Sites for Cricket, Spider, and Ladybug are online now (or will be soon); sites for the nonfiction magazines are scheduled for September. Check ’em out and share your impressions. Links allowed.
Home page for all the magazines
Cricket: http://www.cricketmagkids.com/ (not working yet)
Spider: http://www.spidermagkids.com/
Ladybug: http://www.ladybugmagkids.com/
Coolio! But what’s going on with MB today? It looks weird. Will it always be this way?
first post?
Oh. It’s normal now. But what was that all about?
Ew. I hope these don’t take over MuseBlog.
I doubt that they will. They’ll be too heavily moderated/scrutenized, is my guess.
If the publishers can create a better forum that will be more fun for more Musers, then my fellow GAPAs and I will cheefully surrender our keyboards. (In fact, we’ll have to, because you’ll all be over there.)
5 – Nuuu. Don’t even say that.
5- There’s really no way they could make a better forum. MuseBlog is our home. I’m afraid you’re stuck with us.
WHAT??? No, don’t surrender your keyboards!!
DO NOT SURRENDER! Cricket is not working yet
I’ve been checking it for the last two months.
((sorry for the double post))
will muse have one?
10- they will
9- I think it’s the forum.
I hear Muse‘s site is scheduled to open in September.
WHAT??? No more MuseBlog???
13- nobody said that (Even Robert)
“Least of all Robert” is how I would put it. “Even” sounds as if there might have been some reason to expect me to.
14 – Then what about
“If the publishers can create a better forum that will be more fun for more Musers, then my fellow GAPAs and I will cheefully surrender our keyboards. (In fact, we’ll have to, because you’ll all be over there.)”
that?
Yes, Kokonilly, Robert’s “cheerfully” does make one wonder, doesn’t it? But he tends to remain (or at least try to remain) cheerful even in the face of adversity.
The only advantage I can see to a new website/forum for Muse (and Cricket, for that matter) is there has to be some way we can recruit people for MuseBlog if the site itself is lame.
Or the site might be good, and then I’d go on both.
-5 nope. we’ve been settling here for quite a while, and GAPAs, if you leave, you’ll have a large quantity of pies covering you hideouts by next week. So please keep MB open!
I don’t think the publishers would really want to compete with MuseBlog, especially because there are tons of people who would vastly prefer this blog to any forum they could create. Maybe they could link this, instead?
I’m not opposed to an official Muse forum, but I definitely don’t think the Museblog should have to shut down because of it. If the MB dies, the editors will promptly be swamped with angry letters from the Mostly Harmless movement until the blog is resurrected!
I’m sticking to MuseBlog. No matter what.
The editors don’t really have any control over MuseBlog, since its an independant fan website. The only reason the GAPAs would shut it down would be if all of us stopped coming here in favor of the new forum – and I really don’t think that’s happening.
no, I’m giving it two months before it dies.
24- Their site, or ours?
24- theirs.
. The MB is better than anything they could throw at us! It would be cool if the MB could be officially “sponsored” by Muse, though… It might attract more people to Mostly Harmless! If their site does die, maybe we could get a redirect… After all, the Editor is an MBer!
Museblog is wear MUSEBLOGGERS will always feal at home. These new, Muse Forummers will never take our home away from us. YOU GUYS ARE STUCK WITH US!
26- personally, I agree. Muse Blogs success is partly because we don’t just talk about the megazine, where on the new site, it wouldn’t surprise me if the admin would expect us only to talk about Muse.
17-Even when he was taken over by the bunny borg?
27 – Well, even though we’re technically an unofficial fanpage, Muse practically does sponser us. I mean, look at how many MuseBlog references have been in the Muse Mail pages, and there was even a contest based around the blog. What more could we want?
29- and in September 2006 (A Month after the Launch of the Blog) there was that huge banner in Muse Mail.
