Robert writes:
It’s no secret that MuseBlog is more leisurely than it used to be. Just for fun, I took our traffic data for 2009 through 2012, pasted it into a spreadsheet, and graphed it to see what story it might tell. Behold the fruits of my labors:
According to the trend line on the second graph, the number of posts here should reach zero any day now. And then what?!
Okay, I don’t really expect that to happen. It seems perfectly plausible that the traffic has leveled off and a faithful coterie of MBers will keep posting until Doomsday (whatever form that takes). Those of you who are here now still seem to enjoy and benefit from what the blog has to offer, and old-timers regularly return to report in and sometimes even stay a while. And many of those who have strayed far afield no doubt take comfort in the thought that we’re still in business, warping impressionable minds as we once warped theirs. There probably isn’t any pressing need to deploy the Omega-13.
And yet, and yet. Watching that sloping line crash into the x-axis does suggest that this might be a good time to contemplate what we are doing here, what else we might be doing, and what other projects and prospects might be worth considering.
Let’s start with the easy part: what we’re doing. As you all know, MuseBlog is
- an online forum
- based at www.musefanpage.com,
- cloaked from most of the rest of the Internet by anti-searchbot plug-ins and a no-links policy, and thus
- known to a select few,
- which uses standard (and fairly old-fashioned) blogging software
- for unorthodox purposes;
- run by four fairly hoary Administrators (yes, we’re all still here),
- moderated somewhat strictly,
- not to mention prudishly,
- with an unusual emphasis on thoughtfulness, civility, and good grammar
- for purposes of our own amusement, mutual support, and ultimately world domination.
Have I left out anything important? There’s Muse, of course, the magazine that brought us all here and remains an enduring inspiration. But few if any MBers currently subscribe to Muse, and the GAPAs no longer write for it now that I’ve turned over the Q&A column to Lizzie Wade. There’s also the MuseBlog Mythos, intricate and wonderful, joyously invented and elaborated over many years. Whenever life hits a rough patch, there’s no restorative like a sojourn at Muse Academy followed by a pot of mellow Oolong at the Hare & Hedgepig. On the other hand, would anyone really want to be physically present off the coast of Iceland at this time of year? As for hot-pink bunnies, if they’re content to mind their own business, that’s A-O.K. with me. (*shudders*)
Looking to the future, then, which of the MuseBlog variables should remain forever fixed and which should we consider, well, varying? Should we go on doing precisely this? Should we go on doing it here? Should we (we MBers, we GAPAs) even be the ones, or the only ones, doing it? And if not, then what should we do, where should we do it, and who should “we” be?
I’ve been mulling these ideas over for a while now (sort of mildly mulling them over — more thinking about mulling than actually doing it, as often happens). Some of you have mentioned that you’ve been mulling, too. If we mingle our miscellaneous mullings, who can imagine what magical Muserly machinations might materialize?
Over to you, MuseBloggers…
I’d like to expand into having content, new content, places to learn and discuss. Sort of an e-Muse Academy. If we could have regular columns by scientists/mathematicians/artists/writers/whoever that would be awesome. Columns by Musebloggers too! A curated site of new information. A place of learning and discussion. For everyone.
That would be fun. At some point, we’d have to figure out a way to pay those busy scientists for their time and insights, but there’s no need to worry about that right now.
Yeah. Funding would be an issue with what I’m envisioning. Perhaps grants?
Or perhaps Grant, if we can persuade the Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman to get a lucrative job and endow us.
Back to the brainstorming.
Another thing we could look at is what other communities are out there? Who could we connect to? How could we connect? Where does their funding come from? What purpose do we want Museblog to serve?
Maybe sites like the one you’re describing already exist.
Maybe. But why not have more sites out there? I know Khan Academy exists, and I’m sure there are more, but I don’t see why more communities would be bad. It would have our own stamp on it, become its own place.
I think it’s fairly safe to say that what we need most, immediately and ultimately, is an increase in active population. This is not an easy thing for an online community to accomplish, especially for one as idiosyncratic and isolated as ours.
Let’s try to brainstorm some possible ways this could be encouraged. Most of the ideas will be ineffective (at best) or catastrophic (at worst), but it’s good to have them on the table anyway.
De-cloak the site
Pros: -Allows anyone to stumble across the site via Google
-People searching for the magazine could find this site
Cons: -Shady, trenchcoated people could find the site
-Little chance of appearing near top of search results
Use different software
Pros: -More familiar forum-oriented software might encourage new users to participate
Cons: -Difficult to set up
-8-9 years of conversations would become archive-only and unlikely to be looked at
Relax moderation policy
Pros: -More similar to most other websites, and so less likely to discourage or turn off potential newcomers
Cons: -Might prevent younger users from using (or being allowed to use) the site
Advertise site
Pros: -Targeted advertising could bring in users already predisposed to our sort of culture
-Could be advertised in Muse?
Cons: -Unlikely to bring in large numbers of people
-Grassroots efforts would almost certainly be ineffective
Beg Jupiter to bring us fortune and prosperity
Pros: -The blessing of a major god would greatly bolster our chances of success
Cons: -Might kill us instead
-Might make other gods upset
When it comes to moderation, I suspect that there aren’t going to be many younger people who would want to use the site in its current form anyway. I wouldn’t want my 10-year-old sister reading the Rants and Plaints thread, and nearly everything else is written considerably more intellectually than most websites, let alone ones frequented by younger people.
And Jupiter might be a viable option. As long as you don’t call him Zeus.
I first came here when I was eleven (although my birthday was a month away). People were talking about things, especially on the Rants and Plaints thread, that I’d never learned about at school or from my parents, as well as things that I’d heard of but had never had to think about due to privilege. Learning about them didn’t hurt me; it made me a better person.
Also–I don’t know which specific things you’re talking about, but I bet there are ten- and eleven-year-olds (and younger!) who have to deal with at least some of them and need places to talk about them. There aren’t a lot of places on the Internet for people that young to do that.
You’re right that the writing here is more intellectual than a lot of the Internet, but I think that it is a mistake to imagine that younger people can’t be interested in that or contribute. I think that people here tend to write like that regardless of how old they are. I’m not saying there’s absolutely zero correlation, but if I understand correctly, you basically said that so few younger people would either be interested in what we have to say or be able to say things we’d find interesting or both (because they’re not sufficiently intellectual) that we shouldn’t bother considering them in trying to make MuseBlog more accessible, and that’s something I strongly disagree with.
I don’t think I’d be here if it wasn’t moderated; at the age when I first arrived, I wasn’t allowed to use unmoderated forums, and by the time my parents didn’t mind, nobody on the Cricket Chatterbox talked about it much, and I don’t think it would have occurred to me to look it up again. I probably would have forgotten about it.
The bottom line, though, is that I do think that younger users will want to be here and have important contributions to make and that they deserve consideration just as much as everybody else.
(Reading more comments, I do think that what people have said about the possible effects of a whole bunch of people coming in who are mostly younger than most of the people here makes sense. I feel strongly about not alienating younger people, but while I personally am not terribly concerned about our average age dropping significantly, I think that if a lot of people are, then it should definitely be taken into account. I don’t think that’s what you’re saying, though.)
On your first point: you are entirely correct. I’m more worried about younger people being exposed to those same concepts (suicide, etc.) when they might have never even considered them otherwise.
And when it came to intellectuality, I wasn’t necessarily saying that younger MBers wouldn’t be able to make sufficient contributions, I was saying that they wouldn’t find our contributions interesting. Then again, perhaps we’re targeting the people who would.
I actually considered putting a line at the end of my post saying that I still encourage the moderation, but it felt out-of-place. So I’ll put it here: I do enjoy the fact that the ‘Blog is strictly moderated, because it helps the overall atmosphere and prevents unnecessary arguments and such.
I think it is really important for MB to provide a place where younger posters can feel they’re being taken seriously and listened to.
I don’t think it’s true that your sister or other younger posters will see a post about suicide and think “hey, maybe that’s for me.”
I think it’s much more likely, overwhelmingly so, that they’ll see a post about suicide, think “I have felt things like this before,” see our outpouring of support, and then think “maybe I shouldn’t kill myself.”
I had a really long post about this, but up in the magical alternate plane that is the Clipboard, it got lost and sucked into the void of ones and zeroes.
Anyway, I was just saying that a lot of our target demographic (let’s say between the age of twelve and twenty-two as a broad estimate) is being attracted to Large Mainstream Sites (if I may speak of such a thing here) which, while they are secluded when compared to [self snipped. must not mention such things here] which are much MUCH more lax on policies such as strict moderation, nice grammar, and intelligent conversation.
Such sites tend to move at a much faster pace. They are also very large and full of fighting and squabbling. I’ve always liked to think of MuseBlog as a sort of calm island in the raging river that is the Internet.
When I am speaking of the Internet, of course, I am not speaking of Real Life social sites where most people post accounts that are extensions of their IRL selves. I am speaking of the Internet for its own sake, a place where you meet people because of shared interests. This is the Internet where people can connect with each other from thousands of miles away, where someone from a small-minded town can relate to someone in a busy city because neither has people IRL who they can confide in. This is what the MuseBlog has always stood for, and while our friends may hear of the Blog by word of mouth and post a few times, most of our members prefer to keep this haven a secret.
I might be rambling a bit. In fact, I know I’m rambling. Let’s move on.
If we are to advertise, then we can’t advertise just anywhere. Besides the cost of paying people for us to put a small box on their corner of the Internet, there is the trouble of what places would attract only potential MuseBloggers, and not trolls of ill intent.
I think advertising in Muse is a swell idea for attracting neophytes, if we can swing it. The target audience for Muse is, I think I can safely say, younger than the age of the average MBer. (Of course, there is no such thing as an average MBer. But most of us are in high school or college. We’re growing old.)
