VanPortlander

I haven’t entirely abandoned this site but it’s taken a back burner to a few other side projects at the moment. My expectation is that when I’m back, it’ll be in a bigger, better way. Stay tuned…

While browsing my feeds today I learned that yesterday Portland lost a blogger. Russell Shaw used to write locally for Metblogs, but was known in wider circles for his work as a tech journalist and blogger for AOL, ZDnet, and the Huffington Post. He passed away while on a business trip in San Jose.

Sometimes my RSS reader and searches turn up some gems… like this new blog, appropriately titled Things About Portland That Suck.

In the past hour, at least two of the Portland Metrobloggers have been “fired” for publicly voicing their displeasure with the mishandling of the site relaunch over the weekend. I use the term “fired” with quotes, since they were writing for free, but their access/accounts have been downgraded so that they no longer have author access to the site.

First, local blogger Steve from More Hockey Less War posted a comment on his blog about some of his frustrations. Sean Bonner, founder of Metroblogging, decided to swing by and leave a comment on his post where he notes that he’s taking Steve’s displeasure as his resignation. Steve informs me that he was actually on the Metroblog author’s forum, reading communications from Sean when all of a sudden his access was denied and he saw his account had been downgraded.

Another blogger, Brewcaster, was similarly frustrated and chose to agree with Steve’s views on his own blog. Sean decided that copying and pasting his response to Steve was appropriate, and Brewcaster is now also in the “former author” category.

Sean was nice enough to send them both an e-mail titled “Yay Drama!” whereby he confirms to them that he disabled their accounts, in case they hadn’t figured it out from the public comments he left on their blogs.

I wonder if Sean realizes that this whole situation is a result of the complete lack of communication about any of the changes to the authors, and the fact that the whole thing went down without any input from the authors who make the site what it is. A bit of technical testing might have avoided the fallout about the design elements, and the user account migration difficulties could’ve been avoided by, you know, talking with the authors.

At least one other author has chosen to step back from the site, although that person’s account is still active since they haven’t made any mention publicly. And that rumor about a new independent city blog site forming? Sounds like it’s moving beyond a rumor…

update: I see that Melissa Lion has announced her resignation from the site.

Sounds like things are in turmoil over at Metroblogging Portland (or is it Metblogs now… they seem to have re-branded) following last weekend’s bumpy “upgrade” to a new blog platform.

At least one Metblog author has posted publicly with a list of complaints about the new system (including the fact that he can’t even log in) and another author has agreed.

I’ve heard that some of the authors (and some other folks) are in discussion about setting up a new independent Portland-focused blog. There is a lot of positive blog energy around Portland, and I question if there’s much benefit to a city blog being tied to a bigger network.

It’s interesting to note that it’s been almost 24 hours since anyone has commented on the site. I wonder if Metblogs has ever gone 24 hours on a weekday without any comments.

My DNS updated and I can see the new look/feel/functionality of Metroblogging Portland. I’m quite disappointed.

Upfront statement #1: None of my criticisms are directed at the local authors, who all write for free and had no input into the redesign. I feel bad for the authors who apparently didn’t even get any advance notice of the downtime or migration this weekend.

Upfront statement #2: I used to write for Metroblogging, and wasn’t thrilled with the way “upper management” handled things, so perhaps that has jaded some of my comments below. But I’d encourage you to read my comments objectively and decide for yourself.

I’ve been poking around the site now for several minutes, doing some comparisons to the old version of their site as well as comparisons to current blog technology in general. Let’s start off with what I like: the site is running WordPress… meaning it should have better performance than the old system, will have the ability to serve up comment feeds, and hopefully it won’t be too hard for them to fix what sucks.

I’m not a big fan of the gray color scheme, but that’s just my personal taste. I like the logo/ribbon scheme at the top, but it’s a shame the logo doesn’t feature an image of Portland. Let’s look at things from a usability/functionality perspective.

Registration Required to Comment: Are you kidding me? Metroblogging has always been about encouraging participation and trying to get a lively discussion going, and now they’re going to throw up a barrier to that discussion? And if they were that worried about a potential spammer, couldn’t they have supported OpenID or some other standard, instead of me requiring to register for yet another single-site logon? It’s braindead simple in WordPress. Takes about 15 minutes to install the plugin and make a quick change to the theme. I refuse to register for a single site… and I suspect I’m not alone.

