So I don’t plan on there being any breaks in posting from here into the foreseeable future for either of these two sites, but I figure that we need to have a few discussions about what will work best for all of us as we continue into the unknown.
I’d like to ask for your opinions about what does and does not work for you and what you’d like to see more or less of.
Let’s start with the obvious elephant in the room.
Registration
When I was doing research back in September for where I was going to move to (YES, I HAVE BEEN HOLDING THIS IN FOR TWO FUCKING MONTHS), I settled on WordPress because I was familiar with their posting system and I knew I’d ultimately be able to have a custom template built that best suited what I wanted to do. That being said, the way to register or subscribe to this site is a tad confusing. So here are your options:
1) Register for this blog as a member/user. Over on the right side, under “Meta,” click Register. This will create a UNIQUE LOGIN FOR THIS WORDPRESS BLOG ONLY. This is why you can’t use it across the board.
2) Enter your general WordPress account info in the comments to “login.” If you already have a WordPress account, you can comment.
3) Register for an IntenseDebate account. And they are pretty nifty, because you can use it all over the web and it tracks where you left all your comments so that it is easy to see if anyone replied to you.
4) Enter your nickname, email, and optional site. This way doesn’t subscribe you in any way and also is 100% temporary.
I’ve also removed the limit on having a moderator approve your first comment before it shows up. It’s already too much work and I can’t imagine how bad it would be during a live blog. Yikes!
Make sense? I’m not turning on Facebook registration because Facebook already creeps me out and I’d like to avoid using them.
Onwards we go!
GIFs, JPGs, PNGs, etc in comments.
They are now live. You MUST use your own hosting, as you can no longer host them in the comments. I’m going to look into a CSS hack that might allow you to upload to my hosting that I bought, but for the time being, you’ll have to use the < img src=”URL HERE” > code. And remove the spaces around the brackets.
I EXPECT MANY GIFS IN THE COMMENTS. Since it’s paginated better and you can actually close all the comments, the page should load better.
Schedule
Of course, the first thing everyone has asked me is HEY MARK WHEN ARE YOU STARTING EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW RIGHT NOW.
Ok, I’m exaggerating. But it’s a fair question. There’s really no set timeline in terms of order because the beauty of having my own site with easily-discernable categories is that I can review multiple things all at the same time, whereas on Buzznet I was limited to creating new profiles for each new project.
So here’s what’s going to happen here on Mark Reads:
-I’ll be doing the Hunger Games read starting MONDAY, November 22nd. YES. THAT SOON. Booyah!
– I will also begin re-reading Harry Potter this weekend as well. My tentative idea for how I will split up the series is as follows:
- Sorcerer’s Stone in two parts.
- Chamber of Secrets in two parts.
- Prisoner of Azkaban in two parts.
- Goblet of Fire in three parts
- Order of the Phoenix in four parts
- Half-Blood Prince in three parts.
- Deathly Hallows in three parts.
They’ll be interspersed in with the other reviews, but you can always check out the ‘Harry Potter’ category on the right to see if I’ve updated. Or, if you subscribe via RSS or Google Reader or the sort, I’ll make sure to title the posts with ‘Mark Re-Reads Harry Potter’ so that you know.
I haven’t done this yet and was curious if you guys would be interested in it. I know many of you follow me on my @panasonicyouth account, but would you be interesting in @markreadswatches as an account just for these two sites? It might help with announcements, shenaniganry, and promotion. THOUGHTS?
I ALREADY DID IT. Follow me:@MarkDoesStuff
And now I turn to you. What else would you like to see or hear from me? What about for the site itself? The custom template is being worked on, so this site won’t be super plain and white for much longer, but are there any accessibility concerns you may have?
AH I AM SO EXCITED.
Are you going to put up a dedicated 'suggestion' page so that you aren't inundated with suggestions on various different posts – one per blog, for future 'reading' and 'watching' suggestions?
Good idea! I'll get to that.
I second the desire for a suggestions post for each blog. Mostly because I've started watching/reading things and thinking, "Wow, I hope Mark reviews this at some point."
I've now registered with this page so that's sorted for me 🙂
I would LOVE the twitter account, by the way! and do you think I should wait to read your hunger games reviews till I have them then catch up or should I read your reviews then go through the first few chapters as soon as I get the book? Hmmm decisions, decisions!
Either Hunger Games is a super popular book, or you're big in San Diego. I just requested it from the library and I'm 26th on the wait list. There are 45 copies (!!!!) in the system though, so I should get one pretty soon. Excited for a series I can read along with as it goes.
Yeah it's a pretty popular series plus there's a movie coming up. 26 is pretty good though, I'm like 400th on the list waiting for 160 or so copies of the book at the library so it looks like I'll be sitting this one out. I'll prolly just watch The Running Man instead.
