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February 4, 2007
Wishlist for Changing MoA

The Moon of Alabama blog will move away from the current hosting provider and its Typepad system.

The new MoA version will include a
complete archive of Billmon’s Whiskey Bar (minus a few missing pics.)

While moving to a new blogging software, most likely WordPress, a new implementation of the design and functionalities has to be coded. A good time to add or change one thing or another.

What can be done will largely depend on the basic functionalities of WordPress, its add-ons and the time I need to invest. What should be done depends on your input.

So here is your chance to add to the wishlist.

Posted by b on February 4, 2007 at 18:54 UTC | Permalink
Comments

I used to use Billmon’s links to other blogs quite a bit. Although it would take additional administration (and again my thanks for the almost thankless task of b’s tireless efforts in hosting MoA), it would be very convenient. Selections could be suggested by all and those getting a certain number of nominations could be used. I’m not talking about the Kosby kids, but the less well-known sites that have consistently valuable content. Am I just being lazy?

Posted by: biklett | Feb 4 2007 19:12 utc | 1

I was on a blog recently where the administrator had reset his/her blogroll to show whatever sites administrator had visited recently. Apparently this only works for sites that have RSS feeds, but it seemed a pretty handy way to keep things fresh, and it seems to guarantee updated links.
Personally, I’d love to have it tied to Uncle $cam’s permbulations, But maybe he’d have somethng to say about that.

Posted by: citizen | Feb 4 2007 19:21 utc | 2

i have already asked bernhard for an impossible task – to be able to tag comments so that it is easier to go back and find them. not sure that anyone else out there feels the same need for easier referencing but am wondering – any other thoughts about how this might be accomplished?
haven’t run this one by bernhard yet and it too may not be feasible, but only one way to find out…. another thought i had was to have a list of threads about currently relevant topics that remain live so that comments can be easily added to them. for example, i might come across something relevant to the eat or drive thread, but may have to dig into the january archives to add to the thread which makes it less likely that i will write the comment. perhaps one way of doing this is to have an index of some kind of threads so that they can be accessed in ways other than chronologically? i find that when i do a search i very seldom come up with exactly what i was looking for and there are pages and pages of options which i generally do not have time to look through never mind open all the links. yes, it is possible i am not searching properly 😉

Posted by: conchita | Feb 4 2007 19:25 utc | 3

I have been frustrated by only one thing, the difficulty of finding posts back. Thanks to B for all the work, anything he does will be fine and accepted. After some puzzlement and rumblings, praise and applause, all will be fine, form is not that vital.

Posted by: Noirette | Feb 4 2007 19:44 utc | 4

I kinda like the java scripting that does html tagging for you. other than that, this format is the nicest and I can’t think of anything that could be improved. I really hope your new host does not use haloscan.
Bernhard, if you wish to post your favorite links on one side I would appreciate that. also, I have no aversion to ads if you desire to go that route. I promise to click on them once a day or more as well.

Posted by: dan of steele | Feb 4 2007 20:11 utc | 5

someone mentioned earlier a place to store valuable articles.
don’r change anything too much, i really like the format. colors etc.
how exciting. can you give us an idea of what this is costing in terms of time/materials?

Posted by: annie | Feb 4 2007 20:24 utc | 6

I agree. Change only what you have to and ditto on haloscan. 😛
Thanks b. I always worry that change will be for the worse but not in this case.

Posted by: beq | Feb 4 2007 20:37 utc | 7

The most important thing is to keep the links to the comments on the right. that separates this blog from, well, every single other blog around. It allows for conversations to occur.

Posted by: Rowan | Feb 4 2007 20:50 utc | 8

Suggestions for the mill:
I would like a simple login for comments. I would prefer to login, as my browser remember will remember that and do it automatically. While that may discourage VERY casual posters, for the regulars (and even regular lurkers like me) it would mean an end to the games with the captcha and incidentally an end to spam and spoofs. Not sure how to reconcile the registration with anonymity; but mailinator might answer.
Tags would be a great meta-asset. You could then have a “tag cloud” on the front page, showing which topics are getting the most attention and making it easier to follow “meta-threads”.
I’m also happy to PayPal from time to time if that helps grease the wheels, though I don’t think that could in any way measure the true effort and value of the site and your contribution b.
Call me nostalgic, but I’ve grown attached to the current “look and feel”.
I’ve not seen anyone do this, but perhaps you can automatically accumulate the links from prolific posters like Uncle into a reverse-chron list reached by clicking through from a post…
I use r-mail.org to subscribe to the rss via email, which works brilliantly.

Posted by: PeeDee | Feb 4 2007 20:58 utc | 9

peedee @9, re paypal – check out the “about this site” link before it is decommissioned.
i was rushing earlier to get out while the sun was still shining and in my haste did not say thank you to bernhard. b, you’ve created a magical site here, thank you for all of the time and thought you very clearly put into it. thank you.