In order to keep the blog fresh, we need new, younger prey. I worded that in a way that surely sounded sinister. Anyway. Many people (as we see on old threads from the Blog’s heyday) will post for a few days and then fade away. But some, as it has always been, will surely stay and be welcomed into our community.
I think there are multiple questions here. One is how to bring more people to MB, which is the one that many have brought up. The other question is, do we want to? Is this the right platform to bring many new faces to, or do we want to form a new space in addition to Museblog? Is this still the right way to communicate with this community? With a new community of Musers? Is this community still linked to Muse?
We don’t have to make Museblog public even if we get more people looking at our content. We can always make a new site, for another purpose that follows a different structure (such as that of an online Muse Academy) and promote that one in the same spaces that Vi Hart’s videos and Khan Academy are promoted. Some kind of online museum where posters are visitors and GAPAs (and perhaps others) are curators.
Okay, first, museblog does not have a policy on strict grammar, and its dedication to intelligent conversation is debatable. I suspect many of the first threads would make a lot of you cringe if you read back through them. This has developed over the years because of the type of people it has attracted, but it’s more of a user-implemented thing than anything top-down. I feel like this is an important distinction to make. Also, wrt piggy’s post, I think that “Allows anyone to stumble across the site via Google” would be a definite con. Also I think Athena would be much more appropriate. We’re not a militarized site here. Re oxlin, I don’t see any reason why musebloggers couldn’t send in columns and stuff if they felt like it – we’ve had people send in stories and stuff already, and it wouldn’t necessarily have to be an official “this will be every Tuesday” type of thing.
I don’t really have any solutions, but to me I think a lot of the issues mb is facing in terms of traffic is due to demographic shift. If I remember correctly, I think the largest group of mbers came in between 2006 and 2008 or so, and for the sake of my argument let’s say they averaged about 13. That would mean they’re now entering or in their first few years of college. Muse, however, is aimed younger, and I suspect that were museblog to appear in the magazine, a lot of muse-readers would find the conversation here, in general, to be somewhat irrelevant to their current interests. Also, I think the general response to perceived silliness – which is what youngness slash young enthusiasm often comes across as – can be kind of disheartening. I suppose the question this raises is do we want to accept that a lot of MB’s followers are now older and adjust what is appropriate accordingly, or do we want to keep it focused on the younger set? Personally, I am 22, and every time i think about it I feel majorly creepy for still posting on / reading a web forum meant for pre/early teens. I dunno, I don’t think I’m an inherently creepy person (? hopefully not), I just find the conversations and stuff on here interesting, and I’ve made good friends from here. Also I can’t deal with people in real life.
Another related issue is that as more people join through real life friends and fewer through the magazine, we lose perhaps one of the only things that all of us once had in common (namely, being interested in the types of topics the magazine talks about, emphasis on exploration, curiosity, science, etc). SO something to think about, I don’t know where I was going with that.
I mean, I started in the era of the Gaboomba, where you sent in an email and a week later it would get posted and there would be maybe one or two replies in the next month. And I think that it’s okay to have a small group of users. I think that if the site wanted to go back to that, fewer threads with broader themes might be called for. I mean, there’s not really enough traffic volume at the moment that posts would get lost if we merged R&R and R&P and the random thread together, and those three are probably the most traffiked. Geeky tv shows should probably remain separate because spoilers, though.
The moderation policy that I’ve most forgotten the reason for is the no outside links one. Was it to minimize spam? I think probably allowing links and facilitating posting of pictures would help liven up the place, but it would also come with obvious dangers re: presence of minors and privacy and such.
tl;dr: Museblog now is different than museblog originally. We didn’t start the fire.
The links policy was due to sites being able to track who linked to them, and therefore to find MB.
Yeah. I don’t think what MB has become is inherently bad at all! It is slower, yes, but it is still a valuable place to be. I would still like it to be a space for younger Musers as well as those of us in our 20s, but I don’t think anyone should be excluded for being “too old”. We’ve grown and changed, and so has Museblog, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be new and fresh for others.
Or Urania!
Do we need an increase in population or just an increase in activity? (Or, arguably: do we need either?) If only/mostly the latter, then I think that perhaps changing the software used to forum-intended software (and changing the moderation policy to deal with the new options and provide more flexibility for older/more established users) could be a good option.
Here’s some ideas I have for a solution. I’m not sure how feasible they are:
-The GAPAs remain administrators/moderators, as well as ultimate authorities.
-Users can post without registering, but you need to be registered and logged in to see certain threads (R&R and R&P and Hot Topics, probably), and logged in/registered/possibly also paleo or having-requested-access to post in them.
-NEW: Logged in users can make new threads on topics they find interesting.
-NEW: Posts by established users maybe don’t have to go through moderation? Paleophytes, or maybe after longer than six months — a year? maybe only on certain threads, and others are always-moderation-on?
I think we’ve already discussed decloaking and determined that several members would feel uncomfortable if currently cloaked threads were decloaked. I feel that we should respect that, and if we switch to an uncloaked forum, we should do so at a different URL or make current MB threads only visible to logged-in users.
I am also somewhat concerned about culture shock of trying to invite younger members to join us. Remember back in 2006 or so when we were having trouble because we had so many new people? I was one of them, and I’m not saying it was bad, but I think it’s more likely to go poorly if MuseBlog suddenly doubles or triples in size and they’re all neophytes who are five to ten years younger than the average MBer.
I’m going to look into Who’s Here and see if I can get some statistics on how many active members we have and their average age — GAPAs, if you have any insight on this, please do share.
Ooh. I like several of these propositions, especially numbers two and three. Four I’m not as sure about, but the “certain threads” disclaimer makes me think it’s a fairly good idea.
I count around 33 active MBers. Predominantly female (26/33), about half over 18 (18/33). After having done so I am not sure how much this knowledge is worth, but I figured I should let you know my results.
I’m not thrilled with the idea of switching to a mainstream forum format. I really like our format, and I would guess that the content would be more important than the format to any newcomer. After all, even if we are repurposing the software a bit, is it really that hard to get the hang of?
Also, re:decloaking, I would guess that the only threads with really sensitive material would be the past R&P threads, maybe the R&R. I can see leaving those under a cloak, and retrosnipping any other facts MBers are uncomfortable with having on open Google.
I don’t think it should be the individual MBers’ responsibility to say “hey I want this particular fact cloaked.” I think that people have expressed that they want general cloaking over past things they’ve said, and we should take that into account.
Also, I’m not wedded to the concept of having new software, but I think that there’s value in having a system that was built to do what it’s doing, instead of trying to shoehorn in all these functions we want that are native to a forum but require a bit of extra work for a blog. The extra effort that “isn’t that hard to get the hang of” I’m guessing requires significant effort on the part of the GAPAs.
if we decloaked, I would be uncomfortable having anything I’ve posted here be out in the open, to be honest. I’ve posted enough on here that it is really easy to figure out my real-life identity, and I suspect that if it were searchable, if someone cared enough they could pretty easily find me on here. I’ve already started a professional career and I’ll be doing much more applying and auditioning for jobs in the years to come; I don’t want anyone who could offer me gigs or a potential employer to search for me and come across things I wrote when I was 15.
Agreed.
I don’t know what all you’ve posted, but I’m curious whether it would be as easy as you expect it to be to find you. I’ll buy that if somebody knew to search for “MuseBlog”, they’d be able to determine which of us was you. I’m less certain that anybody could locate this place through trying to find a specific person. If your name appears on this site, then that’s one thing, and yeah, that’s cause for concern, but also seems easy enough remove.
I guess I’m just wondering how likely it actually is that 1) somebody whose good opinion you can’t stand to lose will 2) finde the blog, 3) connect you to your pseudonym, 4) read archives extensively enough to find records of your younger posts and 5) judge you horribly because you posted something silly a quarter of a decade ago. (The site is searchable to other engines, right? Maybe it’d be illuminating to play around with that, see how findable we would be)
I definitely don’t want to alienate anyone here, but I feel like there might be somewhere between “None of the last decade’s worth of posts is visible to the public” (feels unfriendly and extreme) and “We’re unveiling everything with no concern for privacy” (unacceptable to several people here).
-look on social media site, see what friend groups I’m in (I think there’s a few applications that do this for you, or it would be pretty easy to write a parser)
-see that I have basically one friendgroup of non-music people
-see that connection revolves around museblog (several of them list it in profiles)
-track posts
alternatively:
-search my name, my school, violin
-profit
Add new friends to obfuscate the searches, maybe. I don’t know. It seems weird to write policy around that senario, when there’s already policy to discourage said senario, though.
Second route sounds trivial to take care of. Remove your last name, or if you think that’ll still have the same route, remove references to your school.
…I guess I’m the only one that finds this to be an urgent thing. Maybe I should actually write out the impassioned arguments for dropping the veil.
I mean, I’m not trying to change policy. I’m trying to maintain the current policy. You are the one who is trying to change it. So writing policy doesn’t really apply.
I’m also pretty sure I’m not the only person here with privacy concerns.
…Yeah, my post was probably a mistake. I’ve been trying very hard to avoid anything that could be offensive, but I am still a bit too frustrated to make the best decisions, apparently. There were probably better ways that post could have been written.
Aren’t we sort of rewriting the entire policy from the ground up, though? That’s sort of what I meant. Also that was pretty much the closest I could come to phrasing that in an unoffensive way. I just meant that you chose not to follow the strictest rules of the privacy/safety policy, and that’s fine, but I’m not crazy about using that as an argument against loosening the safety policy. I do understand where you’re coming from with that, but at the same time, the cloaking isn’t something that we can chose on a person-by-person basis, so I’m still hoping for a compromise that works for everybody.
