Hey folks -- Kate of An Analysis of Life is creating an updated index of AOL Journals.
Indexes are in need of constant maintenance, and the previous one fell into disrepair pretty fast after its keeper passed away.
Usually I try not to editorialize about y'all's efforts as it's your community and my opinions don't belong, but: this is awesome. If everyone pitches in and lists themselves, you'll have a handy directory of who blogs what and where, making things like Weekend Picks and finding new Journals a lot easier.
To register, just follow this link and leave your title and URL in a comment. Kate will integrate you into the index soon enough.
12 comments:
Pam, the previous indexer, didn't leave J-Land; she passed away after a bout with cancer than she recorded on her journal.
Kudos to Kate for starting an index again; I've already submitted my site.
http://journals.aol.com/slapinions/Slap-Inionscom
My apologies for the egregious mistake. Thanks for correcting me. I'll update the entry now.
I think that this time you were the last person not to know it...
I like the way you introduce the index though...
It can be practical... and probably it makes more sense if a bloggers do it for themselves... you're right you can add or take away from it and inform
Anyway, I will still keep 2 minutes to come and read your posts
Just passing by...
Valerie
in fact your post makes me think further... I have nothing against a particular blogger who would want to put themselves at the task, but why not setting up a program, a window or something where bloggers can go and add themselves or erase themselves as it pleases them (and would remain on it as long as it is active)
a boeard a little different from the one we have, something more permanent, with an alphabetical order I guess for the list should be long or could be long...
No one, but the bloggers themselves would be responsible for inserting or not themselves on it...
Can you make it for us??
AOL is supposed to already have our journals indexed in a database. Remember when you created yours, and were asked to choose a categoryr for it. That was for it to be categorized in AOL hometown, and show up in a Hometown search. Unfortunately, that never worked. From the beginning, the journals were never indexed properly, and never showed up in any searches. They are trying again with the new "search this blog/all blogs" box at the top of our journals. We'll see how that goes.
Of course, that is not an index, like what Kate is proposing, but one of the reasons that isn't being done is because it doesn't work very well. Once you get more than forty or fifty journals listed, it just becomes too unruly for people to actually find anything in it. I applaud Kate's efforts, but my experience with Pamela's old index was that it was basically unworkable.
-Paul
http://journals.aol.ca/plittle/AuroraWalkingVacation/
Hey Jeff,
From the comments below it seems that you can't please all of the people all of the time. From the response I have had though, people are delighted with this little project of mine.
About your idea for a record of previous guest editors, I don't know if you are aware that there is already a journal which records the editors and their picks each week. I have added it to the index's side bar of other blogs and listed it too. Here is the address: http://journals.aol.com/onestrangecat/EditorsPicksArchives/
Also, thanks for the mention above!!! Unless AOL comes up with a better system, this is all we have for now. I have ideas myself about how to deal with the directory if it gets too big. And I do have plans to keep it current too.
Thanks again,
Kate.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/bobandkate/AnAnalysisofLife/
http://journals.aol.co.uk/bobandkate/20062007-journal-index/
Well Jeff... perhaps this is a moody day for me, but in fact I do not like the idea that a blogger is in charge of this
I would prefer that those people involved in that project to be neutral in terms of why they are doing it, in that sense they are working for aol and have no other interests of doing it
In that same verve, I think I would also prefer if I can add my blog(s) myself on the list, or erase my blog(s) WITHOUT HAVING TO MAKE ANY request to someone in particular, for if they do not do it after my request, it can become a personal issue I do not wish to enter in.
Basically, I do not like how this project is run, although I like the idea, it is practical
Valerie
http://journals.aol.co.uk/iiimagicxx/surreality/
Valerie,
I am doing this only for the benefit of bloggers. We all complain that we can't find new journals easily, or ones that we remember the name of but forgot to book mark. I have no hidden agenda here, and I do believe that you might be over-reacting just a bit. Virtually everyone who has written comments in the index is positive about it. People who want to be listed will be listed, as long as their journal is still being added to, even if that entry is just once a year! I am a blogger doing this for bloggers. It was a lot of work this week, but I had the time for it. The flow of people wanting to be added has slowed a bit now. So it will not take a lot of time for me to maintain. I don't want to list people without their permission, so that is why I asked people to write in to ask to be listed. Not everyone wants to be listed after all! I think this index will be helpful to everyone who wants to be involved in it. Please e-mail me if you have any more questions or worries (bobandkate@aol.com). It hurts that you don't trust my motives,
Kate.
http://journals.aol.co.uk/bobandkate/AnAnalysisofLife/
http://journals.aol.co.uk/bobandkate/20062007-journal-index/
Heyo -
Just wanted to jump in here (in case you don't know me - I'm Stephanie, I'm the Product Manager for Journals). I personally think what Kate's doing is way cool, and I will always support any effort by anyone to develop this community (like the CarnivAOL blog). If I've learned anything online, it's that the best communities are run from within.
That said - we (as in the Journals team) are all too aware that it's too hard to find other people's Journals. It's a royal pain to go searching, or clicking through member directory. Even going from Journal to Journal to read daily entries can be a little too tedious.
Our next few releases will concentrate very heavily on making it easier for you to read blogs, find blogs, and promote your own blogs. The ability to browse a blog directory will definately be part of that.
So, while I can't guarantee timing on anything, I can promise that we know that everyone wants to find blogs to read (and everyone wants their blog to be read!) and we're going to be helping you do that.
Feel free to stop by my blog (or just e-mail me) at anytime if you have any rants (or raves) about journals.
Thanks!
Stephanie
http://journals.aol.com/stephaniebambam/bambam
Community is what JLand is all about. I just wanted to share a new idea that I have just put out there.
I am collecting stories about JLand and the friendships and meaningful relationships that have come about because of JLand. JLand is like none other when it comes to blogging commnities.
If you are interested here's the link. It's brand new so give it a chance.
http://journals.aol.com/dbaumgartner/bitsnbytes/
Deb
Hi, folks, just some $.02:
Like Steph says, we are definitely working on better ways to browse and read journals in future (hopefully near future) releases.
However, you don't have to wait on us. We encourage you to do whatever you like to organize and manage this community yourselves, and you sure don't have to use AOL products to do it. WetPaint (www.wetpaint.com) offers free wiki software, which would enable anyone to update and manage their own entry, for example. There may well be other free wiki services out there. I'm a fan of wikis, myself.
If you guys find something that really works for you, by all means, do it with my/our blessing. The more things we all try, the closer we get to a good solution. And if someone's doing something you think you could do better, go for it -- let the best idea win.
That's all.
Hey Jeff, I was checking out the people connection pages for journals and was wondering how come there isnt a poetry spot or a writers spot for story telling?...I thought that would be nice. We could call it the writers block...and possibly post just one entry from the weekly selected journals...Just throwing out ideas...the estrogen way..lol
Raven
http://journals.aol.com/rebuketheworld/RandomThoughtsConnected/
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