mighty forces

Antisocial media

Haven’t been around here very much, if at all. I’ve been posting what random thoughts I had on Facebook, because my group of Facebook friends has become larger than probably even my largest weblog audience, especially since the end of words mean things.

Not sure what to do here. But then, I’m still trying to figure out Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and Posterous and Foursquare all the rest – not just for myself, but also for my clients and my current employer. It’s a thicket. But we tend to forget how young all this media stuff is – it’s like trying to figure out the impact of the printed book when you’re friends with Gutenberg. Anyone who tells you they have the answer is bluffing.

Turn, turn, turn

I was looking back at some of my old archives on words mean things today, and I realized that I’ve been writing on the web in one form or another off and on for the last eight years.

Eight years.

First WMT, then Utopia, and now Mighty Forces. Each was such a different experience. Since I got in on the ground floor (so to speak) with words mean things, a little community of readers sprung up that I’ve missed terribly ever since the site played itself out in 2004. I met people online from all over the world, which was eye-opening and incredibly fun. But things changed, and people changed, and it ended.

When the bug hit me again months later, I was just angry and frustrated with the upcoming election. I used Utopia to vent that anger, pretty successfully. And I’m still quite proud of a lot of writing I did there. “Predictable” and “The President is Not Your Daddy” are two of my favorites. But then, I got burned out on anger.

These days, I’m more laid back – or I’m dead inside, take your pick. Every day I hope I can live up to that great line from Fight Club: “The ability to let that which does not matter truly slide.”

What hasn’t changed is that I love to write on the web. I have a feeling that love won’t go away, whatever form it takes in the future.

Onward and upward.

More wisdom from Dean Esmay

Since Dean is my latest new reader of and commenter on Mighty Forces (!), I couldn’t resist the humor of his latest concern troll post about Barack Obama.

“One of the things I don’t much like anymore about politics is the tendency to be hyper-negative and to pounce on every mis-statement or fumble as proof of something profound.”

He then links to the Obama Gaffe Blog, without a hint of irony. The site isn’t so much about gaffes as it is about how the writer doesn’t like Obama. I won’t link to it, because I *actually* dislike gotcha politics. Dean, however, not so much.

Comments

I’ve come to realize something I don’t like about my new PressBox theme – in order to leave a comment, you have to click on the title to go to the specific screen for the post, and then comment. You also can’t see on the main page if anyone else has already commented, which is likely to keep people from commenting in general.

I hope anyone reading will still comment when the mood strikes, until I can get this worked out.

Upgrading

I’m thinking seriously about moving Mighty Forces to WordPress. I’ve never really liked Movable Type; I think it’s too complex for its own good, and the design templates available for WordPress are much more numerous and way better looking. I’ve managed to import the Mighty Forces content into WordPress, and now I’m in the process of tweaking everything.

Any thoughts on the two systems would be appreciated.

UPDATE: Impulsively I decided to go ahead with the switch. Styles may be a little wacky around here for a while. But the change is exciting.

UPDATE II: With this template, in order to make a comment, you need to click on the post title to go to the post detail page. Please let me know what you think of the new design (until I change it, that is .

Comment issues

There was a problem with commenting, but the fantastic people at my web host, LivingDot, appear to have fixed it. So comment away, should the mood strike you.

Stuff happens

Is it just me, or does the right wing seem just a tiny bit disappointed that the Minneapolis bridge collapse wasn’t terrorism? Just a tiny bit?

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

-Winston Churchill