It’s been more than a year since we started the first “Ask the GAPAs” thread. Since then the number of Administrators on the blog has doubled, and we’re sure your questions have more than kept pace. So fire away. As before, we promise to answer entertainingly, or not at all.
Patience, Please
This site is under reconstruction and will look strange for a while. We regret the inconvenience.
Er… about those two Q+A’s in the April issue…. Was that a koinkydink that you got two “funny name” letters or did I miss something?
Answering this question would create a spoiler. Why don’t you re-ask it on the April Muse discussion thread?
How do you decide which threads to put up?
Out of 50 posts, say, how many would you moderate, on average?
What is your adress, telephone number, and please include maps to there from Chicago.
Kidding, kidding. Umm… If the moon were made of cheese, would it mold? I have my own theroys about this, but I want to see what you think.
how do you manage to moderate all those posts (including this one) while also doing something for a living? i mean, come on, you’ve got to do something for a living. do they, like, pay you to preside over MB? that would be kinda weird.
6- I’ve often wondered that.
6 – Me too. Our posts get moderated suprisingly quickly, relatively speaking, so I’m thinking each GAPA must spend a good 3 or 4 hours every day moderating posts. And this is not a profitable job. There’s no income in the “buisness” of MuseBlog.
Oh, come on! The GAPAs are magical, everyone knows that!!
if the moon were made of cheese would it mold?
5 – I think it would not. Mold is formed by contact with the air and stuff, but since space doesn’t have air and stuff, the moon wouldn’t mold.
6 – I’ve thought about that a few times. I’m not sure how they do it. Now that there are four, it must be a little easier, I suppose. I’ve always wanted to be a GAPA once I turn 18. And until that happens, I think we should all send each of the GAPAs a dollar.
I’ll certainly do it if other people do as well.
What is it in mammals to which many humans are allergic? (is that correct grammar?) I know there are a few different parts, one being the saliva of cats and therefore their fur which they lick, but I”m not sure what the others are.
11- Being a GAPA would be fun, I most certainly agree.
GAPAs, are your paying jobs full-time jobs?
11- That’s basicly what I say. But I’m interested in what the GAPAs would think/say.
GAPA duty is strictly volunteer. We all have jobs. Some of us have several.
I have no idea of the total time I spend on the blog. I probably don’t want to know. These days I seem to live on the computer, especially when I’m doing graphics, therefore I can check in fairly often, though usually for just a minute or two at the time. It’s quite a nice combination, actually — like having company while I work.
Moderating fits into the schedule without much effort, but it’s not always easy to take time to write. Today has been one of those days, so sorry we haven’t answered earlier.
Water is a clear substance, right? So why does a towel get darker if you spill water on it?
(6, 8, etc.),
Moderating is quicker than you might think. Our GAPA control panels let us see several posts at once, and we can easily zap any spam and approve the rest. I do it at work in five-minute bursts, maybe six times a day. I also have a Web-enabled Treo, which lets me moderate while riding buses and trains to and from the office, waiting to be served in restaurants, etc.
Muse doesn’t pay any of us to work on the Fan Page or MuseBlog. In fact, none of this was the magazine’s idea. We do it for fun.
Paul Baker writes articles for the magazine, and Rosanne and I run the question-and-answer column. Muse pays us for those projects by the job, the way you’d get paid for mowing a lawn. (Come to think of it, we’d probably make more money mowing lawns, but that’s another issue. Besides, Muse is in a skyscraper and doesn’t have a lawn.)
As for what we do in our non-Muse lives: Rosanne is the editor of Stanford Medicine magazine. I’m a news editor at Science. Both are fulltime jobs. Rebecca and Paul do all sorts of odds and ends that I can’t keep straight.
How we know each other: Rosanne and I met in graduate school. Rebecca and I actually went to high school together, though we didn’t know each other very well back then. We met Paul through Muse. Well, none of us has met him in person, but we feel as if we know him very well. That’s the kind of person he is, you know?
Why?
Why not?
Because why?
etcetera
I think they meant this thread to be for asking them about them, not questions about stuff. I sort of requested this thread, but I see the GAPAs were to embarrassed to add that you can send in compliments! heehee…
THANK YOU!
I think we should send in money or at least pies.
The HAWK
hey i was gonna request this thread! no, really. *tires to think of the question he had* *cant do it* umm why does my printer give my computer BSODs when i try to print anything? (i installed all my driver correctly, and yet i get newly installed hardware or software failure messages on said BSODs.) and a strange thing that seems to be working now is that when i right click a document in the finder, or whatever windows calls it and click print, it prints without killing my computer. yes, i know that you are unable to answer this question, but i had to post a question. and i would like to know the answer, so that i can fix it.
18 – Not necessarily. Did you see the first one? This is for asking questions about anything.
Robert – what kinds of things do you write for Science? What is your favorite type/kind of science?
GAPAs, do you check with each other before creating new threads, or say, “What kind of crazy idea made you make THAT thread?!!!” to each other? Or do you just create them as requested/needed? Just wondering…
The Curious HAWK
do u just have a huge thing of thread ideas and then every once in a while you add a few?
(20),
I edit more than I write. My “beat” is physical sciences, including physics, astronomy, chemistry, math — basically, anything that doesn’t breathe or bleed. I also get dinosaurs, which used to be alive but are rocks now. I don’t have a favorite area, but I tend to get the most satisfaction out of math stories, because they’re hard to explain in a way that makes people want to read them.
(21),
We usually just go with the flow and surprise one another.
23-What happens if two of you create the same thread at the same time?
Rosanne and I did that just a few days ago. I deleted mine.
25-Which thread was it?
Oh! I have another question. Back when the hot pink bunnies first appeared in Muse Mail (about 4 years ago), did any of you guys suspect that they’d be such a big hit, even today?
Ah, je sais…
Comment des types jute avez-vous decide de commencer vers le haut une chose si longue? Et vos divers patrons vous aiment-ils temps…
Le Faucon
Oh, I know…
How did you guys just decide to start up such a time-consuming thing? And do your various bosses like you spending time on the blog (heehee)?
