There have been a few concerns lately about the privacy of the website.  Although I try to stifle what I can, but it is true that anything you post here can be seen by anyone checking it out.  So there are concerns about posting items that are perfect for the website, but the poster would be a little concerned about people outside of our family reading things.

That brings me to my question.  Would you be willing to have the site run in a “Member’s Only” mode?

This mode could take many forms, the few I can think of off hand are these:

1. Completely block site without a login.  This would mean that everything posted would be block from people that don’t log in.  That way Dad and I can control who has access and who doesn’t.  No post would be seen by people that haven’t logged in.
2. Partially blocked site.  (If possible)  This would allow for all regular posts to be posted “Member’s Only”.  But you can flag it if you want it accessible to people that are not logged in.  This one I prefer, I’m just unsure if I’d be able to do it.
3. Completely Open, but private posts.  This is kind of the opposite of before. This would allow all regular posts available for the world, but you could mark it specially at only for private viewing.  I’m not a big fan of this.  But it’s probably the easiest to implement, but absolutely terrible to administrate.  Plus I don’t think it’s as intuitive for you guys (the end users).

So that’s my thoughts.  Let me know what you think.  I really want the site to be a place where you don’t have to be concerned about the privacy of what you post.  I think we can get there, just not sure if you all will be up for it.  I’d like to hear your thoughts not only if it’s a decent idea but also thoughts of how to make it happen.  Thanks!

Hey all, just wanted everyone to know that it is time for the website renewal.  Although you shouldn’t feel obligated, if you want to contribute some monetary help to the site I will be more than happy to accept it. hehe.  Like I said, don’t feel like you have to but it just helps me to keep updating the back end and correcting issues…it’s good motivation.

Since I’m going to see many of you next weekend, if you want to wait until then, that is fine.  But I can take checks and Paypal if it makes it easier.  Email me and let me know.  Thanks.

Action Required

So I’ve been updating and upgrading the website, and I’ve been trimming and cutting some fat that has accumulated over the years and now we should run at a fairly efficient speed.  For you guys that normally use the link to enter the admin area, that link has moved to the bottom right.  Scroll down and you’ll find it in the About box.

Email Subscription

So everyone knows how much trouble we’ve had with the email subscription service, so I’ve decided to offload that piece so a different provider.  The provider I’ve chosen is Feedburner powered by FeedBlitz.  There are a few things to consider with this change:

1. I will still have 100% over the subscriber list, and your email privacy is still paramount when considering this change.  Please understand that Feedblitz will not give out your email address, nor will I.
2. Email delivery will no longer be instantaneous.  This is the biggest reason I’ve not done this earlier.  Currently, the system is setup to deliver an email within roughly 8 hours of the post being published.  It actually poles the RSS feed and finds if theirs new posts.  If multiple posts are made within that 8 hour period, then they will be collected together in that one email.
3. You should have already, or soon be recieving, an email from FeedBlitz indicating the change in subscription service.  There is some information in there that you might want to read.  If you haven’t seen this email check your junk mail box.
4. That’s it…just wanted a number 4.

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So I’m constantly trying to figure out ways to make the website easier and more streamlined.  I’m also always trying to think of new tools that will help everyone out on posting and the like.

A little news that will bore most of you to death, if any of you remember the original site the system was run off of a program called Movable Type (not Wordpress).  What happened was that MT required me to purchase a copy of the software to do what I wanted, which I didn’t want to since I knew Wordpress could handle it just fine.  Well, Movable Type has just moved into the open source arena, which means I will be able to use it (full featured) at no cost.  So when I get some time, I’ll be updating the site and moving back to Movable Type.  This will mean drastic changes to the interface, but also easier as well as some features that I have been wishing the site had since I stopped using MT way back when.  I’ll keep you posted.

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This one should be the last (if you have been receiving the emails) test.  Let me know if you got this one.

In an effort to stop the madness, I’ll give everyone some pointers to help ensure you get an email update of new posts.

1. Check your Junk Mail, messages come from an obscure email so check it out to make sure it didn’t get dumped there. Many Junk Mail filters will delete the emails after a given time so if you are not getting the message check the site often and double check your Junk Mail (or Spam) folders.
2. Update your subscription profile. After going to the Site Admin page, Click Profile, then the sub-tab shows Subscriptions. Check that you will automatically get signed up for new categories and that all the categories to want to subscribe to are checked.
3. Check your email in your Profile. Make sure the correct email is in your profile.
4. Lastly, this is for when you are posting. A few times I’ve seen one little sister of mine (hehe) click on the Publish button and instead of waiting for the page to process, she start browsing somewhere else. A little history of how the email thingy works: the emails are the last item in a string of processes that get accomplished. If there is an error in posting, you don’t want an email to be sent to everybody for a non-existent post right? Right. So there is some database updates, a couple other items, then finally the email trigger is hit and emails are sent. If after you click the Publish button, you don’t let your browser “POST” everything it needs to before you browse away, people won’t get the email notification of your post.

Hopefully that will clear anything up, if you have another email you would like to add to get the update on let me know and I can add it. Thanks.