scriptygoddess

I’m in the middle of migrating everything into wordpress. Things may be a little wacky until everything’s in place

Update: well, it looks like the only problem I have is that some of the older posts with previous authors got messed up. We’re talking about posts over two years old. Over time I’ll try to fix whatever posts I notice, but I have to admit it will not be a top priority for me.

If you notice anything wacky - please email me or leave a comment.

Todo:
Fix feeds
fix pda ver.
change resources page to use WP link manager

Just a side note about my plans - here’s a list of what I plan on attacking and when.

1) Comment Subscription
This is an important enough feature I have here, (I think, anyway) that I feel warrants delaying my official move to Wordpress until I have it working. Especially since the comments can sometimes be more important and informative than my actual posts!

Once that’s done, I think I’m safe to transfer the blog to WordPress. All the other “simple” tweaks are done. Here’s my plan for afterwards:

2) Comment show/hide
This will be a modification/add on to my existing “show/hide more” plugin.

3) Pagination-extra
Someone commented that they would like more flexibility about where the navigation for the pages go - so I’ll probably make a second plugin that will allow you to do that. There will be a bit more code you’ll need to add to your template to do that - but hopefull not much (maybe a line or two more)

4) Comment Hi-lite
This is strictly for my own personal use… as I said before, sometimes the comments here are more important than the post. And there are some comments that are more important than others. I want the ability to have certain comments (that I indicate) hilighted in some fashion, so it’s easier for users to find when they’re looking through page after page of comments.

I’ll add on to this as I come up with more things or get more requests. Keep in mind that that first one is a DOOZY. LOL! There’s a lot of layers to it - especially with users managing which posts they’re subscribed to, and being able to maintain a “do not mail” list - so that I comply with the whole “can-spam” stuff. So it will probably take me awhile before I can move off that first step. But I figured I’d post the “project plan” in case you were interested.

I should create a new category here for these types of posts “Drama in Blogland”. LOL!

So, in a nutshell, I played with ExpressionEngine. Looked very powerful. Played with Textpattern. Looked interesting. Played with WordPress and was very impressed.

There is a lot of room for growth with WordPress. If you’re looking to do “everything MT can do and more” - then you may need to wait a little longer. That’s not to say it can’t be done, I KNOW WordPress can and eventually WILL do it. In my mind, it’s sort of the “underdog” - and I love underdogs.

I have a test area going right now trying to make scriptygoddess do (almost) everything it does now - but in WordPress, and it will take some time to complete. (It may even mean some code modifications or custom plugins I create) But that is where I’m going to be putting my energy now.

It’s not about licensing for me, anymore. It’s about where I think my “developmental” efforts (and public support) are best spent. The answer is WordPress.

So if things are a little quiet the next couple of days - that’s where I’ll be…

Because I want to encourage communication like this

I have a total of 8 ACTIVE blogs and 3 ACTIVE authors. I have two issues with the current things going on with MT - One is the licensing, which I’ll address first. Basically, blogs that are highly visible, used, and/or read - I agree I should pay for. However, the small, “sub blog” or completely private, personal ones - I don’t know how that fits in.

Here are the specifics of each use:

Sometimes I set up test blogs to test out a new script or layout - but then delete it later.

I technically have more authors than those 3, because of older posts on scripty (I don’t want to delete the authors and then have the posts disappear) - but none of those authors are active anymore.

One of those “3″ authors is for BLOGLET! (I just don’t think I should count that one as a “valid” author either)

My blogs are as follows:
This one - very public - should and want to pay for it’s existence.

My personal journal - password protected but used very often and read a fair amount. Should and want to pay for it’s existence.

There is also a “sub blog” related to my personal journal. At the same domain, but in a different folder. It is password protected as well - not read as often as the main journal - not sure I’d be willing to “pay” for this one.

My husband has a completely passworded blog - no one but he (and I) have access to it. It’s purpose is to just track certain events - and it’s easier to do it online. Not willing to “pay” for this one - a “free” alternative would suit just fine - only using MT for them at the moment becuase it was “there”.

I have another, “celebrity photo” blog - very minimal traffic and use. Might be willing to pay for this one.

Two other sites which get very little traffic, are hardly read - are more for “personal information storage” than anything else - Not really willing to “pay” for those either - a “free” alternative would suit just fine - only using MT for them at the moment becuase, again, it was “there”.

My other issue is with the fact that they have already released a feature list for MT 3 - and as a NON-DEVELOPER (of PERL) - it was not that extensive. I’ve been waiting for new features, and I don’t feel like I’m getting them. I think in marketing they call this perception of value? Since MT stopped adding major features, I’ve had to beg borrow steal people to create plugins FOR me. If there are more features in the works - I think they should have come out with that list either BEFORE or AT THE SAME TIME that they released their pricing.

So the problem still remains that whether they want $20 or $200 - my perception of value of this current release is not very high. I wanted new features. I was willing to pay for them. However, I’m not getting them.

Found this again via the LinkQueen (aka Melissa)

MT pricing update

All I’ll say is - Too little. Too late. It’s high time I moved to a PHP CMS - and this was just the kick in the pants to finally do it.