The HAWK
(4)
On average, I have no idea. For any given block of 50, might be anywhere from 0 to all. The luck of the draw, really.
(26)
The Pie Isle thread.
(12, 16, &c)
Here are the “odds and ends” I do:
I’m director of a small museum, the 1811 homeplace of a Quaker family. Since we own one of the two existing false-bottomed wagons used for transporting people to freedom, I get to participate in many illuminating conversations about slavery, race, and social conscience.
This past year, I’ve also been teaching painting to adults with developmental disabilities.
My number one love, however, is creating art. These days I’m a watercolorist and a graphics artist, and my goal is to do them full-time.
29 – Is this the museum you’re talking about? “Historic Jamestown SocietyMendenhall Plantation
The Historic Jamestown Society investigates, preserves, and makes available the history of Jamestown, its environs, and its people. Towards that end, this society preserves and maintains and opens to the public the Mendenhall Plantation, an 1811 Quaker home and farm. At the Mendenhall Plantation, visitors each year enter “The Other South” of 19th century dissenters, and learn of their anti-slavery and pacifist views, their respect for education, honesty, equality, and self-reliance.”
Will you scan/post some of your paintings? I’d really like to see them!
23 – That sounds fun! What kind of editing? I’m an editor for my school newspaper, and I get to do all of the Copyediting, since nobody else likes doing that. It’s really fun! I want to be an editor for Muse when I grow up, and if that doesn’t happen, I want to do something with GeoPolitics.
How many of you guys own a Mac or other Apple product?
14- So, what kind of jobs do you have? Could I be a GAPA some day?
Do you guys work in the same building? If not, do you see each other often?
What were some of your interests in high school? College? Now?
What do you do in your (non-existant or existing) spare time?
How do you support the costs of the website?
How many GAPAs are there? I know Robert and Lady Bunniful (although I don’t know whether she prefers Rebecca), but at the beginning you said something about numbers doubling.
32-Well, here’s what Robert said: “We met Paul through Muse. Well, none of us has met him in person, but we feel as if we know him very well.” (Post 16)
34-There’s also PB&J (Paul Baker) and Rosanne.
What does the following sentence mean:
Sweranthe lifeto, verseniunthe, thingryeveand is… Twotyfor!
1. What is your idea of the perfect afterlife? (your own personal heaven)
2. What is your idea of the worst afterlife imaginable? (something that would make you say “I’ll just take eternal oblivion, thank you very much?”)
3. What is your favorite color?
Why don’t you guys insert your views into things very often? This might seem like a dumb Q, but I’m just wondering.
Robert and Rosanne:
How many letters do you get for the Q&A every month? how do you pick which ones to put in the mag? Are you more likely to pick people if you know they’re MBers?
Hope no one asked these already but i’m too lazy to read the whole thread.
So many questions. OK, here goes with a few…
(27),
The bunnies surprised everybody, and I have a feeling they’re not finished yet.
(31),
I own an oldish iMac (the “upside-down mixing bowl” kind) at home, but I use a Dell PC at work. I also do a lot of moderating on my trusty Treo 650, though I make more mistakes on its tiny screen and keyboard.
(32),
We live and work in different states–or, in Paul Baker’s case, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. Most of us never see one another at all. But with luck, I’ll get to see Rosanne this weekend, when she’ll be back here in the East visiting her parents.
(34),
There are four of us now. At the time of last year’s “Ask the GAPAs” thread, it was just Rosanne and me. Rosanne came on board about two months after MuseBlog started. Before that, in the ancient Gaboomba days and earlier, I ran the whole show by myself. It’s more fun now.
(34, other question),
Blogging isn’t expensive. The software is free, and renting space on a Web server is fairly cheap nowadays. As long as my computer and scanner keep working, there really aren’t any other expenses.
What ever happened to that Muse writer… what was his name… Steve Mirsky? Do you know? Did he actually write anything more than a quiz or two and and the how to become a fossil article?
It’s an odd question, I know, but I remember vividly the how to become a fossil article and his thanksgiving quiz.
Steve Mirsky lives in New York and works at Scientific American magazine, where he writes a humor column called “Anti Gravity” and does podcasts. We’ve been buddies for years. His Muse article on becoming a fossil was based on one I asked him to write for me when I was an editor at Earth magazine. I was very pleased with the way it turned out and am glad you liked it.
Question: Why couldn’t Muse magnazine use the real muses…? Or at least do an article on them? (guessing they’ve done one, but MEH! I’ll say what pops into my head if I want to, darnit.)
And the recent Muse Mail section made me wonder- what ARE the actual muse genders?
19 – i dunno. hard question. try a sledgehammer. (kidding.)
44- If you were trying to trick us into thinking that you were an administrator, it didn’t work. Their names come up in green. Hmm…
Is it possible to pose as an administrator? Could you somehow manage to get all of their privilages? Like making new threads and stuff? Interesting….
45 – Yes, you could do that. The procedure is relatively easy (except for one little step)
Step by step method for hacking the Administrator Code:
[Two little steps. The first one is inveigling the current Administrators into allowing davidude to post his simple, fool-proof instructions. –Robert]
Hope this helps.
I must beg that GAPAs to answer the third question of post 37!
I am quite curious to know the answer…
(19),
You could try sacrificing a hot-pink bunny. That sometimes works. Or ten. Or a hundred. There are so many of them…
(47),
Blue. No, yYYYAAAAAH….
(47) Necromancer, I own several hundred tubes of paint, hundreds more pastels, colored pencils, inks, and so on. Except for replacement duplicates, each is a different color. My favorite is usually the one I’m using at a given moment.
On the other hand, the colors I’m drawn to when shopping for clothes and stuff, tend to be burgundies, turquoises, and silver-greys.
As for the rest of Prarilius Canix’s questions regarding the afterlife, oblivion would be a treat compared to getting stuck for eternity in an elevator with a loud-mouthed bigot. Heaven would be time to do all the things I love to do now and to be with the people I care about.
