will find a great many wishes are being fulfilled, yet again!

1. Separate volume controls for co-hosts!
2. Co-host layout can switch between a split screen or co-host in the corner layout!
3. Chat commands!
4. Page Bans!

Read the rest of this blog for important information!

MORE TOOLS, LESS RULES!

After a few years of tending to the blogTV community and listening to the common issues and requests, blogTV has come up with a new system of moderation for the site.

With the release of the new PAGE BAN TOOL and chat commands, blogTV members will be able to ban other members from entering each other's pages in any way and will be able to control the chat much more easily. That means no more nasty comments, no more chat invaders and much more freedom from moderation.

* The PAGE BAN works from the chat or from the person's profile page. When you BAN a person from your chat room, the next time they refresh they will no longer have access to your page.

The important changes that everyone needs to know about are:

• Mods will no longer deal with minor harassment: Mild harassment includes name calling, trolling, spamming and other less common issues on that same level.
• Mods will be focusing on bigger problems: Bigger problems include pornography (sex acts and nudity), underage broadcasters and severe racism.
• Mods will be paying more attention to the positive: This means that with the time freed up from dealing with petty harassment, the mods will have more time to seek out new talent on the site, promote them and assist them to make the most of their broadcasts. We have been focused on the negative for too long and the good people of blogTV deserve our attention.
• YOU will be trusted with much more freedom: Since we are giving you the responsibility to take care of the law on your own pages, we will also be giving you more freedom. These freedoms include being able to discuss whatever you want without fear of moderator interference, being able to dance a little sexually (still not nude of course) and being able to NOT show your face on cam if you so choose.

Instructions for chat commands:

In order to use the new chat commands properly you will need to type a backslash followed by the command, as follows:

1. /search username

• Available to: ALL USERS
• This will function like the existing search button, but now the name will be linked to the room the person is in.

2. /kick username

• Available to: BROADCASTER, OPS, MODERATORS
• This will function like the existing kick button.

3. /op username

• Available to: BROADCASTER & MODERATORS
• This will function like the existing regular OPs.

4. /deop username

• Available to: BROADCASTER, OPS & MODERATORS
• This will function like the existing regular OPs.

5. /ban username

• Available to: BROADCASTER
• This will function like the existing regular ban today, but will also work if the user has left the room.

6. /unban username

• Available to: BROADCASTER
• This will function like the existing regular ban today, but will also work if the user has left the room.

* When you Unban a username it must be case sensitive

You can use this to kick guests, in the following format:
7. /kick Guest – g_name

If you have ANY questions about the new system, please feel free to contact your community manager, Kara-Hannah, or the Moderation Team.

WAIT...WISH-WHA??

The wishlist is a great way for the blogTV staff and community to make sure they are all on the same page. However, if the wishlist page is not used correctly, it will not yield the results you all may have been hoping for. Here are a few tips on how to make it work best for you, as well as some info about wishes that already exist (obviously those people who wished for them were unaware of the features, so they should be pointed out).

HOW TO WISH SUCCESSFULLY:

• Read the wishes that are currently on the list before you make your wish. This way you will not duplicate an existing wish.
• Vote for the wishes you want to come true rather than writing them yourself. If you continue to break up the same wishes into thousands of similar ones, you will never get the full amount of votes for the wish and therefore it will not look like its been voted for very much and wont get onto the radar of the blogTV developers.
• Write in proper English with fully thought out sentences so that other blogTV members and staff will know what you are talking about (currently there are many wishes on the wishlist that are simply unintelligible and will not be understood, let alone added to the site). This will also help people to not repeat the same wishes. If they understand that your wish is the same as their wish, they will have no need to repeat it.

INFO ON WISHES THAT ALREADY EXIST (DONE):

1. Mobile blogTV: Currently you can use most 3G phones to watch blogTV from m.blogTV.com. Soon it may be possible to broadcast from mobile phones as well!

2. "Where is this person": If you are in a chat room and want to know what show your friend is watching, simply press the MAGNIFYING GLASS icon underneath the username list of the chat, type your friend's name in and it will tell you what chat room your friend is located in.

3. Choose your auto-played video: In order to choose which video plays in your broadcasting screen when you are gone, simply press the "Edit" link above your video section and you will see a link next to each video called "Select VOD for player." more info

4. Vote to ban a user: With the new poll feature shown here, you CAN poll your viewers to see if they want to ban a certain user from the chat room!

5. No more guests: All of you currently have the option to shut off the guest chat in your rooms. Simply press on the PENCIL icon underneath the username list, in your chat window. You will see options to choose who is allowed to chat in your room and who is not. Click here for a visual demonstration.

6. Partner Program: The blogTV partner program or ad revenue share program info can be found here.

7. Sort the Live Now page by viewers: If you look at the top of the Live Now page you will see that there are several sorting options. You can choose to sort the Live Now page by viewers so that you can see who is the most popular broadcaster at all times. You may use any of the sorting features. We are not going to tell you how to watch your Live Now page.