And no, you aren’t the only person with privacy concerns, just the only one currently around for me to debate with.
” I just meant that you chose not to follow the strictest rules of the privacy/safety policy, and that’s fine, but I’m not crazy about using that as an argument against loosening the safety policy.”
Would you care to rephrase that, because I don’t think I understand what you’re trying to say.
I share Lizzie’s concerns. And I know, from having some this myself, how easy it is to locate someone on a certain social networking site even if they aren’t using their real last name, as they usually are still fiends with relatives who share their last name, search for the relative/last name, click on the person with the same first name but different last name, and there you go. I found my current roommate by that route, searches he last name, found a relative. Tracked down her account that had a differentiator name.
I had a former roommate who was friends with me on said social networking site, but otherwise we were total strangers. She never came here, but her best friend (boyfriend?) posted a rude juvenile comment on an offshoot blog I’ve visited
Cen without having real names on here, it’s not hard to track people. I mean, look how easy it was for me to find out Milton rupines real name, with just a smidge of googling, when its been, what, a decade old mystery?
I’d much prefer not to decloak at all, but if we are, I’d rather that it was only new threads, as in currently not even made threads, that were unlocked. All current/past threads under lockdown.
Some of the suggestions so far are very easy to do. For example, we can limit access to certain threads and even define different groups of users with access to different threads. So one thread might be visible only to college graduates, another to people over 18, another to people over 16, another only to people who have been here at least six months, and so on. We haven’t made much use of that feature lately, but we could.
We can also give none-Administrators limited administration powers — for example, only the ability to moderate posts, or to moderate posts and create new threads, or to do even more things.
It might be fun turn the keys over to some of you (college students? over-21s?) and see what you do with them.
I would enjoy administration powers–just to be able to make the Tom Swifties thread I’ve been wanting for years now.
I think these are interesting ideas, but it seems to me they’d only be worthwhile in conjunction with an enlarged userbase (or an increase in the activity of the current userbase). Using Dodec’s numbers–if there’s 33 people active here, I’m not sure how big a difference these changes would make. Now if we had two or three times the activity, I think they’d have a more fundamental effect. Back in 2009 they would definitely have altered the nature of the site. But now I’m not sure what real impact they’d have. I don’t think any of them in themselves would increase either the number of users or the users’ participation.
That being said, I don’t think they’re bad ideas, and I think they’re more than worth a shot. We just have to include them as part of a larger revitalization plan.
Can you make per-thread moderation rules? I think that having us become mods hinges upon only allowing us to moderate certain threads — for example, I don’t think Hot Topics should ever be moderated by a non-GAPA. I would be concerned about a system that allowed for abuse of power.
Dodecahedron,
I don’t think moderation has a per-thread option, but it’s not hard to imagine how the software could be hacked to add one.
Thanks! The thing is though, I know from hard experience, imagining’s the easiest part of hacking by far.
I looked around a little to see if WordPress already had a plugin for this, and found “Element Capability Manager” and “Capability Manager”. I imagine you could use these to limit post editing to certain categories (one category per admin, perhaps), then add these categories to the posts you want the admin to moderate, then add another plugin so that only the post authors/editors could moderate comments.
I’m not sure if that would work, but at least it’s a first approximation.
I’ve voted before towards decloaking before. The privacy is nice in theory, but as this nicely demonstrates, it leaves us with very few visitors. Maybe there’s sufficient numbers of old MBers who know the way back to keep us around, but I’m not sure I want to risk it.
I’m also wondering whether it would help if we had a focus for the site? I mean, originally, this was about talking about Muse, and there was a clear reason to visit. Over time, it morphed, and now we’re more of a community than anything else, and that’s great, I love it here, but it might attract more newcomers and cling to more paleos if there was some running topic of conversation other than ‘here’s what’s happening in my life’. Impromptu social studies? Doing new and cool things? Find a way to put Muse back at the forefront?
I think a focus on Muse, and things that Musers appreciate (math, science, art, history, learning in general) is an excellent one to continue having. I think we’re still true to our roots, even if some no longer subscribe (and some *cough*me*cough* have only recently started subscribing again). I would like to expand into having more article-like/information content on here, whether written by MBers or by GAPAs or by someone else. An MBers Muse, perhaps?
Iiiii agree with a lot of what Lizzie/Dodec have said so far?
Esspecially the first half of Lizzie’s second paragraph.
Although my first reaction is: no don’t change the format D:
Partially because I’m bad at dealing with change, partly because almost every small community forum I have been on has died and is a ghost town of sadness. Not that I think MB is heading that way super soon, necessarily, although it is definitely way way slowed down.
*shakes walking stick* IN MY DAY, THINGS WERE DIFFURNT, AND THAT WAS BETTER THAN THE DIFFURNT THEY ARE NOW
–not really though. I liked the hyperactive blog when I was new and hyperactive, I liked when it settled down a bit, I didn’t like when it got hyper again (but looking back I have no problems with that change and think it was probably good for the blog), and now things grow slower and slower as I have less time to check it. I don’t think this has always necessarily been a “haven of maturity and intellectual discussion” and that’s fine and it’s also fine that it has been at times.
sorry I went to get juice and lost track of that thought so I’m just gonna move on
I don’t think it’s necessary that we re-increase the blog’s numbers to what they used to be. By which I guess I mean, I don’t think it’s likely that it will happen in a natural way and I don’t know that trying to do this artificially (via advertising or such) would do much either.
I DO think that as a blog we are actually much less tolerant of new people than we could be. When new, especially younger, people join, they are often harshly reprimanded for not following rules they don’t necessarily know about or know others place such importance on. It’s probably been a couple years since anyone new has stuck around–to be honest the last person I remember was Catwings, who’s been here for a good long while now (and I hope you keep sticking around!). Of course, people have always done this, and I don’t think that it should be a hayday anything-goes type of atmosphere, but it used to be that there were enough new people that no one felt singled out or alienated when people gave an occasional rebuke. Now, moderation rolls around and there can suddenly be 3 replies at once rebuffing a single post.
Is that the kind of atmosphere that people brought in by advertising would meet? Because honestly the “tone” of the blog has become pretty specific and while I’m fine with it day-to-day, personally, I don’t think it’s always very welcoming anymore in this regard due to our small numbers–especially to the target age demographic of Muse.
so, that’s another thing to consider/keep in mind: adding people will change the way the site feels, and in order TO change I think there’d have to be a bit of a shift in blog atmosphere as well. Do people feel this is necessary/wanted? Is what we’ll have to decide with that.
I had other things and replies but I have to go find some food now?? I will maybe post more coherently about other sides of things later.
Seconding what many other people have said. For the site to continue and be active, we need new blood. I’m just not able to post as much anymore, and fewer posts altogether do provide less incentive for me to try posting more frequently. And it does kind of feel..boring sometimes, especially since I avoid the R&R and R&P threads because they’re depressing, two of the busiest.
But if we do get new people in, no matter how it happens, we need to let them do their own thing. LIke LIzzie said, the response to perceived silliness/youthful enthusiasm is disheartening. When Catwings, one of newest and youngest members first same on, I felt like some of us were unnecessarily harsh on her for things that had been perfectly normal when I came on at 12.
To get more people, I would rather advertise the site than decloak it. Don’t know if I what to let the ragged hordes in just yet, and advertising will bring in fewer people and it’ll be less of a change.
Re: changing the site. I will admit to often wishing that we could post more quickly, rather than at the moderators’ pace. Or post pictures without sending the to the GAPAs. If it stays just us, I’d like to see a loosening of the moderation policies.
For that matter, I’m not sure how changing moderation policies might keep younger users off, especially with the site skewing so old anyhow. Maybe I’ve forgotten how strict parents can be in the youthful adult blush of freedom, but nowadays my nine year old brother has an account on you-know-where and kids these days seem a lot more net-savvy than I was. I mean, when I first joined, we had just gotten high-speed Internet in my house. It’s a different generation.
And what Lizzie said about creepiness–yeah, I feel that too. I don’t have a good solution, although us being mini-gapas could solve some of the problem. This is all assuming we get more people in anyways. We might not. But either way, we are looking at a sea change here. This could change everything entirely. Or we could exchange info and move to another site entirely, if we just want each other’s company. OR or or. I have a lot of other disjointed thoughts, but I’m going to let them be for now and see if they sort themselves into more sense.
A note: the Fan page is mentioned in the most recent Muse. Where it says that Robert’s leaving Q+A it mentions that you can still find him at [MB’s URL].
I hope this leads to Musers finding the blog again. I really think Muse is our best feeder for new people, however there are less subscribers than there used to be.
That’s Good. It’s the January 2014 issue. I hope people noticed it.
Does anyone here remember the bookmarks and message-in-a-bottle schemes we used to use to advertise? I think we should bring them back (or at least the bookmarks since I’m not entirely sure how the message-in-a-bottle system actually worked).
Target audience for the advertisement: people who visit libraries and used bookstores (so long as we’re allowed to put bookmarks in those books). Especially books and genres widely considered to be especially Muserly.
Technically, it’s a grassroots thing that probably wouldn’t net many more neophytes. But that might be exactly what we need, being as close-knit as we are. That is, at least at first. We can always expand our efforts later.
I would be willing to do this.
I’m on board.
(Now I’m planning a mini-scavenger hunt for anybody who finds the paper. I wonder if that would be more or less likely to attract someone?)
We should run a puzzle hunt!!
*ahem*
I’ve, er, gotten rather into MIT Mystery Hunt and other puzzles hunts lately. It’d be fun to run one!
Hah, yeah, that’d be awesome!