43-The first Muse issue did an article about the original muses and why they chose to use the “New Muses”. Here is the explanation:
“When we interviewed the ancient Muses for the job of inspiring interest in our readers, we found, to our surprise, that only one qualified. The rest seemed worn down, burned out, almost bored–after all they’ve been in retirement for nearly two thousand years. And anyway, the arts and sciences they know aren’t really very current; knowledge has grown a lot since they were in charge of inspiration.
“So we advertised for a new bunch. The response was overwhelming. Thousands of Muse applications swamped the office. We worked long into the night, sifting through piles and piles of job applications. Finally, after months of interviewing, standardized testing, and random drug checks, it came down to these nine….” And everyone knows who the New Muses are
The other eight original Muses did appear in the last panel of “Kokopelli & Company” in the January 2007 issue.
Ah- thanks.
About whenish will you update the Muse back issues list?
What is your favorite Muse issue? Who is your favorite muse?
(53),
I’m working on it, but the file got corrupted and has to be cleaned up line by line. I might finish it this weekend.
(54),
My favorite issue would have to be the November/December 2003 Tolkien issue. I had great fun helping Larry Gonick concoct a plot for “Lard of the Rings.” I don’t think I have a permanent favorite Muse. I probably have the most in common with Urania, but there’s a sweetness to Feather that appeals to me.
Hmmm… if you don’t have a permanent favorite, which is your closest-to-permanent least fave Muse?
Rawr because i said so…Version 2!
(56),
I like all of the Muses, but I suppose Pwt would be the hardest to live with.
46-I hope you changed your password or whatever davidude thought he knew! Davidude has been sort of changing since he got here; he didn’t used to be so
!
Did one of you answer post 28? I don’t see it if you did…
Thank you again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The HAWK
Pwt is the animal muse, right?
Do you like the mix of species in the muses?
Stop asking questions now, huh?
46-Lol.
Nobody answered my question!!!
*sigh*
Alright, fine, I’ll ask something else…why is it that Urania was the only “real” Muse chosen to be a mascot for the magazine? Why weren’t any of the other Greek Muses picked?
We should bring other Muse people here to answer questions! (Larry Gonick, Samablamablous, etc.)
I agree with ShadowKat- it’s not fair, exactly… didn’t anyone else match up with modern daynessity…? And doesn’t Urania miss her sisters…?
61-Ko-ko may not be from Greece, but Ko-ko is real!
Has anybody noticed how I have been posting my “The HAWK” thing in different languages? Anybody want to guess what languages they are in?
De Havik
Well, for all I know actually ShadowKat could be upset that Urania is included at all or simply does not think it unfair so I apologize for deciding things for him/her.
…I also apologize to the world of MuseBlog for not being able to tell genders. -.-
64- I want to guess, Hawk!
But I don’t know… Czechoslovacian?
66-Nope. DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING TEXT IF YOU STILL WANT TO TEST YOUR SKILLS AT GUESSING!!!!
It is…
Dutch!Der Falke (wanna gues this one?)
GAPAs, I don’t know where to put this, but I just noticed that the link from the home page of the blog to the muse contest is to the January one. I guess it doesn’t really matter this late anyhow. I don’t think I’ll make the deadline at this rate. I couldn’t find the right kind of mirror! *sigh*
Le Faucon
68 – That’s French.
65-I’m a girl, just so you know…and don’t worry, you’re not the only one.
And I’m not upset, just wondering what’s so special about Urania? No offense to her, though.
69-Good job! *Hands him cyber choykleet*
Falcão
Why are the Muse editorial headquarters in Chicago? Just wondering, since the GAPAs, Larry Gonick, Karin Hopkin, Diana Lutz, and Nancy Kangas don’t appear to live in Chicago, and in most cases, very far away from it.
71- That looks like Portuguese maybe?
It’s because Chicago is an awesome city.
I mean, I really don’t know and should not try to answer for them anyway. 6.-
Um, 71- Greek?
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah sorry Hawk. For making random guesses, that is.
71 – That looks Portugese. Oh wait, 73 already said that.
71-It’s some Latin language, I know that much.
Is Greek Latin? (Now there’s a stupid question… although I can’t tell whether it’s a YES stupid question or HECK NO stupid question…)
(59) RtH, sorry we hadn’t answered number 28 yet.
My bosses — the Board of Directors at the museum — don’t mind my moderating. Then again, whenever I’ve tried to explain anything about MuseBlog to them, they just nod their heads and smile very very carefully.
My other boss is me, and I give myself full permission.
As for how did I get into something this time consuming? — truth is, I’m gullible to a fault and believed Robert completely when he said, as a GAPA, “you may find yourself spending even less time on the blog than you do now . . . .” Right. But I forgive him.
I can’t help it. I’m just a “glass half full” kind of guy.
77- Umm, no. But I can see why you would be confused. Today, latin is a dead language, though it formed the roots of several languages used widely today. It was used origianally around Rome and was the official language of the ancient Roman empire, and is still used by the Roman Catholic Church. Greek is a language spoken in Greece, that has evolved in one of the oldest recorded civilizations for millenia. Ancient Rome and Ancient Athens are easy to confuse because they share a lot of the same traits, even the same gods. Don’t worry, I ask stupid questions all the time.
(68),
Not our fault. The company isn’t updating its Web site. Muse‘s official Web pages have nothing to do with our own happy, homey Fan Page and blog.
81 – I noticed their Kokopelli & Company archives are very outdated.
(63, 65, 70),
Speaking of Urania, Capricious has just sent us this most appropriate image:
(72),
The Carus family, which owns the company that publishes Muse and several other magazines, lives in that part of Illinois. If you google “Carus,” you’ll find that they also have a chemical company and various other odds and ends.
83 – thas Urania? t3h original? woah.
Wow, a lot of activity… Robert! Tricking people? (heehee
)
83-Hmmm… I think the people who drew our Uraina looked at that image. Her dress/whatever you want to call it is the same color.
By the way, it was Portuguese!
Xoyk
86- GREEK!
…obviously I am going to continue aimlessly guessing Greek until you use the Greek form…
Our Urania is much prettier… on the other hand…
No one ever answered my question! (39)
87-What other hand? Our Uraina is prettier!
