Review blog UP!

My first official review is up on my fancy-smancy review blog.  Click the quote below to bring you over:

Mark and I are not what one would call fancy folks. We like things simple, clean and functional. We also like to think things over for-freaking-ever and so often don't get around to home improvement tasks until way past their prime. Add to this the pesky little issue of a lack of funds and you end up with a dining room that looks like a pair of rabid troll-monkeys took great care in the decor. In addition to the table that Maya used to teethe on we have a floor in desperate needs of replacement and the same window treatments that we bought the house with: nothing on the French doors and dilapidated blinds on the window.

Home

OK, so I think I have this new blog thing set up and rolling properly.  Look around for me when you get a spare moment and let me know if anything looks crazy or doesn't make sense.  I'll be adding content to the review site soon (JC Penney review due, um, tomorrow) and then starting to get back to regular posting. 

I don't know how to even start talking about BlogHer.  It was... huge.  And wonderful and crazy and all the things you would expect when 1000 bloggers get together in a big city.  In fact, I was trying to explain it to the very blue collar construction dude I sat down next to on the plane home and it was a study in contrast, indeed.  He had no idea what a blog even was and was floored that some of us make money doing it.  In fact, my whole conversation with him was eye opening as to how the rest of the world (i.e. non tech obsessed) thinks.  He seriously didn't understand why anyone would care what my kids said yesterday.  The really funny part was when he started telling me about his own four-year-old son and his stories were exactly what we all blog about.  He was great.

Anyway, the girls and I are getting settled back into each other.  Anya spent the whole evening draped over me, holding on to me as tightly as she could manage.  Lily even tackled me with some love and then went off to see what her dad was doing.  It's lovely to be so loved.

I have a busy week ahead of me and have to digest some family news that makes me feel sick inside.  More on that later.  For now I need to go play with my kids.  My beautiful, stunning, funny kids.

Hold Please

In the process of switching over to Squarespace version5, which launched today.  Also? Supposed to be checking out of my hotel in San Fransisco and starting to think about the airport.  Thus, this site might look horrid for a while as I'm going to be in and out of wifi range.  Bear with me!

blind sided

I got a text from Mark between sessions today that said "Anya misses you."  I sent back a quick message and then Mark called, putting a sobbing Anya on the phone.  "I miss you, Mama!" she wailed and it took everything in me not to fall apart on the spot.  I gave her as much love as a mama can give via phone and Mark assured me she was OK, just tired and getting ready for her nap.

It still blind sided me and knocked me off my game.  I had trouble concentrating through the photography session, my heart feeling slightly shattered.  What was I doing here?  How could I just leave my babies?  What kind of mother DID that, anyway?  Then I looked around the room and realized that more than half of the women in that room were mamas and they probably had someone missing them too.  And yet, here we all were, learning about apertures and tricks with your external flash and how to imagine a superball smashing into someone's face.  And while that is in no way (FOR ME) more important than parenting, it doesn't make learning and growing and having an interest outside of my children any less valid. 

Oh, but that little tiny voice so full of pain.  How do I deal with the way her pain rips into me?  I just haven't figured that one out yet.

ShutterWalk

 
Just back from the The First BlogHer PhotoWalk  with Shutter Sisters and uploading some of the images.  I'm supposed to contribute a couple of my favorites to the ShutterWalk group on Flickr to get into the running for a blurb book.  Click on the image below to see the whole set and let me know (via comments) which one or two or whatever are your favorites.

tiny update

Have no time to actually blog at this thing, but am trying to throw in a tweet here and there.  Got photos onto computer last night after trying to video every one of the Community Keynotes last night, which burned up all the space on my 2G card.  Hoping I can spend a bit of time getting the photos uploaded to Flickr today but my schedule is a wee bit full.

Here's where you should be able to find me today:

Morning Keynote: HybridMedia: How we will all work together to build a converged-media future (live blogging)

What We Believe: Beautiful Blogging and Positive Posting (live blogging)

How We Communicate: Photography

The First BlogHer PhotoWalk  with Shutter Sisters

Closing Keynote: Living the Truman Show

Whatever party I find myself at, yo. 