I was thinking of something less intense, though. Probably little more than
“Find the right book, using the Dewey Decimal System.” and then it’s a book of Greek Mythology. (Obviously Muse magazines would be better, but my library has none of those, sadly enough.)
If it’s at a busy library, we might want to only use books the library has multiple copies of, so that even if one is checked out, the puzzler can still find the right book.
Or even put something on the shelf behind where that book would be instead of in the book itself. Or perhaps on the bottom of the shelf above so people not following the hunt have less of a chance of finding it.
most libraries will have reference materials that always stay in the library, you could use those
I work in a library, so it would be very easy for me to slip bookmarks into books as I shelve them.
So. My thoughts.
I am strongly opposed to decloaking, because I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be difficult for people to put together who I am/find this site through googling me if it was decloaked. And I know I’ve said things on here that would even awkward if a casual acquaintance or employer read. And I’ve vented about things when I’m angry, and…..would really rather those vented rants not be something just anybody could read.
And I’d rather not change the format to a more forum-y layout, because I’m rather attached to this one, and rather strongly opposed to change in general, to be honest. I remember how much I disliked it when the format changed, ever so slightly, when muse blog 2 came onboard post-virus several years back. I like it now, but changing t drastically? I’m really not keen
As for new blood: I’m not opposed to having new posters, although I have to admit I’ve been one of the culprits when it comes to being a bit too harsh on younger, new members, chewing them out for stuff. (If I have not previously said this Catwings, I know I was more than a bit intolerant when ou were new, and made some quite grumpy and likely downright rude posts chastising you, and I am sorry for that. I have come to value your contributions to the blog, and hope you continue to stick around.) goodness knows many of my posts of late can hardly be qualitfied as stimulating intellectual conversation so much as mindless, silly, fangirling and fawning over hot actors. I sometimes think my maturity level is devolving with each passing year
But while I have no opposition to new blood, I’m also quite okay with what we have now, a small, close knit community of posters. And the slow pace? Honestly, I’m quite partial to it, as I have far less time on my hands than I use to, and a faste pace would be impossible to keep up with. Also, in line with disliking change, I’m kind of introverted, and at least irl, strongly dislike hanging out with people I don’t know. And increasing the pace, with a bunch if unfamiliar posters? I think I would find it a bit alienating, and it would definitely change the blogs dynamic. Not necessarily for the worse, but it would change. And I like being able to keep up with the blog, being able to check it occasionally, and not be overwhelmed with new posts (te sidebar when I checked this evening and it was teeming with posts on this thread, was definitely a bit overwhelming, with the huge surge in new posts, lol)
If a mass decloaking were to take place, I’d really appreciate if all archived threads, as well as all open threads to that point, were locked to only be accessible by previously established MBers. And then any new posts I make, I could evaluate each one for “how do keep about casual acquaintances reading this” before I submit it…..
Tl;dr: do NOT decloak, keep the format the same, and change of pace/new blood optional, as I rather like the current pace/atmosphere
As for allowing un moderated posts/making older MBers have moderator abilities, I don’t really have strong opinions one way or the other.
The discussion so far has made it clear that some housekeeping is in order regardless of anything else we decide to do. For example, certain threads — especially Rants & Plaints and R&R — should have restricted access. I’ll start taking care of that right away. Here’s my plan:
– Going forward, all R&R and R&P threads will be accessible only to logged-in, registered users.
– All earlier R&R and R&P threads (the ones closed to comments) will be visible only to logged-in, registered MBers who were on the blog before 2014 — a group that, for administrative purposes, I hereby designate Eldar.
In principle, we could make any or all of the blog invisible to interlopers and neophytes, but those seem to be the parts people are most worried about. I’ve already changed the R&P threads and the 2012 and 2013 R&R threads. Earlier R&R will take a little longer, because there are 35 of them, and each has to have its settings individually tweaked — at least, I haven’t found a way to do it in bulk.
How’s that for starters?
Wait, a squid? What does that mean?
That’s what I wonder every time I post a comment.
It means that something is bad and you have sympathy for them or something like that.
Spaaaaaaace.
I think this is a good start, but I would suggest also creating an incentive to log in – perhaps maybe only being able to post on the non-welcome threads if you’re logged in? because otherwise I feel like people will forget to do so and the threads will die a slow painful death
Two thoughts there:
It feels less friendly to make people log in in order to post,
But I guess it would be more intuitive to people coming in for the first time
I don’t think I have a login.
If you’re going to require an account for more things, it might be a good idea to have a visible link to make one in the top menu–possibly by the log in/log out link.
So I haven’t been on in a while, but Dodecahedron and oxlin and others let me know that this conversation was happening. It seems from what people are saying that the pace of conversation is slower now than it was the last time I checked – for me, this is a plus, as getting back into the swing of things feels less daunting! Especially with a busy semester about to start.
I think I’ve missed MuseBlog and I’d like to get to know this place again. Regarding cloaking/privacy, I don’t think even /I/ would want to read my posts on R+R of many years back… middle school was a dark time.
On a related note, I am trying to log in to wordpress (created a new username and password), and I am getting a red error message box… with no text in it. I’ll keep trying, but if there’s some trick or GAPA verification needed that would be most helpful.
If I do vanish again, I wish you all the best!
GAPAs: I just saw in the rules that those college-age are older need to identify their full name in their comment form. I suppose I am an adult now (yipes) I am also 19 years old if it it matters!
Potato Chip, since your identity as a veteran MBer is well established, you may continue to post under your blogname if you like. It’s your choice.
Thank you!
OK, oodles of thoughts! (Please note that, while my actual posts are infrequent, I read the blog daily, and others’ posts and the blog’s continued existence are significant to me.)
I am in favor of de-cloaking. I know that would make some others uncomfortable, but I think the proposition Robert just put forth, with the cloaking and the Eldar
Godsusers, sounds quite solid. (But since it’s been squidded, perhaps a tweak is in order? Was Lizzie the one who squidded it? Her proposed tweak sounds fine to me.)I don’t feel any need to be known only to a “few”–fresh blood! Fresh brains! Fresh ideas and interactions! Mwahahaha! I think the “select” takes care of itself. We are, and have only ever been, a haven for sparky youth. A person can easily take a look and identify us as en’s Long-sought People–or not. And those in the former category would look deeply into our void, and we would look back, and recognize them as our own, and then they, too, would be the void. Erm. I would like new people.
If the GAPAs like the current software, it should be kept. If not, it should be switched-up. I do think that the ability to imbed photos/videos/those newfangled gif thingamabobs would be seized upon.
Unorthodox purposes are woven into the pixelated fiber of the site. They cannot be extricated.
Cannot imagine the blog without our GAPAs. Wait–I’ll try–oh! The horror! The horror!
Paleos earning toned-down GAPA powers would likely be fun, unless the GAPAs find that it makes their jobs harder.
The strictness and prudishness of the moderation presents no frustrations to me.
Thoughtfulness is important, civility is essential, grammar is to be encouraged only. I know for a fact that leaping on those whose grammar had faults has alienated users whose presence we would likely have enjoyed. Anyway, this is the internet, and experiments in syntax are meat and drink.
HAVE WE
SQUIDS BEING
DONE NOT
OUR OWN
QUESTION WAS
Our amusement, mutual support, and world domination are thoroughly non-negotiable.
I think that acknowledging our connection to Muse is good, but we are very much more than a fan site…? During my time here, we’ve been a passel of teenage-ish intellectuals creating our own sort-of-not-really-but-sort-of think tank.
Content sounds fun! Consider that exclusive content and being cloaked are, to my mind, mutually exclusive. Contributors would likely find their efforts being hidden away undesirable.
Various comments about being unwelcoming to newcomers–yes. Yep. Yeah. I joined as a starry-eyed soul-crying-out twelve-year-old in the autumn of 2008. Even with the traffic we had then, I was deeply nervous of making an error and making some of you lovely people hate me. I didn’t know that I could withstand that. I do not want that feeling to be experienced by other newcomers–I’ve done rather less than I could have to support kinder initiation to our mysteries, but that is a Thing To Be Favored.
Hi, Potato Chip!
Thank all of you GAPAs for your eons of effort and thought to make this place our own internet island of goodness, and your emphasis on our own feelings about it. Love you.
No, I didn’t squid.
Hey all. I know I’m not around as much as I used to be, although I do lurk. I miss you guys and I’ll try to stop by more often.
I’m in favor of trying to slowly increase population. I want more middle and high schoolers to have the opportunity to get what we did out of MB. I would suggest expanding the “Eldar” section of the blog, so there are still areas with this small community where we can talk about more personal things. Then also, I would try to advertise in Muse (not totally sure how this would work–letters? Mini-column, or an ad, or something?) and set up some of the old threads again: Magazine discussion, morphing chameleon thread, etc. There could be a young blog and a traditional blog running in parallel and overlapping. I think it would be nice.
Oh, and I’m in favor of a very limited decloaking. I don’t know if this is possible, but I’d like the main page to be able to be googled, but nothing within the site? Or a link on the Muse website or something? I’d like neophytes to be able to find the site, but not for people to be able to do detailed searches that look in past threads.
Last time I checked, there was a link on the Muse website. That’s how I found the MB.
It looks as if uncloaking is a definite no.
I think if we were to target ourselves towards the current demographic of Muse readers, we would have to be prepared for a faster paced blog and more neophytes.
As the Blog has grown slower, a lot of us have become accustomed to the familiarity. We’d have to be prepared to welcome a lot new younger members.
This would mean a throwback to the older days of the Blog where there was a lot more young energy.
I support the idea of making some threads paleo-only, so we can still discuss things privately.
I don’t like the idea of changing the software type, but if it’s necessary for these changes to take place, I… Might be able to accept it?
The thing is, I’ve always loved this blogging format so much, and the more traditional forum format has always kind of intimidated me.
