Sunday, November 05, 2006

Sidebar Links and Blog Evolution

I'm feeling the need to update/overhaul the links in my sidebar. I'm evolving into a different sort of thing, blogwise, than what I've been in the past. I honestly would like some suggestions from you guys as to how to do it. I was thinking of just putting a big title called "my blog friends" and just lumping you all under it. I'm not going to limit it to just those whose same sex attractions are unwanted. Do you think I should categorize you? I'm actually opposed to that idea on principal...but....I can see that it might make it more apparent that I'm a bridge-building sort of person with friends I love and care for in all the varieties of "camps". If I do it that way it would look something like this:

Christian and gay
Christian and post-gay
(Dr. T came up with this label...i HATE the word exgay)
Christian and straight (if we're going to label according to sexuality it seems we should do it across the board....do you think?)

I don't know. It seems silly when I think about it in this much detail...but I've done a bit of reading about making blogs more "user-friendly", particularly to those who might just stumble across it and are trying to figure out what the heck it going on...so...maybe the categories would be good.

I'd very much appreciate some input from all of you. If you'd rather not do it in comments...just email me... pamwhitley@hotmail.com

It's a pain to do all this in blogger. I hate all that mumble jumble you have to go through to change the template. But it's time.

Thanks in advance for your help!

love and grace,
pam


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15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you tried blogger beta? I think the templates there is quite easy to use. A bit to easy when it comes to erase all links but much easier then old blogger.

grace said...

Hey Alex, thanks for the tip! I will check into that right now!
pam

Anonymous said...

The word post-gay has actually been used in two distinct contexts. The first refers to openly gay folks not obsessing about orientation with every breath. The second, in sync with your usage, has been discussed at least as far back as 1997.

One question to ask is whether you want to group by orientation at all... is it helpful to distinguish between ex-gay (by whatever label) Christians and straight Christians? It seems important to a lot of ex-gays to assimilate among their Christian peers. In a similar vein, I rank progressive as a higher-value self-descriptor than gay.

Another thought: Some of your friends aren't Christians, right? (The word Christian describes me but I don't shout it from the rooftops. Sometimes when I've identified myself as Christian, folks have argued with me that I wasn't. I prefer not to go there -- my beliefs are personal and private; they're not dependent on external recognition or validation.)

One possibility would be to have friends' links grouped as lean traditional (or conservative, or whatever) and lean progressive (or liberal, or gay-affirming).

Anyway, best of luck with the site reorganization!

grace said...

Thanks Steve! And thanks for those links. I was completely consumed with looking at words and definitions for a full 30 minutes over there....thank the Lord for rainy Sundays and the internet.

I guess I do have blogging friends who aren't Christians but I can't think of any....at least not any with actual blogs to link to.

I'm definitely leaning toward the "lump them altogether" layout at this point.

:)
pam

Carole Turner said...

I like the fun, "get their curiosity peaked" titles.

Anonymous said...

I like your blog's current description. I know it's wordy, but it's gives a pretty good description.

While I understand the reasoning behind the term, I really dislike "post-gay". It makes it sound like same-sex attractions are only a phase or fetish. I think SSA is more accurate.

BTW, I switched to Blogger Beta about two months ago. There are some advantages. I like the category option so you can classify each post.

However, there are also some disadvantages to switching to beta. My main problem is that you have to change your login on all blogger sites - which means you could loose your comments if you don't login correctly. Also, you'll have to re-enter your links and I haven't been able to get the hacks in the original version to work in beta.

grace said...

Thanks Carole!

Norm!....I was wondering if I could just "transfer" my blogger to blogger beta. I hadn't gotten that far in figuring it out yet but from what you're saying it sounds like this is the case.

I also appreciate you sharing your thoughts of the term "post-gay". That makes sense. I hate labels.

I think maybe I'll just lump everyone in and let people figure it out as they go along. I began writing this thing for me...I need to keep it like that in order to maintain the authenticity....or at least I think so. There I go, thinking again...the reason I even began blogging in the first place!

I'll take all this to heart as I try and figure out how to switch from blogger to blogger beta.

love and grace to you,
pam

Jay said...

They're not going to shut down regular Blogger are they? I mean, if eventually we're all going to have to switch to Beta, then I'll go ahead and do it. But personally I have no problem with Blogger the way it is now.

Don't know much about post-gay, ex-gay, and all that jazz. I consider myself a gay Christian...just one who's not having sex. Put me under whatever category you wish. The only bad traffic is no traffic :-D

grace said...

I think I'm moving toward something completely differnt...like....just one list called...

"I've Got Friends in Blog Places"

hehe!

Random bit of trivia for the day...I went to Oklahoma State University at the same time as Garth Brooks. He actually graduated one year ahead of me.
But I didn't know him. I've always despised country music.

Thanks for your input Jay. We gotta figure out this Blogger thing!! I'll let you know as I find out more. I've been doing a bit of reading about it.

Jay said...

I've always despised country music.

I'll pretend I didn't read that...

Random bit of family trivia: Way before I came along, my parents owned a dog named Mercer. Mercer himself wasn't very special, but his brother was owned by a very important man. You see, Mercer's brother was Grits, the dog of the Carter family...as in President Jimmy Carter. My Aunt Verona was Amy Carter's fifth grade teacher, and she gave Grits to Amy as a gift, and my folks got Mercer. It's truly an interesting story. Google it if you don't believe me.

grace said...

Jay dear...you could tell me you had a tiny 3rd ear growing on your left nipple and I'd believe you. You're just that sweet! :) Of course I'd insist on seeing it...but still. hehe!

What a cool story! I am a bit heartbroken that you seem to have an affinity for country music. what's the world coming to?????

Jay said...

Ears look weird enough, but...ewww. You couldn't have picked an unlikely story a little less disturbing? :-/

grace said...

Sorry Jay...it's all the years I've spent as the only woman in a house full of men/boys...even IF one of them was gay! ;) My sensibilities may be a bit "dulled".

Anonymous said...

hey. hey now. there is nothing wrong with country music. in fact, much of it is very pleasing to listen to... :P

you could just order your links alphabetically and let everyone figure them out on their own? or write a little sentence for a description of each link somewhere, instead of trying to group them in categories (when you'll probably put each link into it's own category)

grace said...

Hey Rob!!!! Gosh, haven't heard from you in ages! Thanks for your input!

I've decided to do something similar to what your saying here.

NOW...it's just a matter of sitting down and DOING it! ha!

The country music thing...that just kills me....I KNOW KNOW KNOW this is so very stereotypical...but....a gay guy who likes country music is like Larry the Cable guy listening to opera.

Although, your generation seems to have quite an affinity for it. My oldest son is the same age as you and Jay and it breaks my heart when I get in the car and he's had the station on The WOLF. ugh! I thought I'd raised him better! hehe!

Glad you are still commenting!
love,
pam

(and if you are gay, reading this, and don't know me well...i'm TOTALLY kidding with the stereo typing!)