Use of Screen Real Estate: The good news is that your old 640×480 screen will probably display the site just fine, because that’s the extent of horizontal screen space actually being used for content.

Bottom-of-Post Icons: It’s interesting they include an icon to let you print a blog post, but nothing about social bookmarking (which would actually drive traffic to the site). And how come the icons are bigger than the post titles?

Feed Not Migrating? I haven’t seen either of the posts from the new site show up in my aggregator. I don’t know if that’s just a DNS/feed hiccup, or if folks are going to need to resubscribe. I hope it’s the former, although looking at the source on the site vs. the address I’m subscribed to, it appears everyone needs to resubscribe since it doesn’t look like they setup feed redirection.

Some “Launched Before Ready” Things: Looks like some of the functionality just doesn’t work. Apparently author profiles didn’t migrate from the old site. There are stars at the bottom of each post, which I presume to be some sort of rating system, but they do nothing for me (Firefox 2.0.0.12 on Windows). The search function does strange things when given a term that leads to 0 results.

Overall the migration to WordPress is a step in the right direction, and I’m hopeful it means that we’ll see enhancements more often in the future. I’m seriously bummed about the comment registration thing and hope that they’ll reconsider the decision to erect walls to participation.

Metroblogging Portland (along with the rest of the Metroblogging network) has been down for several hours now, with a “We R fixun da intarwebbie” page up on the site, in a lame attempt to make downtime seem fun.

The downtime led to this exchange of Twitter posts:

ahockley: I sure hope that the @metblogs downtime/redesign will get rid of some of teh suck which is their infrastructure.

seanbonner: @ahockley Um, that’s the whole reason for it.

Could this be the new platform/infrastructure that’s been long needed? Might we see the end of minute-long waits for comments to be posted? Could there be comment feeds? One of the reasons I left as a writer for Metroblogging was that their blog infrastructure was downright painful to use. I’m excited to see what will be revealed after the redesign, and I hope that it involves performance and feature enhancements rather than just a new pretty face.

This is the twelfth in a series of interviews/profiles of various local bloggers (links to all interviews). It’s good to learn a bit about the people behind the websites and I hope that you find the responses interesting.

This week’s featured blogger is Rick Turoczy.

1. Start off by telling us a bit about your current blog project(s)… where do you write?
   

   Well, let’s go by freshness date, shall we? If you count Twitter as a blogging project, that would be the freshest. You can find me there as turoczy. But the next freshest one is the current apple of my blogging eye, Silicon Florist, a blog dedicated to covering the under-the-RADAR startups, events, and blogs in the Silicon Forest. Another fresh one is a Canadian-based blog for which I just started writing, Techvibes. I’m covering the Portland startup scene for them, too.

   I’ve got a couple of other blogs, but I’ll touch on those in some of the other questions.

2. How did you get started? What was your first online blog or journal about?
   

   In the late 90s, I wrote for The Mining Co through its transition to About.com. That was sort of a blogging gig.

   But, my first true blog was (and remains) hypocritical, where I started blogging right around the turn of the century. After a number of fits and starts, hypocritical finally found its spot in my blog cadre as my personal blog, where I throw various rants and tantrums. Generally about marketing communications. In a “do as I say not as I do” vein, of course, to remain true to its name.

3. What’s your favorite part of blogging about local issues?
   

   Like a lot of geeks, I am painfully shy. I tend to refer to my disposition as being an “egotistical maniac with no self confidence.” I mean, I think I’m cool, but I’ve no idea why anyone else would find me interesting.

   So, my favorite thing about Silicon Florist is that I’ve been able to meet tons of interesting people here in the Silicon Forest. People with whom I never would have had the courage to interact if left to my own devices. And I get to hear about the projects that they love. Not necessarily what they do for a living. But what they do because they’re passionate about it. And that’s just cool. It’s a great gig.

4. On the flip side, what do you find most challenging when blogging about Portland?
   

   As much as I love blogging and the Portland startup scene, I love my family just a smidge more. And, as such, it’s really difficult to get out to all of the cool events that are happening here in town without abandoning the family multiple nights every week.

   I need to find some correspondents, I think. Because there are some really cool events happening on a weekly basis. And they deserve the coverage.