I’m beginning to realize that I’m one of the only people who passionately belives we should decloak, and I just wanted to share my reasons, as best as I can figure them.
First, I do truly believe that without users, we will die. I personally have drifted away from this site more than once, even though every time I’m here I’m determined to stay forever. It takes effort to check this site, every single time, and recently, that effort just isn’t much rewarded. If you can easily keep up with everything going on just by checking in once a week, where’s the point in checking in more often? And once it’s not in your daily habits, how many people would just forget entirely, save for an update once in a blue moon? That’s what happened to the Paleo threads, right?
I suspect that this point is where the disagreement mostly comes from. Maybe I’m just being more pessimistic than anybody else here, which would be a first. And even I’m not really sure this will be the outcome.
I suspect this isn’t the real reason I feel so strongly about this anyway. I mean, it’s the source of the stance, but it’s not the source of the emotion behind the stance, which may or may not be visible from where you are. I’m kind of hoping not, because I’ve done my best to bury it.
I’m focusing on this plan because I think it’s our best chance of attracting neophytes, and I’m focusing on attracting neophytes there’s a chance that if we don’t, this community will vanish into the ether, and I can’t take that chance. You guys are too awesome to lose.
It seems to me that so far you’ve been talking about three different kinds of projects, some of which may overlap or converge:
1. A site for the current, well-established community of MBers;
2. A site for Muse-aged kids like the ones you used to be;
3. A site for anybody, everybody, or a self-selecting subset of everybody yet to be determined.
Different approaches might be best depending on which we decide to do and how and whether we choose to combine them. For example, oxlin’s “online Muse Academy” site sounds like pure number 3. Others seem to be leaning toward a combination of 1 and 2.
I’m not sure what sort of software would be best for each approach, but I will note that I’ve found WordPress to be surprisingly useful and flexible. It has also added some features that weren’t available when we started MuseBlog and that might work well for us. For example, in addition to Administrators (us) and Subscribers (people who can read and submit comments), we can now designate three other types of user, in order of increasing ability:
– Contributor, able to create and edit posts but not publish them;
– Author, able to do everything Contributors do and to publish posts and upload files, but not able to edit other people’s posts; and
– Editor, able to do everything Authors do and to edit other people’s posts, create and edit pages, and moderate comments.
(Here, “posts” are what we on MuseBlog usually call “threads.”)
Those roles open up a lot of possibilities, I think. Want to upload images? Become an Author. Need some responsible non-GAPAs to moderate comments when the Administrators aren’t around? Appoint some Editors. Contributors sound less useful, but I can imagine that they’d be handy on a shared blog in which some participants might need to be moderated.
Anyway, more food for thought.
Hello. I post very rarely here now, but lurk occasionally and count some MBers as some of my closest and oldest friends. In other words, despite my general visible absence on this site over the last couple of years, I still feel tied to the community. For what it’s worth, for people who don’t recognize me, I’m 21 and first posted in (I believe) 2006. And, apologies for any incoherency – I traveled alone for 19 hours yesterday, got home at 3:30 am, and woke up 5 hours later.
I do think there’s a reason that blog-comment systems aren’t the typical format for this kind of content. It would be easy enough to set up an actual forum with the same (or revised) security standards as there are now. I don’t know how well that would work for cloaking, though. Personally, I think relaxing the moderation policy after a probationary period, with the addition of more moderators, would allow for a more positive posting experience. There are certainly enough older (both in age and time on blog) posters who are familiar with the rules and capable of moderating comments. Also, having subforums would definitely keep things more organized and easier to follow. In general, I think an actual forum would be able to do the job better, even if it is a jarring change. I don’t really see compelling advantages to the current format, except for familiarity and, possibly, cloaking.
I do think it is important to get new people coming in. Without that, the community will eventually die – it’s just a matter of when, not if. However, I don’t think we should be trying to get non-Musers in. Here, I think I mean “Muser” more as an identity than an actual subscriber. Most of us came here because of the magazine, which meant we were interested in it enough to look further into it online. It’s a very niche group, but I think that’s okay. I know I came (and many others did) when the blog was mentioned in a letter in the magazine. Periodic mentionings in the mag would probably bring in enough new people to sustain the activity level.
On the other hand, maybe it’s okay that MB dies a quiet death, as many online communities do. But I know that I would have missed out on a lot had I not found MB, so I’m not in favour of complacency in this regard. Cheers.
As an addendum, it sure would be nice if we were able to preview and edit comments – another nice feature of forums!
i completely agree about the format – i’ve never really understood why the MB was a blog other than this way the GAPAs are the only ones who can post “threads” (which are really posts, and our “posts” are actually comments and why are we using a blog again?)
i’m sure there’s a way to limit who posts threads in forums though. also if we’re looking towards a tiered moderation system (which seems to be what most people are suggesting so far) i think it would be much easier to accomplish with an actual forum. plus i think a forum layout is more accessible to newer people (for those who want to recruit) and makes it just as easy, if not easier, to close down/restrict certain threads (for those who want designated areas with login requirements)
Back in the day — when a lot of people were still on dial-up — forum structure was unbearably slow and clunky. I don’t think we’d ever have seen the freeform conversational atmosphere develop as it did if we’d been stuck in such a rigid format. The difference may not be as stark now (though personally I still haven’t managed to warm up to forums and tend to avoid them when there’s an alternative).
honestly i don’t see much difference in conversational structure between the museblog and forums i’ve been on. people treat posts here just like forum threads and comments have the same structure and function as on a forum. i think a lot of the freeform atmosphere came from the type of post topics you created as the threads, not the concept itself.
Like I said, the difference isn’t as great now, but back in the dial-up era trudging through a forum was excruciating with all the page clicks. Of course, I also have the advantage of seeing MB from moderation space, which is considerably more streamlined.
Honestly, I’m not big on forum layouts, even with high speed internet. I don’t find the interface as user friendly as the ‘blog here is.
I’d have to agree. I think the current layout works well, particularly with nested comments.
As is, it seems the current format is much more rigid than a forum would be. With easier to manage security/privacy and moderation tiers, it would open the possibility of non-GAPAs creating threads. The only difference in terms of thread flow is the tiered comments, which can be difficult to follow and only extend so far. Using quote tags on a forum would be much simpler. As far as personal experience goes, I agree with Ebeth in that I really don’t see much of a difference in how conversational this blog is versus forums in a standard format. Just that the latter is a bit more user-friendly.
Ack, ok I’m typing on my phone from a shuttle in LA right now, so I’m going to keep this short until I get to a computer (in a week and a half) and organize my thoughts better.
But for now:
-I like this format. It works for us, and it’s proven itself to be pretty mailable to our unorthodox purposes.
-the only being able to post on welcome threads when not-logged in is, I think an excellent one
-I still love this blog, but can totally agree with feeling somewhat too old, which is always a challenge when we’re dealing with the type of age difference we’ve got here. There are multiple generations, and that’s sometimes awkward to reconcile. Maybe even if we didn’t age-segregate things, at least post warnings that some threads have mature content.
-a variety of non-GAPA positions could incentivize Eldars to be more active, and gently guide whatever new folk we might get. I’m in favor, but with obvious precautions against the side effects of sudden power on the human brain.
Let’s also take these things slow and be willing to experiment for awhile.
oh hey.
so I haven’t been on here in a looong time, but the main reason i “left” (or more accurately faded into legend (right guys? i’m a myth around here, right?)) was because there was a huge increase in traffic at the same time that i was getting busier and busier with my life.
slowdown is not necessarily bad. i left MB for more relaxed mediums where i didn’t need to scroll through hundreds of posts to get an idea of what was going on, or whether anyone had already said what i was about to say. right now i’m working as a graduate assistant, taking double the credits required to be a full-time student, and working part-time at a library, and i know i’m not the only super-busy (ex?)-MBer who let the blog slide.
i think i would be interested in coming back to a slower version of the blog. i’m not against new people, or trying to make sure musers know about the blog, but i wouldn’t be all geared up for a desperate recruitment drive either.
i am 100% with lizzie on the privacy issue. this blog isn’t even that hard to find as it is, and i’d prefer people not to read the (often somewhat personal) things i’ve said at the age of 13/14 (my first MB post was i think a month or so before i turned 14. i’m 22 now. daaaang). as a teenager i used this blog a bit like tom riddle’s diary, and i don’t think i’m the only one. errata – take it from someone who went by “ebeth the stalker,” it is -really- easy to find people these days.
one thing i think the blog could benefit from (if we’re talking about changing formats or adding features) is some kind of official irc or chat feature. i don’t think it’s any secret at this point that i talk to MBers outside the blog, and there have been several iterations of MB-themed chat groups through various mediums that have been nice. it’s less thoughtful discussion and content, but it would be a good format for or addition to something like the random threads or hare and hedgepig because people can drop in and out without having to catch up on in-depth discussions and it operates without moderation wait times.
i think one way to increase interesting content on the main blog would be to relax on the outside links rule. certain GAPA-approved external sites (i’m thinking stuff like NASA, the BBC, etc) could provide more for discussion topics than just “hey did you guys hear about that thing?”
another thought – does the blog still do official kokonventions, or have those become a mostly external process? i thought DC was great, and would love to see it become some kind of regular meetup/event/convention/whatever you want to call it. i never made it to the pumpkin drop, but being able to experience it through posts and pictures on the blog by MBers who were there was great and that seems like another way to get interesting content from an outside-but-not-quite-outside source
anyway i am interested to see where all this goes and i may have to start hanging around again. the blog was a huge part of my life growing up and i hope it continues to be active and flamablamablous as always
I don’t really understand what you mean by “official Kokonventions” versus “an external process.” If you mean Kokonventions that we bring up here and discuss (or our parents do if we’re under 18) through email exchanged by the GAPAs, then yes, we definitely still do that, because otherwise, MuseBloggers who don’t know each other outside MuseBlog wouldn’t be able to meet each other at all. If you’re talking about something more “official” than that… I don’t think it happens, because I don’t know what it is.
