I was reviewing end of the year blog stats last night and was struck (again) by some of the far-flung places that visit VFTD. (Far-flung from my perspective at any rate. Which is, I suppose, an admission of a sort of parochialism and a U.S.-centric view point. Oh well, as Popeye would say, I y'am what I y'am.)
Anyway, I find it compelling that paintball is the thing we share in common and I'm fascinated by all the paintball going on in, er, far-flung places. So, if you'd ever be interested in dropping me a line about goings on in your part of the paintball world I'd enjoy hearing about it. The same of course holds true for less far-flung places as well. Anywhere competitive paintball is played. Hope to hear from you.
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blog. Show all posts
Friday, January 9, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Blogtastic!
My friends, and I call you my friends in order to lull you into a sense of false security so that I can take advantage of you. (No, not like that, you pervert.) In fact until I figure out how to use this manipulative power over the internet y'all are safe. Or are you?
When I started VFTD as a blog it never occurred to me to see what, if anything, other paintball bloggers were doing. In fact, it never occurred to me there were other paintball bloggers. (You might be a raging narcissist if the mere existence of other like-minded peeps never entered your mind.) In my defense I never conceived of this blog as being topic driven (even though it is) or in competition for an audience either. Mostly I wanted a place to keep doing what I've been doing for a few years now.
Anyway, enough about you, what about me?
Lately however I've been beat about the head and shoulders (figuratively of course) by all the paintball blogs springing up like mushrooms in a Mississippi basement--or at least coming to my attention--and I've decided to do something about it.
All of that was preamble to putting up a blog roll in the sidebar below the Dead Tree Archive. (What you've just read is a classic example of a big build up that fails to deliver when you find out what it's all about. Life is filled with disappointments.) I'll also be adding a sites of interest roll though I can't help but assume y'all won't see much of anything new in the list. Regarding the blog roll--it will be fairly strictly limited to actual blogs but otherwise I won't discriminate by type of paintball blog. The ones I read will be at the top of the list. [UPDATE: Not so much as it turns out. The gadget doesn't allow me to set it up that way. Instead it will cycle blogs by the most recently updated.] Blogs belonging to the DPA will also be listed and if anyone else would like theirs included just drop me a line with the site addy and I'll put it up. I'm sure it's not a big deal but I'm curious to see what happens.
Regarding sites of interest they will not, except in the broadest sense, include commercial sites. I'm thinking more along the lines of forums, news and information sites.
If I ever include commercial sites I will do it the American way and charge them for advertising.
Coming whenever I get around to it; Robots vs. Ninjas, part 2 & Restructuring the Local Tournament. Along with responses to the coming PSP announcements and whatever nonsense the MS is spouting next. In case anyone was wondering VFTD will remain a Shawn Walker free zone so don't expect any future comments. I'm not trying to be even-handed or open-minded, I just don't care.
Till next time keep an eye out for the blog roll as I'm very nearly computer literate and internet ready.
When I started VFTD as a blog it never occurred to me to see what, if anything, other paintball bloggers were doing. In fact, it never occurred to me there were other paintball bloggers. (You might be a raging narcissist if the mere existence of other like-minded peeps never entered your mind.) In my defense I never conceived of this blog as being topic driven (even though it is) or in competition for an audience either. Mostly I wanted a place to keep doing what I've been doing for a few years now.
Anyway, enough about you, what about me?
Lately however I've been beat about the head and shoulders (figuratively of course) by all the paintball blogs springing up like mushrooms in a Mississippi basement--or at least coming to my attention--and I've decided to do something about it.
All of that was preamble to putting up a blog roll in the sidebar below the Dead Tree Archive. (What you've just read is a classic example of a big build up that fails to deliver when you find out what it's all about. Life is filled with disappointments.) I'll also be adding a sites of interest roll though I can't help but assume y'all won't see much of anything new in the list. Regarding the blog roll--it will be fairly strictly limited to actual blogs but otherwise I won't discriminate by type of paintball blog. The ones I read will be at the top of the list. [UPDATE: Not so much as it turns out. The gadget doesn't allow me to set it up that way. Instead it will cycle blogs by the most recently updated.] Blogs belonging to the DPA will also be listed and if anyone else would like theirs included just drop me a line with the site addy and I'll put it up. I'm sure it's not a big deal but I'm curious to see what happens.
Regarding sites of interest they will not, except in the broadest sense, include commercial sites. I'm thinking more along the lines of forums, news and information sites.
If I ever include commercial sites I will do it the American way and charge them for advertising.
Coming whenever I get around to it; Robots vs. Ninjas, part 2 & Restructuring the Local Tournament. Along with responses to the coming PSP announcements and whatever nonsense the MS is spouting next. In case anyone was wondering VFTD will remain a Shawn Walker free zone so don't expect any future comments. I'm not trying to be even-handed or open-minded, I just don't care.
Till next time keep an eye out for the blog roll as I'm very nearly computer literate and internet ready.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Mr. Curious Again
Over at John Amodea's (new) blog, (welcome to the new media, John) he began a series of posts that are, in part, a retrospective of the history of paintball. I recommend anyone interested in the current state of the game check John's blog out. So many involved in the game today know amazingly little about what came before which makes it all the more ironic that some of the peeps most in need of John's review are the ones who made that history.
