You may have noticed that our main page looks a little different. The blogroll of prominent posts has now been replaced by a rolling list of tweets that link to blog posts. Commenters have weighed in with their opinions that the new system is not what they want.
It wasn’t what we wanted either. Google decided to put Google Reader before the cyberspace firing squad. Since our blogroll used Google Reader, it was gunned down in the crossfire!
Tony Kummer, our owner and techno-guru extraordinaire, explored all the options that were available and so far, this is the best system he has come up with. Perhaps someone will put out a new reader that will work like Google Reader did.
I’m not particularly adept at all of this technology stuff. (That’s another way of saying I’m over 55.) I just write, edit and annoy people with my moderating duties. So, I don’t have a clue how all of this operates. I just know that Tony has put in a lot of time trying figure out how to keep the system running.
But you should know that this was not a change we made because we wanted it. It was foisted upon us by Google’s decision to get rid of Google Reader.
I thought the Council of Second Vice-Presidents was going to find a way to save Google Reader?
I’m disappointed in you all.
🙁
On a related note, those of you needing an RSS reader to replace Google Reader, I’m liking Feedly the best of the options out there. It has many of the sharing features and can import your old subscriptions.
Dave, thanks for giving us the scoop. Thanks, Tony, for trying.
Google must be the Wal-Mart of search engines. Have a product the people like? Get rid of it! May the bird of paradise fly up their nose.
I switched to The Old Reader and like it very much….it seemed to be the best option after Google executed Reader.
I’m not particularly adept at all of this technology stuff. (That’s another way of saying I’m over 55).
I object! I did not lose my computer-fu when I passed the age of 55.
As I understand it (and I probably don’t), none of the other readers worked with the site here in terms of publishing the reader.
It’s a conspiracy, and I think we all know who is really responsible for this. 🙂
Cows. Cows are responsible. It’s always the cows.
Sometimes, it’s the giant chickens.
But never the normal-sized ones.
We need more cowbell.
I’ve got a fever.
And that’s the only prescription.
Did you really meme what you said?
Or said differently: are y’all wearing your gold-plated diapers?
Dave is the Bruce Dickinson of Baptist Blogdom.
Hey, Dave puts that green suit on, just like the rest of us..one leg at a time…but, once he has that green suit on…well, he has an ugly green suit on.
liberals.
Don’t forget that we’re football fans, too.
That’s why we love the SEC.
What made SBC Voices so great; after of course all your own articles; was being able to find so many other SBC related articles from one web site. I don’t know how much work would be involved, but something like a Drudge Report site would be awesome. http://www.drudgereport.com/ Post the headline with a hotlink of all the relevant articles for the day. Could you do this?
Bill
Bill, Tony is trying to figure out a way to do that.
There may be a plugin for that on WordPress. This one might do it: http://wordpress.org/plugins/rss-import/
Or it might not…
It’s on my to-do list. Gotta add to my wp plugin collection 🙂 http://croberts.me/
I thought the change to a twitter feed was jarring but was strategically wise. Twitter is a solid social medium for announcements. I definitely enjoyed the blog roll though and regularly followed links. I naively imagined Tony picking from a list of articles he read and promoting an excellent–even eclectic–sampling of SB articles. It felt broad and rich and challenging to keep up with the various authors and articles even though the curation is automated. Congrats on maintaining it and good luck with blog roll 2.0.
Btw: “branding”-wise I think of the “voices” in SBCVoices being the juxtaposition of article links, blogs here, and reasonably accommodative moderation leading to broad discussions (though occasionally “focused” by popularly controversial “signature” positions).
It feels like an excellent mix and I encourage keeping that mix working. Great job gentlemen (and gentle commenters, too!!)
My only fear here is that if you don’t hear enough complaints, that you might get the idea that the new format is really ok. It isn’t. 😉
Even if there is nothing you can do to get the blogroll back like it was, the tweets at the top is distracting. And it is already on the sidebar anyway. Once is enough. And I like it on the sidebar better.
There are some of these “tweets” I cant open. Is this my computer’s fault? For example…
“Street preachers assaulted and beaten at gay pride rally”
The blogroll at http://www.baptistplanet.com/ is still working. Any chance you could adopt that format?
Btw, I don’t show any rolling list of tweets at the top of the Voices page – perhaps because I’m not on Twitter myself?
Folks, one thing that has not changed: if you have an issue with moderation or specific decisions, please drop a line to either Dave or the individual that moderated it (such as me).
Thanks.
I sprinkled pixie dust on my tower and everything went back to the old way. Now, I have nothing to complain about.
How does on make personal contact with Mike Bergman?
CB–I was going to say “I’ll email him and have him email you.”
But I don’t have his email either. Dave would.
Thank you Doug Hibbard.
I tried to contact Dave Miller, but I think he is mad at me over the bullfrog comment. He doesn’t answer the phone or return my emails lately.
CB–I found Mike’s email in an old mass-email Dave sent out, so I dropped him a line to get in touch with you.
It may just be that some days, the instant internet is faster than people have time to keep up with. Might be VBS week for both of them.
I know during my VBS week, during the slack times, I hide under a blanket and eat cookies from the night before.
CB, Mike’s e-mail is not on SBC Voices or his blog, as far as I can tell. If you are on Facebook you could message him there.
Robert Vaughn, Thank you. My wife and all of my kids are Facebook people. However, I have managed to stay away from that thus far. Of late, they have been trying to get me to do “facetalk.” I think that’s what they call it. It is on my new phone. But I have been able to avoid that also. . . . thus far. More and more I am realizing my generation is an ancient and vanishing bred of people. I went into a gun store Monday of last week. A young fellow who worked there tried to sell me… Read more »
It is called “Face Time,” SEC CB. Seriously, you Alabama boys need to step into the New World.
However, you are definitely on target in your handgun selection. Something I would expect from an Alabama redneck.
Have you seen those pink revolvers, Duckman Dale? I think Charter Arms is making them. I was told that S&W was making them also, but I can hardly believe that.
Are you on Face Time, Duckman Dale?
have an iPhone 4 (okay, so I’m not quite as up to date as I make myself out to be since I’m a TX redneck), so “yes” I can “Face Time.” But I have to be at home hooked up to my wireless router to do so.
My sister has a pink Taurus 9mm. A horrid looking thing. Female shooters buy them to match their nails, I think. Despicable. Simply appalling.
cb, I haven’t seen a pink S&W for a while, but I think they do still make them.
I’m more concerned with how the weapon grips than I am with how bright it is in the dark. I like one better for the weight, but another one has better grips.
Doug Hibbard,
I know that there has been some discussion here lately about the evils of legalism and I agree, but a pink and orange handgun is a sin.
I believe that.
God doesnt just hate the color…he hates the gun.
With the same intensity, and same reasons, that He would have hated the sword, the bow, and the sling. Or the car, the chariot, and the airplane.
Because they should be tools for the provision of food and protection and are misused due to sin.
There is no inherent evil in mechanical objects. Only in the hearts of mankind–who will find ways to use objects for evil, whatever they are.
Adam G,
Nah I don’t think you are right. Guns are just instruments that can either be used for good or evil.
Sheesh…I was just joking and comparing it to the Platt article. Just shot my AK on the 4th.
I see now how my statement appears. I should have known better.
Yeah, sometimes we miss the humor. Not properly sighted-in that way.
His logic is obviously faulty. Glow-in-the-dark orange handgrips just gives your attacker something to aim at in the dark.