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February 27, 2005

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Mudville Modified

By Greyhawk

Okay, the changes to the site are about complete. Your feedback is still welcome, so comment away.

The following changes have been made.

Cosmetic: You might have to look closely. The red and blue are now different shades. Font colors for links have been changed too. Readability is the goal. (Those with problems with font size - this is configurable in your browser.) The Mudville banner at the top is new, but you will see that change routinely.

Still to come: Big changes to blogrolls, other things in right side bar. The pictures aren't going away, but a low bandwidth version of Mudville may become available as a user-selectable option.

Speaking of bandwidth: The speedier load time is a result of adding a very simple line of code recommended by NZ Bear. Compression is the name of the game - not only is the load time faster, but my bandwidth costs are lowered. If you're a blogger, check out the code from Scriptygoddess.

Conceptual changes: Okay, here's where we really made some changes. But since we're all about options - you can ignore them if you want! The overall purpose of these changes is to "open" Mudville and make it more than a place to get two people's opinions. Here's how:

In-line Trackback: Posts from other blogs that link Mudville will be linked automatically from the post they link. Readers are a click away from a second opinion (or a third, or a fourth...)

On-page comment display: Comments are available for viewing right on the front page, just click Show comments here at the bottom of any post.

These changes help fulfill my New Year's resolution to link more blogs more often, and are in line with my idea of what a blog post should be, that is a starting point for a discussion of a topic. In my own conceptual model the blogosphere is a big party with groups forming and breaking and conversations starting and migrating around the room as people move from place to place. Hopefully these few changes will facilitate that aspect of blogging for visitors with or without their own blogs.

With that in mind, each day will begin with an "open post" - anyone can link with a post of their choice or leave a comment on any topic/recent news story. Consider this to be today's "open post" - have at it. Milbloggers, non-milbloggers, big or small, new or blogging for years, don't be shy - consider Mudville as a place to share your thoughts with a few thousand daily readers.

And as another tip for new bloggers, if you haven't visited the above-mentioned NZ Bear and entered your blog into the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem then now is the time to do it. You aren't "in the blogosphere" if you haven't completed that simple step.


Posted by Greyhawk / February 27, 2005 3:04 PM | Permalink

5 TrackBacks

Clinton’s Military from The Skeptical Optimist on February 27, 2005 3:31 PM

Okay, here's a topic for a conversation: Some have credited our victories in Afghanistan and Iraq to "Clinton's" military. I strongly disagree, and this article explains why. Read More

I just listened to Mike Gallagher spend five minutes ripping into bloggers on his radio show. He started out by talking about the Jeff Gannon scandal, calling him a "creepy freaky guy." Gallagher went on the say that it is the "blogging atmosphere" that a Read More

Blogging Backlash From Showing Up Mainstream Media from Political Monitor Blog - Monitoring Political, World Events,Progressive Blogs on February 28, 2005 11:30 AM

by Lindy Baumann, Managing Editor, TPM

As I expected, a backlash is beginning against bloggers, and blogging, in general.

Here...

Read More

Blogging Backlash From Showing Up Mainstream Media from Political Monitor Blog - Monitoring Political, World Events,Progressive Blogs on February 28, 2005 11:30 AM

by Lindy Baumann, Managing Editor, TPM

As I expected, a backlash is beginning against bloggers, and blogging, in general.

Here...

Read More

Blogging Backlash From Showing Up Mainstream Media from Political Monitor Blog - Monitoring Political, World Events,Progressive Blogs on February 28, 2005 11:31 AM

by Lindy Baumann, Managing Editor, TPM

As I expected, a backlash is beginning against bloggers, and blogging, in general.

Here...

Read More

7 Comments

Thanks for the opportunity in the open post.
I for one will take you up on it.