8. GIF profile pictures: You are already allowed to use either JPG or GIF formatted images for your profile pictures. It will not work for animated GIFs.

9. The blogTV Store: If you want to purchase your very own blogTV gear, you can HERE.

10. Private shows: If you purchase a Pro Account for $25 a year, you can do private shows and only invite people on your friend list. Thereby negating the perverts.

As we continue to make the wishlist page work more successfully for you, we also hope that you will take these tips and help make it more successful for yourselves.

HAPPY WISHING!

YOUR WISH IS OUR COMMAND

Today blogTV uploaded the first new version since the Wishlist launched. As the TOP VOTED WISH was for better quality video, we granted it! Now you broadcasters will notice that before you begin your broadcast you have a new option called "Start HG Broadcast." This button will lead you to the highest quality broadcasting you have ever done on blogTV!

Next, we added several new features to the Wishlist page in order to make searching and linking to individual wishes much easier! Now you can send a link to your wish and have everyone you know vote for it!

We can't wait to see next version's wishes! So, enjoy these new features and anticipate a lot more :)

IT'S TIME TO GET SUPERLATIVE WITH THE BEST OF BLOGTV!

Are you sick of those seemingly meaningless STAR ratings? Don't you want a rating system that makes sense, is un- trollable and is in a familiar format? Then you will be stoked about the new BEST OF section (found conveniently on the blogTV menu bar).




As you will see, the new sections show the top 100 "Most Subscribed" and "Friendliest" broadcasters. Each section is broken down into weekly, monthly and all time highs so that new broadcasters will have a chance to rank as well as old broadcasters. These pages will also create healthy competition and will introduce viewers to new and different broadcasters.

Those broadcasters who make it into the top 100 will have a link/s showing their accolades, on their profile pages, underneath the mini-bio section. It should look familiar as it is very similar to YouTube's ranking system.

Note: Because of the size of our site, we are starting with the top 100. Should there be a need for more, we will extend it in the future.

NEW EMOTICONS!

Here at blogTV, we understand that sometimes it's the little things in life that keep it interesting. Therefore, we have added some NEW EMOTICONS for your further entertainment. In case you are confused as to what they are, here is a quick run down (some of the new emoticons are for PRO accounts only):














Emot-away!

NEW FEATURES!

Have you seen the new polls yet? Perhaps created one or even voted on someone else's? If not, now is the time to check out the latest craze on blogTV! If you are a broadcaster, all you have to do to start your very own poll is click the POLL button under the username list in the chat window; write a question and some possible answers and activate the poll! Then, anyone who enters your show can vote and follow the results, LIVE! Once you create a new poll, the old poll results go into the poll section on the bottom left hand side of your profile page so people can still discuss the outcome of the last poll.



















Second on the list of new features is the CHOOSE YOUR VOD option that we added in order to allow broadcasters to choose which of their videos they would like to play on their page when they are not live. This means that you can record commercials for upcoming shows and have the commercial run while you are not around or simply choose a video that you think was AMAZING for every visitor to see! The new option can be found in the video editing section, right next to the delete and restrict options.












More exciting new features are already being created....

blogTV Junior: Bigger, Better & As requested

Yes, we did read and take head of the comments you made about the Junior channel and now we believe you will be happy with the changes we have made.

The updated Junior channel will now include:
1. Junior members will only be able to broadcast to other Junior members (plus 16 & 17 year olds)
2. Junior members will only be able to view other Junior members & anyone on their friends list (young or old). You will also be able to make new friend requests to older members in case they are not already on your friends list.
3. Junior members will not have guest chat available
4. Junior members will not be able to co-host or be co-hosted
5. Junior members will not have private message options
6. Junior members will not be able to change their ages to put them into regular member status
7. Regular members will not be able to change their ages to put them into the Junior member status
8. Now moderation has the option to change your age for you so that you do not have to lose your account! If you created a user with a fake, older age and were blocked for being under age 16, just contact moderation@blogTV.com and ask them to change your age for you and put you onto the junior channel.

**** As an added bonus, there will be a SPOTLIGHT BANNER section for the Junior channel as well as a special Junior logo. These are just the first changes we are making in order to offer the Junior blogTV members the same rich experience as everyone else.

Each of these features was put into place with the well being of the Junior members at heart and absolutely not done in order to remove privileges from our younger friends. We hope that this new Junior channel will allow our Junior members to safely enjoy their time on the internet and will allow our older members to mingle with more people in their own peer group.

If you have any questions about this new Junior channel, please feel free to contact your community manager, Kara-Hannah.

GIFT me a Pro Account!

After MANY requests from loving blogTV members wanting to give their best blogTV friends a Pro Account as a gift, we decided to add the option. If you want to give your friend a Pro Account, simply click on the orange button underneath their profile picture and fill out the easy form. You can GIFT a pro as yourself or you can GIFT a pro anonymously.

Have fun with this guys and girls!