Beautiful Blogging and Positive Posting

What We Believe: Beautiful Blogging and Positive Posting

It's easy in today's blogosphere to focus on the controversy and the commercialism. Hey, some people think there's a lot of that at and on BlogHer. But blogging is not just about ranting, and blogging is not just about raking it in. Blogging can also be about love, trust, positivity, hope, empowerment, quality over quantity, and transformations, global and personal. This session will give you some concrete examples of bloggers trying to contribute to their blogging communities, no matter the size or scope. Kyran Pittman hastens to tell us that "beautiful doesn't mean pretty...it's not all about rainbows and unicorns here!" Kyran is joined by some women working on beautiful and positive projects: Krystyn Heide from the Hope Revolution, Alyssa Royse from Just Cause It!. Jen, the leader of the JustPost project, found on her blog one plus two and Lucrecer Braxton, who hosts a monthly Art Slam initiative.

Kyran: Remember that we’re part of a diverse community. Dial down judgment, dial up curiosity and openness.
Background on panel: last year looking at why people blog I would assume it’s about popularity and money. Two other sessions show a greater appetite for that which can not be quantified. GNP doesn’t account for the work of mothers. Invisible accountability in blogging as well, deeply important. Raw. Passion. Diversity. Not either/or but AND. Incubate social change.

Welcome to panelist
What are people looking for coming into this session.

COMMENT: just what you said, the alternative. What is the core of what blogging can be?

COMMENT: encourage other bloggers, what strategies can we employ to encourage?

COMMENT: want to meet other positive posters. Rants are funny but need some positive, too.

COMMENT: Catalyst to drive central action. Out from behind the desk and encourage work in the real world.

Kyran: place of self exploration for her. Manifesting social change in some blogs.

Krystyn: Will talk about Hope Revolution, specifically. Been online for a long time but went through some difficult times and deiced to leave hope notes; it was blogged and then WHAM, it was everywhere.

Jen: JustPost started 1.5 years ago, roundtable of social justice posts. Once a month, list of things that inspire. Bring up issues from all over the world. Community has grown.

Alyssa: Just Cause It!. Chatter out there, how do we fix it. Go solve it. Promote social causes. Original editorials as well. Not just problems, but write about solutions.

Lucrecer: Art slam. Inspired by poetry slams: raw, emotional, put yourself out there. You’ve arrived when you perform your art. Experience in art and journaling. Leave it there, don’t take it away. Am a negative person but struggle to tame “The Bitch”. Ego dictated how she was going to act, think, etc. People love reading people’s personal journals. Connections. We’re all connected and looking for kindred spirits through art, journaling, whatever. Women bitch and moan about ourselves. Stop it. We are all so very worthy. It’s not about readership, it’s about inspiration and self expression. Hence: art slam.

Kryan: impacting people who might never read a blog. Hope notes, art, community action. Setting standards, conscious structure. Deeply creative means being conscious of parameters. What sets the bar?

COMMENT: living your life. Showing our kids that our activities have impact. Stay in it, write it out. PEOPLE FIRST.

Krystyn: part that I love about hope notes, you could watch and see someone find it. But it doesn’t have to be a happy love note. Can be raw and deep and personal. And that can help someone.

Lucrecer: had an experience at a job and blogged it. Worked in baseball, was terrible experience. Art journal, express the deeply difficult, male dominated stuff. Lurkers came out of the woodwork to support and uplift while doing that for someone else. Peace about situation that is horrid. My boss thought it was about him (was reading) and got this email from a woman who took post to church group and they prayed for her. Manifesting in the real world.

COMMENT: Blogging principals. Got all call from an attorney because she’d used real names and had pissed off people in her family. Writing became less authentic because of it. Write about dyslexia and teen boarding schools and gets feedback from parents and sometimes from teens that makes it feel immediate and important. Speak your truth.

QUESTION: creating community w/kindred spirits. Beauty in thought and action. Snarky blogs bring snarky comments. Beauty brings beauty.  How can you use your blog to reach out to people not in peace/love/hope.

Jen: work in poverty and homelessness and there’s a lot of beauty there. Suffering and joy work together. We’re all in pain, so how do we make it all work together to elevate each other? You chose what to elevate, so model your beauty so that others can be brought to it as well.

Alyssa: personal blog launched after husband arrested for DUI. Off the Rocks is about how they both deal with his alcoholism. And it has been a huge outlet of people who are there and need to connect. Disaster: but you’re strong enough to fix this. We lead by example. We create the world we want to live in. Set examples about real problems and real solutions.

Kryan: Leadership. That’s what we’re talking about. Giving permission to share, take risks. Setting the bar. So many fires... we need to choose to step back from the fire.

