The blog is back!

I’ve finally upgraded this blog to the latest version of WordPress, so sorry for having it offline for such a long while. I think that the XML-RPC interface to the blog was being hammered a bit by spammers which was having an adverse affect on the stability of our web server. I was a little concerned about a security issue with the WordPress code too, so felt it best to take the site down for a while.

So where are things at the minute? Well I’m sorry to say they’re pretty much where they were a month ago: I’m still waiting for our new server to be built and configured, and for some database work to be done for the new code. All in all very disappointing.

On the plus side the Spring has well and truly sprung, and we’ve had some fantastic weather over the Easter break. Hope you all had a great time and didn’t eat too much chocolate

I think we should be thinking about having another blogmeet soon – any suggestions for a location? I heard a mention of holding one in Southampton…

Christmas Blogmeet Roundup

Thanks to all those who came to the blogmeet yesterday – I think it’s safe to say we all had a good time

The thing I like most about these meetups is putting faces (and sometimes even names) to people’s blogs. It’s always interesting to see what people are really like, and it’s great getting to know people face to face.

The prize for longest journey goes to Rob, coming all the way from Wales to join us, and Nancy and Vince come a close second travelling up from the Isle of White!

Role of Honour (in no particular order)

• Darren Straight
• Robert Gale
• Mark Sweeting
• Nancy Farrell
• Vincent Payne
• Adrian Sevitz
• Daniel Nicholls
• Ian Wilson
• Annie
• Natalie Grunewald
• Neil Smith
• Andy Newson
• Lorissa Shepstone (+ 1 guest)
• MC Rebbe

Thanks to Darren for keeping the register

Photos

If you took any photos yesterday, please post them to the BritBlog flickr group with the tag blogmeet0612. Thanks!

December already?!

Time flies when you’re having fun!

There are a few things to let you know, but I’m in a rush (got to get lunch!) so forgive my briefness:

Christmas Blogmeet, London

By popular demand there will be a Christmas blogmeet in London! It will be held on Saturday 9th December from about 2:30 PM, probably in a pub near Covent Garden. I’m thinking about the same pub as the last London blogmeet, but want to get a feel for numbers before we commit to anything.

These are always good fun once the ice is broken, so if you’re around please do drop in if you can. If you think you can make it (even if you’re not too sure), please leave a note below saying so in order for me to get a feel for numbers before I reserve any tables.

Pretty Please

It would be great if you could help spread the word about this event. They really are good fun, but only if people turn up! If you could mention it on your blog (even if you can’t make it) then it should help more people find out about it and boost the numbers. And of course, I’d be eternally grateful. Thanks

Update

Just to make it clear, the blogmeet will be in The Marquess of Anglesey (Google Maps – see flag ‘A’) near Covent Garden from about 2:30PM. I’ll try and get a BritBlog logo printed. If not, I’ll be the chap looking a little hot (if I say so myself) in a BritBlog hoodie!

[tags]britblog,blogmeet,london,london blogmeet[/tags]

Quick catch up

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the developments ‘behind the scenes’, so I thought I’d just post a short update for any interested parties.

As you may know, we’ve been talking about a total redesign of the site from the ground up since March (I can’t believe how time flies!). Sadly demands on my time (read “day job”) have held this up somewhat, but that’s not to say we’ve been doing nothing.

We got our second server installed in July, which has taken a lot of the load of our older server (meaning a more reliable service for you). This new server will also soon be running a new ping server and spider combination that we hope to be testing in the wild over the next few months.

So this is Phase 1. We will be able to keep an eye on all our member blogs and find out what everyone is talking about. Not only will this allow us to say what the British blogsphere is talking about at any point in time, but it will allow us to segment the British blogsphere by location or category – meaning a very local or niche view of discussions (blog posts) will be possible. Exciting stuff!

You’ll probably see a new design go live with this new functionality too. So that’s the easy bit.

Phase 2 will have to be a total re-write of the directory and membership code. The new version of the site will introduce so many new features that we’re going to have to start from scratch. We’ve been tinkering with this for a while now but it’s still a fairly long way off I’m afraid.

And what about Phase 3? Well we’ve still got loads of great ideas that we want to put in place which I’d love to tell you about, but it’s probably best for me to firm these up first

Finally, for any new members waiting to get their blogs approved, please continue to bear with me. The queue is going down slowly, but has an amazing ability to grow back up if I have a day away! There are lots of spam blogs in the queue which aren’t always easy to spot, so blame the delays on them if you want to moan. Thanks for your continued patience.

That’s about it I think. Have I missed anything? If anyone is interested in a Christmas blogmeet in London, please let me know. And to make sure you keep up to date with any news from us, please consider either subscribing to our blog RSS feed or to our daily blogmail service (daily digest, only sent out when there is something new to send).

[tags]britblog,ping server,spider,christmas blogmeet,update[/tags]

Surrey Blogmeet: A rather quiet affair

Well what can I say? I was expecting Saturday’s blogmeet in Guildford to be quiet, but not dead! Still, I had a nice two hours reading an interesting book called Mapping Hacks, and enjoyed a rather nice pint of ale (I was astounded that I could make it last that long – it must be a record!).

Anyway, I’m hoping to add some mapping functionality to the new version of BritBlog (hence the recent post on geocoding your blogs), so it was quite a useful couple of hours at least.

I’m now thinking twice about having a Christmas blogmeet in London; anyone interested?

[tags]blogmeet,surrey,britblog[/tags]

Surrey Blogmeet: Venue for Saturday 28th October, Guildford

OK, sorry for the delay posting details on the venue. The plan is to meet at the Kings Head (Quarry Street, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 3XQ, map). It’s about 5 mins walk from Guildford train station.

I plan on being there from 4PM. I’ll be on the train, so may be late… I’ll probably be wearing my rather trendy BritBlog hoodie, and I’ll be sitting in the corner reading a book if nobody else is there

Hope to see some of you there!

[tags]surrey,blogmeet,britblog[/tags]

Surrey Blogmeet: Saturday 28th October, Guildford

OK, I think Guildford in Surrey will be the location for the next BritBlog blogmeet. We’ve still got to choose a pub and time, but there are quite a few nice pubs there so that shouldn’t be a problem. I’m thinking later afternoon again too if everyone agrees?
It would be great to put faces to more of our members, so if you can make it please do come along. Those of you that live in London can get down from Waterloo in about half an hour I think, so I expect to see everyone from the last London blogmeet there too

So who can make it?

Update
OK, sorry for the delay posting details on the venue. The plan is to meet at the Kings Head (Quarry Street, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 3XQ, map). It’s about 5 mins walk from Guildford train station.

I plan on being there from 4PM. I’ll be on the train, so may be late… I’ll probably be wearing my rather trendy BritBlog hoodie, and I’ll be sitting in the corner reading a book if nobody else is there

[tags]blogmeet,surrey,guildford,britblog[/tags]

Blogmeet – Surrey or London?

It’s been a while since our last blogmeet, so I was thinking about doing another one. Anyone up for a beer? I thought we could do it in Surrey (Guildford probably best because of the good train station), but if people would prefer we could meet up in London again.

Date-wise it’s a bit tricky. A month may not be enough notice for some folk, but any longer than that and it’s November (scary how time flies) and we’d have bonfire night to contend with. So my first thought is to aim for Saturday 28th October (ideally Guildford, else London).

Any takers?

[tags]blogmeet,surrey,london[/tags]

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]