I approve of everything, including you starting THG very soon squeee 😀
I also think that a dedicated twitter account would be a good idea. Would you update it for every review you post? That would be super helpful for me at least seeing as I dont have buzznet telling me when you've updated any more yet Im on twitter all the time XD
I don't really know WordPress, so forgive me if there is obvious answer to this question. But is there a way to have the replies to comment show up automatically? Right now I have to manually choose to show the replies to each comment. One of my favorite parts of the old blog was reading everyone's conversations and it is mildly annoying to have to click to show each reply.
But I'm still really excited that you have your own site(s), Mark!!
This is a very good question…is this a feature we can control?
Another question about comments, so I'll put it in this thread:
Now that I have registered for a wordpress account (not just for this site) will I get some kind of notification when people reply to my comments? (I suppose I'll find out as soon as someone does!)
Yay I am excited! 😀 Just to show how excited I am, have what I hope (?) is the FIRST GIF in your comments so far! And I think I will get a WordPress account at some point now anyway just because it might be easier.
CELEBRATE!
<img src="http://i578.photobucket.com/albums/ss225/hanelissar/Gifs/danceydanceyyay.gif">
Amazing Matt and Karen gif is amazing.
stunning realisation, despite having known the actors' names for ages, hit when I saw this gif – 'OMG! That's my brother and sister in law's names! Matt and Karen! OMG!' Strange how these things can pass you by!
Howdy again, Mark.
Thanks a lot for this post. I'd say on the scale of internet-inept to internet-savvy, I'm internet-decently okay. So it was good to have kind of a jumping point to go from.
I'm not entirely sure what I did differently, I thoughttttttt that I'd tried this before, but I guess not…anyway, I'm successfully registered and subscribed to the Mark does stuff sites through WordPress. I even have a gravatar, oooooeeeee.
Alrighty, well, I've got my copy of The Hunger Games, so I'm ready to start reading with you. And I'm so excited for you to experience HP straight through for the first time, and hear your comments now that you've had you initial experience and can read with that (totally new) eye!
this is all good!
looking forward to following it. i might even read along with you for hunger games, since i haven't read it before.
can't wait for the potter re read. xo
Yeah wtf, it sort of justmade me one too without me asking. Creeepy.
It's because it's a plug-in that uses the same database!
Ah ok, sorry I'm a luddite!
IntenseDebate and WordPress are automatically linked, which is pretty neat. The only purpose you, as a commenter, would have for ID is that you can log in to your account there and see all the comments you've ever left!
Yeah, I "discovered" that, haha. It's an great feature, and will definitely be handy when we get going and there's hundreds and thousands of comments…to be able to know what you said, and whether there have been replies.
Is there going to be a new Spoiler Policy? Do we just use that shiny "report" button and you'll get a report that the comment is spoilery? (I do like that you can just write in the text box, not have to choose from a menu.)
I definitely appreciate the separate section for the harry potter stuff cause i won't be following along with the hunger games since i havent read the books yet. That way I can still check the blog all the time without being spoiled! YAY
I made that out to be more complicated than it really was!
Wow, you are moving fast! This is very exciting! Also, have lots of fun with HP7!
Hey Mark!
I'll be reading The Hunger Games for the first time along with you (there was one copy left in the bookstore, I found it by acciddent. it was FAITH) and I'm very excited that you'll start on monday already because the book has been laying on my nightstand since saturday READ ME! at me.
Have lots of fun with HP7!
omg I'm super excited! 🙂
Eeeee, so exciting! I'm going to try to read The Hunger Games along with you, but I'm going to have to go buy copies (I always buy). And I won't be free to do so until Monday! OMGs!
All of this sounds like it'll work just fine to me. For the moment, I'm going to choose to just enter my name and email every time, though I may choose to register at a later time.
Picard Dance!
<img src="http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d37/Sailorcelestial/StarTrekInsurrection-PicardDanceMam.gif" border="0" alt="Photobucket">
THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL GIF RIGHT THERE.
I KNOW, RIGHT?? Dear gods, that is one sexy man….
OH MY GOD I AM BACK AND JUST IN TIME. I had a total harddrive failure and a week of catsitting for my sister, but omg I am back. Now if I can just get my hands on the Hunger Games. >.<
HELLO MARK AND EVERYONE, I MISSED YOU A LOT. LIKE REALLY.
THANK YOU FOR RETURNING. That party is just starting!
Very excited about the re-read! If you haven't already seeked it out, http://hpcompanion.com/ would be the perfect, well, companion for it.
And here's hoping the Hunger Games experience will resemble HP more than Twilight, although both were highly entertaining.
Yay!! Super exciting!
Mark, what about Rowling's companion books? Beadle the Bard, Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts? Are you going to read those?
I think he's already read QTTA and FBAWTFT.
Hey Mark! NIIIICE new site! Way less clunky than buzznet! (how to you post images here?)
