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Community News
Can't Logout? - 12/29/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I had to change the cookie information needed to log in and out, and your computer may still have the old cookie. It *should* expire shortly, if it doesn't you can always delete the cookie. Oh yeah, mom and baby are doing great! Thanks to everyone who wished us well and sent us gifts!
Southern California pathetic.org Poets Night - 11/29/2002
by Gavin M Roy
Saturday, December 28th, 2002 has been declared pathetic.org poets night at the Java Zone Coffee Gallery on 490 N. Lake Ave. in Pasadena, California, USA...by pathetic.org cohorts and Saturday Night Poetry cohosts Jack Bowman and Don Campbell. Come one, come all! For directions, maps, etc. go to http://home.earthlink.net/~saturdaynightpoetry
Pre Turkey Day News - 11/27/2002
by Gavin M Roy
Just a couple of small things for people to be aware of:
- We moved to a new ISP today with a faster connection to the Internet. Let me know if you notice a slow down or speed-up :)
- The new Red Suede Boots Category - Find it by going to the Poetry Center, Find Poetry..., By Category
- The ability to customize the amount of poems, forum posts, etc that show up in index pages. This is located under Member Tools, Your Account, Update Your Information
- New Member signup is in active development at this time and I expect that we'll be accepting new members in early December.
Bug with WYSWYG Editor - 11/14/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I have been made aware of a bug with the WYSIWYG Editor (What You See is What You Get). I haven't been able to reproduce it on my computer, which leads me to believe it may be a browser version specific bug, but a few people have had the contents of their post (journal / poem) replaced with "undefined." I am trying to track this down, so use it at your own risk. You can turn off the WYSIWYG editor if it is available to you by going to Member Tools > Your Account > Update Your Information and checking off said option.
Everythings Automated - 11/14/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I have heard a complaint coming through the rumor mill about some members poetry that was showing up on the ranking list and now is not. First let me say that everything on this site is Automated. No one makes out the lists and posts them, they are automatically made via calculated statistics from the database. I'll go as far as to offer they may have a few bugs, I don't think they do, but anything is possible. So no matter what any admin thinks of any member, their behavior, or anything else, the ranking system, the way items show up on lists is purely database queries and algorythms that tell the site how to display the data. So before anyone thinks they are being maligned, know that no one here can malign you in such a way, other than the software itself.
Expanding on Themes / Skins - 11/12/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I have added a few new features around Skins and plan on adding some more for the site as time progresses. Due to popular demand I have returned the ability to have your friends list on every page. To enable that option go to "Member Tools > Your Account > Update Your Information" and change "Show Friends List" to "Yes." While you're there you can check out the latest offering of site layouts and color schemes.
Colors, Colors, Everywhere Colors - 11/10/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I just added a new feature to the site, a site HTML theme engine. It's very basic right now, but I expect it to become more advanced in the future. Basically what it does is allow you to pick different colors / layouts to view the site in. All you have to do to use this feature is go to "Member Tools > Your Account > Update Your Information" and chose from the different "Color Themes." Like I said, I expect to add different layouts all together, but for the time being, I added only a few colors. If you have a color suggestion for me, let me know and I'll see about adding it, as long as it's not a combo of hot pink, tangerine, burnt sienna, and aqua.
Poem of the Day Suggestions - 11/04/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I have just implemented a Poem of the Day suggestion button on the poetry pages, for logged in members. Now members can suggest the Poem of the Day to the Poem of the Day committee for review. Those responsible for picking the Poem of the Day will now look at the list of poems suggested as part of the process of picking the Poem of the Day. Some of the restrictions for suggestions are:
- You can only suggest one poem per day
- You can not suggest the same poem twice
- You can not suggest a poem that has already been a poem of the day
While we're talking about suggestions, lets not forget to get your voting in for the December Poet Spotlight by November 15th!
Beta Chapbook PDF Announcement - 10/29/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I am pleased to announce a new library service on pathetic.org, the Chapbook PDF Folders. This feature, which is in Beta Testing, is easily enabled by making a new folder and choosing the ÂChapbook PDF Folder option. Once the folder has been made and poetry has been assigned to it, when people click on the folder icon, it will display a PDF Chapbook using Adobe Acrobat. There are some considerations to take into account when using this feature, such as formatting. HTML formatting and pictures will be completely omitted. To format your poetry I suggest you use the plain text editor and not the WYSIWG editor (which available only to patrons). Remove all HTML and format it in plain text how you would like it to appear in the Chapbook PDF. Long poems will wrap pages. I am looking for feedback and ideas for this feature, such as additional formatting options, etc. Please post any comments in the new ÂFeatures and Feedback forum and any problems in the ÂSite Support forum.
