Writing in the Raw

Oh there is so much more

So like a year ago today I became number 9.  Since you insist on being entertained-

Last August I was not surprised to get a fill in call for Ask A but I was somewhat surprised to be invited to help launch a new blog.  If I pretended my exaulted position were due to anything except a good relationship with the boss I’d be lying to you.

Since then I’ve posted 395 essays including this one, slightly more than one a day but not as many I think as Iron Man mishima.  That’s one good thing about this site, you can publish up to two essays a day if you feel inspired, and another is our cheap and easy HTML (except for the malfunctioning link shortcuts pacified!).

I’ve also made 2285 comments which is only 6.25 a day, a far cry from my 24+ average at dK.  I could attribute that to the lower traffic and lack of auto-refresh immediacy, but I’m sure it’s merely due to inattention on my part.

budhy started Welcome New Users with the goal of educating people how to use the exciting tools we have on the internet to organize and activate.  I was (and am) delighted to have inherited that franchise if only because I’m not really popular on my own, only when I’m working someone else’s lemonade stand.

budhy and I have never met each other physically ever.  We rarely exchange email.  Yet I like to think we know each other pretty well and agree about most things and agree to disagree when we don’t.  I must admit I very grateful for the opportunity he’s given me this last year.

Let’s talk some about process.

My training is in community organizing.  I customarily work with groups of 20 to 100, so this is like my best local ever!  My first essays were all about organizing this community.

• 1 Look And Feel, Tue Aug 21, 2007 at 23:52:24 PDT

Diary ID 7 I must say.

Other essays in the Look and Feel category are-

• 15 Earth tones, Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 03:54:19 PDT

• 18 I’m so Blue, Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 23:36:56 PDT

That one also has a meta roundup.

• 23 Relentless Winter, Sat Sep 08, 2007 at 03:45:11 PDT

• 25 Messing with your minds., Sun Sep 09, 2007 at 00:22:50 PDT

But I’m so Blue was not my first meta round up, I was messing with your minds long before that-

• 2 So Say We All, Thu Aug 23, 2007 at 03:31:36 PDT

Hmm… must have been new episodes of Battlestar Galactica.  This is actually a summary of our earliest organizing discussions with links and it’s pretty definitive.

• 3 Promotion and Roll Out, Thu Aug 23, 2007 at 14:13:37 PDT

Marketing, not particularly interesting.

But also August 23rd we were setting up a 4 Regular Morning News feature that is now Iron Man mishima’s DocuDharma Times.

The first edition of The Morning News, was September 6th, 2 weeks after the concept and 6 days before site launch on the 12th.  It was also the same day we changed to earth tones and had the first true Pony Party-

• 16 The Morning News: RIP Pavarotti, Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 04:30:00 PDT

But that was 2 weeks in the future from when started my obsession with scheduling which I talked about constantly-

• 5 Scheduling, Fri Aug 24, 2007 at 01:04:33 PDT

• 14 Scheduling (Reloaded), Mon Sep 03, 2007 at 15:08:01 PDT

• 29 Scheduling (Revolutions), Tue Sep 11, 2007 at 05:05:03 PDT

The reason I encourage everybody to be regular is so that the audience knows what time to tune in.

I’ve separated out the piece on the establishment of the Admin Forum because while it is central to our scheduling system it has other purposes also including Administrative community regulation-

• 8 docudharmaadmin [Update 2!], Sat Sep 01, 2007 at 14:55:01 PDT

Speaking of Community Regulation, I was talking about some new and innovative ideas as early as my lucky 13th essay-

• 13 Time Out, Wed Sep 05, 2007 at 00:36:57 PDT

And other pieces that are pretty definitive regarding respectable behavior in these parts are-

• 9 Puddles of Goo, Mon Sep 03, 2007 at 00:48:20 PDT

About respectability as a blog.

• 37 On Civility, Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 09:59:12 PDT

• 43 I don’t give a rat’s ass what you think about me., Thu Sep 20, 2007 at 11:05:10 PDT

But it’s not all about the bad stuff.  Meta is also about organized silliness which is why I insisted on Pony Parties.

• 6 Shake Your Blues Away, Fri Aug 24, 2007 at 21:56:39 PDT

Early silliness.

The real meta history of Pony Parties starts here (did I not say September 6th was a banner day?)-

• 17 Pony Party!, Thu Sep 06, 2007 at 19:37:09 PDT

And finally here are the 2 pieces I wrote to set the tone on opening day-

• 31 So Today’s The Big Day!, Wed Sep 12, 2007 at 05:00:00 PDT

• 32 Welcome New Users, Wed Sep 12, 2007 at 07:00:00 PDT

Anyway it’s been a lot of fun so far and I’m looking forward to another great year together!

The last time I did Writing in the Raw was in December, but as you can tell I’m likely to wander off on a tangent of my own at any time and as for what the future holds?

Tomorrow never knows.

Oh, you thought I meant this one-