Hey guys, I think we all just need to calm down. No one is getting booted off. I'm pretty sure everyone who had a major issue w people not posting regularly has left the building. It's back to being just us who are here for fun, and no drama. I know I'm here cause writing is fun, and talking about science is fun, and combining the two while also reaching others who may think this stuff is cool, and may learn something new that will spark their interest - is freaking awesome. I'm guessing that's why you're here too.

I like the guest post idea, but personally, I don't think there is anything wrong w the way it is now, dropping out of the active list after 2 weeks, seems fine to me. Being on the main list on the blog page indefinitely and unbound to posting time, is fine with me too.

I think we all would like to see our readership increase, and we all bring in different readers, so the way I see it, there is no reason to cut people out because life got in the way. We all have other obligations, no one should be penalized for that.

Ok! On with the fun stuff! :)

There is a pull down menu above the recent posts section and on top of the writers block on the blogs page.  I really have no problem leaving the lists alone. I'm not stickler on posting frequency, but if other people think it is unfair to "feature" people in the lists that haven't posted in a month then I think it's important to discuss some solutions.

I do like Namnezia's guest blog idea!  We'll have to flesh that out some more in another thread.

Namnezia,, you of all people shouldn't be concerned about the frequency of your blogging right now. You have far bigger fish to fry.

And as far as everyone else is concerned, with RSS feeds etc., I honestly don't see what the issue is with sporadic blogging. If a new post pops up in your feed, I go read. I'm not visiting every blog I follow every day just to see if there's something new there. I'm sure that's how many people work.

Gerty - the six weeks rule, see above.

I have a proposal - in addition to the active resident blogs, why not create a LabSpaces Guest Blogger group blog. That way many of us who post only occasionally can be part of this guest blog and post occasional updates of interest to the LabSpaces community. I know my blog here has not been very active, and I post most things in my regular blog, I'd be happy with this guest blogger arrangement.

I guess I'm getting the boot?

We have a GoogleDocs spreadsheet?

One valid complaint is that the last set of bloggers added, I and some if not most of the others had no clue about.  An email to tell us folks were joining or to discuss the possiblity of them joining would be nice.  I only know that they have joined because I see an intro post pop up or get a retweet.

Thanks for all the work, Brian. I'm sure that I'm one of the lame horses with my sporadic posts. I would be happy if you took us off the list of 'writers' after less time - posting once a month should be do-able so a 4 week cut-off seems fair to me.

Two of your fellow bloggers think that I should leave my personal opinions and comments out of the LabSpaces feed and blog in an account separate from my Living LabSpaces blog.  My conversations do sometimes clutter the LabSpaces twitter feed, so I'm only going to respond to press release/blog comments on that account for now on.  I have created a new twitter account https://twitter.com/h2so4hurts, feel free to follow :)

I will also restrict the Living LabSpaces blog to include only site news.  I'll create a new H2SO4hurts blog to assuage the fears that my Living LabSpaces blog and the posts within are misrepresenting the community.

Said bloggers have also complained that they think the stables are too full and include some lame horses.  I'm not going take any of you out to pasture, because that's not right, but I do think that it looks bad on the community to have people in our "Active" Writer's List that haven't blogged in over a month.  I'll code in some new changes to remove blogger names from the lists after 6 weeks of inactivity.  I think this is fair.  Once a new post is made, the writer list will be re-compiled to include the inactive accounts.

Finally, said bloggers are also angry that I have added new people since they began blogging here. I think you all have something interesting to bring to the table, that's why I invitied you here!  I certainly will look to you for suggestions on people to add to the site if great new undiscovered people come on-line, but I will also add people if I think they're interesting or have a unique perspective on science ex: JaySeeDub's cooking science blog.  There are still two invites out.  One to a psychologist and one to a Paleotologist. I don't plan on packing the house full of 80+ bloggers like Sb or Nature Network, and am content with the size we have now.  I'll be sure to run any future blogger additions by you in the future. You guys are already enough of a handful in addition to my real job.

I didn't recruit any of you here because I have delusions of grandeur or am looking for profit or fame.  I do this for fun.  You do this for fun.  If you'renot having fun, tell me and we can work on ways to make the site more fun for you.  If you don't think this site or my management of it is a good fit for you, that's fine!  No hard feelings.

Please do keep me up to date on your feelings through e-mail or in the forum.  You know I'm always willing to make changes and compromises.  This is a community and I want everyone to be involved!