There was a kokon in 2007 (possibly the first) where a whole bunch of mbers went to DC, met with Robert and Rebecca. That one had a schedule of events too.
Rosanne was there, too.
And I clearly wasn’t, heh. Envious of those who were, though! Which mbers were there?
Oh, gosh, I’d have to dig up a list to make sure I didn’t leave anyone out. There was a somewhat different mix each day. Pictures: https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=990
Whoa! That was a long time ago. I think it’d be fun to have another large group kokon! Also I want to meet Ivars Peterson. These two events don’t necessarily need to be related.
we’re all so little! these are adorable
WE LOOK LIKE SUCH WEE BABES.
and ivars peterson! we played with moebius strips
Whoa! I’m envious!
Ivars Peterson was not there the day I was there, as I recall. I feel like I would have remembered, he was so awesome. I still use the math pages for hailstone numbers and winning at Monopoly.
Hi, wow this thread went fast! I very much agree with Lizzie and Dodeca: I’ve abused the R&P thread far too much and, if you’ve suffered through any of my posts there, you probably know why I’d prefer they fall into a black hole.
What about a combination of Robert’s 1) and 2)? The fast new site for the young’uns gets a snappy new forum layout, while a slower section of the Eldars retains this format, but perhaps with added administrative power for those who want it. (I don’t know if this is really feasible, just throwing it out there- sort of like we had Muse Academy when MB went down).
I have to admit that I’m also adverse to speeding up the blog too much because I don’t have to time to keep up anymore- I remember participating in 9 RPGs/RPWs at once at some point when I was 14, but right now I’m glad to take the time to read a thread. But I do really like the idea of bringing in fresh energy.
Thanks for posting this thread, GAPAs.
Like others here, I rarely post anymore, but I read the new posts almost every day. There just aren’t many of them anymore. I think my reason for hardly posting about my life is because it feels like I would need a gigantic comprehensive post to catch you guys up now, and that would be daunting. That probably actually wouldn’t be necessary, so maybe I’ll try posting more small events in my life going forward. (I’ve made 4500+ posts in my life, my goodness.)
During our previous discussion, I was in favor of uncloaking. MuseBlog was an incredibly powerful force in my adolescence and young adulthood, as somewhere I felt like I was understood and accepted when I didn’t have many places like that. To self-indulgently quote from the Muserology article I wrote when I was 13:
“I’ve never met many of my friends.
They will never go to my school. I’m almost positive that I will never call them on the telephone. For many, I will never see their face or hear their voice.
And yet, I know that they’ll always be there when I log onto my favorite blog-based forum. We’ll update each other on our lives, dissect the latest issue of our favorite magazine, give each other advice on dealing with friends and family, and offer each other virtual shoulders to cry on if needed. In short, we are friends.”
I’d hope that every Muserly young person would have a place like MuseBlog to call home. I don’t know much about where kids like that end up these days – Cricket Chatterbox? MuseMagKids? Some other online haven? – but I for one would love to be part of a MuseBlog community that welcomed more young people. I actually think that we as older MuseBloggers would have a lot to share with a younger community, not least life experience, perspective, and all of the diverse and interesting passions we have, that many of us are exploring in college and beyond.
That being said, I understand the concerns of people who don’t want everything they’ve written on here to become public and think those are very valid. I don’t think that MuseBlog should become completely public, because we have a lot of history here that wasn’t meant for that audience. I’m also not sure that MuseBlog should become restrictive or stratified based on age or experience – that feels exclusive to me, and might feel unwelcoming to would-be members.
What appeals most to me right now is, as Bookgirl said, a combination of Robert’s 1 and 2. We could preserve our wonderful, slow-moving community of close friends on WordPress software (perhaps with some changes like relaxed moderation and image posting), and we could also found a new community that could be targeted at a younger set, advertised in letters to Muse, with new software if the GAPAs wanted to try something different. I think the main source of tension right now in all our thoughts is between rightfully wanting to keep the old and rightfully wanting to welcome the new. Also, personally, the idea of having MuseBlogger-administrators sounds flamablamablous and really exciting. I think the long-time MuseBloggers we have here have proven themselves responsible and capable, and more moderators could lead to quicker posting without giving up the security of moderation altogether.
If the new community caught on, that would be awesome, but if it didn’t work out like we imagined (which is totally possible), MuseBlog here would be the same as it is now.
Also, GAPAs, I’m not listed as being 18 on “Who’s Here” yet. I hope to keep using my blog name, if that’s okay.
No problem about the name, Cat’s Meow. Good to see you!
It’s a pleasure to be here! A humming blog is fun.
Yea, comrades!
While forums can be less unique in appearance, their layouts tend to offer clear and specific organization, which may be less intimidating for new blood and would likely make it easier for experienced Musers to delve into the rich archive of the past. It has also been mentioned to me that pages of comments would be handy, and I find it hard to disagree. Many was the day I cursed my internet while waiting for the entire backlog for the month to load.
In addition, though I may not be able to finance columns, I would be enthusiastic to write one on occasion. A forum, methinks, would lend itself splendidly to free exchange of content.
Toodle-oo!
I’m liking the keep-MuseBlog-as-is, start a new forum for new bloggers idea. It could be fun to moderate. Basically, as is often the case, I agree with Meow.
If a neophyte is what you all think may be needed, then a neophyte you shall have. *bows down in respect to all elder MBers*
I have been lurking on this blog for about a year, same amount of time I’ve been getting the magazine. So I generally know how to keep myself from making mistakes, but I’ve also never said anything here before, so please bear with me in my awkwardness. However, pleeeease don’t send me off to some neophyte thread and ignore me; I’ve got an opinion to add.
Anyway, I agree with having more/younger people here. I personally am younger than 18, but I’m also older than the magazine’s target range. But my question with that is: What if those new people are the wrong people? Kids/teens these days are being exposed to a lot more at a younger age and also in different ways, so they know about a lot of stuff, but they’re not mature enough to discuss it in a way it was and is discussed here. Yeah, I still get immature about things (who doesn’t?), but the way that young people today are like that is a way that, for lack of a better word, disgusts me. The immaturity and low class that my peers have is a major reason I absolutely despise school with a burning passion.
Which brings me to my point: One reason I’ve been lurking here for so long is because the people here are not my classmates. They’re mature and wonderful and don’t have to resort to dirty jokes, swearing, or anything like that for attention or humor. And I love that! I’ll admit I find the occasional dirty joke funny and I’m not immune to saying a profanity, but this is a place to get away from that, isn’t it? And I would hate for it to be ruined. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying good, awesome, totally cool, flamablamablous young people don’t exist, but how are you going to get them to come here? Oh, never mind. I’m freaking out about that one topic too much, I’m sure the new people will be fine.
Next point: …..aghh I just forgot my next point. *headdesk* I’m sorry, I was going to say it, but I got caught up ranting in the previous paragraphs. I’ll come back once I remember it.
And yes, I do plan on sticking around. I hope I’m not intruding.
Hey! You’re not intruding at all! *looks around at fellow bloggers to make sure*
And, oh my gosh thank you! I, myself, am a patient person, but I still get rather annoyed at kids my age who type in all chatspeak! Those thirteen-year-olds (a year older than I am) who confuse the You’res and the Yours; the theres, the theirs, and the they’res! And who don’t properly capitalize things, or punctuate things!
We are mature here… mostly… and a hearty and year-late welcome to you, Hummingbird!
Oh! Why, welcome, Hummingbird! {Bows graciously back.}
I rather doubt that we’ll get landed with a pack of people who don’t mesh with us. Why did any of us stick around here, to begin with? Recognition of kindred spirits. Actually–there’s a thought to be expanded upon:
how did we end up here? My arrival was a combination of encountering another MBer (whose screen name I never did catch!) and a letter written to the mag by Kiki the Great.
Do come back when you think of it! You aren’t intruding. Lurkers and neophytes are part of this, too!
I got here because someone wrote “musefanpage.com” on the postcard that Muse sent back when your letter didn’t get into the magazine. The Gaboomba [a portion of the site, now accessible through the web archive dot org site, where we wrote emails in and Robert posted them] was up then, and eventually I sent a message there and then that all started. One day I went to the site, discovered a link here, and my Gaboomba-posting shifted to the MB.
Now I want to know how the rest of you got here!
That implicit? test contest, where you were suppose to take the test and post you results, best comments being the winning entries.
Same here. That caused a huge influx of people.
Yup, that was how I got on here too.
And I got here through you when you introduced me to BA…where I have essentially remained for the past 7 years…
There is a discussion board on the official Muse website, and on it is a button that says “Check out the MUSEBLOG”. I started out posting a lot on that discussion board (which posts new threads for each Muse article) and then eventually clicked the button.
There was something in the magazine once, where they had some of the Blog’s posts in the magazine… I forget where or what it was. But, anyway, it had the link to the Museblog homepage, and I looked it up.
I’d heard people talking about it on the Cricket Chatterbox talking about it before, but I didn’t think I’d be likely to have much interest, as I didn’t get Muse. Eventually, I did start getting Muse, and after 2 issues I could tell that I liked it a lot, so I thought it might be a good idea to check it out, and I did, and, well, here I am.
I think I’m the only person right now who posts in both places, though, so it doesn’t really get brought up much anymore unless I do it, so while a lot neophytes have come from there in the past, I don’t think we’ll be getting more from there in the near future unless I say something or people are looking at old threads.
