Bring back Ande's Blog!

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

ande — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:45:09 GMT

Hi Jim, OK try it out let me know Ande Yes, my understanding is that the migration tool isn't supposed to alter the original thread. I did download the tools and tried to play with it a little on our test area. I didn't have any luck with them, but I really didn't spend much time on it. If you're interested, I can try it again some time. I won't do it on the live forum unless I've successfully tried it in our test area and verified that it didn't alter the old thread or do any other harm.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

ande — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:44:19 GMT

Jim, a while back you offered to move the contents of my shut down blog over to the blog section is there a way to do so with out deleting or destroying the existing thread? Ande

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:36:26 GMT

Ande, You should take the offer, while it's still on the table. Please, I don't want to click a million different places, I like to read all the blogs, and they're all in one place. Now you're ignoring the fans that gave you the high thread count in the first place, think about it. Your Swimming Tips thread will be breaking 100,000+ views soon, even sooner if you revamp your blog. In swimming terms, you're clearly in the lead, but not if you get out of the pool. Jim offered to move the contents of the old blog thread over to the blog section, I'm inclined to take him up on this offer as long the old thread isn't deleted or destroyed I sometimes go back to check workouts and training results from previous seasons to compare with results of the latest season. It's helpful.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:46:52 GMT

Our loss, and yours. True. It was read by many, but then again, it still can be. A copy and paste from 'Blogger' to the blog section is all it would take.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

ande — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 12:24:23 GMT

Dear Scarlett, the thread achieved a milestone, I just pointed it out and gave folks an update, I'm not asking for the thread to be reopened Though I am curious if the poll results would have been different if the response choices were phrased Should Ande's blog be returned? Yes, return it to General Swimming-Related Discussions No, I don't want ande to share his workouts on the USMS forum Scarlett, I've gotten over it and moved on, I love swimming and I enjoy helping others improve my recent workouts are blogged at: andesswimmingblog.blogspot.com Jim offered to move the contents of the old blog thread over to the blog section, I'm inclined to take him up on this offer as long the old thread isn't deleted or destroyed I sometimes go back to check workouts and training results from previous seasons to compare with results of the latest season. It's helpful. Wish you the best with your swimming. Take Care, Ande Ande - With all due respect, you need to get over this.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:41:03 GMT

Personally I don't think the blog format lends itself as well to the open discussion and exchange of ideas that we see in the threads. Ande's Blog was arguably the most popular thread on the forum (200,000 views).

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:29:03 GMT

Should Ande's blog be returned? Yes, return it to General Swimming-Related Discussions No, I don't want ande to share his workouts on the USMS forum You haven't seemed to grasp that this isn't about you, it's about the way the forum has been reorganized. You've taken this decision personally and been hurt by it. Others have accepted this framework, I don't understand why you have been so reluctant. All you needed to do was to go with the flow, and you could have remained on usms happily blogging away. You've always been such a great friend to the forum. I don't understand the "take my toys and go home" attitude. I'm sorry that you feel this way. Our loss, and yours.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

rtodd — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 08:17:17 GMT

I scan the blogs regularly and it would be great if Ande's was migrated over.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Chris Stevenson — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 04:57:38 GMT

Personally I don't think the blog format lends itself as well to the open discussion and exchange of ideas that we see in the threads. Let me preface this by saying that I enjoyed Ande's blog/thread and my comments aren't about his particular journal. I think Gull is right about the exchange of ideas, the threads are a little better. But I don't think that is the usual purpose of a blog, really. The workout threads can work for that purpose. Blogs are closer to public diaries, with some degree of interactivity. I now maintain one and think it less intrusive than a thread. I would never have started a similar thread because I would have felt it too "in your face." But as a blog, any of the few people who are interested can read it, or not; the fact that you have to seek it out is a plus for me.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:16:28 GMT

Ande - With all due respect, you need to get over this.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:18:11 GMT