28-*where *feel *new muse (no comma) *magazine
sorry, ACT mode. still grammar-policing it up
and get ready for a flood. i found the MB through the old site
yeah, you’d better keep it open GAPAs, because Bunny Apocalypse is the only thing stopping the bunnies from ruling the world here. The bunnies would swarm in and take over mostly harmless, therefore killing the world’s population. you don’t want that, trust me.
5~ NEVER!!! I love MB. If they have forums at the other place, I’ll join, but it will never take the place of MB. beside, if those websites are maintained the same way that the main one is, it’s hopeless– that one is hard to use, and is never updated, especially the “for kids” section.
We love our GAPAs WAY too much to let them take over the Musers means of communications.
Besides, they said they were going to be done in April, well, that’s neither today nor yesterday, and they’re still not finished. Cicada had it all over the last issue, (Submit work at……!”) (See more of so-ans-so’s work at……..!”) I’m not entirely impressed at the advisements, and then not having it actually being there.
Oh well, them’s my tuppence.
26- Good.
Hi, it’s me again. Let me seize another opportunity to clarify!
Yes, all the Carus magazines are working on launching brand new, fabulous websites. The fiction mag sites had hoped to be up already, but have hit a lot of bumps in the road. Turns out it’s really hard to create five websites at once! But they should be up and running any day now.
MUSE and the other nonfiction mags are aiming to have our sites up in September. And yes, I believe all the sites will have forums of one kind or another. MUSE is a unique case because the MuseBlog already exists, and is a happy thriving community we don’t want to mess with. So the forums on our website will be different, focused on topics covered in the magazine, and maybe readers’ reviews of books. We’re still in the planning stage, so feel free to share any thoughts or ideas you have!
The new site will collapse.
36- you sound like someone from NaNoWriMo.
Heres my Suggestion: make the Oddessy Website combined with the Muse one. of all the Cricket Magazines, Odessy is second best.
38-but not everybody who reads odyssey likes muse, and not everybody who reads muse likes odyssey. i’ve never even read odyssey. the forum would just get confusing.
i think the forum would be a good newbie hangout, for people who want to talk but don’t have the time to invest in long RPGs or elaborate plans for world domination. or for people who just want to stop in once in a while but not really catch up on all the posts. or for people who are intimidated by the MB (it is rather large now) but still want to get to know people.
i think people can use the forum to get a feel for the MB without jumping right in and being overwhelmed. i know if i found the MB today, i’d probably be gone in a few weeks without really getting to know people. it’s seriously gigantic. Elizabeth’s (do we have a nickname yet?) idea was a good one – have it more focused on the magazine and let people be gradually drawn in to the RRRs and pie wars and all the rest.
All I Know is that i’ll get The Man For Aeiou Username. Hoping to, at least.
40 – I call Cat’s Meow!
Nickname for Elizabeth? How about Presto?
36- I honestly and respectfully say that I think that ‘So the forums on our website will be different, focused on topics covered in the magazine, and maybe readers’ reviews of books. ‘ is a big mistake. It’s fine to have that, but in order to have a successful forum, you’ll need a special part of the forum where forum members can talk about random- and none muse- things.
Muse Blog is different- and will be different- from a forum because muse blog is a blog. We have to have patience to wait while GAPAs moderate our posts, and therefore we try to stick to rules of grammer, and our posts generally have more meaning than the general forum post, where patience is not required. Of course, this patience factor makes us bloggers sounf awful pompous, but that’s a thing all in its own…
But I cvan assure you that having a random thread as well as topic threads will have atremendous effect.
By the way… anyone having ‘vixen’ as part of their name will have a vixen to answer too.
what exactly is a vixen anyways?
45- A female fox.
38~ I can’t stand Odyssey! I’ve never found it as interesting or as well written as Muse.
After Muse, I’d say my faves are Cicada and Cricket. I don’t get all the others any more, but I used to.
I think the new forums might be interesting, and I’ll join, but if I had to choose between them and Mb, I’d go for our trusty blog, unless the new forums were so amazingly flamablamablous that I couldn’t live with out them.