I noticed in the coverage of the courthouse shootings in Texas the other day, the media referred to a passerby being killed along with the gunman's ex-wife. That passerby was Mr. Wilson. A man with a permit to carry who saw innocents being killed and put his life on the line to help police and people he didn't know.
He lost his life in a valiant effort to help. He put 2 rounds into the creep but the body armor prevented those rounds from performing their intended objective. According to the sherriff dept. he saved the lives of several people including wounded law enforcement people who were being targetted as they lay wounded on the ground. In order to avoid presenting any sort of support for conceal carry, the MSM conveniently left out his actions and classified him as a passerby. Regardless of your views on conceal carry,you cannot deny this man gave up his life so that others might live. I doubt he had it in mind but the man is a hero! That is my opinion!

Hi-much faster today (dial up). Four minutes for the page, one additional minute for the pictures.

I have a great deal of difficulty reading the words on right hand side of page - the font colors are difficult to read...is that light blue? on brown....especially the blog links

I agree with the difficulty reading the font, but the overall color scheme is nice. The page loads good and I'm glad you stuck with the comment pop-up window.

:)

I have a dumb question about Iraq, and I haven't been able to find an answer. I know their oil production&shipment is down due to terrorist attacks on pumps&pipelines, but a lot of oil still must be getting through. Who is collecting that money? Where is it going? Who is keeping the books honest? We don't want another oil for food ripoff.
Anybody? Anybody?

Wow. Can classless moonbats link too? :)

The load time is MUCH better. Thanks very much. I love this blog.

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November 26, 2010


America@war
[Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit.

That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary.

From their about page:

The Naval Institute shall remain

INDEPENDENT - A non-profit member association, with no government support, that does not lobby for special interests;

NON-PARTISAN - An independent, professional military association with a mission, goals and objectives that transcend political affiliations; and shall encourage

IDEAS - Through its respected journals Proceedings and Naval History, its conferences, its books and its online content, in support of those who serve.

"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation:

The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism.

Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented.

I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are.

"Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result.

Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web...

And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed.

The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down.

*****

But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:

Closing Blogs is nothing new. So many site's owners just give up on their own. They come and go, you know, these MilBloggers do. Like any other sort of blogger. Many post in the lonely down hours far from home, spill their guts for the world, then abandon their spots when the tour of duty is up. They have lives again somewhere in the world, and no need to share the details. So it goes.

Many are truly gone - no site left at all. "The page cannot be found." Other blogs remain, like abandoned defensive positions in shifting desert sands.

Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down.

If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real.

And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale.

We've already made history, it's time to save it.

(More to follow...)




Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) |

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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
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  • Maggie: The load time is MUCH better. Thanks very much. I read more
  • Jeff Blogworthy: Wow. Can classless moonbats link too? :) read more
  • Paul Moore: I have a dumb question about Iraq, and I haven't read more
  • Steve: I agree with the difficulty reading the font, but the read more
  • Hugh Ramey: I have a great deal of difficulty reading the words read more
  • Margaret: Hi-much faster today (dial up). Four minutes for the page, read more
  • mrupe: Thanks for the opportunity in the open post. I for read more

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The Mudville Gazette is written and produced by Greyhawk, who recently retired from 24 years of active duty in the US military, but will maintain this disclaimer: Unless otherwise credited, the opinions expressed are those of the author, and nothing here is to be taken as representing the official position of or endorsement by the United States Department of Defense or any of its subordinate components.

Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house.

I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email.

Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed.

Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com

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*****

Tending Distant
Fires


Far from hearth and home, watching
Cold alone but not alone
On distant shore and only wanting
Safe return and little more

What tales we'll tell
When that time comes
When tales can be told

When things grim
Seem far away
When other fires go cold

Some distant sunset, vision fading
Memories remain
And tired eyes gaze 'pon folded flags
While distant drums beat their refrain

Saluting fallen friends whose names
And youth will never fade
Here's to those on other shores,
for them live well, the price is paid

- Greyhawk,
Baghdad,
December 2004