So, you’ve come to dR Bulletin Board, and what’s this? A sudden rush of inspiration:

“I need to jot this link down and let everyone know!”

That’s when you realize it may be something that our subscribers find interesting, and you want to post it as a thread on main page of @drbboard@kbin.melroy.org.

What can be a thread?

Imagine a thread as some sort of magazine clipping - you might want it to look proud and timeless. We are trying to be discreet about types of content that go to the main, Threads page. Click on any type below to see a sample entry, what it can look like.

For everything else

Let’s suppose you have something more experimental or it’s not listed above. You then might want to avoid templates for your posting altogether - this is where Microblog shines! Pick “Add new post” in the plus menu to quickly write anything to your heart’s content.

🚧 Free format doesn’t free from marking correctly your post as not-safe-for-work (NSFW - if unsure) or original content (OC - if sure).

Down to business

With this out of the way, this guide assumes you have something pertinent. There is your point of view, worth sharing, clicking and reading in a longer detail? That’s where Threads come into play.

First of all, you’ll need an Mbin/Kbin or a Lemmy profile. Mbin is a more community-oriented fork that is backwards-compatible with Kbin. For simplicity’s sake, I will just refer to Kbin, as they are both the same in regards to posting.

You will be able to further interact with others in the comments and Microblog from it or opt in to Mastodon and alternatives. But to create a thread, you’ll most definitely need a Kbin/Lemmy account.

Creation form

From here on out, I’m trying to capture instructions for both Kbin (as 📰 a parent item) and Lemmy (as 🐭 a sub-item). If anything stands incorrect, let me know in the comments.

  • 📰 Proceed to @drbboard@kbin.melroy.org magazine
    • 🐭 or, as it’s called, a “community”, which you can discover by putting our URL in Lemmy search.
  • 📰 In the top right plus menu, press “Add new link”
    • 🐭 or a button reading “Create a post” (they are all the same for Lemmy, but on Kbin it’s still a thread).

Threading on

Now that you’re on the entry creation form, let us decide on its type. Depending on the type you pick, there will be certain fields required or not required to fill out.

  • 📰 Add new link - if you’ve got a link to share
    • 🐭 or simply put a URL in the respective field.
  • 📰 Add new thread - if you want to bring up a discussion
    • 🐭 or ignore the URL field on Lemmy.
  • 📰 Add new photo - (not recommended) if you wish to share a picture without any additional text
    • 🐭 or ignore all fields aside from “Title” and “Image”.

Fields

Now to the most crucial part: filling this form out.

  • URL

    Link to the originating Internet resource. Both Kbin and Lemmy offer #OpenGraph autocompletion of other fields once you paste it. Despite this convenience, be mindful of the magazine’s audience and give your own spin on the info placed below.

  • Image

    Good visuals help the reader in understanding what to anticipate and building up an interest. Ideal ratio for Kbin is 3:2, but in any case it will look nice.

    Be aware that image you upload and alternative text you attach on Kbin does not bridge over to Lemmy when you include a URL. And vice versa: when you upload an image through Lemmy, it replaces whatever link you’ve had with an image link.

    If link already has a good OpenGraph preview image, you don’t need to worry about uploading your own. Also, if URL is included, auxiliary preview image will be resized to 380 pixels max, so there isn’t much point in adding tiny details. In fact, those are so negligible that anyone can draw their own cover image in mere seconds.

    • 📰 Find a media button below on Kbin form and upload your auxiliary preview image with optional #AltText for accessibility
      • 🐭 or use the “Image” field on Lemmy to upload an image.

  • Title

    Of course, you’ve got to provide a nice wrap-up of your thread in one little line of text. Don’t make a clickbait for the sake of clickbait: instead, specify what parent topic relates to your thread, what distinguishes it from every other content piece posted earlier. Make it unique, pretty and descriptive enough. Take an inspiration from already existing entries.

  • Body

    This is the crux of your entire thread, where you describe your experience with the piece of media (link) or how you start a new discussion, whichever details you want to be seen before people start commenting. Use all your Markdown wizardry to make it shine and be legible.

  • 📰 Tags

    Type any relevant keywords one-by-one to categorize your thread.

  • 📰 OC

    Whether it qualifies as an original content or not.

  • 📰 Magazine / 🐭 Community

    • 📰 Should be set to “drbboard” automatically
      • 🐭 or it should say “dR Bulletin Board”.

Publishing

  • 📰 Press “Add new link/thread/photo” button
    • 🐭 or press “Create”.

🥳

Congratulations, here comes your good entry!

You will receive notifications on the top right corner when someone comments on it. Please follow the directions from moderator to amend tags, OC mark, other details.