Krystyn: nice about the internet is that you can turn off the computer and walk away. Last night from the keynote, pregnancy related depression: so vulnerable and out there, we could all connect. When she was in that moment of depression, this kind of thing would have made it more bearable. Trend: shame and empathy make it hard for others to accept and give support. Be transparent and show your flaws... it gives permission to be flawed.

Lucrecer: I don’t do pity parties. What are we putting out there? Is that what I really think of myself? What are you trying to get when you rant? Are you ready to deal with the feedback? Stays away from politics because of lash back.

COMMENT: blog about politics/ social identity. Sometimes not cheerful. Struggle with compartmentalize and how contagious can snarky be? Heart wrenching content ended with hope can change the world. Positivity is contagious and having a network of that is so important.

Lucrecer: you can choose how to react to something. You are you. I am. We get so caught up in identifiers. Just be in the moment. Just BE.

Kryan: Jen, can you talk to sugar coating?

Jen: Connectivity. Had opportunity to witness domestic suffering. Some of the most beautiful, hopeful people you can imagine. Hopeful. Strive to collectively look at this and turn it around to manifest hope in the greater community.

Alyssa: have to know WHY you’re posting something. Forget that what we’re doing is adding to the collective experience. We can be a virtual “I know you’re having a crappy day, let me tell you I think you’re amazing”. Don’t put it out there.

Lucrecer: Doesn’t have to be garbage in, garbage out.

COMMENT: Everything is viral now. It happens and the world can be informed w/ photos/tweets/etc. Temptation is to be the defender of beauty. Try to find the balance. Get sucked into it but have limited time/resources. Fight so hard for the beauty it gets ugly.

Alyssa: have to stay away... much like having junk food in the house.

Jen: why is there so much gravity towards bitchiness. Doesn’t elevate the conversation.

Krystyn: Good Experience Live conference in NY. Viral issue: same issue from past can now be instantly fixed because you throw it all out there and someone can fix it.

COMMENT: what we call snarkiness is the flip side of false positively. For me it’s about staying open in the face of reality.

QUESTION: How do you resist jumping in when people get so crazy about a trivial thing. I use it as a way to post something especially inspiring. Balance. Three good things happened to me today. What happened to you that is beautiful?

Lucrecer:  exchange of energy. What are you really trying to accomplish?

COMMENT: humor. Great way to connect with people not already in your sphere. Create compassion, expose hypocrisy. Lightens tension. Snarky can be like that. I’m touching someone if I can make them laugh.

Kryan: we are works in progress. We break down sometimes and rant. metaphor Carbon footprint: we can’t have 0 footprints. What’s my blogs footprint? Am I polluting? If so, am I also cleaning up?

Alyssa: off the rocks (.net). knew were weren’t alone and power in admitting frailty. Pathetic destitute creatures and yet we’re fine, just dealing with a BAD sit. Deal open and honestly and not be full of shame. I wouldn’t want my daughter to feel weak and stupid because she’s struggling.

Krystyn: what would you want to someone you love to think after they read about you.

Lucrecer:  daughter 15, 7 and dear son 5. empower my daughters to empower themselves. You cannot do what I do but you can do what YOU CAN DO. Steps to creation. Do what feeds you. Empower people to empower themselves.

COMMENT: issues re: marriage and queer issues. Comes back in a “never thought of it that way.” Also get a lot of deeply awful emails and always responds with such beauty. Acknowledge their pain/anger. We have choices to use our power for good or evil.

Krystyn: Make hope Notes, paper here. Posters: images and text made with love.

COMMENT: practical spirituality... meaning in daily life. Beauty that is real, growing, full of leadership, etc. I want to grow that. Meeting my tribe here because it’s not about monetizing the blog... be a positive force in the world. We need to get together and work together.

Kryan: editor for kirtsy – send me this stuff.

COMMENT: powerful idea of saying the # of people in this room are interested in powerful, positive posting.

Krystyn: HopeRevo allows K to focus her message. Link to other people who are doing the same thing.

Lucrecer:  great point. Go out looking for the positive. Share the things that feed me. And then say thank you.

COMMENT: Instant comments as she’s live blogging. People are so interested in beauty. Take it and run.

Jen: send posts about positively to girlplus2@yahoo.com

COMMENT: with Jen Lemen’s inspiration started Kind Blog. List of 320 blogs committed to positive.