Bug Fix and Menu Changes - 10/28/2002
by Gavin M Roy
Well I've been on a little bug hunt and believe I've fixed the pesky random logout bug. The site should also remember you when you come back, unless you Logout. I'll be implementing a timeout sometime in the near future, with an optional "Remember me" check box, but for now, remember to logout if you donÂt want someone else using your computer to have access to your account.
You will also notice the menu has been reorganized quite a bit. Let me know what you think of the changes. One of the primary changes can be found in the Poetry Center. I'm working hard to make sure that poetry is easy to find. Not an easy task with over 32,000 poems out there ;-).
October Update - 10/24/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I've been weighing some issues with pathetic.org as of late... Just one of which is the commercialization of the site, what are patrons, etc. I have decided to greatly increase the amount of postings members can make. At this point, any member can post 1000 poems, and 1000 journal entries. I've decided to keep the site non-commercial, though it is not non-profit. What does that mean? We're not a registered non-profit organization, and all monies received are filed through a DBA and I pay taxes on them. I will spend the monies as I see fit, on keeping up the site, paying for hosting, and other related expenditures. I will do my best to insure that the site continues to be non-commercial for its lifetime. There will still be added functionality and perks if you will for patrons, but as it stands as of right now, the site is basically limitless for most members, as to the amount of poetry one can publish.
At the same time, once we start accepting members again, I am going to try and enforce some more strict rules for joining. There are several ideas for this floating around right now, including all new members must be sponsored by existing members, and no new members less than 18 years of age. I donÂt know what the final outcome of that will be.
My ultimate goal of the site has always been to create an online poetry circle, not a web community. The goal has been to create a realm where poets interact with other poets, for feedback, encouragement, and support in their writing endeavors. That is one of the main reasons for our desire for Âreal names and locations. One can hide out and create an alter-ego on many (and a majority of) sites. If thatÂs what people are looking for, this, as I see it, isnÂt one of those places. I will be doing more to enforce the vision of the site that was created over 4 years ago.
I will be introducing new features shortly, including the long awaited re-birth of the Forums and a new feature of the site ÂCircles. Circles will be able to be created by Patrons (Honorary or otherwise) and will allow groups of poets to create sub-communities on the site. Also coming soon is multi-lingual support and multiple graphical themes for the site. 2002 will finish the best year thus far for the development of pathetic.org and 2003 should be even greater.
Thank you for your continued use of the site, and participation in the community.
Patron Misunderstanding? - 10/11/2002
by Gavin M Roy
There have been some people who bought pathetic.org Merchandise via Cafe Press and are now wondering why they haven't become patrons. Purchasing merchandise doesn't enable one to receive patron status. I apologize if anyone purchased anything for that specific reason, but we've never given any indication that it would.
Server Downtime - 10/11/2002
by Gavin M Roy
Sorry folks, due to an electrical issue in our building, pathetic.org was down this morning from approximately 4 am to 6 am (my time of couse).
Poem of the Day Mailing List - 10/08/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I've now added a new feature where you can receive the Poem of the Day, daily, in your inbox. Simply Click Here or go to "Poetry Center > Poem of the Day > Mailing Signup" to get your daily does of poetry, in your inbox.
Update Your Info - 10/07/2002
by Gavin M Roy
You can now update your information in the Member Tools menu. Please be concious of the rules regarding locale and profanity in the library bios. Thanks!
Member Spotlight Voting - 10/06/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I have now enabled member spotlight voting in the system. To vote for your favorite member simply go to one of their poems and click on the button at the bottom of the page to vote on them. You can only cast one vote per month. Get your votes in by October 31st for December's member spotlight.
Tiny little bug - 10/06/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I found a tiny little bug today that is now fixed. If you posted poetry since the new site was setup, and your "Date Created" was different that your "Date Posted" they were switched when they were put into the database. The best way to fix this is just to open your poem for editing, fix the date created, and submit it. Sorry for the inconvience.
your.name.pathetic.org - 10/06/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I just added a new feature for Patrons. Personalized URLs for your poetry library are easy to use. The format is "http://firstname.lastname.pathetic.org" So for example mine would be http://gavin.roy.pathetic.org. Enjoy :D
Change in the top 10 formulas - 10/01/2002
by Gavin M Roy
The Top 10 Forumlas on the homepage have been changed to more accurately rank the weeks top poetry. Just thought you would like to know :-).
Member Termination - 10/01/2002
by Gavin M Roy
I have just terminated over 5 member accounts who have been participating in what I call "Vote Trolling" or purposefully giving people very low votes. I even had one member who had voted on over 85 poems giving them all the lowest vote possible. We are also investigating the reverse where someone is giving the highest ratings to a large number of poetry as well, though no accounts have been terminated for that yet. Remember the voting mechanism is to provide feedback and encourage your fellow community members, not to skew where poetry comes up in a list.
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