There have been some changes to the blog this week ... anyone notice? I went off comments cold turkey and the world didn't stop turning. I added some commercial content on the right sidebar to help defray the fifteen bucks a month my Typepad Pro account costs, but I'm also curious to see what shows up as content. Like the colors? I can change 'em. I started adding images to some posts. I changed the post titles to a blue font. And, just tonight, I added my first LDS fiction book, OSC's The Folk of the Fringe, as my Book o' Month. Whaddya think? Comments enabled.
I don't see the commercial stuff, did you delete it? And would you puhlease fix the banner to link to the main site!
Posted by: J. Stapley | Jul 01, 2005 at 05:31 PM
...oh, and I miss the comments.
Posted by: J. Stapley | Jul 01, 2005 at 05:31 PM
You are probably using Firefox, J.
The ads show up only when I use IE.
I miss the comments, too.
Posted by: NFlanders | Jul 01, 2005 at 05:39 PM
I think comments are an important feature and should remain enabled.
Posted by: danithew | Jul 01, 2005 at 05:56 PM
Dave! How ARE you? I've so missed our little chats. I guess I'm willing to do without the comments if it makes you happy. I've been mulling over setting up a "Dave's Echo" blog in Blogger, that does nothing but repeat your posts and allow comments. But that seems so...pathetic.
Re: the ads. I see them, and I'm using Firefox. When the page first opened the first couple of days they were enabled, I'd see "flickers" of the ads on the left sidebar that lasted for a fraction of a second (but long enough to see) and then they'd stabilize on the left. I've always enjoyed Google ads; Back in the Day, I used to blog about the ads that would appear on my blog. I particularly like the ad with the headline "Mormon Church History" and the text "meet tens of thousands of LDS/Mormon singles for love." Um, yeah, I guess I see the connection.
The book of the month is an interesting one; the first OSC I ever read. Some really good stories there. Do you write reviews somewhere and I've been missing them?
Well, thanks for asking. Take care. Talk to you soon!
Posted by: Ann | Jul 02, 2005 at 06:59 AM
Well, the world may not have stopped turning--although I worry that Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement means that it soon will. But that's more of a Times-and-Seasons topic, isn't it? Anyway, the world may not have stopped turning--but Ann and I were certainly unhappy with the vanishing comments situation!
I really like "Folk of the Fringe." In my opinion, it's Card's best work--from back in the days before, I think, he somehow lost his vision and his authorial voice. The first story is impossible for me to forget, as is the last. This is one of the few examples of Mormon-themed fiction that work for me. Although Card has written two of them: I thought his novel "Saints" was also good. Subsequent trips by Card to the Mormon well haven't been as pleasing to me, though.
Posted by: RoastedTomatoes | Jul 02, 2005 at 07:21 AM
no comments? I love it. Don't give in Dave. Enable comments and forever will they dominate your destiny.
Posted by: o nonymous | Jul 02, 2005 at 12:32 PM
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I guess what I'll do is open comments on general interest posts but not on posts or topics that are likely to lead to the kind of online sniping that invariably crops up when certain LDS topics are discussed.
In general, I try to view the comments section as a semi-public forum rather than as a part of the weblog that reflects me or my opinions. So I don't mind contrary opinions or even direct and pointed criticism of my own views or opinions in the comments.
Where I do draw the line is personal attacks or baiting directed at other commenters or at me; tasteless profanity or vulgar remarks; comments that raise copyright or libel issues; and the sort of nasty comments about Mormons and the Church one often encounters on fringe-LDS message boards (which seems like the right forum for those who need to vent those sorts of feelings).
Posted by: Dave | Jul 02, 2005 at 02:07 PM
Good choice, Dave.
And I agree with RT above -- the first story is amazing. I think that there are some weaknesses to Folk of the Fringe, but it's been so long since I read it, I don't know that I'd be able to defend my opinion. I'll have to get my hands on a copy.
Posted by: William Morris | Jul 02, 2005 at 02:14 PM
Ann-- Since you've already downloaded Firefox, you should also download their ad-blocker (sorry, Dave--I'll click on a few ads in IE so you'll still get payed). It will change your life, just like Tivo.
Posted by: NFlanders | Jul 03, 2005 at 02:14 AM
I've always enjoyed Google ads; Back in the Day, I used to blog about the ads that would appear on my blog.
How about the "Out of Mormonism" ad that I'm looking at right now?
Posted by: Last Lemming | Jul 03, 2005 at 06:40 PM
"Party with Ex-Mormons" sounds like a fun time. If I'm gonna hang with Ex-mos, I'd prefer it to be those of the "I left to sin" variety, rather than the "Mormons worship a different Jesus" variety.
I think any time you run Google ads on a page focused on Mormonism, half the ads at least will be centered on ex-mo stuff. The "Mormon Jesus is not the Real Jesus" crowd seems to recruit pretty heavily.
Posted by: Ann | Jul 03, 2005 at 09:48 PM
Ex-mormon stuff AND dating. LDS singles material is obviously a favorite in any advertising context. My wife and I are still laughing at my (single, very LDS) brother's internet diet: hotsaints.com was a highlight...
Posted by: RoastedTomatoes | Jul 04, 2005 at 04:45 AM
I'm turning on the new Typepad feature that puts all new comments in a queue for review before posting to the public weblog. I'll use it for a week and see how it works. All of this is driven by the need that weblog owners have of filtering out spam and other abusive comments; hopefully the benefits to the rest of us are worth the minor inconvenience, although I confess I like instant comment posting much more than delayed posting.
Posted by: Dave | Jul 06, 2005 at 02:10 PM