Important Issues

We apologize for the delay in addressing some of the issues which arose recently in the mailing list, surrounding the vote for membership for acceptance of some new blogs.

It seemed to Ian and JMB that there was some considerable support for a limitation on the number of members in Blogpower from those who spoke up and obviously this has to be put to a vote of the general membership. Something that also ties into this is establishing who are the current members of Blogpower.

Since the beginning of the year we have had some formal resignations but while others did not officially resign we are not sure that they are still members since they are not displaying either the banner or the blogroll in their sidebars. So we have decided to include in the vote for limiting the membership a request for a reconfirmation of membership, so that we can reconcile the blogroll with the actual membership. We will not remove anyone who does not contact us for the moment, since we want to be sure that we reach everyone, including those who are not on the mailing list and not everyone has an obvious email address, but we do hope to catch everyone with this.

We would also hope that the membership would agree that anyone who has been a member of Blogpower could rejoin on application without another vote required. So if we were to decide on a restricted number of members it could be merely a guideline, since we might have more than that number at times. Should there be a decision to restrict it to a number lower than the current we would not accept any new applications until the number had dropped to that level.

A voting form will be sent to all members in a few days time. We encourage you to discuss this on the Yahoo groups mailing list for Blogpower since comments will be closed on this post.

Some members have not joined the mailing list and we encourage those who have not to register with Yahoo Groups and follow the link below and ask to become a member. You will be confirmed as soon as possible so that you can take part in the discussion.

Link to Blogpower Mailing list

News on the Blogroll Front

You may have noticed that Thunderdragon has redesigned his blog and moved to Wordpress. In doing so he found that our Blogrolling.com blogroll now works with Wordpress, probably as a result of their recent update which is excellent news. He also has used a different code which actually shows the names moving upward continuously. This code allows for a change in width and height and also background colour and the scroll speed. You can see it by clicking the link above to his blog.

I played around with it on my practice Blogger blog, Somebody Important, where it works but I could not find a great colour to change to. Probably because I didn't know what colours were available. I tried red and blue but they did not look good, so for me that needs further exploring. However what I did do, which I quite like, is I combined the clickable small BP banner and this moving blogroll into one page element. You can see that by clicking on my link above. So that's another possibility which is probably best with the no-colour background that I am using there.

If you are interested in this new code please contact me or Ian Grey or Thunderdragon.

This is crossposted in the mailing list.

Update: Thanks to Ian, we now have an option with a border which also appears on my practice blog and I have found a suitable background colour. Could be tweaked a little more I'm sure.

New Member -- Cafe Grendel

It gives me great pleasure to welcome "Grendel" of Cafe Grendel as a new member in Blogpower. He delivers all you ever wanted to know about coffee and may I quote: The real Black Gold comes from Beans, not Barrels, and lubricates Minds not Motors. If you are not familiar with his site please go over and explore and introduce yourself in the comment section.

His site has now been added to the blogroll and I am sure he will be displaying it along with the BP banner very shortly, as a fully fledged member.

I hope there will be no confusion between the two Grendels, our new one features quotation marks and the other is simply Grendel. Well it will keep us on our toes.

Cafe Grendel

We have a new application for membership from a blog called Cafe Grendel. Yes another Grendel. He found us by googling Grendel, expecting to find only himself, but no he found our Grendel too and in following that up found Blogpower. He describes his blog as: Coffee Flavoured Commentary; the Politics of Coffee; Coffee and Technology and Coffee and Religion. Yes he is a coffee aficionado but there is more than that. He's a fellow Aussie from Perth.

Please take a look at Cafe Grendel and make your feelings known in the comment section here. Any objection will move the discussion and voting to the mailing list, with comments subsequently being closed here. The seventy two hour countdown begins at Friday 1800 UK time and ends Monday 1800 UK time.

Globus Blogus

We have a new application for membership from a blog called Globus Blogus. He describes himself in his header as an addict; of fine wines, fine fillies and fine expletives. He does indeed seem rather fond of the f- word.

Please take a look at Globus Blogus and make your feelings known in the comment section here. Any objection will move the discussion and voting to the mailing list, with comments subsequently being closed here. The seventy two hour countdown begins at Friday 1800 UK time and ends Monday 1800 UK time.

Update: There has been an objection, the comments are now closed and the discussion moves to the mailing list.

A Half Century

Someone in Blogpower is celebrating a big milestone on April 10th and he's having a very big birthday bash this weekend. Because I'm in a different time zone this will be a bit late, but please go wish a very happy birthday to Shades of Grey. He's even Warholized himself in celebration.

Crushed By Ingsoc

Regular BP contributor and blogger Crushed By Ingsoc is rumoured to have reached the grand old age of thirty today. You are cordially invited to pass him by and wish him well.

New Member --- Martin David from Across the Water

It gives me great pleasure to welcome Martin David of Martin David from Across the Water as a new member in Blogpower. This young man hails from the Isle of Man but if you are not familiar with his site please go over and explore and introduce yourself in the comment section.

His site has now been added to the blogroll and I am sure he will be displaying it along with the BP banner very shortly, as a fully fledged member.

Martin David from Across the Water

We have a new application for membership in Blogpower from a relatively new blog in the blogosphere, Martin David from Across the Water, this young man being on the Isle of Man. However he has been around for the required three months, although not a frequent poster.

Please take a look at Martin David from Across the Water and make your feelings known in the comment section here. Any objection will move the discussion and voting to the mailing list, with comments subsequently being closed here.

The voting countdown will commence at 8 am GMT Thursday, Feb 21st.

Blogpower Common Room

Further to a discussion in the forum, I have provided a meeting place in Second Life for Blogpower members. It's on a deck of one of my spacecraft there. Just follow the link above to launch the software and go right there.

When in Second Life, search for the Blogpower group and join it. We will then be able to send you in-world notices. If you are ever in difficulty, send an in-world "instant message" (IM) to me, LastDitch Writer. If I am not online, it will be forwarded to my email.

I look forward to meeting you all there.