The Gods Help Me, I’ve Joined Tumblr

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A few weeks ago, I joined Tumblr and also updated my LiveJournal account/migrated some over to Dreamwidth.

I’m not very happy with LiveJournal’s McSpam problems, for they make it difficult to interact with people and also know what to pay attention to. I’d like too figure out another place where you’d like to read my blog; after all, it’s not always easy remembering to visit somebody’s website or checking the RSS feed, such as it is. Facebook is becoming more challenging to use because it’s moving toward a pay-to-play environment and Twitter? Well, Twitter is great for bar conversations or passing somebody on the street. I rather enjoy blogging, you see, and I feel it’s a way to give you some content that’s not as ephemeral, provided my time constraints allow me to do that.

So, I’m trying Tumblr, which you can find at mlvwrites.tumblr.com. I’ve still got a touch of work to do on it, namely adding relevant pages and whatnot, but this will do for now. (I find the interface VERY gooey. . . HTML brain broken!) Right now, Tumblr’s the format that is winning out; I’m very new to this, so if you have a Tumblr join me in my insanity.

If there are other platforms you’re on, or would recommend, please comment below!

    Mood: Emerging from a fog.
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: You mean, those exist? *red face*
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: The Airport Shuffle
    In My Ears: Around The World by Red Chili Peppers
    Game Last Played: Dragon Age: Origins
    Movie Last Viewed: MirrorMask
    Latest Artistic Project: In progress!
    Latest Release: “Fangs and Formaldehyde” from the New Hero anthology through Stone Skin Press

On The Need For Digital Archiving

Jack The Pumpkin King Avatar

This courtesy message is brought you by the same person who coined the phrase “Klingons sparkle on the inside.” I’ve never conducted an autopsy to find that particular detail out, but it doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be curious. And please, no need to get upset, for I am a lover of all things Star Trek for its possibility and wonderment. If I had my choice, I would set every politician down and make them watch the original, then Star Trek the Next Generation, then the movies, and circle back to the remaining spin-off series — IN ORDER and PERPETUITY. Perhaps then we could get funding for science, space programs, and the like!

End public service message and mini-rant of a teeny, tiny size.

ANYHOO, back to the point of this post, which is this: ARCHIVE YOUR DIGITAL PUBLICATIONS UNDER PENALTY OF DEATH. I have learned, over and over again, how easy it is to lose years of work with the erasure of a button or technological snafu. While the internet and your digital footprint is for-ever and ever and ever, your writing may not be. I’ve written for Sony, and recently learned that they killed their blog which, in turn, killed my links to samples I was quite proud of. I also penned a few articles for Game Politics back in the day, which morphed under the arm of the Entertainment Consumer’s Association, and the stars-only-know where the hell my original articles went. (This is my fault, to be sure.)

But it’s not just guest articles I’m referring to. FOR THE LOVE OF CYBERTRON, BACK UP YOUR WEBSITE ON A REGULAR BASIS. You never know when a server could go down, when your site could be hacked, or when lightning strikes your server. (I don’t think lightning strikes hackers, by the way. They probably have armor of indeterminate size.) You spend a *lot* of time writing things down online, when it goes? That’s a lot of words and energy and time that could disappear in less time than it takes to retweet a link.

This is also part of the reason why I advocate the need for your own domain that YOU control with your OWN content on it. You cannot, unless you’re Mark Zuckerberg, control/back up Facebook. Twitter, Reddit, forums, etc. These are the flotsam and jetsam online. This is why I seriously feel that a domain you own is in your best interests, because your time is valuable and, if you’re a creative, your content even more so.

That doesn’t mean other sites like Tumblr, Blogger, Twitter, Pinterest, and the like aren’t worth exploring or leveraging. A multi-pronged approach typically works best when providing content online, after all. All I’m saying, is that if you do put quantities and volumes of content on other domains — find a way to digitally archive it. SERIOUSLY. If you’re a writer, remember your articles “could” be used for portfolio purposes or you can republish/re-purpose elsewhere pending the terms of your digital publication contract, too.

In conclusion, you have nothing to lose when you publish online — but your words, pictures, etc. etc. etc. ad infinitum. Digital archives are crucial to the survival of publishing on the internet. Don’t wait until it’s too late.

    Mood: I mini-ranted! Probably should have channeled that into my writing. Oh well. How’d I do? Dramatic enough or not enough Prospero?
    Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: Is coffee supposed to glow? Seriously, folks. I think it’s radioactive today.
    Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: I was good, I was good, I was good.
    In My Ears: My She-Ra power playlist
    Game Last Played: Tetris
    Movie Last Viewed: The Raven
    Latest Artistic Project: In progress!
    Latest Release: “Fangs and Formaldehyde” from the New Hero anthology through Stone Skin Press

A Return to Blogging (Or Why I Miss LiveJournal)

So, here we are. It’s Fall of 2011. 100 Days of Social Media Blackout behind me. Speak Out with your Geek Out is behind (and in some respects) in front of me.