Posted by: conchita | Feb 4 2007 22:13 utc | 10

b- in response to an earlier inquiry by slothrop, you made mention of the fact that you were working on a complete pdf archive of MoA that you were hoping to have available by years’ end. perhaps, prior to any pending move/next generation UI, you can capture a snapshot of MoA up to that point to make available for download for our individual archives of MoA version 1.1 or whatever build this current incarnation resides at. this will prevent any issues w/ retrieving past threads/posts should the style or formatting change. just a thought.

Posted by: b real | Feb 4 2007 22:50 utc | 11

Similiar to what PeeDee suggested, perhaps you can create some sort of feature that would allow others to browse all posts from one particular user?
Thanks for your efforts and open-ear to suggestions, B. Much obliged.

Posted by: A | Feb 4 2007 22:51 utc | 12

conchita,
if you know you will want to find a comment later, you can bookmark the permanent URL to that comment. You find it by clicking the number. But I guess you had something more advanced in mind?
b,
I like it pretty much the way it is. I find WordPress neat and easily adjusted, but I guess you will have to re-write much of the current design to fit WordPress.
all,
I guess since b will be spending a lot of time techno-fixing this will be a good time to ease his workload by finishing that post you have that is almost done. (Still working on mine about the Pirates (that used to have mid-january as expected finishing time))
btw, judging by other websites log-ins is not a protection from spam.

Posted by: a swedish kind of death | Feb 4 2007 23:41 utc | 13

Anything you want to do Bernhard.Your work and time is very appreciated. Thank You.

Posted by: R.L. | Feb 5 2007 1:43 utc | 14

B,
I trust your judgment here. My experience or knowledge on what is available or works good is close to zero. Repeating a couple of thoughts that others have already made: I’m not crazy about Haloscan; and on a somewhat subjective note, call me nostalgic too, but I like the “look and feel” of what you already have. I hope your new server will be as responsive and reliable as to what we are used to.
Can’t thank you enough for all that you do.
Rick

Posted by: Rick | Feb 5 2007 3:51 utc | 15

Bernhard, thanks so much for doing this. Billmon’s posts were second to none, and so, for a long time, were the comment threads he inspired.

Posted by: ralphbon | Feb 5 2007 4:21 utc | 16

PeeDee (again, Welcome Back) wrote:
Call me nostalgic, but I’ve grown attached to the current “look and feel”.
I’ll second that. Warmest place on the web. Pls. change as little as possible 🙂

Posted by: jj | Feb 5 2007 8:02 utc | 17

Nostalgic, here too.. however, I’d also like a pdf of moon archives, I asked before, didn’t want to push… I personally, would rather have a moon archive than a billmon archive. Moon has it’s own flavor, I’ve grown accustom to.

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Feb 5 2007 8:36 utc | 18

herd cats much?…lol
Don’t go changin..…lol

Posted by: Uncle $cam | Feb 5 2007 8:41 utc | 19

As usual, I echo the confidence that the regular contributors have in
b’s good judgment and technical proficiency. The only suggestion I have
is rather more a hope, namely that MOA will continue to attract first rate
contributors, especially those who start from ideological bases different
from that of the majority, but who express their ideas with courtesy and clarity.

Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Feb 5 2007 9:29 utc | 20

ah, uncle 19.. perfect

Posted by: annie | Feb 5 2007 9:46 utc | 21

ok
– comments – definitly no haloscan – I hate it …
– a blogroll – not sure yet if/how I want to maintain that
– tags for comments could be difficult, I’ll have to check around
– definitly no captcha the way typepad does it – it’s the reason why I want to get away from it
– PDF of MoA – at the new place which has less bandwidth restrictions
– design – mostly the same or with minor tweaks – probably adjustable typesize
Please keep your ideas coming!
It will take a while since it is a new language (PHP) to me and new template work to be done. It’s quite a while since I coded and did unix administration. Meanwhile, as askod said above, if you send piece to post, it helps quite a lot.

Posted by: b | Feb 5 2007 14:59 utc | 22

Pls, like Whiskey bar, add at the rigth sugested blogs, and at the left sugested books or URLs, or why not? Commercial Adds of interesting products, travels, meals,recipes, pictures etc. Would be interesting for me look at items recomended by Uncle, DA, conchita, or swedish k of d.

