Blogmeet in Chester

Andy is organising a blogmeet at 2.00 PM on Sunday August 13th at The Old Harkers Arms in Chester (full details). Thanks Andy!

[tags]chester,blogmeet[/tags]

Blog ranking update

Another quick update, this time on the blog ranks front: I’ve ordered the server mounting rails today, so they should be with me by the end of the week. With luck I’ll be able to arrange some time next week to get the new server installed (up at Sovereign House), so that should mean I can get the blog ranking service back up and running within a few weeks of that. Yay!

For those of you that aren’t aware of the situation, I had to disable everything to do with the blog ranking system (technoranki) a few months ago (time flies!). The load that technoranki was creating on our existing server was too much, and it kept killing our web server (the one that runs BritBlog).

So, once this new box goes in I can move all the technoranki stuff on to that, as well as a few other little bits to do with BritBlog. This means that the ranking process can begin again, and BritBlog can start syncing with technoranki once more. It will also give us a better environment for building the new version of BritBlog — at last!

So things are finally moving in the right direction again, and I for one am getting quite excited about some of the new services we can bring online. All of a sudden it doesn’t seem so far away

Anyway, sorry about the problems we’ve had with technoranki. I’ve had loads of emails asking what is going on with this stuff, so I hope that answers your questions. I will, of course, let you all know when technoranki is back up and running fully again.

[tags]britblog,technoranki,blog ranks,blog ranking[/tags]

BritBlog hotting up

Two little bits of news:

1. I’ve moved the feeds over to FeedBurner. New details are as follow:
   

   Posts feed:
   http://feeds.feedburner.com/britblog

   Comments feed:
   http://feeds.feedburner.com/britblogcomments

   I’ve put some redirects in so if you use the old ones you should get auto-magically redirected to the new ones (thanks for the tip, Gary). If you have any problems with these, do let me know.

2. I picked up the new server yesterday from Cambridge where it was being built. There is still some configuration to be done, I still need to find some cheap rails so I can mount it in the server rack, then I need to organise a day off work to take it up to London. Still, we’re getting there…

[tags]feedburner,britblog[/tags]

Calling all budding photographers!

(Have you spotted a theme with these posts yet?)

I’m trying to come up with a way to promote some of our members who are great photographers. This will probably involve displaying their photos on this site somewhere, and will undoubtedly rely on the BritBlog flickr group. (If you’re not a member, go and join!)

At this stage I’m still working out the best solution to this (my full thoughts are here), so if you have any suggestions about this, (as always) I’d be keen to hear from you. Ideally you will post your comments on this thread over at flickr rather than here, just to keep the discussion in one place. Thanks!

[tags]britblog,flickr,photos[/tags]

Calling all budding writers!

A little while ago we started writing short reviews of new blogs that caught our eyes. For various reasons this activity has fallen by the wayside, and I’ve been thinking it would be good to get this going again.

So, I’m after a few people that would like keep an eye the ‘new blogs’ RSS feed (yet to be created…) and write short reviews on blogs that catch your eye. You may choose to write about a blog for many reasons, including content, design, humor etc. etc.

You should look at writing at least one review every couple of weeks (with a view to the team publishing at least one review a week), you should be able to take screen shots of the web sites you write about (to specific dimensions), and you will ideally be familiar with WordPress (though this is easy peasy to pick up).
If you want to get involved, then please either leave a comment below (with a valid email address) or get in touch via the contact form (link above).

[tags]britblog,editor,writing,reviews[/tags]

Welsh Bloggers – new regions added!

Just a quick note to our Welsh bloggers – I’ve finally added the Welsh regions, so appologies for taking so long over it. It would be great if you could move your blogs into the correct regions if you get a chance.

Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Isle of Anglesey, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan, Wrexham.

[tags]wales,welsh blogs[/tags]