Note:
This topic has been translated from a Chinese forum by GPT and might contain errors.Original topic: 发布文章指引手册
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username: Billmay表妹
What is the TiDB Column?
The TiDB Community Column is a platform for sharing and learning technical articles, established by developers, users, contributors, and partners within the TiDB ecosystem. Here, you can see firsthand practical experiences from community members through distributed creation: troubleshooting guides, best practices, evaluations, theoretical interpretations, etc., providing you with the most comprehensive TiDB practical technical articles.
The TiDB Community Column is a collection of community technical articles, a blog platform for TiDB users/enthusiasts to [exchange ideas] and [analyze problems].
Why Write Technical Articles
Technical articles are a great way to share your expertise while building a potentially valuable readership. They can help you document projects or provide guidance to other TiDB users.
As mentioned at the beginning, many tech professionals in real life are introverted and usually hang out with a few people they feel comfortable with (just guessing 
). When they write technical articles online and share their work with others, they can interact with like-minded friends. If you write a technical article documenting your pitfalls during a TiDB trial and include a piece of code where you encountered a problem, what do you think will happen? Most likely, you will be flooded with comments from people with ideas on how to improve the code, what you did wrong, what you should do, etc. There might be some intellectual collisions in the comments section, but you might learn something new from others. Moreover, the problems everyone encounters when using products/technologies are unique and special, and such [customized] technical content is often hard to find similar correct answers on other platforms. If colleagues who encounter similar problems at work see your sharing and solve their tricky business problems using your article, they will surely appreciate your kindness.
You might not realize it, but when you share your thoughts with others, they can learn from you. It’s reciprocal: you share what you know, and people will comment with what they know. This is probably the meaning of an active and mutually supportive community.
You might discover a new hobby or interest—enjoying interacting with people online 
. You might also find like-minded people who become your new friends 
. Or perhaps, you might find new job opportunities 
that you didn’t know existed.
Benefits of Blogging:
- The process of writing a blog is a process of thinking, which can deepen your understanding and application of knowledge. More importantly, you might forget, but you can quickly recall through your own blog.
- Writing a blog gives you a sense of accomplishment. Learning a knowledge point and writing it out for others to see gives you a sense of achievement and can further stimulate your enthusiasm for learning.
- When your blog accumulates to a certain amount, more people in the tech community will see it, allowing you to meet more peers, tech friends, and even get job recommendations.
- Your technical blog is also a good personal showcase for interviewers. I have a friend with an average education background who was discovered and hired by a big tech company through blogging, with a decent salary.
- It hones your writing skills, which is also a very important ability.
- Many so-called tech gurus gained some fame by exposing themselves through blogging.
- If your blog is good, publishers might approach you to write a book, earning some royalties and becoming a minor celebrity in the industry, giving you more confidence in job negotiations.
- The most important point is the improvement of your technical skills and personal abilities.
Quoted from https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/348995084, very comprehensive summary
We look forward to seeing your brilliant ideas here and hope you can solve technical problems encountered in your actual work.
How to Create Articles for the TiDB Community Column
To quote a classic ad slogan, “Just Do It”
Are you worried that you are not professional enough to write on a specific topic? Don’t worry, almost every writer researches what they need to know before creating. (Just like I have countless browser windows open now, searching for “how to write a good first column article”)
Maybe you are worried about saying something wrong. Every writer makes mistakes, and readers often like to point them out. This is a good thing! You can also re-edit/correct the article and republish your work. If you and the readers have different opinions and can’t tell who is right, invite more people to read and judge. Don’t forget, you have the power of the entire community behind you.
Don’t worry about writing too simply, looking like a novice, or being too complex for readers to understand. In the community, you will always find readers who can understand your article.
Additionally, these links might help you improve your writing skills:
Technical Article Writing Training Series: Technical Blog Writing
https://blogging.com/technical-blogging/
For more on how to create articles for the TiDB Community Column, feel free to check the Column Publishing Guide 
at the bottom left corner of the column homepage.
Publishing Entry:
Click here for the [Column Article] publishing entry: 专栏 - 编辑文章 | TiDB 社区, or you can click [Write Article] in the upper right corner under the column category to start writing!
Content Selection:
Q: emmm… But what if I don’t know what content to write for the column article?
A: Don’t worry! From topic selection to format, structure, and outline, we have prepared a guide for you!