88-The GAPAs have missed several questions I’m afraid.
And 87, no. That wasn’t Greek. Anybody else wana guess?
To Yepáki
89- Yes yes she is… the other hand shall be promptly chopped off. (Are you sure taht’s fair to the hand?
)
GREEK DAGNABBIT!
Actually is that African? ^.-
(88, 89) Sorry, guys, it’s just been one of those weeks! I’ll try to answer a few this evening. Oh, wait, it’s already this evening….
90- YOU’RE RIGHT!!!!!!!!! I made it Greek so you could get it right. I know so many languages!
Xoyk
91-That’s OK. We still like you!
My name got cut on the last post for some odd reason, so:
Xoyk
91-is it? not over here. and anyway, mine is specificall directed at Robert and Rosanne. Are either of them around?
94-That sort-of gives away your time zone! heheheheheheheh…
The Strange HAWK
92-If it were me, I’d just use Google translator.
95-No, not really. It sort of depends on how you classify “evening”.
95-So what? if you’re allowed to say you’re state, there should be no problem with saying your time zone.
92- YAY! You’re awesometastic.
Even if you are implying creeperish things with 95… 0.o
81- Wait- I thought the fan page was the official page. There’s another one?
96- But that’d take all the fun out of it…
I might try that for mehself though.
Evie der Klopfen-tanzende Llama
101-Well, considering I only know Spanish and English, it might be necessary.
لجنة ميوو
102-
I only know English. Do I care? Noooooo. 
*points at weird symbols* GREEK!
Jk I know it’s not… or is it?!?!
Nooooooooooo… Greek.. the language… it’s haunting me. 0.0
Evie il lama Colp-ballante
103-Lol, no. It’s Arabic.
Le meow du chat
104- Oh.
Arabic.
That’s French it’s it?
Evie il lama Colp-ballante
( =) I like Italian.)
105-Yup. Are we the only two MBers who are online right now?
Hey, GAPAs! What are YOUR favorite languages, and which ones do you speak?
ФелинологичеÑкий Меов
107- I think emmatheduck is on… but otherwise no clue.
I’m not THAT bad of company, am I? -.^;
(seriously I am stupid.) Russian?
Evie Разливное – танцы лам
Adding on to Meow’s question though- has Muse been printed in any other language yet? 0.o
(I’m guessing no, but seriously- I don’t know.)
Hey- could someone explain what “Who’s Here” is, exactly, to me?
And I looked and found “Evie (2/13/07)”
So does this mean there’s someone here who called her/hisself Evie first, or is it me? And what’s the date for?
108-Oh, yeah.
No, you’re not bad company at all, but post flow is pretty slow right now. Yes, it is Russien. Yours looks Russian too. Is it?
109-I don’t think so…
Jadestone is on too, though she’s mostly lurking right now.
Who’s your favorite poet? Or hree, if you can’t decide.
110- It’s a list of almost all the people who have posted on museblog more than once, tthe numbers next to yor name(yes, it was you) is the date you first posted on.
112
Oh joy! Tis Jade!
Jadestone, if it must be.
W00t for lurking…
111
You’re not bad company, either.
It occured to me before I made another random guess that it looked like the sig. I was about to post, so I changed it…
I don’t mind slow post flow…
Yeah it’s Russian.
I didn’t think so either. (regarding 109)
Evie o lama Bat-dançando
113- Oh. Thanks Jade(stone!) ! ^^
But more confusion- I first posted Thursday, didn’t I? (March 29)?
That or the 28… so is it a different system or something…?
Oh. Well maybe it is someone else. I don’t really know. This conversation is getting a bit out of place, though. We should move it to the random thread, probably.
I’ve asked Robert and Rosanne this before, but now for Rebecca- If the world was a giant muffin, what type of muffin do you think it would be?
we are getting off topic here! but anyway, yes, I am here, though i’m multi-tasking so i’m not necessarily on every single second
115-If it says later than you actually first posted, it could be that the GAPAs didn’t get around to putting you on until after….
and why should Jadestone be Jade(stone)? whats wrong with the full name? or initials? or something?
114-Second comment: Haha! That’s ironic!
115-It’s not a perfect system. They probably just didn’t notice you for a few days.
116&117-All right! Off to the random thread!
(115) Different Evie in February. We’ll get you properly recorded as soon as we can.
117 (and Jade’s saying)-
Such a sad world where a Muse subscriber can’t be off topic where they please… jk. I’m sorry, I don’t know how we got off topic. Where is this so said random thread? (Ahhhhhh I think I’m getting abandoned.
118- Ironic indeed.
GAPAs- what’s yer favorite form of irony? AND WHY IS THERE NO MUSE OF IRONY?!
I hereby appoint myself as the mini-muse of Ironical Things
119- There, it’s not me. Bah, I feel so unoriginal now. (However, it’s my nickname so I’m not letting it go.)
Thanks Rebecca.
TO be less off-topic, another question for the GAPAs:
Has it been decided what a wung is yet?
120-The March Medley thread.
120-The radom thread is always at the top of the page, and it has a different name each month. Right now it’s March Medley. But of course, tomorrow it will be april something.
122
Mm’kay, thanks.
117 – I was wondering the same thing too. Evie – is there any specific reason you call Jadestone Jade?
125
Um, because I’m lazy and happen to think less of people online as aliens when they have a more natural sounding name? And because I like giving people short names?
:sweat: My apologies. If this is about the “Jade(stone?)” thing, I wasn’t questioning Jadestone’s choices or anything I just really want to say Jade instead of Jadestone but realized she (she, right? darn genderissues…) might get mad so I added that…
Ack. Sorry.
…I think it may be an addiction with the shortnames thing. Seriously, one of my friends had a long name and she doesn’t like any nicknames that come with it, so I started calling her Lizzy. Her name is Christiana. Sometimes I call her Liz.
…it’s a problem. I should get therapy… Sorry Panda.
Purple Panda.
Agh.
