Sunday, June 17, 2007

Wherefore, Blogpower? Fare ye well.

Really wise words from the likes of Colin Campbell and others. Thank goodness we have such as these in our little association. I call it "association" because we're so loosely affiliated.

We're not really a club and the warning not to get hidebound in regulations should be heeded. We could call ourselves a group if we wanted. We have no direction, no "type" of member, no affiliations, no political ethos, nothing which could answer the question: "What does Blogpower want?" It wants nothing. It simply is.

What we do have is a cozy friendliness and decency to all other Blogpowerers, a desire to be read and to read others. That's all. We're a nice little haven or oasis or an island in the blogosphere ocean. No one tries to hijack the organization because it's not an organization. It's an association.

Our admins are currently Ian Appleby [the Keeper of the Codes], Lord Nazh the Code Wizard, Tom Paine the pageflakes and events organizer, Mutley the Birthdays officer [and please send your birthdate to him] and our resident techies Ian Grey and the Thunderdragon. Motley collection indeed. Oh - and me.

We have issues.

1] Already having expanded during the awards, we now have three more who would like to join us [or at least who are carrying the banner]. Warning voices have been raised that we're getting too big. We have to make decisions after the Awards Ceremony.

2] The issue of Blogpowerers failing to visit other Blogpowerers has arisen and it's real. As one of the culprits myself, there must be some solution. Clearly we can't get round to more than twenty blogs in a day, if that and some of these, nay most of these, are likely to be non-Blogpower.

This calls Blogpower itself into question. The solution is maybe to rotate the BP blogs we visit, ensuring we cover the majority in one calendar week and this raises another problem - blogs we don't wish to visit. I can tell you now that there are two in BP I have no desire, as a Christian, to visit. That's just me. I imagine I'm off some of your visiting lists too. So be it. We can't be loved by everyone.

So let's just make an effort to get round to the majority in one week and try to vary it a little.

3] The question of refusal to admit members. We've never refused before. We might have to now. This is not going to be discussed until after Tom's Awards Ceremony. Absolutely. I think I can say all admins are at one on this. The man has put so much work into preparing for our ceremony, ably assisted by members, that it would be nothing short of wrong to derail this now, discussing an explosive issue unnecessarily early.

I'd like to finish with one last issue:

4] Do you think we might have a closed "BP only" awards in the Fall [in deference to our North Americans] - just our own little thing where we recognize each other for some characteristic or achievement? We needn't advertise or go through the hoops like we did during the open awards. I'll be guided by you on this.

I wish you a happy two weeks as you approach the Awards Ceremony, hope that you resolve all your first life matters and that you get some decent blogging in. See ya!

23 comments:

thebestnewsfirst said...

James,
Just got back from my holiday and was amazed at all of the suggestions you amoung others made re UK News and Politics so I thought I would drop by and clarify (not that it will make any difference.) Take a minute to actually read through the blog. I've read all of the lovely whining comments re the blog awards and the suggestion that this blog supports the BNP. While I fully respect each and every individual's political views as well as the right to express those views I in NO WAY agree with the BNP and in all honesty believe they are rather "out there."
If you, or any of the others, acutally bothered to READ the blog you would realise I support the Conservatives. But every competition needs a villan so I am glad to be of service :)

UK News and Politics

James Higham said...

All memberships will be discussed after the Awards Ceremony, if you don't mind, UKN&P.

Everything that's going to be said will be said then on all memberships. I personally must make no further comment now for two weeks [I'm going away myself today].

Anonymous said...

well darn me that's why I've been snubbed .... either that or I'm not liked personally!

http://www.bradfordvision.co.uk/node/12741

I did wonder at the holding email I got. Oh well if the club is partial count me out.

James Higham said...

Whatever are you talking about, Bradford Vision? You're on the list, as I e-mailed you earlier.

Anonymous said...

so I see - I have one machine down at the moment so checking email isn't the automatic thing it normally is.

Anyway I've yet to find the bloody banner and I don't particularly like the idea of excluding members on the basis at least then you know where to meet them with the baseball bat (qv woody allen)


Baht At/Hax

James Higham said...

Banner is top right.

Lord Nazh said...

People would be excluded by vote Bradford, what better way would you think to do it?