I got here ‘cuz muse magazine rocks and I was looking for something like this. This site is AWESOME!! XD
I got here because… oh, man, I don’t remember. It was after the big contest in the discrimination issue, but I don’t know what exactly prompted me to finally come aboard.
I finally started lurking in January 2008, but didn’t make my first post until late March. I lurked almost exclusively on The Sea Roc RRR. I don’t think I branched out until after I started posting.
I came here because in the November/December 2006 issue of Muse, emogrl wrote a letter where she mentioned the MuseBlog. I was going through my Muse archives in early 2007, found that mention, and decided to search for the MuseBlog. Don’t quite remember how I eventually found it.
9-year-old me was just the tiniest bit immature. As was 10-year-old me. And 11-year-old me. And 12…you know how this goes.
i lurked about around the Gaboomba but was never brave enough to send anything in and eventually stopped hanging around. one day i got curious and went back to see what was going on, and there was a blog which seemed a little friendlier/less scary to me than an email system so i went ahead and posted
Why, hello!
Welcome, if not to the blog, to the Who’s Here list! It’s interesting – purely by the 6 month definition, you were a paleo long before we even knew about you. Anyways, you’re not intruding at all – it’s great to add another voice to this conversation.
You make some good points. For me, I’m not too worried about inappropriate behavior. As far as I know (GAPAs and other MuseBloggers correct me if I’m wrong), patterns of inappropriate behavior like that have never been much of a problem because MuseBlog is
a) moderated,
b) apparently most attractive to people who feel like they don’t fit into a peer group like that, have other interests, and/or are mature for their age (this is totally a generalization that may not apply to every MuseBlogger, but I’ve heard and seen this again and again over the years), and
c) full of people who can model how sensitive subjects are discussed, which at least for me was very helpful in learning that skill.
We’d certainly have to be careful with any changes to make sure we keep the “place to get away from that” nature if that’s something we value, though.
You are not intruding at all. Welcome to the blog, and have a celebratory pie! I think that opinions like yours, from people we are trying to attract, are very important.
Regarding your concerns: I think that where we advertise would be the biggest litmus test for new recruits. Even if we decloak (and I’d rather not), we are not going to spring to the front page of Google right away. Advertising is necessary. Also, the moderation rules don’t allow for swearing or raunchy content, and I don’t think that’s going to change.
Welcome, Hummingbird!
I’m glad you decided to throw your opinions into the mix. I think it’s good to hear from a point of view other than just long time, previously established musers. It’s good to get different perspectives.
While you may wish to check out the neophyte thread if you haven’t previously (which I suspect you probably have), there’s certainly no reason to banish you there. Your opinion is no less valid for your newness. And I hesitate to even call you “new” if you’ve been lurking for a year.
Re: dirty jokes an swearing. Um. Yeah. I’m afraid I’m more than guilty of that. My language is….peppered with quite a bit of profanity, even when I’m not angry….
And you’re certainly not intruding, and I hope you do stick around.
Welcome! I’m glad you decided to post. I’m looking forward to getting to know you!
Welcome, Hummingbird!
I do have some slight concern with part of your post, though. I hope you won’t mind if I explain.
“Kids/teens these days are being exposed to a lot more at a younger age and also in different ways, so they know about a lot of stuff, but they’re not mature enough to discuss it in a way it was and is discussed here.”
I’m not sure this is true. I think kids these days are more mature than you give them credit for, if not in aggregate, then at least when taken individually. Everyone contains their own personal worlds, and just because all you see is dirty jokes that they’re probably making to try and save face among their friends that doesn’t mean that’s all there is. Just because you perceive someone as “low class” (which, as an aside, I think is not a good way to describe people whom you don’t wish to associate with, as it has bad socioeconomic implications) doesn’t mean that you should write them off completely. You shouldn’t write anyone off completely.
(the joke there is twofold; I don’t have a lawn))
(Also, as someone who recently turned 20, I’m allowed to say “kids these days.” Get off my lawn, you under-18 whippersnapper!
Even if it is true, and almost an entire generation of people are not worthy of our time, I’m not sure that means that we should exclude them. I think that they are much more likely to learn about how to discuss more “mature’ topics well if we model positive ways of doing so.
Don’t worry that you’re intruding; you’re not. Again, welcome!
Don’t be nervous; why lurk when you can post?
Hi, hummingbird, we’re glad to have you here to talk to!
Hi there, Hummingbird! I’m so glad to see someone new on the blog!
Welcome, Hummingbird!
I’ve been enjoying how this thread itself is bringing in all kinds of people and how active this part of the blog has begun.
Maybe that was Robert’s actual cunning plan. He didn’t really want to change anything about MB, he just wanted to get us worked up about something so we’d quit lurking and start commenting. Touché, Robert.
That would have been a crafty thing for me to do, wouldn’t it? But
unfortunately for you, my web of treacherous manipulation is infinitely deeper and more subtle than thatthe truth is much more straightforward.I agree. It’s cool to see new people coming in and old people returning, all offering their perspectives.
Honestly I wish I had more constructive things to say here. I’m no longer super involved in MB, but I will keep checking it and posting occasional updates till the bitter end because there are so many people here I like and it’s been a big part of my online life.
Thank you all for the welcome! I’ve got a question regarding what I classify as: like am I a neophyte because I’m only posting now, or what? I’ll save it for later, though, it’s not important.
In any case, I realized my post was a bit too much of a personal rant than it was actually being helpful. Honestly I don’t think what I was freaking out about would become a problem, what with the character of people here and moderation (the “your musing is awaiting moderation” is adorable, I might add).
Which brings me to Dodecahedron’s reply: You’re right, I’m sorry. My anger at my classmates is a personal thing, and believe me, I’m not normally one to refer to others in insulting ways. But that’s what anger does to you.
Sigh. I keep my emotions bottled up far too much.
Hummingbird – I am very glad to see you post for the first time! Welcome to the ‘Blog.
At first, I was vehemently against decloaking. I’ve seen what it does to so many sites. But now that I’ve read some of the posts here, I’ve revised my opinion. What I think now is that the best thing to do is decloak the site, but make all pages aside from Welcome Neophytes login-only. (Of course, I’ll need to remember my login information, but I can worry about that later.) The only thing is we need to give a better indication of what this site is all about on the Welcome Neophytes thread if we do that. I know that when I joined I lurked around the site for only a few days without posting – but the threads I lurked on were not Welcome Neophytes.
That’s a really good point, Randomosity. Many neophytes lurk or at least read old threads to get a sense of who we are and whether they think they’d like to join in. We’d somehow have to give a sense of the community without showing threads. If we were going that uncloaked-but-closed route (as opposed to a completely new platform for a new community, which I think is still an interesting thought), what if we left the current month’s Random Thread readable to not-logged-in users as well?
The Random thread sounds perfect to me; it would really give a sense of the myriad of topics we speak about and aspects of the ‘Blog. So I guess we could have that and the Welcome thread visible to all, but you can’t post anywhere without logging in?
So, out of curiosity, I wanted to see how easy it was to find MuseBlog if you wanted to, despite search engine cloaking. My guinea pig was my dear friend Kevin, and I told him he could try finding it with the information already available at his disposal…which wasn’t much. He’s spoken to Paul before, and knew he was a “gappa,” and that the initials were MB. Eventually he got to Paul’s site, which mentions Muse, and realized the site was called MuseBlog. There’s a line on the Muse magazine wikipedia page which states, “MuseBlog is an online community which welcomes anyone who enjoys the magazine.”
At that, he got a bit cross.
The official Muse page was little help, and neither was the fan-wikia or Muse wikipedia page. Anticlimatically, he finally just went to museblog.com, which re-directs (he initially thought that would be too easy).
As for how this relates to the discussion, it does seem applicable to how we should be bringing in new blood, if that is desired. If cloaking is kept, which I generally agree with, I do think it should be slightly easier to find this place – a link on the Muse site, for instance.
A google search for “Museblog” makes the fan-wikia come up, which links to old threads a couple of times.
There actually is a link on the Muse site. If you go to the kids’ site for Muse, and within that site to the “Kokonino County” section, and then to their “Town Hall” discussion spot, there is a link in the lower left of the page. Not terribly intuitive if you set out looking for us, but a reasonable spot to have stuck a signpost to another Muse-related discussion type-place. In post 28.2.1.2, Agent Lightning says she got here through that link, but I don’t think it has given us very much traffic.
Here’s an idea for bringing in new people: How about advertising the blog in the magazine, and in that ad, there’s a list of directions on how to get here. That way, pretty much only the people we’re trying to attract would know how to get here, instead of everyone who uses Google. Sorry if someone suggested that already. I tend to be forgetful.
Yeah, you need the URL to get here. If we put the URL somewhere in the magazine, that could attract new users- but I’m not sure how we’d swing getting it there in the first place.
The URL was in the magazine in this month’s issue where they announced Robert leaving the Q+A page.
That surprised me a little. Muse has its own website, and a couple of years ago the company that publishes it was bought by another company that specializes in online educational activities for kids. I’ve feared that they might turn hostile toward us, but nothing like that has happened.
Muse doesn’t run advertising, however.
Well, they did once, but that era is long over, methinks. Maybe we can get ourselves another contest? Like the Implicit Association Test one, where you had to take the test, and then post about your experience with it on MB?
Also, isn’t there another discussion board on the magazine’s website? Would there be any way to associate ourselves with that, or is there too much overlap between us and the new discussion board, thus creating competition?
We don’t actually spend much time discussing Muse here. I’d guess that we wouldn’t much overlap with a message board which is still, presumably, mostly devoted to actual discussion of the magazine.
…This might mean current readers would see little reason to visit us, of course.