126-You call her Lizzy? Sweet. No wonder you call me Meow. I don’t really mind it, though.
Dinner awaits. Sayonara.
127- Sayonar, Meow!
Meow Meow Meow Meow…
^^; Sorry.
Yesh I call her Lizzy… I’ve also convinced some people at school that this is her name… it’s how I introduce her.
GAPA question-to-make-this-not-off-topic-and-for-the-heck-of-it: is that cruel of me to do to her?
What were your nicknames before you became GAPAs?
Who was the original GAPA who never needed a nickname?
Darnit. I typoed sayonara. That’s just depressing. (sorry- I know this is an unnesscessary post. But I just can’t stand it when I typo… you know what I mean?)
119 – I’ve been on here almost a month and I’m not on the “Who’s Here” page.
126-Often when people have lonngish names and we’re too lazy to type it all, we use initials. so i’m ETD, and Jadestone is JS.
129-nothing wrong with hating typoes.
130-Sometimes (often, actually) the GAPAs get lazy and you have to beg them to add you.
semi-related to 116- Wasn’t there a theory or something about the universe as a cosmic muffin, or using it as an example, or something? I was listening to Deteriorata a while ago and there was a phrase about a “cosmic muffin” so I asked my parents and I thought their reply was something like that. Deteriorata’s a funny song. I’m being random.
Questions: How old is this website? And how old is the Gamboomba message board? When was the first post posted?
How come when you click on the “uncategorized” link on the categories sidebar, it says
Not found. Sorry, but you are looking for something that isn't here.
133- Some of that’s easy. MuseBlog started in summer 2005. The first thread is here. I don’t know about the Gaboomba, though.
I messed up the HTML somehow, didn’t I? It was https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1.
What’s Gaboomba?
133 – just go to the Gaboomba and you can see, I think.
137 – It’s pre-MB. You can find out about it on the fan page.
GAPAs, here’s a question: How did you get the idea for the April-fool’s bunny-takeover?
Why is the Books and REading Part 3 thread broken? THe Music V.2007.2 is broken too. WHY!!!! WHY?!?!?!?!
139- An April Fools’ joke, some would say gone horribly wrong. The hot pink bunnies took over and closed all threads except the bunny-related ones they made. Rebecca-gapa just opened a few, this one and the RRR v.2007.3 are the ones I know about. I desperately hope you knew that and were asking for those threads to be opened. I agree.
I had a lot of fun with this April-Fool’s joke in the beginning…making HPB pictures, etc., but enough is enough. I think it will be gone by tomorrow, though. If it isn’t, I think it would be MuseBlog Suicide.
This joke went too far. Fine, spam the blog with useless HPB threads, but don’t shut down every single other thread so people are forced to go on threads they don’t want to go on!
YESSSSS!!!!!!! I can post somewhere other than an HPB thread!!!
142-Complete agreement.
Is the HPB photo gallery still viewable anywhere, or are all the HPB threads permanently gone?
Well, I think you can still see them, but you can’t post on them. (A post box comes up, but the message doesn’t go through). I just tried. Here’s a link to the Bunny Scrapbook page:
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=774
i just did a nice big response to penty’s letter in there and it didn’t go through. well, this was fun i admit, but can we get back to normal controlled-insanity tomorrow?
Everything is back to normal (well, MuseBlog-normal) now except for the : idea : smiley. I can change that back, too, if you like. MBers have been demanding a bunny smiley for ages, but maybe some will be having second thoughts.
147 – THANK YOU!!! But can you get the : idea : smiley back somehow, because I want to use it. If that doesn’t require deleting the HPB smiley.
No! Hardly anybody ever used the old idea smiley. I think the bunny would be a fabulous permanent addition.
Oops, I posted mine before I saw davidudes. Mine is a response to 147, not 148.
OMG HOT PINK BUNNIES R SRS BUSINESS U GAIZ :’C WAT IS TEH WURLD COMING 2
It’s a joke. Jeez. I think everyone needs to ~*lighten up*~ a little bit and laugh for once. Sometimes MBers are too uptight, I swear. T_T
Oh! Hi! I asked a question in the April Showers thread about the Muse Contest. I had no idea we had this thread! I shall ask it again! Do make up our own origami from scratch, or can we fold something that has already been folded before?
Evie (121): Wungs remain mysterious. But the audio report from Violetfire on Purple Panda and Taiwan Hippo Phan’s musecast here cleared things up a bit.
emmatheduck (39): We get the questions for the Q&A in a trickle with sporadic bursts. Usually we’ll get one or two a week until a burst comes along with a dozen or so. The questions don’t come directly to us — first they go to the people at Carus who send them to us. That is unless we answer a question directly from MuseBlog. How do we pick them, you ask. We choose questions that are kind of hard to answer, otherwise what’s the p0int. But if they’re too hard we skip them.
Can you post a link to the Bunny RRR thread? I want to read it in more detail.
There were several bunny threads. These links should give you an idea of what happened here on April Fools’ Day (the horror, the horror!). The only difference is that the whole blog was also bright pink:
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=767
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=768
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=769
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=770
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=772
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=773
Kiwimuncher (152): We don’t know what the magazine’s editors intended for the contest. You can ask them at muse@caruspub.com.
Why am I not on the Who’s here Page? GAPAs, can you please add me at once? Thanks!
fkj
Okay, I am really sorry about that post I just did. The GAPAS wlll probably zap it though. I was testing the you-can’t-post-twice-in-15-seconds theory, but I don’t think that I got down to the bottom of the page quickly enough.
It was strange, because my computer blocked me from most of the threads on March 31st, before Museblog had the bunny threads, or went over and became Bunnyblog. Weird
153 – That MC was fun to make! THF wrote the script, VF (Roberta F*) read it, and I did all the computerized technical stuff and edited it.
About how many questions do you get from MB? I remember I asked a question on MB once, and then about a month later I got an email asking if they could use it in the magazine! ‘Twas fun.
GAPAs: why and when and how did you start the blog??? have you been involved in Muse since it began? who were the first bloggers and how did they find out about the blog?
The bunny works!!!!!!!!! Thank you GAPAs!
