General Questions
Q: What Can I Do Here?
A: SDN Share is a place to read cool content from the community, submit your knowledge to share, and participate with others who share similar interests.
Here are some of the things you do on this web site:
Surf
Since people continually contribute fresh content to SDN Share, you can come back each day to see what's new. You can scan the titles on the home page, browse topic categories, or click on tags created by the community to label and organize content.
Post
Got something to share? Contribute your original code samples, tech tips, and articles for everyone to enjoy. Watch your contribution receive votes and comments. Unleash ideas, and watch them spread.
Vote
Add your vote and influence the placement of content on the home page. Contributions with many positive votes zoom to the top of the site, and stick around longer. Feel like you just wasted time reading a post? Vote it down and save others the trouble.
Comment
A submitted link sometimes tells only half the story. To get the complete picture, you can participate in discussion threads. Agree or disagree, you can encounter other opinions and make your voice heard in the comments section.
Tag
Assign one or more keyword tags to label and organize content in ways that are meaningful to you and other human beings. Find favorites of other SDN Share users by following their tags. Explore tags and discover remarkable things by accident.
Make New Friends
Follow people you admire by subscribing to their posts, votes, comments, and tags. People can follow you, too! Make new friends, discover like interests, and join a community.
Search
Use SDN Share's powerful sorting and filtering capabilities to display the content and topics you care about the most.
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Q: What are the terms of use for this site?
A: You can view the terms of use either by clicking on the Submit Tab or you can find them
here.
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Q: How do I create a bio?
A: Log in and click on the Members tab. Click on your screen name. You will see a link at the bottom of your information that says "Edit My Bio". Click on that link and fill in your bio.
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Q: Is there a SDN Share blog?
A: Yes! We'll be blogging about new features, experiences, and insight on the program. Here's your chance to share your thoughts, concerns, praise, and constructive feedback with the folks behind the site. You can visit the blog
here.
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Q: How do I "follow" a SDN Share member?
A: If you like the posts of a particular member, you can "follow" their future posts. Click on the Member tab, then click on the member name of the person you would like to follow,. In the member details, you will find a "Start Following" link. Click to add this member to your follow list. When you start following someone, they are added to your following list in your profile. You can easily track their activity by clicking on their screen name in their profile. It will take you to their profile where you can view their posts, votes cast, etc.
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Q: How can I create advanced filters to find what I am looking for?
A: Beyond simple sorting and filtering, you can narrowly define the content you want to see using advanced filters. This powerful search capability delivers precise results based on your own criteria.
Example: "Show me stories submitted within the last week tagged with the keyword "Solaris" that have received more than two votes."
- Click advanced to display the Create Advanced Filter window.
- Select tagged with in the first menu, and enter "Solaris".
- Click the more link, and select votes in the first menu.
- Select at least in the next menu, and enter "2".
- Click the more link, and select submission time in the first menu.
- Select within this number of days in the next menu, and enter "7".
- Click submit.
Tip: If no results are shown, use the back button in your Web browser to return to the Create Advanced Filter window, and try modifying your search criteria with fewer entries.
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Login Related Questions
Q: I'm having trouble logging in. What should I do?
A: You must be a Sun Developer Network member to log in to SDN Share. You can join Sun Developer Network by
joining now. If you are already a SDN member and can't remember your user name or password, visit the
Account Help.
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Q: Why must I use a screen name? How do I get one?
A: Sun Developer Network uses email addresses as user names. SDN Share did not want to display this member information so screen names were used instead to protect you. When you log into SDN Share for the first time and you do not have a screen name, you will be taken to a web page to choose your screen name. The screen name will be the same one you will use in the Sun forums.
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Posting Related Questions
Q: What is the definition of code samples, tech tips and articles as it relates to this site?
A: You can find definitions of submitted content
here.
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Q: Can you explain the fields on the Submit form?
A:
- Title: Type your headline here. Tip: How to write a headline that gets read.
- Type: Select the content type that best fits your post. Learn more.
- Tags: Tags are similar to keywords. Enter tags to find your post more easily, and to help others discover your post, too. Use spaces to separate multiple tags, use an underscore to combine two words. Example: "java jre" and "open_systems".
- Description: Write a short descriptive summary about the content of your post.
- Content: Using text, type the technical content of your post exactly as you wish it to appear on the site. Do not use HTML code. Tip: Use spaces to format your post.
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Q: What if I want to edit or add something to my post?
A: You will need to contact the SDN Share Administration. E-mail the Admin by sending an email to sdnshareATsunDOTcom.
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Q: Can you explain the votes that are attached to my posts?
A: Members are allowed to vote one time per post. If a member likes what you wrote then they will vote positively. If they disagree or find your content technically incorrect, you are very likely to get a negative vote. If you do vote, it's always a good idea to attach a comment so the poster know's why you voted the way you did.
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Q: I never received an email from the SDN Share admin about my post. What's up?
A: You should receive an email from the Admin within 3 business days. If you still haven't received anything, be sure to check the email account you used to sign up with the Sun Developer Network. If this email account is no longer valid, then send an email to sdnshare at sun dot com with your old and new email address.
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Q: How long does it take to get my post online once I submit it?
A: Three business days or less is the usual turn around time. Most likely, it will be posted on the same day you submit your content.
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Q: How do I flag a post?
A: At the top of each post, in the upper left corner, you will find a link to flag a post. Should you encounter an inappropriate post, because of offensive language, images, spam, and so on, you can flag the post as prohibited. Posts receiving sufficient flags will automatically be removed from the site.
Tags are similar to keywords. Assign one or more keyword tags to label and organize content in ways that are meaningful to you and other human beings.
Goodness points attempt to provide a weighted score reflecting the positive community reaction to a post (minus any negative community reaction). They're currently calculated as follows:
Freshness points use the same formula, but decay over time. So, for example, suppose there are two posts with the same number of votes, comments, and clicks. One was posted today and one two weeks ago. They both should have the same goodness score, but the newer one should have a higher freshness score.