I think part of MB’s strength i that it’s for everything. So many forums are only for one topic, and that’s it. I understand that if you have a free for all it’s gets hectic, but MB lets us be PEOPLE– as in individuals who have many interests that go together in interesting ways. For example, on another forum I’m on, we talk about music, a particular instrument, and that’s it. It’s a wonderful forum, and I enjoy it. But, although there are some off-topic, or very near off- topic threads, it’s still mostly one-dimensional.
On MB we can really get to know someone as a music loving, play writing, pizza lover, or whatever. And I think that’s its strength.
Besides, most Musers are pretty interesting people, so we already have a lot to talk about, and our non-muse interests are pretty awesome.
This is off topic, but does anyone agree with me that Cricket (the cartoon) is similar to Kokopelli? But not really? Nevermind. You are all being gloomy and ominous. Why not just make a link to the new MUSE site in the fan page?
We intend to. The Muse Fan Page already has links to everything the publishers have put online so far.
I’m confuzzled, the other sites don’t seem to have blogs…or at least, I can’t find ’em…Could someone point me in the right direction?
50- The websites up so far are for the little kids, and Museblog and the fanpage are not a part of the main website for Carus Publishing. So there might not be a blog for the other mags at all.
51-Good.
Not that any of them stood a chance of comparing even remotely to MB.
And thank you for quelling my fears.
31-After reading your comment, I went and undug the September 2006 issue. I read all of muse mail, but I didn’t see it anywhere. Oh where oh where could it be?
We shouldn’t be so pessimistic, guys! This is a good thing. Of course it’ll never compare to MuseBlog, but…let’s be happy , ‘K? Nobody’s asking anyone to abandon MB. I wish the Cricket Forums the best of luck, and I’ll pop over now and again, but lately MB has been enough for me to handle.
Maybe MB will quiet down a bit after the new forums go up.
54-Hold on…there will be forums eventually?
*is profoundly confused*
I guess MB is a little much to handle…there seems to be a permanent influx of posts. I’m partially responsible for that, though…
42-presto, an editor! i like it
I think Elizabeth’s nickname should be Lizard
Bye!
I call my friend that. Oh, and I love Love LOVE Cricket. I can’t wait for the new website to open! It will never be better than MB, but it WILL be just as good! The forums would be full of debates and arguments, lol. Does anyone else here love Cricket and like Ladybug the best? Her genius is so unappreciated!
MB shall never be replaced. Nor shall Koko! IF, by any chance, the cricket dudes manage to create a blog, it won’t take MB’s place. MuseBlog is our home.
Ladybug is too arrogant for my taste- I prefer Tater.
I like the one who loves books! What was en’s name again…
The Cricket Website is now open, but the forum is “still too buggy”.
60- Muffin, I believe. She’s my second favorite.
61 – Really? -runs off to check- Oh, cool. It looks all right, although not amazing. I can’t wait until the forum is up, so we can all swarm over there and check it out.
You know, I just thought of something.
There’s a good chance that MuseBloggers would be pretty much the only people on the new forums for a while. As such early members, we would be in part responsible for setting the tone for the rest of the forum’s existence. We can use that to try to instill MuseBlog-like characteristics in it, to make a Cricket website that is a lot like MuseBlog. (Same ideals and all)
If MB dies, so shall I!
Hehe…dramatic mode off.
Cricket is good, but nowhere near as awesome as Muse.
Ask is, of course, a little young, but it’s science, so I still get it.
My posts are very disjointed today.
My favorite cartoon character is Ask is Bot.
63- it will help with Mostly Harmless.
How does one find the forum? I can’t.
65 – Exactly.
66 – I don’t think it’s online quite yet.
Oh, I found it. It doesn’t work yet, but I found it.
68 – Really? How?
69- Um, lessee…
Main page
v
Cricket League
v
Chatterbox
But it’s “still too buggy”.
Argh bad puns.
*dies*
70- click FAQ. it’s Great!