There's a section above with instructions on how to embed images in comments. 🙂
You're starting on Monday already? Yay! I've already read all of The Hunger Games, but I think you'll really like it.
Hi ppls! Hi Mark! Stupid death flu -,- I get sick for awhile and ya'll CHANGE EVERYTHING!!! Was so confused…all better now I think lol. Anyway, is Hunger Games gonna be chapter by chapter like HP was? If I can get my hands on a copy I'd like to read along but needed to know the reading rate *wow I sound like I'm in school -,-*
Also, to the MRHP fam: I didn't get to say THANK YOU to all of you for being so awesome and fun *Mark obviously included as you started the whole thing* at the end of the book reviews. I wanted to comment a lot but I had a few really bad things happen IRL and I dropped off the face of the planet for a little while. Not that I contributed much, but still, I wanted to thank you all anyway. You made me smile when I needed it and I didn't want too much time to pass without telling you so. So onwards yeah? luvluv
Maaaark you should read Eragon it would be so much fun to see your reactions 🙂 and i swear it wouldn't be *as* bad as Twilight. Only kind of.
Heehee.
I guess I ought to make an account and properly participate now, since I can figure out the comment system (something about Buzznet's always deterred me; it was too weird).
Oh, I should go get Hunger Games to read along… oh this, oh that.
I've really enjoyed your reviews <3 So thank you, Mark. By the way.
I picked up my edition of The Hunger Games and decided to just read the first chapter before dinner to see what it was like and then I had a hard time stopping.
Thanks Mark for doing this. It was a blast re-reading HP alongside you and experience it again. I keep away from your movie review cause I have tickets for Monday, but it will be the first I read after I get back home.
I started reading through your Twilight stuff, but that book is so depressingly bad I just couldn't (sorry, not your fault). Maybe I can give it a try some other time.
Anyway – looking forward to follow along The Hunger Games though! Monday right?
Yes! 🙂 Thank you!
Hey Mark! I like the new site 🙂 I don't have The Hunger Games or know anything about it, but if you like it in your reviews I'll definitely get it and start reading along.
How was the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows? I really want to go to one for Part 2!
Anyway my awkward first comment is finished bye.
You ever read any Stephen King? I'd love to see you read through the Dark Tower series so much….SO MUCH. XD
Who would have thought way back when in the Twilight days that you would ever get here? I should have started commenting then. I'm too much of a lurker.
Anyway, congrats on the new websites and the wonderful choice of new books to read. I've already read the first, but I can't wait to follow along with the second one.
I'll probably also put this on your first post for The Hunger Games as an fyi.
For the people who are looking/waiting for a copy of the book, you can read it for free on Google Books. Just type in the name, click on the cover, and the whole book loads for you.
<3
This is sad because I have not read the hunger games nor will I be able to buy them until my birthmas( birthday/christmas cause they are about two weeks apart for me) so eventually I will be back to reading things with you mark 🙁 until then I hope you enjoy the books! And congrats on the new sites!
Aaaaaaah this is exciting! Congratulations on the sites Mark 😀
Looking forward to the Hunger Games, just finished reading them a few weeks ago. Not as good as Harry Potter IMO, but then not much is, can't wait to see what you think of the books though!
I just finished reading the Hunger Games, which was an emotional roller coaster. Haven't been able to touch it since, so this will be a perfect opportunity to re-read it; looking forward to it!
I bought THG as soon as I saw you were reading it – it's been sitting on my bedroom floor staring at me longingly for weeks! so excited that you're getting going, I read the first chapter this evening 😀
I'm so excited!!! 😀
It will be so great reading the books for the first time with you!!!
MARK!!! I just wanted to say that I LOVE that you do these reviews! I had just finished reading the Twilight series when I discovered Mark Reads Twilight, and I was more than over the moon happy when I realized that someone else was seeing the series as I was – just plain awful. Haha. MRHP was by far one of the best things, I loved coming home every day and reading your reviews!
I just finished the Hunger Games myself, and am really excited that you are going to be reading that too! I love your insight, and everything you have to say! It really makes me appreciate writing a lot more than I ever have before. So, for that I gotta thank you!
…Also, PLS COME TO TORONTO 😀
I love this series so I’m excited!
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
So, what creeps you out about Facebook?
(Facebook totally creeps me out too. Just want to hear the perspective of someone who is the opposite of Internet anonymous.)
Is there a reason why the blog entries aren't fully displayed in the (google) feedreader? I preferred the buzznet version, where you could see the entire article, without any extra clicks. If it doesn't have a deeper meaning, could you please change that?
SOOOO i just totally made an account on both wordpress and intensedebate AND buying the hunger games trilogy so i can follow along with mark reads and watches!!!
I'M EXCITED!!!!
I am very confused about pictures. I dont get any of what you just said. Sorry :$
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