Krystyn: a lot of the same people from last year’s “small is beautiful”. Pick up a tattoo

QUESTION: Recovery from co-dependency & being married to an alcoholic. Was angry. Anger has turned into positivity. But had to live in it for a while in order to get past it. How doe you that?

Alyssa: everything I have done online has started in anger/frustration. Tired of talking about crap FIX IT.

Krystyn: Boss used to say “don’t bring me a dead monkey.” Come up with a solution for the problem.

Alyssa: talk about it. Use that negative energy to create something positive.

Lucrecer:  FUEL. Do something with your lemons. Getting here was a challenge and feel the self pity and then FIX IT. Not about you, just about life living though you. use the energy and push past. Learn the lesson.

Jen: Hope galvanizes me. Doesn’t have to be so much suffering. What are we going to do about it? What’s next?

Kryan: in a few words, how have your blogs transformed you?

Lucrecer:  Accept me for me, right now. Live in the moment. Acceptance of self. Inner critic is getting smaller.

Jen: community. Starting blogging when child 1.5 and needed us all sooner.

Alyssa: feel safer. Don’t have to bullshit people. Profound sense of hope. What’s possible.

Kryan: storytelling. Sense I get that my experience is extraordinary. Narrative arc in your own life is fraught with meaning. Sparkles and shines.

Krystyn: hopeREVO started when I reached this point where I was so busy that I felt very isolated and alone while be surrounded by people. Called Jen Lemen and talked about leaving notes and it uplifted her spirit. Beyond what was expected that it’s grown into this community project.

Kryan: talking about the amazing work Jen Lemen does.

Krystyn: we can find the energy and reflect it out there.

TO COME: I gathered a huge stack of business cards for people who attended. I'll be linking them below as soon as possible.

NOTE: Posters offered by Krystyn were designed by Tyler Thompson of Squarespace. 

Attendees (not yet complete):

• Thought by thought
• Blooming Yaya 
• Mysteryoriley
  
• Fausta's Blog
• Pastor Margaret
• Letter B
• McCunications
  
• Girlfriendology
• Practical Spirituality
• Defiant Muse
  

Morning Keynote: HybridMedia: How we will all work together to build a converged-media future

Description of panel from BlogHer:

Morning Keynote: HybridMedia: How we will all work together to build a converged-media future

Old media, new media. Traditional media, social media. Print, broadcast, online and mobile media. Professionals. Amateurs. Citizens. Today's truth is that every kind of media company and media person is trying to figure out a way to develop a hybrid model to acquire the strengths they don't already have. Magazine empires and television networks are going online and mobile. Meanwhile, bloggers are seeking and scoring book, print and TV deals. Put a few visionaries together and maybe we can figure out how we all work together, what we all want from one another, how we all get paid to do what we love -- share great stories, important news and unique information.

Lisa Stone moderates this conversation with Redbook editor-in-chief Stacy Morrison, Essence Communications Director of Digital Development, Lesley Pinckney and Bravo TV's Senior VP of New Media and Digital, Lisa Hsia.

Welcome to a very full room.

Introductions of Lesley Pinckney, Lisa Hsia and Stacy Morrison by Lisa Stone

QUESTION from Lisa Stone: What is it like to work with interactive media in some of the largest media brands of the world?

Lesley: Harder, more red tape, constant struggle. Most challenging thing ever done.

Lisa: Exec at Dateline, when there wasn’t much more out there. Moved to Bravo when boss was fired and she was simply moved over. New boss told her to “Become an expert on digital”. iTunes was launched about that time and everyone started jumping on alternate forms of growing audiences and then monetize those markets. No rules, was in charge of “nothing” as the media grew, she learned and grew with it. One day though, “Why don’t we do text voting?” Was stunned by response for Project Runway when a huge audience texted in their votes. 92% of response using digital formats for them, which opens up a true communication and dialog with customer base.

Stacy: Wanted to make Redbook more dynamic and interesting while being told to not piss off the long standing customer base. Saw how women were speaking the truth and while Executives thought that might be a “downer”, she was convinced that women would respond. They have. Blog is the biggest traffic stream on the site. Moderate? Filter? NO. Needs to authentic, modern, real, capture true voices. Redesign the website twice since the beginning. Hired many many designer boys with designer jeans and fabulous hair to make the website. Newspapers and TV News are really struggling while magazines are holding with the help of moving with the new forms of media. Huge brands. Redbook is the 2^nd largest web brand magazine company. All content online for free, but seriously, buy an actual magazine once in a while, she pleads.