Posted by: curious | Feb 5 2007 16:49 utc | 23

No commercials!
Besides, I only read cheesy novels about swash-buckling pirates…

Posted by: a swedish kind of death | Feb 5 2007 17:32 utc | 24

Here are some more ideas:
To organize things better for archiving, it might make sense to have, for now, a permanent Iraq/Iran thread, or even a permanent “Middle East” thread, in addition to the post of the day and the OT thread. We could also expand that and have a number of topical threads that are regularly up (without requiring a “post” to comment on) — then we could have less of a hodgepodge in the OT. For example, we could have a US politics thread, a Latin America thread, an Africa thread, and perhaps an Economics thread or a Climate thread. These are subjects we all seem to be interested in. Of course you wouldn’t want to have too many or it would be hard to keep up, but this would at least organize these posts into buckets that would be easier to search through later.
Another idea is that I would like to see threads or areas for discussions of good books on any topic. So we can share some responses to books, perhaps, in addition to online materials.
I think the way the posts are chronologically referenced on the Home site at the right-hand side is incredibly useful. Then I can see what has gone on since I last visited, if multiple threads are “live” at the same time,” and keep track of what I have and have not read.
I’ve mentioned before that I would like to be able to have a “Hall of Fame” area on the home page for things that we think are just really relevant and useful. Of course, we might have to figure out how to choose those… maybe a recommending system like DKos has. Alternatively, Helena Cobban has a really nice feature on her site called, I believe, “My De.li.ci.ous” where she can spotlight links that she thinks are particularly worthwhile to read, and they stay “on display” for longer than the life of a post.
I also think links to other blogs that we all like or that b likes would be great. I would also love to see links to some of the foreign press that is so valuable — such as the Guardian, the Independent, Haaretz, Asia Times, Voice of Iraq, personal blogs from different countries, etc etc. I personally find that sometimes the most interesting way to spot trends is to look at a wide selection of articles about a country, such as Iran, and then to see how widely a particular “message” is being communicated by a country. I don’t know if there is a way to provide a link to access that.
Finally, I personally really prefer posting systems that allow me to post with just my name, not my email. It really makes a difference in enabling those who wish to stay somewhat more anonymous to do so. Of course if terribly disruptive posters became a problem, I would likely change my view on this. But for now, with everyone relatively civil, it is nice to have the flexibility of choosing whether or not to add an email address to a post. That is very important to me.
Thanks for asking, and of course thanks for all that you do to keep this little oasis chugging along.

Posted by: Bea | Feb 5 2007 17:56 utc | 25

Oh and reading the new post reminds me of another idea. I think it would be AWESOME to have links to some basic legal references, such as the Geneva Conventions, Principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal, other applicable international laws (for example, those governing the right to wage war), the US Constitution, etc.
Americans in general seem to be completely oblivious of this entire body of law and think that we can do whatever we please to anyone. I think this is an extremely important area for “consciousness raising.”

Posted by: Bea | Feb 5 2007 18:01 utc | 26

s k of d: when you said : “I only read cheesy novels about swash-buckling pirates…”
that is exactly my idea. I am interested in what you read and if you have any interested meal o recipe to recommend, that is the kind of commercials I thought.
Have you taste french bread with spreaded tomato and a few drops of olive oil?

Posted by: curious | Feb 5 2007 18:03 utc | 27

b
it’s strange but i’ve used the captcha to edit a little my post so as to not make so many errors – of all kinds
i feel there is ahome here – so i as well as being computer illiterate – i am not the best person to ask for changes
now it is clean & hard & it is strange but compared to all other sites i have ever witnessed – i instinctually feel the states of the person who have written the post translated clearly thru this medium – something i could not have imagined 5 years ago
& we’ve got such experts here it would seem some regular & fixed post by b real for example on latin america or africa, slothrop or fauxreal on theory, conchita & rick or annie on local american politics – yr all so good that uncle bea – all of you perhaps could share the posting with b

Posted by: remembereringgiap | Feb 5 2007 18:43 utc | 28

what r’giap just said.

Posted by: beq | Feb 5 2007 22:24 utc | 29

then we could have less of a hodgepodge in the OT.
i love the hodgepodge at OT. not that i don’t think a permanent iraq, iran or ME thread wouldn’t be of value.
or annie on local american politics
horrors! i’m quite sure you wouldn’t want to be subject to LAP posts from me. i’m quite satisfied at being able to post my (occasional) pithy comments in a regular format.

Posted by: annie | Feb 6 2007 0:06 utc | 30

I like the OT hodgepodge too. It’s like a flea market. I’m always at home there.
😉
LAP posts from annie anytime, anywhere!

Posted by: beq | Feb 6 2007 2:30 utc | 31

I recently needed, well, *wanted* to refer to a Billmon post, so I hunted down his archives – which I found in a zip file…somewhere…I forget where.
Anywho; I’ve posted them at WhiskeyBar.org; They need some more formatting and such, plus a blurb about them being an archive, but they’re there. Mostly. I do need that last great post about Condi.

Posted by: J | Feb 7 2007 15:54 utc | 32

Anywho; I’ve posted them at WhiskeyBar.org;
whoa, intersting. are you going to have a search function at the site?

Posted by: annie | Feb 7 2007 19:48 utc | 33

conchita @10; Yep, still works 🙂
b, just thinking as I tried to follow the open thread this morning; any possibility of threading comments like, for instance, slashdot does?

Posted by: PeeDee | Feb 7 2007 20:44 utc | 34

annie – #33
I hope to add search functionality; I’ve got a lot on my plate right now (school). If I get really REALLY motivated, I’ll import the posts into some blogging app. That’ll likely have to wait until late spring, early summer, tho.

Posted by: incognito in austin | Feb 8 2007 23:09 utc | 35

Now that they are online, they can be google-searched by writing your search terms and site:whiskeybar.org in the search window.
Or it should be possible, but right now it does now look like it is working.

Posted by: a swedish kind of death | Feb 9 2007 1:55 utc | 36

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