Wow, I didnt know I could write in random Latin.

Your writing style is a bit repetitive too.

It's that way in English too, the same in our language, identical in the Anglo-Saxon tongue, an alike process in our common dialect, really the same or similar in this non-Latin language.

-- Department of Redundancy Department.

I quite like the new site. The content is much better than anything I've seen posted on the old site in many months.

I know you've wanted to re-design Aqoul for quite some time. We'd be much better off, however, if you could sublimate your inner geek to your inner analyst for a while. Once upon a time, you used to post some really interesting and thought-provoking stuff. Now we're lucky if we get a post once a month about your sex life, fascinating as I'm sure it is, no doubt. Speaking for myself, I'd much prefer you take the time it would take to do a complete re-design and post some commentary, instead.

Curious, did not realize there was an interest in my "serious" writing.

Anyway, the problem has always been work-life balance. Reason I want to redesign (and upgrade the platform) is to hopefully inspire everyone to come back and start fresh. Including me.

New platform, new design, new US administration...

Writing on Aqoul needs to feel fun again. For a bit there, I felt like it was a second duty, which was no fun.

A thought, however, on redesign as related to re-engaging. One item that began to rub me slightly was the short front page.

If one is posting to Aqoul, given the speed which one is pushed off the front page (and realistically, once off the front page, only the most exciting posts get any attention). At present the design suffers from giving too much separate & fixed space to slow moving sections (Reviews, to an extent individual blogs) which tends to push off 'Core Posts."

I can attest that I have refrained from Front Page posting when other authors had a sharp item up, and I just had a short item of value but not so much value. I did not want to push down a cool Hogan, Eerie, Eva Luna or other post for a shortie.

That is a substantive design flaw. Now, of course I had the option of posting on my own page/blog, but I find that this pollutes my desire to potentially open up my Lounsbury blog to less MENA centric and more business-centric posting (or maybe business centric and perso whanking on).

As such, I think a "longer" front page with less space for the sub blogs (esp. less for reviews), and perhaps a long arty section/column and a shortie arty column. I know there is the author selections thingy, but it's not my style.

Now, if I had the patience to work on the technical part, I would say we abolish the separate Reviews & Author sections (definitely the separate Reviews window pane) and have a long & short arties column, and a longer front page for more scrolling down. I presume my blog reading habits are not atypical in that I rarely go off front pages unless I am actively involved in a convo (and even then...).

Ideally for sub blogs (including reviews), we would have a means of tagging to have it auto pulled into the main, but that may be too much of a pain for the Nerd in Chief. Taking the option that this is too much of a pain, I am strong for putting Reviews in a headliner column and/or mixed with other sub-blogs with a max of 3 or 4 entries showing, with most of the main page divided not by subject, but by presumed turnover.

I am of course open to improvements on my suggestions, but I think the key is that the valuable front page real estate is wasted with lower value presence, and there is not a good way to have "long" (and presumably slower turnover) versus "short" (presumably quicker turnover) posting (or a really long front page with major scrolling). In any case, I am seriously annoyed by the space Reviews takes up.

A note, The Moor Next Door would like to start a multi-author Maghreb to Sahel focused blog. It is a pity we missed the opportunity to bring Ibn Kafka on board, but if the reformat etc is going to be banged out, this is interesting, and gets away from the fucking Middle East part of our MENA 'empire.'

Oddly, I am extremely pleased at your strident criticism. I will adjust accordingly. Keep commenting on what annoys, it's good to have you back.

What would you want to do about the proposed Maghreb-Sahel blog?

Curious, did not realize there was an interest in my "serious" writing.

You must be joking. I mean I can sympathize on the work/life balance thing, especially now that I have a life, but I think I speak for the majority around here when I say I'd love to see you write something substantive. You must have a million ideas that you just haven't managed to put into words yet. It almost makes me wish I were spending as much time on IM with you as I used to, before I had a life, so I could prod you more effectively.

(Actually, for that last bit, I partially blame Tom for not troubleshooting the damn home network so we can both use our computers at the same time.)

I like new site too.

Oddly, I am extremely pleased at your strident criticism. I will adjust accordingly. Keep commenting on what annoys, it's good to have you back

apparently, that latin text used in typeset as a substitute for otherwise distracting text or filler, is an 15th century typesetters' excerpt from a classical discourse by Cicero on pain and ethics:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2290/what-does-the-filler-text-lorem-ipsum-mean

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum

meaning: "H. Rackham's 1914 translation:
Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?"

on a sidenote for Eva Luna on the Nigerian 419 scammer, since the earlier open thread shut down on January 31st, she may find this interesting:
http://www.419eater.com/html/baiting.htm

After our long dead-dead-dead period, some observations on any future format.

(i) There is a need for separate Long Form and Short Form posts on Aqoul itself.
(ii) More main page space in the two prime columns should be given to the Main Blog - be that longer column lengths of displacing the sub-blogs to the side bar.
(iii) The side bar (author picks, etc) works best if there is an active editor on that. It seems optimistic to presume. Side bar might be a better place for the sub-blogs, to give the prime blog more front page real estate.
(iv) A Short Column (briefs) and a Long Column (any longer discussion, including reviews - I think reviews should cross psot autmtically so long as they exceed a certain length), I could police that.
(v) Generally the greatest flaw of the current design is not enough prime real estate for the prime blog, yet the spacing for the sub blogs is not prime either.