Actually, since this thread was started I have spent some time trolling the blog section--something I never would have done before. I'm not a blog-fan, but I have found some great workouts from people's blogs, and have enjoyed reading about others' experiences. So in my opinion, the change was/is a very good thing, as it always is. And no, I did not vote for Obama. :thhbbb:

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

The Fortress — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:39:25 GMT

For all those who voted to move the thread back to the general swimming discussions, how many of you voted for Obama - where your vote was a "Vote for Change?" If you answered in the affirmative, don't be ashamed if you feel a bit hypocritical right now. I won't lie to you - I am a fan of the status-quo. But new things are good. They expand horizons and open new doors for new opportunities. Think of 15 years ago, how many of you had internet? Of those that did, was it dialup or always-on? Without the internet, we wouldn't have this forum. Without the always-on connections, Fort Wolf and Stud wouldn't be able to post 80 times a day. I could go on... What most of us outside IT and web development don't always understand is that the status-quo on the Internet is NOT a good thing. Sites need to be constantly upgraded with new features and new software or their users lose interest and move elsewhere (just ask yahoo, altavista, excite, lycos... who lost tons of market share on searches when Google came out), and with them goes sponsors, membership, revenue, etc. Let's face it, most of us are still going to the blog section to check it out, and I definitely see people continuing to use the new facebook despite the "horrible" new look. Change is a part of life - some of it is good, some is not. I'd encourage everyone to take a Mulligan on their blog/new feature judgement and give it some time to sink in. In the mean time, thanks to Jim for keeping us all up to date. Nice Muppet! :rofl: I thought Ande should just post workouts in the Workout section like Jonathan and Tall Paul. (And, yes, I voted for Obama.) Anyway, I crossed the picket line and started blogging. :D I'm not a fuddy duddy.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Muppet — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:06:55 GMT

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

ande — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:03:36 GMT

Dear Friends, despite being closed for a month and a half Ande's Swimming Blog is about to pass 200,000 views www.usms.org/.../showthread.php Somehow it still comes up as the top result when folks google swimming blog www.google.com/search my new blog is at: andesswimmingblog.blogspot.com Currently I'm 9 days away from this season's SCM meet in Temp AZ 2 days ago I did my lifetime best in practice 50 y SDK went 23.5 today I swam my fastest (in years) in practice 50 y free went 21.5 I want to see how much I can improve my 50 times from last year and this summer 50 fr SCM 24.69 LCM 24.50 50 fl SCM 26.15 LCM 26.03 50 bk SCM 28.30 LCM 28.14 thanks to everyone who followed/s my Blog Ande

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

ande — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:51:48 GMT

Dear Friends, last week I sent a request to usms's 2 robs to reopen Ande's Swimming Blog they wrote back the next day but sent their emails to the wrong address so i didn't read their responses till yesterday They upheld the rules outlined in New Forum Features Ande's Swimming blog thread remains closed No moving it to the Work Outs forum and Renaming it it will not be reopened thanks again to those who supported reopening it. I wish y'all the best your training. Take Care, Ande Swimmers can find my workouts from: March 2005 to Friday September 19th, 2008 at: www.usms.org/.../showthread.php Saturday Sep 20th, 2008 on at: AndesSwimmingBlog.blogspot.com