True, all we have is one thread per issue, and I’d imagine that they have one thread per article. But we’ve always had discussions on lots of topics, and we managed to attract people before, so hopefully we can do it again.
Do we even still have those? I haven’t seen one in ages. Then again, I never paid much attention to them in the first place.
Well we do have some power to do that–writing fan mail, and sneakily mentioning MuseBlog and how great the culture is.
with all this talk of cloaking and whatnot, i remember a time back when the blog was googleable when i googled myself (just “ebeth,” not my full name) and posts from here were all the top results, followed by posts from me on places like xanga (ha) and livejournal (ha ha). i just googled “ebeth” again, wondering what would pop up since the blog posts wouldn’t be listed and i haven’t posted any kind of blog for a long time. i still have other social media stuff/internet accounts that use that name, so i thought i’d see where they rank.
my once-so-annoyingly-unique-i-had-to-repeat-it-several-times-when-meeting-new-people nickname now has pages of impostors, including its very own urban dictionary entry.
(this doesn’t have much of anything to do with what’s next for the blog, i’m just intrigued that my name no longer points directly to me. i have mixed feelings about this. i guess it’s good that i’m harder to find though?)
After reading this, I google-searched myself. Of the hundreds of results that come up, only one of them actually leads to something on the internet that is actually mine (but that’s OK because it’s designed to be public). In fact, one leads to someone else on FanFiction.net, which I actually do have an account on – under a different name!
(Hey guys- I’m reading, but I haven’t seen an opportunity yet where voicing an opinion would be helpful. Just wanted to let the general populace know I’m present, àla oxlin’s post about this thread being active, with a dash of Hummingbird’s about no longer lurking as well. Missed you guys bunches and it’s nice to see a discussion about this topic.)
-A
You need to post more! I miss your posts! *pays PoPo fine*
Hehe, duly noted. I’ll see what I can do. :]
-A
Please do not decloak. We want neophytes from Muse, and they’ll have the URL; no need for googling. It sounds like most people got here through the magazine, including me. Can we get more regular exposure there?
I’m for opening up moderation, in some limited degree, to eldar paleophytes. I’ve had mixed feelings about it for a while, but now during a lull is the time to make changes. I remember having lunch with Robert in Chinatown and feeling amazed when he said the GAPAs read every comment all the way through. I guess it shouldn’t’ve surprised me, I would’ve said the same if someone had asked me about the blog, but there’s something, je ne sais quoi, about knowing you’re there with someone else. And now, in addition to the GAPAs, the eldar paleophytes are exactly the people I hope my neophyte self would meet.
I think a more forum-like shift in structure would help, and I’m not sure that’s mutually exclusive with using WordPress. There are themes and layouts and plugins galore.
If there were a change to a different structure, could we consider adding a place for longer writing? I’m imagining a monthly or biweekly post written by one of us, about anything muserly. In the vein of oxlin’s mention of Muse Academy. With a target word count range, and pictures, and maybe some peer editing while in queue. Muserologies, essays, journals, short stories, time capsules. Excerpts from tall ship journals, first days of college, recipes and lore, last days of college, how-tos and consider-thises. Considered writings that deserve a place of their own. A MuseBlog blog, if you will.
My love to you all.
YES. (Um. I get excited about Museblog blogs.)
I love your idea of a Museblog blog! It sounds absolutely perfect for the more verbose among us.
I also love this idea.
Same here. Such opportunities would be good for prodding my creative self into action.
Is Museblog loosing it’s quirkeyness?
Because, when I first arrived, way back in my Neophyte days, everyone was still talking about the Muses, :idea:s, and cake. All sorts of ‘Blog terms. And now nobody seems to anymore. People usually just come one here to ask/give advice, or to chat about what’s going on in their lives. Not usually Muserly subjects.
I think that’s some of what we’re discussing here. The blog’s gotten full of an older demographic. We’re trying to capture some fresh meat to give the place energy again.
Righto, all the old R&P and R&R threads have been placed off-limits to non-Eldar. And I’ll be slowly turning the Eldar into Authors, although it will take a while to confer the new powers on everybody. Some of you will soon be experiencing MuseBlog in a different way and will be able to start creating the sorts of posts that we have hitherto called threads.
I never did bother getting an account; ought I to do that now?
If you want to be an Author or see the threads (and non-thread posts!) that will be visible only to logged-in users — yes, you will need an account.
Maybe we should have an intro thread for people returning after a while away/ to explain how to get an account to new MBers. I for one have totally forgotten how to get an account. All I remember is how to change my gravatar.
To get an account,
1. Click “Log In.”
2. Click “Register.”
3. Wait for us to approve the account.
Then you can edit your profile.
It doesn’t seem to be working for me.
KaiYVes: It worked! You were still on step 3. Now if you edit your profile and change your email address, you’ll get your usual avatar back.
I don’t see the option to do so anywhere…
Yes, editing one’s profile is a hidden function. Bring up the comment box, as if you’re about reply to something on one of the threads. Your name should appear as a link (green and underlined). Click on it, and you go to your profile.
It doesn’t.
Were you logged in?
Right, then! I’ve got my safety goggles on and info submitted.
I’ve tried a few times since to log in using my username and password as they appear in the email I received, but it merely says that my username is invalid. Am I doing something wrong, or just being impatient?
I’ll look into it. Can’t do anything for the next few hours, however.
Cerulean Pyros, could you try registering again, please? I can’t find your profile. It may have been deleted by mistake.
I’ve resubmitted. Thank you for checking on it!
I’ve found the new email; it’s working for me now!
Incidentally, changing my gravatar is the once thing I can’t remember how to do – I and would like to, since my awesome one with the BA cap only exists if I’m not logged in. How do you change the gravatar when signed in?
It’s tied to your email address. I assume your account is under a different email than the one you normally use? I don’t know how else it would work.
Anyway, you can change all this at gravatar.com.
Ah! Thank you.
By some freaky miracle I actually remembered my password. I’m shocked. It’s not like I’ve logged in for years.
Similar. The first password I tried.
i remembered my account somehow and can confirm that i have rants and plaints access
I figured it out! My gravatar is mostly the same, but it looks funny. Hmm. I have R&P access, too.
Resurrecting this WordPress account sent me down a rabbit hole of ancient email addresses that I created solely for account-creating purposes and therefore forgot about a long time ago. The backup email for the one attached to this account was my middle school email that hasn’t worked in four years. Another email I tried to get into (and sadly failed – it had the most wonderful muserly username :cry:) had “Colors ending in ‘urple'” as its security question, but the answer wasn’t purple. I have no idea what my younger self was thinking.
Also, this may mark the end of the final regular use of my *other* old email address, which I got when I was 10, and which I’ve only continued using on MuseBlog, for gravatar purposes. *bows head solemnly in remembrance*
I could have sworn I got an account quite a while back (long enough to completely forget my password), but when I try to log in now using any of the handful of passwords I use it says I’m using an invalid username. Would the GAPAs be able to tell if I’m somehow misremembering and never created an account after all? If I do have one, any ideas on what could be causing this problem?
I don’t see an account listed under your name. Did you use a non-intuitive pseudonym? Anyway, it’s easy to create a new one.
I’ve just made you a new account, with a starting password the same as your email address.
Thank you, GAPA!
How do I get accounted? Or will I remain a no-account forever?
You have an account.
In terms of these powers of moderation mentioned before, as well as creating new threads, how exactly does one know if one has those powers?
There’s at least one recent thread which is private. Not on the sidebar anymore, but scroll down the main page and you may or may not see one labeled “private”. You have to be logged in, obviously.
I’m wondering, like Kittymine, how one knows if they’ve achieved new powers?
I can’t find R&P, but R&R is visible to me, and I’ve not noticed the blog looking any different when logged in.
Let’s see… Have you recently been bitten by a radioactive blog?
WHOA.
So I think it’s showing comments to be moderated, but I can’t figure out how to approve them?
Also I still can’t see R&P, but it’s not a huge deal, just odd.
Most interesting.
You can’t moderate comments, but you should be able to see R&P.
Weird. I see unmoderated comments, but not R&P.
I’m confused. What should I be able to see/ not see when I’m logged in. Right now I’m logged in and cannot see the R&P or R&R threads.
I’m wondering if the people who think they can’t see the R&P when logged in just haven’t been able to find it. It doesn’t appear in search results for me, but I can find it if I look through the category “Life”. So it’s just difficult to get to, even though I can see it.
yeah, this. since they don’t show up in recent comments, recent/popular posts, or the search bar anymore (at least for me they no longer show up in searches when I’m logged in), they’re kind of hard to get to/a pain to find.
Perhaps we should make them sticky as well, so that when logged in they’re on the first page of the blog, but when not logged in they aren’t visible?
We’ve got quite a few stickied threads already–maybe we should sticky a post that contains links to all the hidden threads, instead of stickying each thread individually.
I think that scrolling down four posts would be easier than going through links that have to be updated every time the thread changes.
Something like a Best of the Blog thread, only invisible?
if we do go that route, maybe something more like “Don’t forget these threads” with the links viewable without opening it, since to be honest I’ve opened best of the blog maybe two times besides when it’s showed up in recent comments now and again.
Well, we could do both. Which threads are we not supposed to forget? R&R, Rants & Plaints, … anything else?
Let’s try it with sticky posts to start with and see how that works. That might get cumbersome if we decide to turn more of the blog invisible, but I think it should be manageable for now. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.
Yeah. I think part of it is that it doesn’t come up in the search box on the main blog. If you go to comments view, though, and click “posts” on the sidebar you can search there and it will appear.
What next? Da END TIMES, dat’s what next!
People always think that, but it almost never happens.
The only one to correctly predict the end of a world to date has been Jor-El of Krypton.
Lo! The great prophet ibcf!