Lesley: Things aren’t so ridged in business anymore. Putting TV seasons online, trying to maintain copyright, but also trying to give consumers what they want. Can’t do all the driving, must share with the audience. Exciting, likes to see both sides of the equation, trying to figure out what’s next. Ever changing world and just trying to stay ahead of the game. Also have to remember that not everyone is there yet (not everyone is amazingly tapped in like bloggers).

Lisa: Hulu co-owned by Fox. Place to start figuring out all the new ad models. Platform run by really start people. Just another platform to offer a product.

Lesley: Disney didn’t at first want to work with Hulu but three months in, are seeing that it’s an important market and are now trying to jump in.

Stacy: Big companies want to find the answer and keep it (revenue control) but that’s not working... partnerships and buying into the open/sharing companies really work better.

Lisa: Nothing is permanent. Just try it! Just don’t invest everything in the experiment and be willing to find something new.

Stacy: Make some mistakes. What you can learn from them is important.

Lesley: Never going to be “right” and never going to be “perfect”, could be wildly wrong. Greatest promotion every done or “WHAT WHERE YOU THINKING?”. But need to take the risk.

QUESTION from Lisa Stone: There’s challenge in risk. Constant pressure to tell personal stories yet, but there’s still a bottom line. How do you cope?

Stacy: “Sex is the only thing that works” was the belief. 360 dimensional concept, not just about sex or fashion or whatever. New items, home grown blogs, sex and DIY are the two most popular. Proud of doing what’s best for the brand, even if it’s not popular (yet).

Lesley: digital space – easier and cheaper to tell lots of different kind of stories. Hollywood focuses on limited genres, and yet there’s so many stories out there that are important to tell. Even if you can’t make money off of it, you still need to reflect the stories of your customer base. All things to all people. Building an ad network.

Lisa: Blogs are most popular part of the site. Tied to the show. Unbelievably popular and monetized. They sell advertising as a block, so a sponsor must buy all forms of advertising in order to be part of the program.

QUESTION from audience: These are the future content providers (blogs), how are you addressing that?

Stacy: Trying to peel back the doors and have circular conversations. The conversation is more interesting than the book itself. How do you bring the chatter onto paper without losing the warmth of the discussion. ENGAGEMENT is represented by a bunch of tiny dots... moving oceans of customers rather than blocks of types. Can get Redbook readers into five buckets, sure, but it’s so much more fluid than that.

Lesley: Women’s initiates have always been important important. Recognition that women are drawn to the space. Magazine editors should be here at BlogHer recruiting new writers! Bloggers have the voice that we’re looking for... its happening.

QUESTION from audience: Adaptations from new forms (video blogging, mirco blogging, etc) curious about why so many networks are still trying to control and don’t immediately integrate new products and forms of communication.

Lesley: Pure technical bullsh*t to get through; hard to advance on a technical level when you’re so big. You create in java and then tomorrow php is the thing. Plus when you have so many different companies trying to work together, you need to be on the same platform. Set of standards changes within the company, solutions need to change. Don’t want to invest in Twitter, for instance as a platform for communication unless they have a stake in it (i.e. own it).

Lisa: Different tech... like driving a battleship. Enjoys being at smaller network because you can do more, take more risks. She gets to try new things and has never been told NO, just wait sometimes. Live polls, direct information, etc. Product has to be good.

QUESTION from audience: Commenter from Germany, wants to see the content in English, not wait for the translation. When are you moving to a more International space (we have euros!)

Lisa: Experience has shown that other countries don’t want to buy our product; instead, they want to buy rights to do their own version. Also operators sometimes prevent.

QUESTION from audience: Blogging is genuine. When companies start to blog, they try to push product which cheapens the experience.

Lisa: Bloggers do speak for the show. Their take on the show. But you have to fund it some way. 90% is from the character themselves. You have to recognize that this is a product when you’re reading.

