The Potential Perils of Video Clips

Here's a story worth reading. While this deals with video clips and the software you're occasionally asked to download to view them it applies to all software you download from the Web. So whether you're a consumer or vendor (via your blog) of such files, think carefully before downloading anything. And if in any doubt, don't.

Offline Writers

I currently write my fiction posts in Word before posting them through the Blogger browser interface, I am aware however of Blogging Clients and / or Offline Clients.

I woud like to start using one, it would make adding pictures, links and the links easier, plus there's less chance of losing a post.

I'd still compose fiction in word, but would post through a Client.

I've found:

Macjournal
Marsedit
Qumana
and Ecto

What do people use, I'm on a Mac, but what's out there for both?

An Explanation for the blogger Problems

Original Article here: http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index.cfm?RSS&newsID=16299

Google's Blogger service has suffered availability problems recently, continuing a series of mishaps that began several weeks ago.

Between Wednesday of last week and Thursday of this week, Blogger suffered several outages and periods of sluggish performance, along with some planned downtime for maintenance, according to the Blogger Status site, where Google lets users know about Blogger system issues.

Blogger's persistent woes have prompted industry analysts and users to urge the company to strengthen the service's security and infrastructure, and to tighten up its administration policies.

The problems of the past week prompted a Blogger official to post an apologetic note to users on Thursday on Blogger Buzz, the service's official blog.

"It’s been a Murphy-esque cavalcade of power failures, file server trouble, and wonky network hardware, and I hope you’ll believe me when I say that the Blogger staff are even more sick of it than you are," the note reads.

To improve the situation in the short term, Google is upgrading Blogger's hardware and stepping up its system monitoring. Part of Blogger's availability problems stem from the fact that the service runs on essentially the same infrastructure it had when Google bought its parent company Pyra Labs in early 2003. Despite upgrades and expansions "we’ve more than out-grown it," the post reads. "The new version is ground-up more scalable and less error-prone."

Long-term, Google is testing a new version of Blogger that runs on a more stable platform with "Google-quality reliability", the post reads. That new version, which is in a limited public test, hasn't been affected by the recent availability problems, although it did crash on 1 October.

In tune with the upcoming Halloween celebration, October has been a hair-raising month for Blogger and its Blogspot hosting platform. Last week, a Google employee mistakenly posted information to Blogger Buzz that she had intended to publish in her personal blog.

Two weeks ago, Blogger suffered an outage that kept both Blogger.com and the Blogspot hosting service offline for two hours, along with the many official Google blogs hosted on that platform. Google said a "network malfunction" caused the outage.

Earlier this month, a hacker broke into Google's main official blog, which is hosted on Blogger. The intruder posted a false message saying that the company had decided to cancel a joint click-to-call advertising project with eBay. Although Google patched the hole, the message caused much confusion among many Google watchers.

In March, Google staffers deleted the main official Google blog by mistake and someone unaffiliated with the company briefly took control of the web address.

Testing Your Template

If you use one of the standard Blogger templates you’re probably blissfully unaware of the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle differences between the browsers available.

Start using a third party template, or making anything other than minor alterations to your standard Blogger-issue framework and things can get a little hairy.

The fact is that there are standards for how a browser should render your page on the client PC’s display, but the specifications are, in part, open to interpretation. Add to this each browser vendor’s drive to differentiate itself from the competition by adding new features and it can get horribly complex.

Despite the popularity of Firefox, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is still the most used browser in use out there. Apple’s Safari brings up the rear of the “big three”. So if you’re a Firefox fan you really should test your template design on IE too, and if you happen to have a Mac lying around, on Safari.

If you don’t, your readers might see your site badly formatted, or worse still, not at all.

Is it a push towards Beta

I know it's not just me.

Blogger has been Abysmal this week, especially over the last couple of days.

But is it just the current version of Blogger, or is the Beta suffering also

Enquiring minds need to know.

ADMIN: FAQ

I'm putting together an FAQ for SBC.

Some of the Topics I plan to cover are:

What is SBC
What do I have to do on SBC
How do I join
Linking to SBC
Rules

I'm going to put this all in a post and link to it from the Sidebar.

Is there anything else I should cover?

Tutorials?

I've seen in a couple of comments, the idea of a "tutorial" section, a place to link to sites that explain how to intergrate video or audio, be it utube...podcasting...etc....should we consider a link list to this?

Just an idea.....:)

Just Imagine!

I surfed about and came across this article that details new regulations in China where bloggers are to register their blogs with their real names. Of course there are loopholes, but last year there was a case where a blog (from China) was prevented from being viewed on the web in general (on Google for example).