I read somewhere that 6A is looking for suggestions on how to make things “right” - that’s really tough at this point. They waited FAR to long for this release - did NOT communicate enough about what they planned to do - and this release (while I’m sure has lots of backend glitz) I was still really hoping for some snazzy cool fun features that many people have been begging for.

I think its funny that some people point at the ones that don’t want to pay and say that we’re cheap. But they’ve missed a fine point. I WILL pay for MT - in fact I already did. MT was “free” but I donated money for two “keys”. HAPPILY. Because this was a good product. But it’s still missing some significant features in my opinion and for what they’re asking for it now - it’s simply not worth it. MT PRO should be the “pay” one and MT 3.0 remain free. (Isn’t this what we were lead to believe all along?) (And I’m really confused by their saying that it’s still a free version - last I checked $70 was still $70. - and that license won’t even cover me completely.)

The second problem is that I love PHP. I have always had to work against the grain to get what I wanted MT to do, by using PHP. I waited paitently and faithfully for them to get their act together and release a more feature-rich MT. Which they still have not done in my opinion. Again, if there were more FRONT-END USER BASED (not DEVELOPER based) features - then I would have forked over more cash.

They really put the screws in on their userbase. They’ve been so secretive about everything (which is really ironic when you think about it - I mean we’re talking about BLOG software - software that is used to COMMUNICATE to the PUBLIC - yet they didn’t) - and if they had asked their USERBASE what THEY wanted - they probably would have seen this coming.

I’m thinking that maybe they’re now strictly going for COMMERCIAL end-users - and see TypePad as the option for users like me. Unfortunately, I like hosting stuff on my own servers. I like tinkering with the blog engine and hacking it to do all kinds of funky stuff. So TypePad is out.

So for me - there’s not much that can be done except to do what is LONG LONG overdue and start working with a PHP based CMS. (Still remains to be seen which one I use and WHEN I finally have the time to transfer everything). But the move itself is pretty much set in stone now.

Happy Birthday Scriptygoddess - Two years old today.
(Does this mean I’ve entered the “terrible two” stage?)

At literally the 11th hour - I forgot to note - Scriptygoddess was “feed of the day” on Feedster today. It’s only a little after 11pm EST - It’s still today…right?

Now that I’m over my shock - I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped with this site….

First, those who have guest authored a post on this blog… You help keep the content going and I greatly appreciate your help - here’s a list of everyone who has been published at least once here (If I left anyone out, PLEASE let me know!!!)
Deltus - scratchingtheitch.com
Doc - seadoc.net
Donna - deliriouscool.org
emily - emilystarr.com
Jake Ortman - utterlyboring.com
James - them.ws
James Robinson - The Robinson House
Jason - trommetter.com/tech/
Jayant Kumar Gandhi - wirez.f2o.org/coffee-house/
Jenni - bloggiebroad.com
Kevin - Wizbangblog.com
Kevin Donahue - blog.kevindonahue.com
kitykity - kitykity.com
Lisa - lisa-jill.com
Lloyd Dalton - daltonlp.com
Mark Woodward - cowpi.com/journal/
Michelle - usr-bin-mom.com
Mike Brittain - http://www.embimedia.com
Natalie - lunardreams.net
Patricia - lunanina.com/musings/
Promoguy - promoguy.net
Rapunzell - rapunzellstower.com
Rayne - wifetalks.com
Rayne - wifetalks.com
Rich Blinne - blinne.org
Shawn Allison - shawnallison.com
Sphinx - pixelsphinx.com
Stuart Robertson - designmeme.com
Taran - knowprose.com/mtentries/
Theresa - dandelionwine.org
Zon Nero - www.localecho.com

I’d also like to thank Christine for the wonderful hosting she provides through Blogomania. If you’re looking for a host provider - look no further!! She’s the hostess with the mostess.
I’d also like to thank Raena - who, although the redesign actually happened after the bloggies, I am just loving this design that would have otherwise had very scary code if it was not for the amazing job she did with the CSS.

As well, Movabletype and it’s creators. This is a great blogging application. I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us in ver. 3.0!!

As well, although this is mentioned in my sidebar - my icons were designed by Chris. So a thank you is in order to him as well.
A thank you should also be directed to everyone who comments here and helps out with questions others ask. For this, there are just too many to keep track of. I guess I can ask you to stand up and be counted in the comments
And last but not least, the ones who sponsored the categories that Scriptygoddess won in:
Rogers Cadenhead , of Radio UserLand Kick Start who sponsored “Best programming of a weblog site” and Adam of HeathNet Consulting who sponsored “Best Web Development Weblog”.

Phew! I think that covers everyone. If I left anyone out - please let me know, and I will modify this post.
Update: I DID forget someone. Sorry about that… so adding one more:
Matt - photomatt.nett

I don’t normally use this site for this type of thing - but I’m making an exception… A friend of mine helps run a grief website and the previous webmaster will not be able to help them out anymore. Basically what is needed is someone who can add/update pages and links, add chat rooms as neccessary (there’s documentation from the previous webmaster on how to do everything). They’re not a demanding group - they just need someone to help them out.

If you’re interested in helping them out - please contact Debbi. (remove the “=NOSPAM=” from the email address)