The Mozilla Foundation is growing rapidly, and producing lots of work that the rest of Mozilla wants to know more about. So I often get asked:
“Can you help <awesome new colleague> get added to Planet Mozilla?“
To make the process easier, here are some ridiculously simple instructions for accomplishing this fun and rewarding task. Soon, the entire Mozilla universe will be kept gloriously up to speed on your most important blog posts — with updates, milestones, and “a ha!” moments for miles!
“What is Planet Mozilla?”
Planet Mozilla is an aggregated blog of people working on Mozilla projects. Think of it as the main Mozilla fire hose. It’s important that you surface your most important work here for everyone to see.
For more context — and detailed instructions on getting added to Planet Mozilla — please see: “Everything you ever wanted to know about Planet Mozilla.”
“But this says I have to file a bug in Bugzilla. That sounds scary.”
I know. But don’t worry: it’s really not that bad, and nothing will break or bite.
To get added yourself to Planet Mozilla, go ahead and file your bug here. (This link makes it easy for you to file your bug in the right place.)
What do I have to include in my bug?
You clearly didn’t read “Everything you ever wanted to know about Planet Mozilla,” did you?!
The bug needs to include three things:
- Your blog’s URL and the URL for the feed you want included
- A short bio that we can use to announce your addition on the Planet Mozilla weblog
- Meet the approval requirements explained here.
“How do I make sure only the right posts show up on Planet Mozilla?”
Good question. You may blog about lots of stuff, but you only want the most relevant posts to show up on Planet Mozilla — so you don’t drown your colleagues with poems about your dog, reflections on Nietzche, Lego collection, etc.
We use “tagged feeds” to accomplish this. So that, for example, only blog posts you tag “Mozilla” will show up on Planet Mozilla.
“How do I figure out what the URL for my tagged feed is?”
If you’re using WordPress, there’s helpful documentation on this here.
For my own blog, for example, my “Mozilla” tagged feed is:
http://openmatt.wordpress.com/tag/mozilla-2/feed/
“Can one of my posts show up on multiple planets and blogs?”
Yes. You may end up syndicating your posts to multiple planets. So that if you tag your post “Mozilla,” “Hackasaurus,” and “Badges,” it will automatically show up on:
This makes it easy for you to ensure your posts show up in multiple relevant places, without having to manually cross-post or copy / paste, etc. It also makes it easy for you to do your writing and posting using your own personal preferred blogging tools or platform. Like WordPress, Tumblr or whatever.
“How do I get added to those other planets?”
Each planet has their own protocol and process for getting added. More documentation on other Mozilla Foundation planets will follow soon. Getting added to Planet Mozilla is the most important, so start there.
Stuck? Got questions?
- join one of our weekly “Mozilla Web Maker” community calls and ask there. They’re open to all.
- email me at matt [at] mozillafoundation [dot] org
- tweet me at @openmatt
Thanks Matt- this is a helpful post! Sometimes the mozillaverse is a little daunting- so clear explanations like this are really useful.