We spend a considerable amount of time gathering information for our blogs, there's the time spent writing as well (after stumbling upon a creative stimulus that makes us think, 'uh huh, I'll explore this today), and really, when push comes to shove, this entire medium can be so fragile.

I haven't fully backed up anything that's in my blog, and I'm uncertain if there's a way that all text can be backed up (without the pc keeling over in the process). But if it all went pear shaped tomorrow?

If a government decided to streamline certain modes of expression and content/genres, then all they'd have to do is limit access or clamp down on the blogs.

Real time chatroom for the community

I was reading the post " These are Just Thoughts (re: communities as a whole)and posted a comment there, bat as it may be missed as a few posts old,,,,,,,,I thought I'd toss it out here. What do you think? :)

I'd be willing to start a channel on IRC, perhaps Dalnet, where bloggers could join in and share if any are interested. I can't be the moderater every day....1-2 nights a week, but an official real-time chat room might be of help if other members would kick in time wise....:)

It's free, just time, no money, no ads. Just a place for like minded members to yak with eachother, and visitors of this site.

And Pop they were gone

In a comment on another post, Art asked a Question that has worried me from time to time in other areas of the Web.

"Should we also have something in place should a member suddenly stop blogging?" The flip Question is "If I walked under a bus tomorrow how would I make those I know online aware of my demise."

We all know what happens, we wake up one morning and surf across to one of our favourite pages to find that they're gone, alternatively someone just doesn't post again.

I'm not talking about the ones that put Farewell posts up, especially among Sex Bloggers there's a high rate of blog shutdown, I've figures of between 6 and 8 months is the average length for new blogs to last.

In blogging systems other than blogger, Private posts can be made which close friends can see regarding contact details, but on Blogger this doesn't seem possible.

What do you think.

The rules pass II

Here's a second Stab.

Definitions

a) The Moderator is Mr Genty
b) A Member is someone who has been invited to join SBC and has accepted the invitation
c) A resource is another webpage which provides a service to Sex Bloggers, this can be to help promote their webpage, improve their blog in some way or

1) SBC will not host Adverts (This rule can only be changed if proposed by the moderator and agreed by over 75% of the members, The proposal may anly be made in a position where the Community would need the money to continue in a workable form, while it remains on Blogger, Ads are not an option)

2) SBC will not promote resources that have more than 2 advertisements on their main page The Moderators decision on this will be final, but all submissions will be judged on both their merits and their benefits to bloggers, plus discussion on the Community.

3) A member of SBC may not post a link to their own blog, however crossposting of information relevant to SBC is allowed

4) Any blogger may join SBC

5) No Member may attack another Member, the member's work or their blog in this community, A first attack will lead to the Moderator contacting the attacker personally outside the community, further attacks will mean the issue being voted on in the communityand may lead to removal from the community.

6) Breaking of the rules will lead to your membership being revoked.

Rules Question

I want to put up a page / post of the Rules for SBC

As with everything Community this is up to all of us, not just myself.

These are the Rules I like (Although these aren't final.

1) SBC will not host Adverts (This can be changed by a 75% in favour vote, but only in a position where the Community would need the money to continue in a workable form, while it remains on Blogger, Ads are not an option)
2) SBC will not promote resources that have more than 2 advertisements on their main page
3) A member of SBC may not post a link to their own blog, however crossposting of information relevant to SBC is allowed
4) Anyone may join SBC, but flouting of the rules will lead to your membership being revoked.


Fill in your own blanks, any more rules?

These are Just Thoughts (re: communities as a whole)

The essential component of a community is one where members introduce themselves, giving an introduction to what they're more or less about. The other element of sex blogging is the aspect of anonymity and how it can impede this because it places a lot of limitations. The strict nature of anonymity is more prevalent in sex blogging, and this can impede a full scale introduction but that doesn't make an introduction impossible. It can be said that a reader can gauge many things from a writer's blog, however this many not fully be the case especially where blog content isn't reflective of an ongoing personal diary. The other element, is the use of those types of legalese statements that, in their own way, act like a loophole: the content may or may not be true, it may be partially true, but more importantly and in many cases it doesn't really introduce new readers to the blogger. So from this end, it's difficult for a person, who doesn't blog to gain an insight, especially if the blogger has been blogging for more than a year. One quick look around, and many profile pages are hardly filled.

In light of the few blogs that have closed their virtual doors in the last couple of months, introductions may be a viable option. How would a completely new person (to blogging) view this medium? How comfortable would they feel? I often think think of that, and I also wonder (in regard to blogs that have shut up shop) of the reasons why some bloggers have decided to close their blogs (stalking etc aside).