Cricket web site is….not as good as MB….to much moderation, you know, you have to be TOTALLY polite, like it’s a dinner party with a previous president , or some such insidious idea. I know that though you may moderate comments on MB, we’re still allowed to speak our peace.
piece72 – Wait, how do you know? I thought it wasn’t working yet.
Is anybody else going to enter the “Web-Only” Cricket Contest? I know I am.
now it is.
Hey, it works… sweet.
I may be over there under “Aaron D.” As soon as somebody posts a thread topic. I’m used to the blog format, so an actual forum is a little confusing.
77- REALLY?
I’m not going over there until the Cricket Forum Administrator People reply to my email expressing my concern about giving out my location. Or maybe I’ll post under “Uncertain Location, US.”
The Cricket website looks…..not as awesome as the Muse website, to put it mildly. Oh, it’s all animated, but it doesn’t even work!
Cricket’s still a good mag, though.
Muse is better.
78- Yeah. I’m waiting too. Tell us the answer!
80- Well, they haven’t replied yet, and I being the impatient grasshopper that I am went and entered “Uncertain Location, US” in the required field. We’ll see…
78- What? I’ve said my real name on the blog at least four times by now. *is paranoid*
82- No, I know your name (though I doubt it’s been four times). I was merely surprised that you would take part in something that required you to put in your location. I mean, I don’t feel comfortable doing that, and I’m only a little paranoid.
83- LOCATION!!!!!!????????
I didn’t see that! *shuns site*
84- Yeah, that’s the reaction I expected. HOPEFULLY, the CFAP will change that having seen my message.
Anyone else who shares my opinion (that putting in your location will drive you away from the site) should send a message to the Cricket site administrators, and then maybe they’ll see sense.
What site is this????
Red-tailed HAWK
86- The link’s at the top. You should message them too!
(85) Is that on the forum? I’m still getting the “too buggy” message. Or am I looking in the wrong place?
87-I know. I’m not seeing any forum.
This is cricket we’re talking about?
Red-tailed HAWK
What, I’m still getting Still to buggy on chatterbox.
Rebecca- Go to “Author’s and Artist’s Corner” or whatever it’s called. You’ll see a lot of stuff about something called “The Star Shard” but ignore that and look for a little box with Ladybug in it. It’s have a link to the “Inkwell.” Click that, and you’ll get a forum layout with no threads in it. Click the link that enables you to make a new topic, look at the required fields, and you’ll see that they need a location. Which is a very poor policy for a children’s website.
91- very, very poor.
92- Which is why you should join with me to send the administrators helpful hints that their policy is very poor.
91-Ah, figured it out. Thank you.
Two things: One, I don’t think your address would appear on your comment, as they seem to be emphasizing safety and such, but I don’t know.
Second, it’s pretty snooty of them to say that only cricket readers have anything to say. What about Musers, what about anyone else?!?!?! We take pride in being nerds/geeks/whatever you care to call yourself, but we don’t go that far.
And moderation speed sounds like it will be very slow. Compared to the speed-of-light moderation we enjoy here, thanks to the GAPAs
Red-tailed HAWK
Yes, thank you GAPAs!
I’m not leaving MB!
At least intill september.
94- Heh, yes, I was a bit offended by the second, but thought it wise to just leave that alone and protest about location instead.
94- Oh, and as for your first point–it shows. I found the test posts by the admins. It shows.
*shakes head* Not everyone lives in huge cities. I don’t know that that has occurred to them.
(91) Thanks, Alice. I found it.
Not wanting to disclose your location is simply prudent, not paranoid.
(97) Yeah, sometimes city people forget there are people in small towns who actually read, stay informed, ponder upon complexities….
!!! That’s not all. OK, who here reads Cricket, or even just has a copy lying around? Look in the Letterbox.
*faints*
I guess MuseBlog has made me a bit more secretive about my identity.
