Monday, October 1, 2007

The Rules

  1. Subject & Content: Politics and Policies. Daily horoscopes, Scientology, religious scriptures and the like will not please me. Eclecticism is preferred over monotony.
  2. Scope: whatever you are reading and whatever’s on your mind that you don’t want to lose track of. Half-baked, partially completed thoughts. Zingers and quotes.
  3. Themes: I am attempting to strike a theme with a graphic backdrop to the blog title. Themes will address week's or weekend's news cycle. I would prefer that contributions be related to this theme. Contributors may suggest themes in the comments to this thread.
  4. Brevity is a major consideration: less than 5 column inches is preferred. In most cases that is one paragraph, one photo + caption, or one You-Tube. Anything more is probably more appropriate for your own site. A link to a specific item would be useful. (Some call it pimping; I call it linking.)
  5. Good taste is a major consideration: if you have been invited, your tastes have been vetted to a certain extent.
  6. Monopolies: No more than one pop per poster per day is a rule of thumb. It’s not in granite. But, if you have more than one thing to say here, it better be good!
  7. Pimping of your own weblogs is especially encouraged in comments. As time permits, I will blogroll all members’ sites. But please no naked links: They’re ugly, messy, and I don’t want to spend my time cleaning up. Treat this as your cabaña as well as mine.
  8. Crossposting will be moderated heavily.
  9. Comments will be monitored retroactively. No anonymous commenting
  10. Participation is a major consideration. This is our cocktail party so don’t bore our readers with overly long comments. Succinctness is sacred.
  11. Membership can be revoked at any time.
  12. Membership is not closed. Apply below!
  13. Suggestions: These are rules of thumb, written in liquid plasma; not in granite. Suggestions are welcomed below!

12 comments:

Vigilante said...

This is an interesting idea. I'll try it for stuff I really don't want to clutter my blog with. One suggestion, though: I wouldn't bounce any one who puts up two items in one day - at least until it gets to be a problem. At this point you have no idea how this is going to go. Better get it rolling first.

Vigilante said...

On 2nd thought, please remove my membership. Personal reasons...

Messenger said...

Yeah, I have not been able to follow my own "guidelines" when it comes to column inches. I'll work on it!

Yellow Dog said...

You need to get your blogroll up to speed. Promises.....

Messenger said...

Done!

Petrosexual said...

Can I join?

Vigilante said...

Here's an idea for a post:

Joke of the Day (thread)

Invite readers to volunteer jokes as comments. Every time there's a joke that's worth it, update the thread so it rises to the top! Delete/edit the crappy jokes.

Messenger said...

Petrosexual:

Request denied.

Messenger said...

Vigilante:

Your idea has merit. I'll work on it.

Doc Demento said...

Please consider this an application for membership?

Messenger said...

Not at this time. Maybe later. Show me what you got.

Messenger said...

Please note new 'evolutions' in these rules, especially a point on themes! Other points have been modified as well. Feedback is welcomed!