161 – Robert Coontz started the blog August 1, 2005. Later more GAPAs joined. Here’s a link to the first thread:
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=1
Some of the first posters were:
Grant O.
Duncan_Quagmire
e~a the sock monkey
I stayed aay from MB (or BB, I guess) yesterday. too pink for me.
Hey GAPAs, why is all the stuff on the MB’s home page striked out? I hope it’s not my computer.
165 – It’s not just you. That funny quirk happened on my computer too.
Can someone please tell me why on the What’s Here page, the number of posts info next to each link is so incorrect it’s not reliable information at all?
WAHEY! I am on the “who’s here” Page now! But it says I started posting in April! I started in February!
It says “March 5” American style. I think that is when you started posting:
https://musefanpage.com/blog/?p=698#comment-69 .
But I’ll be happy to change it if you find an earlier post.
(167),
The ones I checked weren’t that far off. When they were wrong, they were slightly to high. Maybe the figures include posts that we deleted for one reason or another.
170 – Here’s all the August 2005 threads and posts on them according to the “What’s Here” page, followed by my count of what they actually were.
~~~
Non-Arthurian Legends (38) 36
Arthurian Legends (17) 14
URL Help Needed–Sept. Issue (8) 4
Muse – September 2005 Contents (9) 8
Happy Birthday, Julietaini! (21) 19
Veteran Muser Reports From College (20) 16
Bagpipes (49) 42
Any Parents Online? (18) 16
UGB* #2: “Mostly Harmless†(95) 91
Boring but Important (0) 0
The Muses: Which JKR Houses? (71) 44
Help Needed Gratefully Received (54) 29
Happy Birthday, Elentari! (1205) 18
Robert & Rosanne Unmasked! (Version 1.2) (202) 52
Manga/Anime/Japan, Anyone? (62) 61
Fan Mail Boildown (406) 25
July/August 2005 Contents and Links (4) 2
Happy Birthday, Morbid! (13) 13
You Know You’re Addicted to X When Y (67) 33
Who’s Here? (74) 62
MMFP Makeover (21) 19
UGB* #1: Letter To Muse (40) 34
Requests/Ideas (78) 76
While You Were Out (12) 12
Paul Baker Reports In (79) 44
Things We Like (45) 45
You’re Famous (8) 8
Welcome, Musers! (175) 175
~~~
I find it hard to belive that out of 1205 posts, 18 got moderated.
Why did you pick HOT PINK BUNNIES, of all things as a peace-making thing?
I’m still not on the Who’s Here page.
*cries*
(I first posted on the March Welcome Newcomers’ thread, hint hint)
Waaaiiiii I have an actual question for the GAPAs. ;__; When I watch videos on Youtube and the like, is the video downloaded to my temporary files? Or somewhere else? Same thing with pictures that load on my computer. I’d like to know because I don’t want them taking up space on my laptop…I watch too many videos. XDD
PB&J what do they call the thing they give you at the end of your meal at a restaurant in britain?
I was wondering this last night when my dad and I were talking about swimming in the rain. How far can electricity travel under water (if it was struck by lightning) before the energy runs out / can’t shock you?
171- you have WAAAAY too much time on your hands
Hey GAPAs, how about a foreign language thread to talk in non-english, and to talk about it… : idea : thanks
Pyro (178):
We’ve got a non-English language thread going here. Stop in for a visit if you’re interested.
hey, Robert, you live in Washington DC, right? I’m going there with my mom in 2 weeks
just a random thought… (i’m pretty excited)
I work in downtown Washington, D.C., but I live across the river in Virginia.
Axa (174): When you watch a video on Youtube the video doesn’t download to your computer and stay there, taking up room. It’s more like visiting a Website.
Oh okay, that’s good. XD;; I’ve watched so many of the years that I was afraid it might be cluttering up my hard drive or something, so thanks for telling me. ^^
Why don’t you want us to say pwease? Oh, and what does it mean when people put “XD” in their posts?
Do you know how many posts each of us has posted on MuseBlog? If you do, how many posts have I made?
2,033 not counting the ones you posted under the name “Clara.”
How many posts have I made?? Counting the ones under all of my aliases.
186 – How do you know that?
What does the GAPA version of MuseBlog look like? do you have all sorts of special controls to count # of posts and stuff like that? Will you know who we are if we post under a different name, but use the same email address?
how do you type an HPB?
I wasn’t able to get online on april fool’s day. I feel like I missed a ton. I was on vacation.
I’m kind of curious how many posts I have, too.
About 395 plus Gaboomba messages.
hmm… is that with all of my names? maybe I’m not as rapid a poster as some^_^
186 – That’s 7 a day.
192 – That’s 1 a day.
190-type : idea : without spaces and itll come out like this
192-Why dont we start a thread and whoever wants to know how many posts we have we can ask. It can be called post number thread or something. If we dont, I still wanna know how many posts I have… not alot probably
196- That’s a good idea. I post a lot, but I’m new, so there’s probably not a lot of posts by comparison. I’ve posted 29 posts on a maybe a little above average thread. Let’s say twenty posts per thread, 10 threads… 200 posts.
How close is that, GAPAs?
I posted a lot. Wow. In my newbie days I think I did a lot of pointless posting, that may add to it. But I haven’t been posting as much lately because MB has just been so overwhelming with all the newbies and so many threads.
yeah, wonder how many times I’ve posted… prolly a lot
How many posts do I have so far, in my short time at the Muse Blog?
And GAPAs? I’ve asked you this many times, but I’m asking it again: could you please post a screenshot of the GAPA version of the MB?
We have a few options, but here’s a typical GAPA’s-eye view:
how many posts do I have total? I’ve mostly been either emmathiduck or emmatheduck, pwner and head quack of canardquisouritistan I think.
I can’t spend all my time counting MBers’ posts, but yours are easy. 471.
202-That’s awesome! What does it look like when you moderate posts?
How many times have I posted? Under Cat’s Meow and WizGirl? (Sorry if this is overloading you, I’m just curious. :oops:)
Do you actually go through all the threads and count, then?