Which is why I think this idea of a community, like the one set up here, is important to introduce people to others as well as encourage some debate/discussion as well. Aside from this, it would be the only time where people/bloggers would be communication outside the comfort of their own blogs, so it would be informal.

But introductions don't just happen. We write about so many explicit things, and at the end of it all, there's a percentage that's not willing to lift the lid - at least partially - on themselves (outside of the sexual genre) in a community setting (a blog entry is different, it's written for an audience, and can be subjective).

How do you see blogging?
How has it affected you?
Did you ever envision that you'd be blogging about sexual themes?
Do you find it limiting as a genre and/or find it difficult integrating with other non sex blogs/bloggers who may (or may not) view sex blogging as being socially subverse?
What concerns do people have as bloggers (apart from whether or not they receive commentry, visits etc).


I also think the one thing that can impede an open community is personal agenda, or a confluence of personal agendas that are executed without a democratic type of discussion within a community.

Promotion

Please, Please, Please promote SBC.

I've already learned things I did not know, and am aching to learn more, to meet more people and to provide a central resource for any and all sex bloggers.

The more people we have here, the more debate, the more fun and the more we can stick together.

FAQ

What is SBC
A lot of times I have wanted to ask a question of my fellow Sex Bloggers, but have not had anywhere except my own journal in which to post them.

The Sex Bloggers Community is intended to be a central place where bloggers can share information, experiences and expertise with each other.

Sex Bloggers also face mulitple problems from Stalkers to hosting and again, guidance can be received from others in the same or similar positions, people who've been there and done it.

Imagine coming in Fresh now to sex Blogging, where to start for someone not computer oriented.

1) Advice about Blogger being available, other systems also
2) Blogrolling and similar services which make it easier to maintain
your presence
3) Resources to promote your Blog being laid out clearly.

It took me between 3 and 6 months to get there.

Any questions, polls or cries for help are required, any tool found that can help to promote your own blog, any services that can aid the sex blogger.

This is not a place to promote posts, sex stores (online or otherwise), this is a place that will hopefully build the community. Allow us to find each other and help each other.

What do I have to do on SBC
Quite Simply, Nothing.

You don't have to do a thing. However if you have something to add, something others can learn from or just a question dive in.

How do I join
Either:

Send an email to mistergently*@*googlemail*.*com (Without the Stars)
or
Comment on this post with your email address and I will invite you.

No matter how you contact me, you must include a link to your journal / Blog

Why can't I join?
If you're on Blogger Beta, you cannot currently join SBC

Do I have to Link to SBC?
There is not rule to say that you have to, but bear in mind that if you join then your blogger account will be linked as a contributor, more traffic in should lead to more traffic out to the members.

Linking to SBC
There is code in the sidebar that if added to your blogging template / page, will provide all you need.

Rules
Definitions

a) The Moderator is Mr Genty
b) A Member is someone who has been invited to join SBC and has accepted the invitation
c) A resource is another webpage which provides a service to Sex Bloggers, this can be to help promote their webpage or improve their blog in some way.

1) SBC will not host Adverts (This rule can only be changed if proposed by the moderator and agreed by over 75% of the members, The proposal may only be made in a position where the Community would need the money to continue in a workable form, while it remains on Blogger, Ads are not an option)

2) SBC will not promote resources that have more than 2 advertisements on their main page The Moderators decision on this will be final, but all submissions will be judged on both their merits and their benefits to bloggers, plus discussion on the Community.

3) A member of SBC may not post a link to their own blog, however crossposting of information relevant to SBC is allowed

4) Any blogger may join SBC

5) A Member may not attack another Member, the member's work or their blog in this community, A first attack will lead to the Moderator contacting the attacker personally outside the community, further attacks will mean the issue being voted on in the community and may lead to removal from the community.

6) Breaking of the rules will lead to your membership being revoked.

Being 'Featured' on another's blog Part II

A couple of things have thrown me recently regarding being featured on another persons site.

The work I've created is mine and I think that if others wish to feature it, this should be done on my terms.

Now any Genuine blogger will do one of two things.

1) They will overview your work and then link to it

2) They will feature a snippet of your work with a link to it.

Because of what's happened recently I've decided that if my work is featured then I have the right to make certain requests.

These include, but are not exclusive to

If you wish to feature my work:

You must link to either http://gentlygently.blogspot.com or the original post at the top of my work in the same size font as the writing.

