There is a theme() function in the Drupal tinymce module that lets you (the admin/webmaster) turn off the rich text editor on a field by field basis.

Basic steps to disable TinyMCE in a specific Drupal form field:

1. Look in your modules/tinymce/tinymce.module file.
2. Search for "theme_tinymce_theme".
3. Copy the entire function to your theme's template.php file.
4. Rename the function from theme_tinymce_theme() to yourthemename_tinymce_theme(). (Substitute "yourthemename" for your theme's name.)
5. Add a line to the switch($textarea_name){} block that specifies the name of the textarea you would like to exclude. Use the existing examples as a guide.

I wanted to disable the RTE for a custom plain text field in the node edit form. The field's name is "field-teaser-0-value". This is the line I added (marked with "KA") with some surrounding logic: (The fully modified theme that I put into my template.php is at the end of the post.)

function theme_tinymce_theme($init, $textarea_name, $theme_name, $is_running) {
  switch ($textarea_name) {
    case 'field-teaser-0-value': // KA: blog teaser (we want plain text only)
      unset($init);
      break;
  }
}

To find the name of the field in question, load the form in your browser. Check the source code. Look for the name="" attribute for your field. That's the string you insert into the theme function.

Tip! For CCK (content) fields where the name is something like "field_teaser[0][value]", you need to replace the non-alphanumeric characters with a dash. So the $textarea_name variable for this field is actually written as "field-teaser-0-value".

Here's the final customized theme function I placed in my theme's template.php file. My theme is called "avocadoshake" and my comments are marked with a "KA".

Just finished upgrading WB to Drupal 5. Now the fun of building it out begins.

Sam Krehnbrink on the evolution of community blogging:

The problem with the traditional user driven content model is that content submission by users has no regulations. There are no requirements that must be met to become a user, nor are there any incentives or penalties for content submission. This results in a sort of quasi anonymous role for the users. Thus, users are not as motivated to make a conscious effort to submit quality content, instead, content is submitted without much discretion.

The solution to this problem is to limit user membership based on credentials. In addition, create more incentives for quality content submission, and penalties for poor content. This establishes users in a more prominent role and causes them to become more passionate for their contributions to the community.

He then includes Wise Bread in a list of what he calls "Blogging 2.0" sites. Content quality was definitely a consideration for us when we drafted the community blogging model for WB.

I was an avid reader of the old Performancing when Nick Wilson, Chris Garrett and Andy Hagans were the primary contributors. Their posts were extremely useful when I was just getting started on web work. I was intrigued by their new community blogging idea and hoped to find equally satisfying information beyond the front page. Alas, 99% of the posts by bloggers that weren't named Nick, Chris or Andy were total crap.

We were fortunate to learn that lesson before launching WB. By limiting contributions to elite bloggers, we create much more value for readers. That makes for happy readers, which makes everyone else happy.

Setting a high recruiting standard was one of the better decisions we made. It's nice that people notice.

Wise Bread has a new look and feel today. It's looks great and is much more usable now. I love it!

To celebrate, we're giving readers a chance to win $25 from Amazon when they read about our worst financial mistakes and share their stories in the comments.

I love it for the readers. There are more options for finding the articles that they want to read. From popular lists (today and all-time), list of bloggers, theoretically similar articles, popular posts in the same channel or by the same blogger, and more! Better "next article" suggestions will help readers find what they need, and we get more pageviews. Win-win.

I love it for the bloggers. Now there's a feature box on the homepage. It will direct readers to the best content of the day/week or highlight newly relevant articles from the past (eg., helpful articles to save you gas) or contests or whatever. The best content up front, without taking too much away from the freshness of a lively blog. And we managed to monetize the site better without being aggressive.

We fixed a ton of usability problems, it looks great and the monetization strategy took big steps. Did I already say I love it!

Congratulations to the KA team and thanks to Intuitive Designs.

Edited to add: Here's Intuitive's take on the project. Thanks for the kind words!