The broad strokes of the post are unassailable but donning my Mr. Curious personae, which requires only an expression of wonderment mixed with confusion--and not a great personal stretch--I am curious about a couple of things in John's post. I wonder what gun sales were in say, 2000 or 2001 compared to 2008. I also wonder what impact the burgeoning market in almost new virtually identically performing used guns is having on new sales particularly during an economic downturn. I'm also curious about the real impact of media and industry focus on the tourney side in recent years (and the varied effort over the last couple years to reintroduce recreational paintball into the pages of most of the magazines.) I have no doubt that poor local field operation has been exacerbated by punks with blazing gats and alienated some numbers of newbies but were these ever players interested in rec and/or woods ball? And have these assumed losses impacted the numbers of rec/woods players? Lastly, did anyone expect the explosive growth of the early part of this decade to go on endlessly? (Well, doh, some parts of PBIndustry clearly did but still ...)
In any event it's great to have multiple voices and more venues in which to discuss this wretched game called paintball.
The broad strokes of the post are unassailable but donning my Mr. Curious personae, which requires only an expression of wonderment mixed with confusion--and not a great personal stretch--I am curious about a couple of things in John's post. I wonder what gun sales were in say, 2000 or 2001 compared to 2008. I also wonder what impact the burgeoning market in almost new virtually identically performing used guns is having on new sales particularly during an economic downturn. I'm also curious about the real impact of media and industry focus on the tourney side in recent years (and the varied effort over the last couple years to reintroduce recreational paintball into the pages of most of the magazines.) I have no doubt that poor local field operation has been exacerbated by punks with blazing gats and alienated some numbers of newbies but were these ever players interested in rec and/or woods ball? And have these assumed losses impacted the numbers of rec/woods players? Lastly, did anyone expect the explosive growth of the early part of this decade to go on endlessly? (Well, doh, some parts of PBIndustry clearly did but still ...)
In any event it's great to have multiple voices and more venues in which to discuss this wretched game called paintball.
Monday, November 10, 2008
New & Improved
Okay. I'm lying again. It's not new--except for the Dead Tree Archive and we've been there and done that. But I've added a couple new features. One is the visible link which appears at the bottom of any post that somebody else has linked to. That way you can follow the links and see what somebody else is saying on the same or a related topic. The other is the Reax (reaction) also at the bottom of each post which is intended to be a shorthand way for you slackers to express your opinions without having to go to all the trouble of posting a comment. The standard blogger offering was really lame (funny, interesting, cool) *yawn* and I'm not convinced mine is much better (dynamite!, cherry bomb, dud) but it will at least communicate your response to each post you care to react to. [Could that have ended more awkwardly? I didn't think so either.]
If you've got any other ideas for Reax let me know. I'll probably change it periodically because I'm easily bored.
UPDATE: for some reason reax isn't working yet. Nothing is wrong with your computer and I'm not insane. (Honestly that second part is open for debate.
SUPER DUPER UPDATE: Hurrah! It's all working correctly. It only took two days and what was left of my hair.
If you've got any other ideas for Reax let me know. I'll probably change it periodically because I'm easily bored.
UPDATE: for some reason reax isn't working yet. Nothing is wrong with your computer and I'm not insane. (Honestly that second part is open for debate.
SUPER DUPER UPDATE: Hurrah! It's all working correctly. It only took two days and what was left of my hair.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
We're All Meeting at Waffle House
Okay, another blogger surprise (for me.) After slipping behind the emerald curtain and entering command central where all the ugly, dirty, hard work of blogging goes on I discover a follower lurking within. Apparently this follower thing is a new feature or gadget available from blogger and now I got's one. My first inclination was to call Orkin but then I looked a little deeper. Turns out I was at his website last weekend looking to pick up some tres kewl apparel so I decided to hold off on the exterminator. Maybe it's just the "follower" thing that's throwing me. The vibe is a junior high stage production of Invasion of the Body Snatchers--but that's probably just me.
Anyway, seems I can list stuff like that as well as a blog list of (paintball) places I hit so maybe, just maybe it'll find it's way to the sideber in the near future.
EDIT ADDED: that's the problem with late late night posting. It now reads to me as if the whole thing just creeped me out and that wasn't my sleep deprived intent. Given who it is I actually think it's both bizarre and awesome. It's just the term follower makes it sound like I'm working the Carkus Cult Dreamology schtick or something--which, trust me, I'm not.
Anyway, seems I can list stuff like that as well as a blog list of (paintball) places I hit so maybe, just maybe it'll find it's way to the sideber in the near future.
EDIT ADDED: that's the problem with late late night posting. It now reads to me as if the whole thing just creeped me out and that wasn't my sleep deprived intent. Given who it is I actually think it's both bizarre and awesome. It's just the term follower makes it sound like I'm working the Carkus Cult Dreamology schtick or something--which, trust me, I'm not.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