Stacy: Have no personal boundaries. Redbook is 104yo and has even penetration from coast to coast. 10mil readers (other than Oregon and Washington). Manage and maintain deep audience representation. Fun to be all “Sex in the City” but what about what it really means to be an American woman? Our audience is conservative/religious, thinks of the magazine as a family magazine so Stacy needs to be careful about what she says. But never had a drop off with her changes. Constantly trying to not just think like herself: feels responsible to 10m women she’ll never meet. Must be an empath in many ways. Boyfriend was recently reading her blog and said, “It doesn’t sound like you”. But she’s vulgar and chaotic, etc and can’t be that on Redbook. She has to represent an openness to everyone else. I read your blogs and miss it. I want to be cool/funny/vulgar/ etc but needs to take care of her audience as well. Can’t speak to their life, can only speak to her own, but still needs to do so in a respectful way.

Lesley: Don’t have a personal blog. Would get fired with what she would say. Try really hard not to tell her contracted bloggers what to say, but does have to be sensitive to sponsors. Respects the story as told, but a challenge worth taking on. Don’t want to censor. Sometimes she cringes at what is said, but she still supports her bloggers.

QUESTION from audience: Mindsets “want to own twitter, not just be on it”. USE media, not just BE media. How does that play out?

Lesley: it is called the entertainment “business” for a reason. We’re all trying to make a buck in some way. Big companies have to preserve their piece of the pie. You don’t have to agree, but we live in a capitalist society. Must recognize what the game is and play by the rules while developing the growth. Exit strategies for big IPO’s is to sell to someone bigger (Google, etc) and retire but we need to protect growth and allow new companies to become the next IBM on their own, not just submit to someone else’s umbrella.

Lisa: Experiment. Matches are OK.

Stacy: Partnership models. Mike Dunn flies around meeting people and talking, connecting people. Investments go wrong. eReading partnerships.

QUESTION from audience: Green point of view. What are your companies doing to promote green and to reduce carbon footprint?

Stacy: [Fist pump to the shy] Redbook has green office tower in NYC; committed to the concept back in 2001. Aggressive programs within the building as well. On an office level, it’s golden. Working hard on finding magazine options that are green as well (paper/ink/etc). Launched green site. Feel the pressure.

Lisa: Green at Universal. It’s a big focus.

Lesley: Green is something large companies should be taking the lead in, but it’s also become a “commodity” and is being used as an angle. Education on what’s really green is a big deal.

Out of time.

How We Communicate: FAQs for Beginning Bloggers

Description of panel from BlogHer:

How We Communicate: FAQs for Beginning Bloggers
FAQs = Frequently Asked Questions, and we've lined up a team of expert bloggers who know how explain the basics across many blogging platforms, protocols and philosophies. Do you have questions about the best tools? The right design? The latest in blogging "etiquette"? Look no further than these 4 kindly experts to give you the answers: Nelly Yusupova from WebGrrls Int'l, Melanie Nelson (aka Chilihead from Blogging Basics 101), Michele Mitchell (aka Scribbit) and Shazia Mistry.

Resources download available here: http://www.webgrrls.com/downloads/blogher2008/ 

Four panelist took about 5 minutes to share their areas of expertise.

QUESTION to the room: How many don't have blogs in the room?
ANSWER: about 30%

Welcome to a very full room.

Introductions of panel leaders

QUESTION: if reg at goDaddy, what platform should you chose?
ANSWER: Any. Plue Mapping vs Forwarding explained by attendee Krystyn Heide.  For site optimization, you want to MAP so that you'll show up in search engines.

Melanie takes on Blogging Recourses
Permalinks: what are they?

• Permalinks link directly to a specific page and can be found in different areas of your blog page.  For instance:
•  Could be found at timestamp (Blogger)
• Could be found on titles
• Could be found as an obvious “permalink” link
  

Hosted vs. Non-Hosted

• Fully integrated (i.e. fully hosted sites such as blogger)
• Pros: Easy to get started  
• Cons: less professional (in general view)
  Platform limitations
  Less control over CSS/HTML
  May not allow advertising

• Third party hosts the content
  
  • Pros: Control over platform
    Control over permalinks
    Control over archives management
  • Cons: Not as “changeable”

Michelle talks about Blog Etiquette

Analogy: being cutting off on the freeway – distance, just a car, you feel you can say whatever you want. Similar to how some people feel about commenting on blogs – it’s not another human, just a blog.

Golden Rule – remember that’s a person on the other side.
How do you want to be treated?
How do you want to leave a comment and how do you want to respond to comments on your own site?

“Comment policy” on your blog: Have a page that sets the ground rules, "if you do this, I’ll do this."