5. What has been your favorite moment while blogging? Do any particular posts or reactions/coverage of posts stand out in your mind?
   

   My favorite posts tend to be long-winded, thoughtful diatribes, like the piece on Portland I wrote for CenterNetworks. What I tend to find, however, is that my readers’ favorite posts are the things I tend to “blurt out,” as it were.

   Silicon Florist is a perfect example. I started it on whim. Thirty minutes or so from idea to the first post. And I couldn’t beh appier–or, often, more bewildered–at the positive response it has received.

   Some other favorites include:

   • From Silicon Florist, the Ignite Portland stories
   • From hypocritical, the Web 2.0 interface design checklist
   • From hypocritical, Apple iPhone rebate: A hypothesis
   • From More than a living, Breaking News: Want ads still suck

6. Let’s get technical for a moment. Do you have any favorite blogging tools? Platforms? Online or offline editors? Anything you use to make your blogging easier?
   

   I started out on Blogger. Because I mean, honestly, in 2000, choices were fairly limited.

   But I really like Blogger. And if you’re someone who is just starting to blog or someone who doesn’t want to muck with geeky stuff, Blogger is a great option.

   The only time I’ve used Six Apart’s products regularly was a brief babysitting stint for Kathy Sierra’s blog. I was only managing comment and trackback spam, so I didn’t really get into the publishing engine.

   Now, I tend to gravitate toward WordPress. It’s a great platform. Lots of freedom. Lots of plugins. A lot of folks who know how to make it jump through hoops. If WordPress had been around when I started blogging, I probably wouldn’t have tried anything else.

   But when it comes down to making blogging easier? Twitter. Hands down. Twitter has changed the way I write. It’s changed the way I publish. And it’s done wonders for my creativity.

   With Twitter, I’m no longer encumbered by the “I have to write a whole post about this topic” feeling. Just a quick snippet and I’ve said my piece. Or I’ve begun to formulate a better long-winded response. Twitter makes me write more, more often. And that’s a good thing.

7. Finally, what bit of advice or words of wisdom would you give to someone considering starting their own blog? What do you wish you’d known from the start?
   

   I’ve got two tips:

   1) If you want readers, then focus.
   2) Whether you admit you want readers or not, try to establish a publishing schedule and stick to it.

   For #1, there is a ton of noise out there now. But there are also a lot more people reading blogs. They have a lot from which to choose. So, if you’re looking for readers, make sure your blog has a specific focus. And stick with that focus. It will pay off in the long run.

   If you’re not interested in readers… Well, wait. We’re all interested in readers, whether we admit it or not. Otherwise, we’d be writing in a moleskin or a composition book where no one could see it.

   On #2, it’s a matter of pacing yourself. What you don’t realize when you’re starting a blog–and what I still fail to realize half the time–is that the burning excitement you feel to post five times a day won’t last. At some point, you’re going to hit a wall. And the posts will be difficult to compose.

   So build a reasonable publishing schedule. That aligns with your area of focus. And stick with it. Your readers will appreciate it. And you’ll continue to publish regularly.

   And again, do as I say, not as I do.

Thanks to Rick for his participation. I’ve been impressed by what he’s done with Silicon Florist and it was great to see him as a sponsor for Ignite Portland.

photo credit Brian Solis - used with Creative Commons licensing

After a long dry spell I’m hoping to post more profiles of local bloggers.

This is the eleventh interviews/profiles of various local bloggers (links to all interviews). It’s good to learn a bit about the people behind the websites and I hope that you find the responses interesting.

This week’s featured blogger is Amanda Fritz.

I originally asked Amanda to write this up before she declared her city council candidacy and it is written primarily about her AmandaFritz.com blog which pre-dates her campaign.

1. Start off by telling us a bit about your current blog project(s)… where do you write?
   

   At home. I started the blog before I planned to run for Council again, to have a voice commenting on both important city issues, and delightful things in Portland that perhaps not everyone knows about. It quickly developed into a regular practice of posting one of my husband’s photographs every day, to break up the prose, and to researching city issues when I couldn’t find the information I wanted to know.

2. How did you get started? What was your first online blog or journal about?
   

   AmandaFritz.com is my first blog. Lynn Siprelle redesigned the campaign site from my first run for City Council, to set it up. I didn’t blog in my first campaign. I tried starting a journal on my laptop, but finished only one entry before realizing I didn’t have time..