Click Column Technical Article Publishing Guide to see more writing ideas for technical articles.
- Once you have an idea, don’t forget to choose the category of the article when writing:
Publishing Rewards:
- Points Reward: Publishing 1 column article can earn you 100-600 points & experience points
Articles selected for the journal can earn an additional 300 points reward. For specific requirements, see: TiDB 社区技术月刊 | TiDB Books
- Community Honors: MVA/MOA
(Annual) Publishing 3 articles can qualify you for the annual community MVA. MVA can choose one exam qualification/free access to premium courses for one year.
(Annual) Publishing 10 articles can qualify you for the annual community MOA. MOA can choose one exam qualification + free access to premium courses for one year.
List of certification exams and courses available: 【兑换上新】课程&考试资格可通过积分免费兑换 - TiDB 的问答社区
More about MVA /MOA: 【TiDB 社区荣誉】怎么样成为 MVA& MOA? - TiDB 的问答社区
- Honor Badges: Publishing column articles can also earn you exclusive [Creation Badges]
- Fluent Writing (1 article)
- Smooth Flow (5 articles)
- Highly Praised (20 articles)
- Masterful Writing (50 articles)
Column Writing Milestones
Q: What can I do with the points rewards?
A: You can redeem any gift you like at the TiDB Member Center, including certification qualifications, courses, and various peripherals.
Click here to enter the points mall with one click.
Column Article Publishing Guide
Besides the publishing guide, here are some writing tips for your first column article:
PS: The column is not fully compatible with Markdown format. If writing directly in the column is laborious, you can adjust the format in other cloud documents and then copy and paste it here. You can also use the asktug editor, which is fully compatible with Markdown format.
Article Format
Here are some Markdown format tips compatible with column writing:
Title:
Use 【#+ space】 to set the text size, adding one more # for each level. The space between the symbol and the content is essential.
# Level 1 Title
## Level 2 Title
### Level 3 Title
#### Level 4 Title
##### Level 5 Title
List:
Unordered list: 【dash + space + content】, ordered list: 【number +. + space + content】
Quote:
Quote expression: 【>+ space】, the space is essential.
Other Tips
Clicking the cursor position will show a plus sign 【+】, where you can directly choose font size (H1/H2/H3)/bold/unordered list/numbered list.
- Choose 【“】 for quote format
- 【</>】 for code block format (select this format for any code mentioned/input in the article)
- Insert table
- Insert image
Choose the Right Column Category:
Here you can see: Management and Operations, Practical Cases, Architecture Selection, Theoretical Interpretation, Application Development, Community Dynamics, six categories of column articles. Click the category on the right side of the column to browse related articles.
Can’t find the content you want in the category? Try the column category [search]!
Choose the Right Column Tags:
In the [Column Zone], there are 35 tags, with # Practical Case, # Management and Operations, # TiDB Underlying Architecture, # Troubleshooting/Diagnosis being popular tags.
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Practice: # Practical Case, # 6.x Practice, # HTAP Scenario Practice, # OLAP Scenario Practice, # Data Center Scenarios Practice, # Big Data Scenario Practice, # Real-time Data Warehouse Scenario Practice,
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Version: # Version Evaluation, # Version Upgrade, # New Version/Feature Interpretation, # New Version Features Released
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Database: # Database Architecture Design, # Database Architecture Selection, # Database Connectivity, # Frontier Trends of Databases
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Management and Operations: # Management and Operations, # Cluster Management,
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Installation Deployment & Migration Recovery: # Installation & Deployment, # Migration, # Backup & Restore
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Performance & Adaptation: # Performance Tuning, # Performance Evaluation, # Application Adaptation, # Monitoring, # Scaling
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Architecture: # TiKV Underlying Architecture, # TiDB Underlying Architecture
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Community Activities: # Interview, # Community Activity, # TUG Topic Discussion
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Source Code Interpretation: # TiDB Source Code Interpretation, # TiKV Source Code Interpretation,
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Troubleshooting: # Troubleshooting/Diagnosis,
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Others: # Development Language
Tags can help you more accurately locate the type of article you want. Adding tags when publishing articles can also help other TiDBers understand your content classification.
Preview After Writing:
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After writing the column article, you can click [Preview] to check and browse the written article.
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The article will be reviewed within 3 working days. Once approved, it will be published in the column article section.
Encounter More Publishing Issues?
Feel free to post a question anytime.