Link Etiquette – don’t just throw in a link with no name associated. Give an idea of the content you’re asking them to visit

If you use someone’s photo or idea, credit them with a url, lead them to the other site rather than giving their full content and tell how you found them

Lots of people just take a pretty photo and stick it on their site. NEVER. You need to give attributions or ask for permission. And never take a photo of someone’s child w/out permission.

Stuff will be stolen the bigger you get.  It's simply a reality so get in the habit of protecting your content:

Watermarking photos -- something that can be done with photoshop.  Attendee suggested that maybe there is sites online that make this easy, but no links mentioned [ Editors note: put a link in comments if you know of one!]

Nelly says you can use Flickr photos with attributions

COMMENT: Make sure you use Creative Commons license

Nelly is giving us the low down on RSS FEEDS

What do they do:  allows you to share content with others.
You can subscribe through feeder or aggregator in multiple platforms such as: phones, backberrys, facebook, mySpace, etc

In short, it allows you to syndicate your content

How do you sign up: Look for the icon (orange box, include image)
Chicklets: Graphics that are coded to allow person to automatically subscribe to reader of choice

Why do you need RSS?

• Allow you to distribute to many different outlets
• Drives traffic to your site
• Creates inbound links (Search engines look for inbound links and increase your ranking).
• Secure channel that can’t be spammed
• Subscriber has complete control over how they receive information from you

How do I provide feeds:

• Create a FeedBurner account which allows step by step instructions and stats
• Then add to your blog with chicklets

How do I find & read feeds:

• Most popular feed readers: Google & Bloglines
• Also via email (feedburner allows)

COMMENT: Paid services set it up for you

FeedBurner, you can move your blog from platform to platform and you don’t need to mess with your RSS feed

• Search engines
• Other bloggers you like, check out their blogrolls
• Links within posts

QUESTION: how do I add links when someone else has control (hosted blog)

ANSWER: need to look at your blog... no CSS access? You should switch! You want to have as much control as possible

QUESTION: Full or slim feeds?

ANSWER: Save for later (never was addressed in discussion)

Shazia takes on plug ins and widgets

plug ins and widgets extend your website

You can add an online store, contact form, can be added anywhere into your site, simple bits of code you can add in.

“Sidebar Bling”

Too many can slow down your blog load time so be careful of how bling you get!

Platform specific, so one bit o' bling may not work on a new site if you change platforms.

Require you to upload & activate; usually have configurations you can set.  Then generates code which you place into your sidebar

Shazia likes "Share This" for social networks

At this point everyone broke into session focusing on WordPress.org, WordPress.com, Blogger and TypePad 

[individual groups not liveblogged]

IF YOU ATTENDED THIS PANEL:
Please leave a comment saying you were there and include your blog name.  I'll bump it up to the body of the post!

Yep, I'm a Virgo

You want to know what I've been doing all day?

Making lists.

No really, list after list after list.  In fact, I have a whole book of them.  To date, I've made a list of:

• things to pack (natch)
• all my confirmation numbers
• contact info for the Hotel & the Conference venue (complete with map of the area)
• how to get from the Oakland Airport to where my friend Allyn is picking me up (again, with map)
• list of SWAG opportunities
• list of sessions I will be live blogging, which are:
  
• How We Communicate: FAQs for Beginning Bloggers
• Morning Keynote: HybridMedia: How we will all work together to build a converged-media future
• What We Believe: Beautiful Blogging and Positive Posting
• party party party
• full agenda and which sessions I would most like to try to hit (in addition to the two I'm live blogging):
• MommyBlogging: Public Parenting & Privacy
• MommyBlogging: Mirrors: Ours, the Media's, Our Cultures' and Our Kids'
• How We Communicate: Photography
• The First BlogHer PhotoWalk with Shutter Sisters
  

The thing is, I'm pretty sure I haven't made enough lists.  There's MORE to manage, I just know it.  And yet, I need to make some dinner and hang out with my kids.  Especially the one who told me she wouldn't miss me because she likes Daddy and Grandma Heidi better.  I almost turned into a 5yo and told her I liked Anya better, so NAH! But, um, I think I'm supposed to be the adult in the room.

So anyway, if you actually have the time to read this and are going, you can find me at the sessions I'm live blogging on email me at WannabeHippieBlog AT gmail and we'll find a place to meet up.  Or just look for the awkward girl in the back of the room at the parties giggling with Tank Girl.