3. What’s your favorite part of blogging about local issues?
   

   Being able to point out aspects of a proposal or issue that many people might miss. It takes time to learn the acronyms (I don’t use them on my blog) but even longer to spot the underlying, unspoken, ongoing controversies in City policies and practices. After 20 years of following a wide range of issues all over the city, I have knowledge and insights I want to share. I find policy stuff interesting, and I want to make it at least understandable and maybe intriguing for others, too. Blogging lets me do that. Being elected to the City Council would allow me to do it even better, of course

   I especially enjoy blasting ridiculous editorials in major newspapers, without worrying about word count or whether my effort would be for nothing if the editors decide not to print my letter. I will likely have to stop firing off scolding posts if I am elected… but perhaps the editorial boards will be more careful in what they write, when a public finance fund candidate is elected and can respond without fear of annoying affluent campaign donors.

4. On the flip side, what do you find most challenging when blogging about Portland?
   

   Time! As in, not enough of it. Particularly with a blog like mine, with the principle aim of sharing accurate information. It takes hours to research some posts, that may end up being only a paragraph or two. It is very frustrating to be unable to get simple information, presented in readily-understandable form, from government agencies.

5. What has been your favorite moment while blogging? Do any particular posts or reactions/coverage of posts stand out in your mind?
   
   • I was very content that throughout the series of posts on the Interstate renaming issue, commenters on my blog remained respectful of each other and (for the most part) of public officials.
   • I liked a pair of posts I wrote, before and after a meeting, showing the misconceptions I had and then providing correct information.
   • I worked very hard to find out who paid for what in various city projects, and felt satisfied to have posted all the numbers in one place for everyone to review and comment on.

   My most favorite moment didn’t happen to me, but to someone who wrote a Guest Post. She was at a meeting later and muttered a comment that was heard by the woman next to her, who said, “Oh! You’re the one who wrote on that woman’s blog!” I like helping people make connections, both intellectually and personally.

6. Let’s get technical for a moment. Do you have any favorite blogging tools? Platforms? Online or offline editors? Anything you use to make your blogging easier?
   

   I use Siprelle and Associates for my fairly blogmother. Lynn waves her magic wand and everything is fine.

7. Finally, what bit of advice or words of wisdom would you give to someone considering starting their own blog? What do you wish you’d known from the start?
   

   Be prepared to have nothing to say when you meet a friend for coffee. Vacation photos? Check, covered that. Kids off to college? Check. Fired up about the latest issue? Yeah, yeah, I read about it on your blog. It is sometimes hard to remember or even believe that people may read what you post.

   I am very glad I was able to set the norm of civil postings in comments, and being acronym-free. It is good to know that many people are willing to abide by expectations, although my subscriber-only comments policy doubtless cuts down on the number and range of people posting. It also greatly diminishes spam comments, however, and that saves time for more blogging.

   Final tip: If you want to send your hit counter through the roof, blog about a college football mascot fight.

Thanks to Amanda for her participation. I asked her to do this interview and the next day she announced her candidacy, so I’m glad that once things settled down she was able to write up her thoughts.

OregonLive has issues. Thursday night I posted about their call for neighborhood bloggers, which led to some good comments both here and when Matt Davis mentioned it over on Blogtown. The comments surrounding OregonLive always include a couple consistent chants from its defenders. One is “hey, we’re improving!” and the other is a loud chant about how technically, the Oregonian and OregonLive aren’t exactly the same entity.

On the first issue, I’d like to point you to the URL for their domestic partnership news item post yesterday afternoon:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/02/headline_goes_here.html

At the end - headline_goes_here huh? They’re using Movable Type as their blog software, which generates that portion of the URL based on what was input as the article title. Awesome. At least they realized the error and fixed the title.

On the second issue, regarding the OregonLive and Oregonian split… they don’t really act as two entities, so it’s not unreasonable for folks to think they’re one and the same. In fact, their news blog header prominently features the Oregonian logo. And a large portion of the news items on the website are posted by “The Oregonian” - so when Mr. Davis asks a question like “how do the O’s professional writers feel about this” - that seems like a very reasonable question to ask.