I don’t want to take up too much of your time if you do, but if there’s something where you could just search for something like curious and questioning*, then I am curious how much I’ve posted.
Wow! That’s cool, GAPAs! When I go to California, I really ant to meet Rosanne so I can see this in real life!
204- how do you determine how many times any one of us has posted? you don’t go through every single thread, do you???
204- how do you determine how many times any one of us has posted? you don’t go through every single thread, do you??? do you have any way of finding out how many posts total are on the blog?
The easiest way is to search comments (which I can do but you can’t) for your e-mail address (which I can see but you can’t) and count the number of hits. It gets tricky when people change e-mail addresses or use dummy ones. I’m not eager to turn into a blog statistician.
210- I thought it might be something like that. So I estimated wildly and wrongly. : )
202-Do you use Safari as your internet application?
202 – That is COOOL! 8)
210 – I haven’t changed my e-mail address.
210-Robert can see stuff that nobody else can? Does he have x-ray vision? =o
214 – No, he just means that he can see all our e-mail addresses but nobody else can see them except their own.
210 – yeah. Sometimes I use bogus email addresses (which are usually “obviouslybogus@obviouslybogus.com”) when I am other places, such as the library, etc., because it saves the email address and I don’t want some random stalker to find me. And when I started posting on MB I used an email address (which sounded really weird but was actually a real email address) that I use for other websites, etc. that I may need an email address for, because I don’t want spammy stuff on my “ggod/real” email address (which I currently use for MB, because soon after I started I trusted MB not to spam me. I didn’t think it would from the start, but you never know…).
I’ve always used my rel e-mail for MB, except I thik once on the alter-ego thread when I didn’t want even the GAPAs to know who I really was. Then I think I used somewhere@something.com or something like that.
17 – weird – your bogus e-mail address turned into a link.
My very first post, back in February, was after a series of posts by Dracasting over several hours asking if anyone was there. Wanting to be safe, I used the name “:0)” and the e-mail address “rdrd@yahoo.com”. My message was simply, “Hi there”. It didn’t get moderated.
We get spam that looks like that: vacuous messages with some distinctive character string that spambots can look for. If we don’t recognize the poster and if the message doesn’t add to the discussion, we delete it.
Ah. That was sort of an experiment post, anyway.
On the Who’s Here page, it says that names in italics mean someone started posting in the pre- MuseBlog era.
How is that even possible?
221 – They posted on the Gaboomba.
222-Gaboomba?
202-Neat! Question: Do you have to go into each thread to look for new posts, or can you push a button to look at any new posts all at the same time?
I have always used my real e-mail. I called myself code name hahahah!85! one time, but people didn’t really even like that. That’s why I’m stuck with that name next to HAWK on the who’s here page. *sigh*
217-That opens my e-mail box with a message. I hope that isn’t a real address!
Is there ny easy way to tell who has posted the most and if so, who? If you can’t figure that out it’s ok though, I’m just curious.
223- The pre-muse blog site where readers sent emails in.(?)
If you Google it, it’s still up. I think e~a is the only one still around. GABOOMBA= GAllery+guest BOOk +Message BoArd.
Listen to the Dumpster Dive Song! There’s some good stuff.
202- That looks exactly like what I see on the owrdpress site I made.
223- I think they moderate posts based on the time they were posted(most recent first). They don’t apear in the recent comments sidebar based on thread.
217-I clicked on your fake email and I got a new message… BE CARFULL!
(225),
The Gaboomba proper is at https://musefanpage.com/NewFiles/GABOOMBA.html . The message section is at https://musefanpage.com/NewFiles/messages.html . cHill is right: there’s a lot of good stuff there.
Hey GAPAs, I have a request. Could you make another RRR? I know there are,like, three out, but could you PLEASE make another one? I have some really good ideas. Most of the other ones are fantasy, and a couple are science fiction, so could we do a fractured fairy-tale one? You know, where you mess up or change around classic fairy tales. Like “Wicked” and “The Stinky Cheese Man.” PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP?
I wouldn’t mind one of those either. Comedy’s good, though I do like serious stuff.
230-Fractured fairy tales aren’t all silly. Many like Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked” and “Diary of an Ugly Stepsister” are very serious. They are a mix of both.
i love fractured fairy tales! my fav is jack and the beanstalk and social services. i was the narrator last year in drama
GAPAs, can you pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease update the back issues list? It’s been 3 weeks since you said it would be done!
I’ve posted an unformatted version. The last entries are not pretty, but they do contain the information.
GAPAs, do you run the cafe press shop, or do the Muse magazine people run it?
We run “Musery Loves Company.” The magazine gave us permission to use images of the Muses. We’re not getting rich off it, though. Our markup is so small (and sales volume, ahem, so low) that it actually costs us money to run the shop, but it’s fun to do.
236-GASP! *runs to nearest parental unit and asks if he can purchase items*
Hmm, maybe I’ll buy something.
234 – Thank you!!!!!
The information’s there, and that’s enough for me.
How often, if ever, do you check with each other about moderating posts? Because I know that when Rebecca went offline for 5 minutes after I sent another post with pinball wizard in it to annoy her someone moderated it, and when she came back, well, you can see for yourself.
What about the new RRR thread? Lots of people said it would be a good idea. I don’t mean to whine, but PLEASE! I AM BEGGING YOU!!!!!!!!! *gets downs on hands and knees* PRETTY PLEASE?
241-Do you mean a new one to write a new story? If so, I’m for it.
Now I know I’ve said this on the thread in question here, but I will say again: PLEASE ZAP OR SNIP THOSE MEAN POSTS ON THE PIE WAR THREAD!!!!!!!!!
Good morning GAPAs!
I proudly announce my purchase of items from the Musery store!!! w00tness!
GAPAs, I’m posting this
link 
to 
the 
really 
cool 
musery 
store!!!! 
I’m posting it here because the old Geek chic thread is closed. But anyway, that shop is 8) , and maybe this post will send people to it!
Here’s the link to the shop, in case the other one I made doesn’t work:
How did people get their signatures on the shirts?
