City Links
Just a little housekeeping note: for links to all the city posts, just check the right sidebar- the links are there underneath the blogroll. And stay tuned! More to come.
Tumblr
Just a brief housekeeping note: I've established a Tumblr account, which you're all encouraged to visit. Those of you that have Tumblr accounts, please give me a follow!
For those of you wondering what the hell I'm talking about, Tumblr is a micro-blogging platform- think Twitter or Google Buzz- that looks like a blog. Like Twitter, your posts are loaded onto a page where everyone you 'follow' appears also, but unlike Twitter there are no limits to the amount of characters you can have in each post.
I'm not sure how much I like it yet, but it's intriguing so I've decided to give it a shot.
I've added a widget to the right sidebar of this site that shows my Tumblr content. I'm not sure if it's suitable just yet and at any time might remove it. I would like to solicit your opinions though- does having the micro-blog on the right side of the blog clutter things up too much? Or is it just right?
I'll do my best not to make the content redundant, so look to my main blog for more serious fare and look to my Tumblr blog for more light material. The feed's name- Miscellaneous Marginalia- should aptly describe its content.
Anyway- feedback welcome, either here in the comments or by e-mail.
Housekeeping Note (Part Two)
I've been thinking recently that the outlook and style of this blog could change a little bit. I'm sure some of you feel the same- the layout is a little too utilitarian, even for me. Alas, I'm hampered by two logistical problems. One, I don't know to redesign/overhaul the blog's look myself and two, I don't have enough money to hire someone to do it for me.
Naturally, these two factors will limit what I'm willing and able to do. That being said, I'm curious to hear your suggestions as to how to improve the look and feel of this site.
In addition to the look, what do you think of the content? Are there topics- speaking generally- that you'd like to see me write about more? Are there topics that you'd like to see me write about less? Should I include more visual stimuli, such as photos and embedded YouTube videos?
Ultimately, I'll continue to write about things that pop into mind. But it is instructive to me to hear what sort of posts my readership likes. Leave any suggestions or comments here or via e-mail. Thanks!
Housekeeping Note
At long last, your comments will soon appear on the site the moment after you leave them, as I will no longer have to moderate them. The reason I began moderating comments in the first place was due to the overwhelming amount of trackback spam this blog received on a daily basis. Each day, I would literally sift through hundreds of trackbacks in order to find the handful of legitimate comments I received. Needless to say, this process was extremely frustrating and time-consuming.
So here's how the new system works. From now on, comments by first-time commenters- which means everyone at this point- will go into the moderation queue. Once I accept your comment, all subsequent comments will appear on the site immediately. I'm keeping first-time comments moderated just in case a few pesky spammers evade the Akismet filter.
I'm hoping this makes the 'conversation' on this blog move a little bit faster. If anything else, it will free up an enormous amount of time for me to write a little bit more frequently.
Again, if you ever feel a comment you left never appeared on the site, please send me an e-mail. I'll see to it right away.
Back Live
Apologies for going dark (or, as a friend pointed out, white) for about 24 hours. I made a technical mistake while trying to upgrade to the latest version of WordPress and inadvertently killed the blog, or thought I did. Fortunately my server host and friend was able to fix things up in no time. Amen.
Regular posts to resume
Off-Line This Week
'tis the October holiday, and while it would be nice to relax in Kunming all week, I'll be up to something far more interesting. A few friends and I will be going off to towns in the central Yunnan countryside, traveling almost exclusively by bicycle. I won't have the opportunity to blog during the trip, but am taking my camera and a notebook so should have some meaty content up on the site sometime next week. In addition, I've made some arrangements to write longer-form pieces for various publications* and will keep you posted when those are ready.
One of the friends I'm traveling with, Jeff Crosby, authors the blog South of the Clouds**. Those interested in Yunnan or China in general should give it a look- Jeff has been here for quite awhile and has a lot of interesting posts about China from a more cultural perspective. I'll see if I can persuade him to write some trip thoughts up after we get back.
I've also been giving a site re-design a bit of thought. I like the current layout but it hasn't changed one iota since last August, an epoch in blog years. The content won't change, though after the Presidential Election I'll probably write less about non-China related matters.
If any of you have suggestions for me, particularly those concerning layout or design, leave them in comments or send me an e-mail at matthew.schiavenza (at) gmail (dot) com. Thanks!
* I sound so important, don't I?
** "South of the clouds" is the English meaning of Yunnan, by the way.
PS- Apologies for the shitty photo posting I did in the George W. Bush post...I'll do a better job next time but am tired and anxious about my trip.
Spamalot
Just a quick note about spam. Recently, the amount of spam comments this blog has received has gotten out of control. Every day, I sift through literally 500 comments selling me porn, pharmaceuticals, and various other goods that I don't want. I must admit that I usually don't scroll through my comments very carefully, as it would take so long. As a result, there's a chance that I've accidentally marked legitimate comments as spam, so if you have left a comment here that didn't appear on the main page, please let me know and I'll try to rectify the situation.
On Comments
Chris downblog notified me that some of his comments have not appeared on the blog. Because something like 95% of all comments I receive are spam, I tend to go through them very quickly in my queue, often deleting them in bulk. If by mistake I delete one of your legitimate comments, please let me know via e-mail. I apologize for the error!
Happy New Year!
A day late, but no less sincere: a very happy new year to all of my readers!
Photos
Several of you have informed me that the link to my Flickr photos leads to an error page. In an attempt to fix this, I discovered that WordPress contains a weird aversion to allowing blogroll links that contain an @ symbol, which my Flickr URL does. So for those of you who want to see some of my photos of Kunming, China, and much besides, the functioning link is here.