You must credit me at the top of the piece

You may not feature more than 100 words per piece.

My Question is whether you feel that this is realistic, whether you have any experience in these matters and if there is anything I've missed?

Being 'Featured' on another's blog

Another Facet of promoting your Blog is that others are going to see your work, and a few things may happen then.

1) You will pick up more readers if they enjoy your work
2) Other Bloggers may point their readers at your site
3) Other Bloggers may link to you from their own blog
4) Other People may want to Feature your work with Full Credit
5) You will get more comments

The above are usually all goods things.

5) Other People may try to pass your work off as their own
7) Other people may 'Feature' your work with with minimal or no credit.

These are bad things.

What do you do if the bad things happen?

a) Contact the maintainer or owner of the website and requests that they either give you credit or remove your work

If this doesn't work

b) Go to No Yoink and report the plagiarism

Remember that the work you produce is your work, you have full copyright of that work and can dictate how and when it is used, misuse can reflect badly on yourself and your blog.

Just for balance

My Apologies to Mel.

That's what happens when I half scan though a post while trying to work and talk on the phone at the same time.

Publicising your blog: BlogStormz!

So, you've set up your blog with your chosen username and sensible password. You have a name for it and for the last week you've been adding saucy posts. What do you do to get yourself some readers? One word: publicity. A lot of people around here refer to it as "whoring your blog" and it's done very simply. Over the next few weeks I'm going to explore with you the various options you have when it comes to getting your blog "listed". There are various listing sites and each site has its own way of doing things. This week we're going to start with a site that's very close to my heart: BlogStormz!

What is it?
BlogStormz! is a listing service that lists links to AdultBlog posts. The links are ordered in the order that they were submitted and are split into weekly sections. Various bloggers take part, including Tara of TaraTainton.com, Artful Dodger of the Secret Brain and Mr Gently himself. There's also a host of newer writers and less well known bloggers, all treated with just the same amount of respect and good manners as the more well-known bloggers. The original concept belongs to Artful Dodger, who created BlogStormz! in April 2006, and I've made and am maintaining the current site.

Where is it?
BlogStormz! can be found at http://www.blogstormz.com/. It started as a project on Blogger, so full archives from April through to August can be found at http://blogstormz.blogspot.com/. There's also a RSS feed of the weekly lists, currently found at http://www.blogstormz.com/rss.

How are the blogs listed?
BlogStormz! does not just list links to blogs. Instead, they link to individual posts. This keeps their listings up to date, due to the fact that the bloggers themselves are expected to keep submitting links to their recent posts. BlogStormz! also has a blogroll, consisting of "whitelisted" users. Once a reader clicks a link in the link list, they are taken to a framed page with the original post in the bottom frame and a navigation bar in the top (much like when browsing cached pages on Google). The navigation bar allows the reader to skip from one post to the next without having to go back to the homepage.

What do I do to get my blog listed?
On the front page there is a link to a form that you, as a blogger, can fill in. The form asks you to fill in details about your chosen post and also asks you to categorise it into one or several of the many categories available. Click submit and that's it. The post is put in the pile for the administrators to authorise and you should see your post in the weekly list within 24 hours.

As an added bonus, you can sign up with BlogStormz! This way, you only need to fill in your blog's details once and (provided you gave the URL of your blog's RSS feed) you can then choose one of your latest posts from a drop down menu. The form is automatically filled in, but still open for you to edit, and all you need to do is choose some categories that fit your post. Magic. Once you've had five authorised posts as a member, you become whitelisted. This means your blog appears in the blogroll and your post automatically shows up in the link list.

Is a link back required?
BlogStormz! does suggest that you provide a link back to them from your blog. This can be with the rest of your links or in the post that has been submitted. They do not currently have an automatic checking system that verifies if you have a link back to them, however most new participants are left a welcoming message on their first submitted post that suggests they should get one. There is a page on the site providing details of how to link back, with buttons such as the one above.

Well, that's about it. If you have any questions or additions to this information, fire away.

Question to the community and a "thank you"

1st and foremost, I'd like to thank Mr. G for starting this forum for us, both new and experienced bloggers who lean naughty. :) We need a proper resource like this, and I hope collectively, we can all make this a valuable resource.

Ass kissing aside, lets talk about adding audio and video to a blog. I'm pretty handy with HTML, and manually editing my own templates, wrote web before I took on blogging, not a "huge" learning curve there, but inserting audio and video seems abit of a challange to me.

On the video end...Utube seems very friendly....but I really cringe at the idea of giving them access rights to my blog, should they get hacked or some crap. Are there alternatives out there? On the audio end, what services have you goofs used that you like...dislike and why......I am very interested?