And I realized I’ve been missing something basic, something real. Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus don’t replace what I loved about being inside a blog network. As an author who enjoys sharing, learning, and contributing to a community — it’s difficult to “tag” people on my own website and share updates that don’t sound trivial. Of course, some may argue that that’s what Twitter is for. Only… Twitter is so fleeting. It’s hard to encapsulate people’s personalities in a single Tweet, but a series of them? Sure. Still, I have to be online twenty-four seven to do that. *shakes head* And I’m not.

So, I shall return to blogging after I return from NYCC. There will be other website changes to accommodate this, too, but I have to mull those over. There’s pictures to share, messy artwork to offer you, and more readers to engage. None of what I want to do will change the other posts; this is simply a natural evolution to fit where I’m headed with my work.

[Recommended Reading] The Blogfather Speaks Out

This interview with MetaFilter founder Matt Haughey has some extremely grounded viewpoints on the future of blogging, it’s value and all about the community that Metafilter has fostered. I think this is a good viewpoint to read — especially for writers.

The site still basically looks like it did in 1999, but in the meantime, all those Web 2.0 sites like Digg and Reddit have popped up. Do you ever worry MetaFilter will look old-fashioned?

It’s tough; people don’t want anything changed ever. We have a thousand or so hyper-fans who hate everything. Every tiny little change we make, we test out with everyone who works behind the scenes, then we talk about what we’re going to say to everyone, how we’re going to present it to them. There’s a culture [former Harper’s editor] Paul Ford wrote about called the “Why wasn’t I consulted?’ culture: WWIC. And [MetaFilter] is the ultimate example. We have an entire subsite talking about the site. So everyone is consulted on everything, and everyone has an opinion on everything. — SOURCE: The Blogfather at Willamette Week

If you have a few minutes, give The Blogfather at Willamette Week a read. I think, if anything, it confirms that the value of blogging is that it’s not as fleeting as what you can find on social media. For a writer? Well, I’m sure you can see where I’d be going with that… *wink*

Learning How to Let Go: Social Media Blackout Results

For my closing post in the series about the results of my 100 day social media blackout, I’d like to talk about one of the best side effects of this experiment. And that is? Learning how to let go.

As I mentioned in an earlier post this week, I talked about how I was hypersensitive to people using exaggerated personas on social media to sell their books. Today, I’d like to point out that you, too, may be hypersensitive to things online in the form of comments, articles and headlines.

In the grand scheme of things, what is a bad comment worth to your life? Your business? Would you let a crappy review ruin your day? How ’bout a headline that you never clicked through?

Forums, mailing lists, comments, etc. are going to incur negative comments along with positive ones. The more popular you are, the bigger your business is, the chances of less-than-ideal comments increase. It’s not necessarily a sign of progress, it’s a sign that you’ve attracted the other end of the bell curve.

Having worked with as much data as I have, I normally don’t care about the one comment because I treat them as outliers. What I look for are patterns as opposed to the one-off snarky remark. Yes, I’m human — not an android — so comments made by people who obviously didn’t read through an article or have a knee jerk reaction based on a crappy assumption get under my skin.

But not as much as before.

I now feel that a good social media strategy — whether it be personal or professional — needs to include periods of black out or times when the social media/community manager is not online. The idea of constant connectivity and notifications might sound like it’d benefit you, but after this experiment I’m finding that it will actually hurt you over the long haul. Why? Simply because you run the risk of overreacting the more connected you are. You become, as I did with personas or as others have with comments, hyper-reactive.

The consequences of being hyper-reactive aren’t always good. Sometimes, people feel creeped out if they make a complaint and you’ve magically commented on their Twitter feed or Facebook page. Other times, it’s “expected” that you do. Other times, your comment may come across as talking down to that person or be overly sarcastic.

The other toll that this takes on you, may be in your writing. Timing is important to social media, but for articles? That aren’t ephemeral? It can really chip into the way your prose flows on the page and what words you use. This is especially true if you “trick for a click.”

I’ve often mentioned to companies and individuals that the best way to manage expectations is to have a social media or community policy. I cannot stress enough how important this is for everyone involved in a social media profile. I cannot. If someone is obligated to log in offline or respond to something twenty-four seven — that needs to be clearly stated because the other side of that? Is that monitoring also comes into play and that takes time. Perceptions can ruin relationships, so having these things in place before disaster strikes can help facilitate better discussions and positive expectations.

For many reasons, if anything this experiment has taught me that there is value in being offline. Like anything, having a good perspective requires balance and the ability to let the small stuff go. Without that, well… that’s when you may find yourself as frustrated with the tools as I was.

Hope you enjoyed the coverage of this experiment and the results.

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