Or simply let every blog that puts the banner up be in?

There are benefits to both, and dangers to both.

Gracchi said...

James I agree on defering discussion- I like the idea of a Blogpower only awards as well- twould be a little bit of fun within the organisation. I think the most stunning thing about all of this is the ammount of work that several admins have put in. I try to visit most people but the more the membership expands the harder it gets and also there are some blogs that you just develop an affinity for but I will try harder.

youdontknowme said...

I don't think we should stop anymore from joining. I think whoever wants to join should be allowed. If you are unable to visit everyone in a day or in a week thats fine. I am able to visit everyone daily though.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Absolutely right not to discuss the contentious issue till after the awards ceremony. We all deserve a party! As for visiting, what I do is sometimes start at the topof the roll and sometimes at the bottom. I still don't get to everybody but this way I spread it out a bit. And of course, like everyone else, I have favourites that are daily reads. Let's all just do our best.

Ian Appleby said...

Just to announce for your reading pleasure the addition of four new prospects to the Light from Yonder Window? roll. In alphabetical order:

Fake Consultant
Rabbit Strike
Tuscan Tony
Visions of Bradford

Question: should prospects be announced in a new posting?

Anonymous said...

I am awaiting birthdays... so farI have 1. Mine. Its a bit disappointing frankly..though I have considered anofficialbirthday as well.. like the Queen

You can email mutleydotthedogatgmaildotcom

youdontknowme said...

I think that prospects should maybe be announced at the end of each week.


Mutley-I'll send you mine in a min

Lord Nazh said...

Prospects should be announced on a certain day of each week (all that asked that week)... as to how long before the vote or whatever, we'll (I'd guess) have to decide that during the board meeting :)

Mutley you should have at least 2 more just going from when you decided to be the birthday czar

Crushed said...

I agree with Welshcakes, there are BP blogs I read daily, but others are weekly, and sometimes, I have no comment to make.
I am in favour of as wide a membership policy as possible myself.

James is possibly right about being more systemised about rotating the blogs you visit- I can think of some BP blogs I have been poor in visiting, but there are several of high quality- including many in this comments section that I would still like to visit daily. In one case the sheer volume of output on the blog means visiting several times a day.

pommygranate said...

A suggestion - how about having membership reviewed every 3 months. ie new entrants admitted every 3 months and then closed for three months?

Unknown said...

Nazh

difficult - although I would have said that most wouldn't stay if they received nothing but negative comments on their blog from the collective. If they did well they deserve the reward for their thick skin.

Anonymous said...

re the banner etc - I've now found why I didn't spot them they are extremely slow loading on my browser (ie7 or whatever) and the banner only appears after a couple of minutes waiting.

I see no blog rolls at all.

I have seen this problem on another site I occasionally problem solve on and it turned out to be some rogue javascript loading content from the beeb that was causing the problem so maybe something similar is happening here.

Obviously not the blogroll thing because I've got that on my site without any problems with speed.

Baht Hax .... pronounced 'ats btw!

Visions of Bradford

NB the david above was me prior to working out how to get my proper cyberspace name on the post!

Ms Smack said...

I'm sorry if I'm one of the blogs that your faith won't allow a visit. Seriously, the majority of my posts are clean... honest!

Mutley -21st, April.

lady macleod said...

Whatever you decide about the membership of your group I would like to say thank you. I think I speak for all the other bloggers not in BP that were given so much exposure during the awards. I have personally been so kindly treated by your members I can't say enough about the stellar membership.

It is the nature of any group to have pains as it grows, but then growth can be a good thing eh?

Good day to you.

Ruthie said...

James, you are a saint. Truly, what would we do without you?

Like many of the other commenters, I also have an affinity for certain BP blogs. Every week or so, I go down the list and try to visit them all, but on a daily basis there are about a dozen that I visit/comment. And there are a couple, like you said, James, that I'm completely uninterested in.

I like the idea of an intra-BP awards ceremony.

Praguetory said...

Here's my twopenneth? Does everyone use bloglines? Getting feeds from there of blogpowerers is an efficient way of never missing a BP post even if you skip a day or even a week from visiting.

fake consultant said...

if by chance i am the source of the discord feel free to drop me a note and i'll happily withdraw...

...but i hope i'm not.