136- I’m saving. Next Tuesday I will have enough.
Um GAPAs do you zap my posts sometimes? I often look back on old threads and don’t see a post I remember posting. For example, on the FridgedSymphony Rocks Out thread I posted saying I couldn’t hear it, and I don’t see a single post by me. *is confused*
What if 2 GAPAs are moderating at the same time, and one approves but the other disapproves?
I probably sound like a dweeb, but what does “GAPA” stand for? Is it, “Godlike Apparation Protecting All” or something?? ‘Cause I’ve just been wondering…
GAPA=Great And Powerful Administrator. I think theres’ something called a MAPA too… It’s all on the HG2MB
249- That’s really good!
250-MAP. Museblog Administrator Person.
I wish people would check the HG2MB when they have questions like that. When I was new, I tried my best to be a good muser and checked the rules, and looked at the HG2MB, and printed it out (very handy for smiley codes).
248-I don’t see why anybody would disapprove a simple post like that.
:idea::idea:idea:idea::idea::idea::idea:
I have no idea why I posted that. I just like bunnies, and 7 is my favorite number
Attention, Donald the etcetera: Please shorten your name. It has worn out its welcome.
255 – NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO BUUUUUUNNNNNNNIIIEEEEEESSS!!!!!!!
255- You just responded to your own post. Your’s was post 255, and you said No bunnies to it. That doesn’t make sense.
256 – NNNNNNOOOOOOOO BBBUUUUUUUNNNNIIIIIIIIEEEEEEESSSSSS!!!!!!!
257-Now THAT was a pointless post.
This is no longer a thread for asking questions, is it?
(259) It can be, though it does wander off track.
Well, here’s a question: why hot pink bunnies? Did you have any idea that they would become their own side in cat and dog wars? I read the article by Paul Baker (and very amusing it was, too) but it didn’t really explain it, or if it did, it didn’t make any sense, being in Elizabethan.
The editors wanted some way to censor offending cat/dog posts, and the art department came up with the bunnies. You can read more about them here:
https://musefanpage.com/NewFiles/message_archive_1.html#43
Nobody had any idea that they would become as popular and significant as they did.
Mwahahahah! I have posted on the Gaboomba! It isn’t actually a very interesting post, but I just wa- Oh, it didn’t work. Hmph. Oh well, it was just an experiment.
I tried too, and it didn’t work either. Why can’t you still post on the Gaboomba?
262 – Never would have thought the bunnies came from something like that! Why didn’t they just use black rectangles? That would make the censored parts more scary.
I think that the e-mail address expired or something.
Yes. The Gaboomba closed for business once MuseBlog came on line.
Once you’ve downloaded the font to your computer, how do you get it into Word?
Haven’t a clue. It never worked for me.
How many continents are there?!?
Our English teacher told us there were 8 now, not 7. Is this true?? If so, why didn’t anyone bother to tell me?!
I know I did it once with a dwarf runes font off a LOTR website…*goes to Word help search thingy*
I’m stuck. o_0 It’s not the right file type, apparently. *sigh*
269-According to a website I just found: “The seven continents are North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. The island groups in the Pacific are often called Oceania but this name does not imply that scientists consider them the remains of a continent.”
Maybe that’s what he/she was referring to?
For fonts you go to control panel and drag the font into the fonts folder. I think.
There’s no scientific definition of “continent.” Their names and numbers are something that geographers decided. For example, why separate Europe from Asia? There’s no ocean between them.
Maybe your teacher thinks Greenland deserves to be a continent. If so, there’s no real way to argue that it’s not one (though geologically it belongs with North America).
274- Yup, he said it was a continent. We were all very suprized. I mean, we learned the 7 and no one told us things had changed. That bothered me.
I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s arbitrary. Like Pluto: Pluto hasn’t disappeared just because some astronomers (most of whom study stars, not planets) voted to stop calling it a planet. It’s still out there and still as interesting (or uninteresting, if you’re not into it) as it was before. Pluto doesn’t care.
Maybe your teacher’s ancestors came from Denmark. Denmark owns Greenland. I can see how a little country like that would like to own a continent.
i realize you cant spend all your time counting posts. but could you tell me how many i have? *invokes p-word*
(277) DDoD, looks like 1023.
276 – Did you know they launched a probe to Pluto Jan 06? It’ll reach that forlorn icy planet 2011ish.
275 – If you look on a globe, Greenland is too small to be a continent. And besides, practically nobody lives there. And there’s no useful things to do there, unlike Antarctica. Greenland has the title of the largest island, but it should not be the smallest continent. (It is totally freaky how much this sounds like the Pluto debate)
Hey GAPAs: is too much screen time bad for your eyes?
281 – Robert or Rosanne can probably answer this scientifically for you, but I think it depends on the kind of screen. Some screens are better for your eyes.
What is Kokopelli (meaning the Muse)’s REAL origin?
People still haven’t answered my question. I want my name on that shirt!
(284) Maybe we should think about a new edition.
285 – YYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSS
You should. With my signature.
Yea, a new edition would be nice. Us newbies want to sign on it!
Yeah!
GAPAs: How many messages has MuseBlog gotten total? Like, the combined number of everybody’s posts?
Yes! New shirt! I would buy a ton of the stuff if it had my signature on it!
How come FAQs are never actually frequently asked questions? They’re always just things that the creators thought people would like to know!
Also – How many posts do I have? If it’s too much trouble don’t bother, but twould be froody to know….
Lady Moonstar: 148.
When was the shirt made? More than a year ago? Because I was on about a year ago, but then I got out of the habit, and I just got back recently.
293-Nope. I distinctly remember just barely missing the deadline for it during one of my MB periods, but I’ve only been on for a year and 8 days.
293 – November.
292-Can you tell me how many I’ve posted? Pleeeease?
(293) December, 2006. I did the final graphics assembly while visiting family over the holidays. Robert posted the announcement on December 31st. If you haven’t seen what it looked like, check it out here.
297 – COOL!!! I never saw it up close before.
(296),
I count 499.
Is it time for a new Ask the GAPAs?