Working on the Blog.

I was looking through the blog this afternoon trying to figure out if there were ways to help make it easier to navigate. Long time readers, I'm sure, will recognize this as a sure sign that I'm knee deep in the Great Blog Roll Call slog as every year I do this seems to be coupled with posts like this. It's such a weird thing because I know that there aren't a lot of people out there combing through my archives (though apparently someone is sharing a lot of my stuff on facebook lately, so thank you for that). All the same I know from having read through so many blogs that if I really want to give people the opportunity to do so that I have to make things easy for them. 

Like if you want them to go through your archive you have to make it something they can actually find and use in a meaningful way. That's basic sense right there. But if you want them to be able to find your posts when they start searching on Google then you have to do other things. Accurate titles that reflect the content within is a good one - and I'm not fucking doing that one because it bores the hell out of me - although I am trying to fix the series so that it's easier to spot them by linking their titles with a button at the front. 

Then there are the labels that I'm using on the posts. I know from having read a bunch of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) reports that this is on the low end of the spectrum for drawing new traffic to the blog. With those labels I'm not so much worried about drawing new traffic as much as I am at making it easier for people to find things that they actually want to read. Don't get me wrong; using pages like BEST READS OF THE WEEK and SHORT STORIES AND UNFINISHED TALES makes things easier, but those don't help when people run across me absent mindedly working on my problems with Time or the Americas Campaign that I'm working on. So for me the labels are something that I decidedly need to do better on. 

I also need to update and release the the FRIDAY ART FEST page so that it reflects all of the artists that have been featured on the blog and which works that I've shown. By far this is the least popular series on the blog as most people don't really give a shit about it, but I like it so I keep doing it.

Fuck, I also need to finish this week's BEST READS OF THE WEEK before Wednesday when I want to have it published. I may be late on it though. A lot of people updating and I've added 35 more blogs to the list so far. Which reminds me, I'll be posting a poll later in the week about the type of descriptions that I'll be using for the GBRC 2015. Look for that sometime in the Tuesday to Thursday range. 

Other than that, how's you're weekend going kids?

New Profile Picture

So I've been screwing about for the last few hours with paint.net and it suddenly became a really great fucking idea for me to change my profile picture. I mean, we all know that I'm not a giant, fuck-off bear reading a book so what does it really matter?

Here's the new picture for the profile. I decided that since I'm dovetailing into a bit of post apocalyptic gaming lately that I wanted to go with something that had that feel - at least for the moment. What do you guys think? Should I keep it or should I go back to the bear?

Working on the Blog

I'm hammering away on the blog for the next few hours trying to make it look better than the warmed over piece of dog poo I've been dealing with visually for the last few months. Hopefully by the end of it you'll see something that looks a hell of a lot better and that doesn't break your computer screen through sheer hideousness.

Right now the borders of the blog are set at 1500 pixels. Is that too wide for everyone or is that showing up in an okay manner?

Picking Friends on the Internet Playground

The last few weeks have been really interesting for me in that I have learned a lot about the etiquette of various social media these days. I have learned from the consultant controversy that you are not supposed to key people you're talking badly about into the conversation; nor are you supposed to do so on Twitter; nor in your blog posts. I think that's a coward's way to deal with issues that you have with other people. 

So let me state this unequivocally for everyone who reads me. If I bring your name up in a post then I will key you in on Google+ because you deserve to know if you're being discussed. Good, bad, or indifferent; to deny you the right to defend yourself if such is called for is devalue my own words and those of my readers.

A few other things that you should know about how I have been conducting myself, and will continue to do so in the future. 

• If I fuck up in a post, and make a mistake, I fully intend to own up to it. 
• If you present evidence in your arguments that is convincing I'll tell you you're right. I gain nothing by ignoring new evidence and trying to show you how big my metaphorical cock is online.
• If I don't care about what we're talking about I'll tell you that too.
• I will continue to curse in ways that amuse me.
• My titles will sometimes have nothing to do with what I'm writing about.
• My descriptions on Google+ will almost never deal with the post.
• I don't care about your gender, what clothes (and how much clothing) you choose to wear, your job, your race, or sexual orientation. I only care about what you're creating and saying.
• I will treat you fairly so long as you treat me the same. 
• I will read people that aren't popular and support them when they do things I like regardless of how other people view them.
• I will continue to be as honest as I can in my posts and in my interactions with each of you. I will fuck this up occasionally because I am only human, but when I do I will try to make it right by owning my lies. 
• I will rarely be talking about politics because this blog isn't focused on such things.

If you find this sort of etiquette unpalatable then it has been nice having you as a reader and I'm sorry to see you go. This is the way that I have been standing for a long while now and it is how I intend to go on for the foreseeable future.

There now; I feel better now that I've cleared the air and there are no delusions that I will be conducting myself in a manner that offends my delicate sensibilities. 

Look at That, I've got a New Blog Thingie

I just finished organizing all of the questions I've gotten on the blog in one place. You can now find them all on the Dear Dyvers page.

One of the really cool things I noticed over the course of compiling them is how varied my readers' interests are. I've got questions that range from the nature of our society's collapse to how do I tell my friends to stop being a bunch of mooching bastards. I really love getting these sort of questions and e-mails from you guys and hopefully putting up the Dear Dyvers page will just make it even easier for people to play along.

Flipping the Switch

I decided yesterday morning that I'm going to be taking the comments over to moderated. 

I've been weighing it out for a while now as I sometimes get some really weird comments, and it just seems like a good idea to me at this point and time. So sorry about the delay in your ability to see your comments up, but I really would like to stop some of the "Hey sexy, want a good time," things from cluttering up the blog. Hopefully this won't discourage anyone from commenting as that isn't my intention. 

More later.