I know, I told the Admin. about it, i mean, that’s online stalker party. So now I’ve got my name, age, address, town, state, and country, not to mention mailing address, which just adds to it. oh and my blog URL.
100- No URL allowed. And where does the mailing address come in?
But still.
Where’s Presto?
95 – Same here…I’ll probably be too swamped to keep up with the Museblog very well during the school year, but I am going to try to check it at least once a week.
98 – I envy those intelligent small towns. I spent most of my childhood in a small town, but the people there were the polar opposite of the kind of people on your list. :p
99 – Understandable. I’ve always considered the Museblog safe, but the internet is a scary place these days.
I don’t like that at all…
103- Agreed. The Internet is a library without walls, but it contains more than its fair share of scary stories.
105- Mind if I quote you on that one?
Well, I got a reply.
Dear Alice,
Thank you for your e-mail concerning our Web site. I’ll pass your comments on to our editors and Web master. It may be possible that you can leave that part blank. Or make up a fantasy city!
Love,
Cricket
Sometimes I think they’re too busy being perky to be really helpful.
In the meantime, I live in Hermetopolis.
However, they seem to have taken down the forums. Perhaps they’re changing it. *is hopeful*
105 – Nice! I like that! Can I quote you?
The “Spider” Website is OK. The “Cricket” one is kind of blah, though.
Cricket’s open?
*rushes there eagerly*
It takes FOREVER to load!
107 – Yup, I bet so.
Spider has a forum feature, but it’s more like email. I haven’t seen the cricket yet, so I can’t compare the two. It asks for City, and State. Rules are still to come.
Oh! look at this:
Author & Artist Corner ->Any artist->Add new comment
112 – Is that second part on the Spider website, or the cricket one?
113- Sorry, it’s the Cricket one.
I’ve tried posting a small comment.
that’s a funny word!
It’s been queued.
Hi folks. I just talked to one of our webmasters about your Cricket website question. She said that since the “City, State” field is all one field, you can probably type in just your state, with no city. Or, of course, you could just put “Anytown” or “Coolsville” or something. The form was created to match Cricket magazine, where the letter-writers’ cities are published. She said it would be a little bit of work to change the form, but if they hear a lot of complaints then they might change it.
Well, that’s good. I’m looking up the Cricket page now, I’ll join the forums, if I can, computer poopiness, ya know….
wait, the forums aren’t ready yet? From what’s been being said on here, I thought it was up and running by now..huh.
116- Some are, some aren’t. The main ones don’t run yet, but things like this:
http://www.cricketmagkids.com/corner/emily-fiegenschuh
do work.
115-Thanks, Presto!
*runs in*
Kokopollihedron shirts on musery! Kokopollihedron shirts on musery!
*runs to next thread*
117- OMG that pig is big. o.0
I haven’t seen a pig that big before.
120- My my, it is large!
There is also a regular conversation running on that page. Comments run bottom to top, replies are indented(?)
Could somebody pretty please post a de-linkified link to the blog itself as all my explorations have been to no avail, and I still cannot find the blogs? Hvala…
It’s offline right now (“too buggy”), but its Web address is
www . cricketmagkids . com/chatterbox/
Thanks!
How about the Spider one?
You know what we should all do to aid and abett Mostly Harmless. We should go on Circketblog and enter the country we live in as Museica…
Don’t surrender your keyboards! please!
I just checked out the Cricket website. Let’s just say- it’s the most the most ridcoulous, retarded piece of *BEEP* *BEEP* I have ever seen.
Ooooh, I’m a bad girl. *snigger* I just typed the following into the chatterbox-
The world around me… hmmm… is the internet part of the world around me? If so, MUSEBLOG ROCKS! KOKOPELLI FOR PRESIDENT! URANIA AS HIS VICE PRESIDENT! SUPPORT MOSTLY HARMLESSS! GO MUSE ACADEMY! w00t HARE AND THE HEDGEPIG! THE KOKONSIPIRACY IS AWESOME! *pant, pant* If not, forget what I just said.