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

ande — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 11:11:04 GMT

hi jim, happy birthday I'm not sure if I want to transition my blog thread over to the blogs using the bulk mover Would it destroy the original URL and contents or leave them intact and just move a copy? My request is to rename my blog and move it over to workouts What is the process to challenge the policy? Ande lately I've been writing my workouts in a PM I send to myself and a few others right now I'm transitioning from regular training to speed strength training but my right shoulder has started to hurt a little Well, you have to realize that this information is skewed because it relies only on those who have voluntarily linked their USMS membership to their forums account (through My USMS). Anyway, of those people with linked USMS memberships who have voted here, it's currently 26-10 in favor of the "no, leave it in the blog section" vote. BTW, in looking at this, I found a few more alias votes that I missed the first time through and have adjusted the vote total accordingly. We have released new tools that now allow any USMS member to maintain a blog on our site. Together with this release, we are requiring that all blogging take place on our site using the new blog tools. The existing blog threads have been closed after notifying the thread starters, and all have been encouraged to use the new blog tools. Suggestions have been provided for how to maintain the continuity by linking back to the old thread in the blog description. This new capability is available to all USMS members without discrimination, and the closing of old blog threads has also been uniformly applied. All forum users are allowed to post workouts in the workout section. However, if you want to maintain a blog, please do so in the blogs section. I've also just come across a tool that is supposed to allow me to migrate a particular thread from the forums over to a blog. I had looked for such a tool in the past, but was under the impression that it didn't exist. From what I can tell, it will do the conversion by copying posts of a certain user in the thread to blog posts and posts by all other users to comments in the blog. I have no idea how well this tool works, but I have just offered to Ande to run this tool on his old thread and thereby maintain all of his blog content from that thread in a new blog. I can't see any reason why this would not be an acceptable solution and I hope he agrees to allow me to run this tool on his old thread and thereby create his new blog.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:21:08 GMT

How did the no votes jump up to 72 then drop down to 50? Are the votes being counted in Florida?

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:03:33 GMT

Do you think because Ande called it a blog it was removed. Yes. And even with the best intentions by the moderator to keep all the blog formations fair and balanced, this was a very clear case of throwing out the baby with the bath water. As said previously, Ande's blog was a part of the forum, not just a personal swimming journal. And I agree with what Syd suggested. If a new blog appears in the wrong place, it could very easily be redirected to the appropriate location. Reviving Ande's blog in the workout section doesn't do any harm, or show special privileges.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:39:34 GMT

Ande, I hope the moderator reads your request and does the right thing. There appears to be a consensus that your thread would fit in just fine under the workout section. In all likelihood Jim may not have realized how many forum members valued your postings. A pity this third option wasn't added to the poll. If it had I am sure there would be different results. I really hope this can be done. It seems a small thing to ask. I can't see all the other bloggers then clambering for the same privilege. Apart from Paul Wolf's, most of the other blogs are brand new. It is all fine and well to say that from now on all blogs should go to the blog section. For those who are just starting up a blog it shouldn't make much of a difference. But it is different for someone like Ande who spent more than three years archiving his workouts and answering questions related to them. It's like telling an artist to finish his painting on another canvas :shakeshead: . All Ande really wants to do is to keep it all together. If that means changing the name of the thread to Ande's workouts and posting in the workout thread then so be it. Ande has been really generous giving advice and helping everyone. Doing him this favor is the least we can afford him.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

The Fortress — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:08:53 GMT

jim, Is there a reason it can't be relocated to the workout section and retitled, especially since Ande has said he would remove the bloggy aspects going forward? It would be a great resource. Tall Paul's new thread would be similar and is already popular ...

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:57:22 GMT

Non-members are not excluded from the vote total at the top of this page. I was merely responding to Gull's question about how the vote breakdown looked when considering only USMS members. I don't really see the relevance either, but looked up the answer anyway. My misunderstanding. Thank you for clarifying.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:45:45 GMT

I just added my USMS information to my account--never saw the need before. Why would only USMS members be counted? There are those who read the boards and participate who have admitted to not being USMS members--why exclude their opinion? No one's opinion has been excluded, but I was under the impression that our dues support this forum (among other services). The 2008 budget for USMS lists $42,015 for "web operations."

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:39:47 GMT

Well, you have to realize that this information is skewed because it relies only on those who have voluntarily linked their USMS membership to their forums account (through My USMS). . I just added my USMS information to my account--never saw the need before. Why would only USMS members be counted? There are those who read the boards and participate who have admitted to not being USMS members--why exclude their opinion?

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 08:05:49 GMT

May we change our vote. I would prefer all blogs to be in the blog area. But was Ande's blog really a blog? It did happen to be very informative but left many of us almost feel uncomfortable to comment because it was labeled as a Blog.

RE: Bring back Ande's Blog!

Former Member — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:11:12 GMT

Perhaps we could see how those who are actually USMS members voted?