Archives

Starting A New Forum Project – Help Wanted!

Apr30

Some of you may remember I had a short lived message board,  called Illuminate, about a year ago. It was basically just a general discussion board for anyone to chat about whatever. It’s kind of one of those nerdy online things I do. Well it started off well until the server crashed and it was gone forever. I didn’t want to start over right away, seeing as how making a sucessful forum takes a good amount of time, effort, and patience. I figured I would wait. Since then I have been active in posting on a couple of different other boards .

I was recently inspired to start one up again. Nothing has been created or decided on yet and things are still in the beginning  planning phase. Basically we want  it to be a mixture of topics, aimed at ages 18-30 but not restricted to just that range.  So far I have one other person working with me on it and helping me brainstorm ideas for what it’s going to be like, but we will need more people when the forum becomes closer to  launch date. I’ll need moderators and content producers, and probably some other help too, so if anyone is willing to help in any way, just let me know  how you want to contribute and I will take you into consideration.

Hopefully it turns out to be a fun community!

Guest Blogging: Here, There, and Everywhere

Mar1

It’s been awhile since my last post, and this is partially because I have been thinking about the direction I want to go here with this blog. I’ve been wondering if I should narrow the topic down to something more specific, and this was only because I worried that my post topics were too scattered, but I have chosen to keep things the way they are, thanks to some helpful feedback I have received.

One thing that I have been thinking about trying out though is having guest bloggers come on here and share their stories, writing pieces, inspiration, or just whatever is on their mind. At the moment I don’t have anyone in mind, so if anyone would be interested on sumbitting a post, let me know.

I have also started guest blogging more lately as well. There is a blog that I have been reading for several months, called Lovelyish which is basically a community set up on xanga, focused on women’s interests and aimed at women in their late teens and 20s, where members can sumbit articles for approval on the front page and receive comments. Click here to check out my profile there. I have also linked it on my side column. You might notice the posts I have submitted so far are previous entries from this blog. I will probably start submitting content exclusively for Lovelyish and then copying on to here or at least linking it. It’s a fun community and it’s awesome to be a part of it.

Flickr Updates

Feb2

I have completely reorganized my Flickr photo album! I wanted to make it so I could add more pics and put them in appopriately named sets so everything looks better and more clean. The only thing I still need to do is go through and edit/add some titles and descriptions. I even went through and found some of my older pics and added them in there too so check it out.

Delete-Happy Bloggers

Jan5

Just a little bit ago, I revisted a blog post of someone’s that I commented on a few days ago, only to find that my comment had been deleted. I was kind of surprised at this one, because it was on a controversial topic and I posted an opinion that seemed to conflict with the author of the post, but I was very careful in how I constructed my comment. I was very polite and respectful, but it was dismissed and deleted anyways. This used to happen to me a lot on a different blog in particular a few years ago. Basically, because I didn’t kiss ass, I was not welcome, and not only was my first comment ever deleted, but I was banned immediately. Whatever. I went back to that blog a few months later only to comment on an article that the author wrote that I actually really liked, and I told them how great it was, and it took less than 60 seconds for that woman to recognize me and tell me once again I am not to comment again, ever. Boy, I must have really pissed her off all that time ago by saying something so out of line to make someone act that way, right? No. Not at all, actually. I emailed her to ask why what I said was such a big deal, all she said, “My house, my rules.” Yes, she really said that. I was as nice as possible in saying what I thought, but it was a statement that didn’t agree with the message that she was trying to get across, but apparently that was enough to get my ass banned for life, because you know the internet is some serrrious effing business, people!

It’s just that, it all amuses me. I can completely understand deleting a comment on your blog that is undoubtedly harassing and disrespectful. “Hey you are a (insert overused female insult here). I hate you and hope you die!” Ok, I believe that one to be delete worthy, but just because someone makes a comment that doesn’t agree with the author and they can’t handle it, so they snub them off and declare that person a troll?

I just want to let my readers know that I will not be that way. Please, feel free to disagree with me and post it. I welcome it an intellectual challenge. I can handle an opinion that is different than my own. I will listen and respond, and take your thoughts into consideration. Just remember to be respectful and civilized. If you can do that, I will not dismiss your right to your freedom to say what you think just because it’s “my house.”

That is all for now.

More Updates!

Jan2

I have changed some things around the site, like the layout, some of the content, etc. Adding some new stuff, taking out some old stuff, and I will be continuing on that in the next few days, just to keep things up to date. I will be updating my About Me page very shortly.

In other news, the Rock Girls calendar page is official up on Max’s website! You can also check them out on the photographer’s online portfolio.

I’m Posting Every Day in 2011!

Dec31

I’ve decided I want to blog more. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now. I will be posting on this blog once a day for all of 2011. This is all inspired by the official wordpress Post A Day Challenge for 2011.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments, likes, and suggestions of inspiration if you have them.

Signed,
Ashley

Updates

Jun12

Just a few quick updates.

The Take Steps Walk was awesome! The trail we walked was beautiful and it wasn’t too terrible hot outside that day. We also went to the Midwest Reptile Show earlier that morning and bought a new female ball python, which currently makes 6 snakes all together. I haven’t gotten around to posting the photo to flickr yet, but hang tight.

It seems IlluminateMB’s server has crashed. :-( But I have definite plans to make a new board in due time, so please be patient, and if you are interested in helping me out with it and being a co-admin, that would be great! Just let me know.

Thanks to Melanie for the link to You’re A Grown Man. Haha! That site is great and made my day! Everyone should check it out.

Twitter, Hacked?!

May2

So I’m thinking that my twitter account was hacked. I went to login as usual, and I got this message saying that my account has been suspended and in being investigated for suspicious activity. But I haven’t been doing anything on there besides my usual tweets. It also said that I will receive an email regarding the situation, but so far I have received no such email. I tried to contact them last night before I went to bed, but I haven’t heard back since. I have no idea what’s going on! Ugh!

Funny Tampon Ads

Apr11

A couple of tampon ads mocking other tampon ads.

Site News!
I have some exciting site news! I finally will be launching something I have been wanting for some time now…a message board perhaps? Yep! Breanne from guitarcrash.net has given her old board away to me! I was going to start with a small proboards forum, but I like xmb boards since you can do more with them and they look more professional. I hope to have it ready in the next couple days, so watch out for the link when I post it and hopefully I’ll see you there!