Mr Zig..:)

The Aim of the Community

I was asked a very important question today by one of the participant of this community.

The Question was (To paraphrase the question a little) how I wished the community, did I want to see al posts before posting, was I happy for people to post into the community directly, should people link from posts on their own journal?

The answer I gave is below:

--------------------------------------------------------------

My Preference would be for you to publish content directly onto SBC, I
wouldn't see it becoming a site to simply link to other sites,
although links should be allowed so long as there is some qualifying
text to explain what the link is to and how it relates to sex
bloggers.

I'm completely open to however you want to use it however. I would
like other people to post / publish content on SBC directly if
possible though. I see it as a genuine resourse for all sex bloggers.

There is no Protocol yet as I don't want to impose anything, I want
the members to make it whatever it needs to be.

I hope that makes some kind of sense, as you can probably tell I
hadn't thought that far ahead.

--------------------------------------------------------------

The only other thing I would say is that I didn't intend this to be a community for people to promote their own journals on, or as a commercial entity, but a way to meet any challenges together.

This community isn't Mine, it's for everyone to use as they see fit, if you wish to post, post. If you want to know something post.

Moderation and Word Verification

One of the questions I asked in my own Blog a while ago was how people feel about Comment Moderation and Word Verification.

Regarding Moderation, it obviously can take a while for your post to appear.

On Word Verification, does it make you think twice before posting?

ADMIN: New Sidebar Button For SBC

Hi guys, I haven't been doing the usual Sunday afternoon things today. ;) Instead I have been creating this lovley little button for you all to take away and proudly display on your blogs.

Sidebar Button

Here's a sidebar button that I've just created.

I realise it's not fantastic and invite others to create their own if they want and share them with the community.

EDITED: New Logo by SUZE

EDIT: My Apologies, I made an Assumption and it was wrong. /EDIT

On the sidebar in pride of place is the new Sex Bloggers Community Logo.

This has been created by Suze and I'd like to thank her very much for it.

You may hotlink to the logo from the same place I have, or upload it for yourself, but please link it back to the Sex Bloggers Community.

There's also a slightly smaller version here



I'm currently working on a 20 x 70 logo.

People without Blogger Accounts

I'm not sure how people without Blogger account will post, does anyone know this? I want to make this resource available to anyone who wants to join and add to the community with the spirit that is has been set up in.

If we come to the realisation that people without blogger account cannot post, then we can either ask everyone to get a Blogger Account (a Pain I know) or move the Community to an online forum (More passwords for everyone!)

I just want to make sure that this Community is going to work before shelling out money to host a forum.

Thanks
Mr Gently

Lets start at the beginning

You've created your blog, and are about to post your first entry.

But WAIT, there's something you've forgotten to do...

Let me guess what the password you've chosen for your blog is:

Sex
Blog
blogger
blogspot
password
your username?

I really hope that it's none of these, but how easy is it to guess?

Some pointers:

Put some numbers in it.
Mix upper and lower case alph characters.
put special characters in it like !@£$%^&*, just be wary of you travel without your own laptop, if you make £ part of your password, you likely won't be able to log in in the USA
Do NOT use the same password for all of the websites you frequent.

If your password is a simple dictionary word, even worse if it's something that means a lot to you, someone or something close to you, then please go and change it. The worst thing (From others experiences) is getting hacked and someone deleting all of your work.

Blogger Beta

Does anyone have any info to share on Blogger Beta?

Good / Bad?

Is it ready

Features?

Community is useful

A lot of times I have wanted to ask a question of my fellow Sex Bloggers, but have not had anywhere except my own journal in which to post them.

I've started this community, all are welcome so long as someone already on the club can vouch for them, I want people to post like the Wonderful Blogstormz straight into the blog, so anyone who wants to be added will be added, but posts must stay vaguely on topic.

Any questions, polls or cries for help are required, any tool found that can help to promote your own blog, any services that can aid the sex blogger, some examples of the kinds of the things I would expect to be outlined on here are:

www.blogstormz.com
ww.sugasm.com
http://www.thepillowbook.com/toplist/index.php
http://alexsuze.com/liclist/list.php
http://stopinternetcensorship.blogspot.com/

This is not a place to promote posts, sex stores (online or otherwise), this is a place that will hopefully build the community. Allow us to find each other and help each other.

If you wish to join, please post below or email me at mistergently*@*googlemail.com (Without the *s). Anyone who does join will be put on a Blogroll in the next few weeks.