We are advising you to change the BH image you're using to either the wiki image here or to no image for the present.
So far we don't have copyright problems but we do advise everyone to take this step to avoid the possibility. In the next week we'll run a poll on which image you think we should use continuously as our own.
There's a post over my way about this and it is merely a personal view of how I see the Bloghounds. Please feel free to post your own ideas on how you see things.
It's interesting how groups take on a character of their own. Bloghounds began fairly quietly but found itself with twenty members not too long afterwards and they were of a type - quieter, sense of humour, reasonable people mainly professional and quite busy in RL.
Gradually, an ethos developed which doesn't much care for what the world says. My friend made a joke that "you're not controversial because nothing ever happens". Well, nothing bad happens, that's for sure and I'm probably the feistiest character in there. The thing about us is that with our systems setup, anyone outside sees a fairly dormant front page because what does happen, happens inside.
We thought about running blogroundups and changing profiles each week and pretending we're highly active but actually we're just a club, a group. As Wolfie noted, we have very few rules but we do like the few we have to be adhered to.
The membership has made its feelings known in many ways but usually we decide things on whether anyone feels strongly enough about something. One idea which has had some support and we're thinking it over now is to run a "Fun Awards". The idea is that in a number of categories, members would vote inside the site and then one day we'd announce it on our front page.
Meanwhile, we grow and have two more pending members at this point, putting us in the area where we'll have to start thinking about number limits ... or not. We'll get around to deciding this amicably one day. Perhaps.
We have two new prospective members:
The training assessment blog
Charon QC
Blogrolling is experiencing problems again so we are unable to add them to the pending members area as usual.
We've been a sleepy bunch, to be sure but recent stirrings augur well. We could have done some inductions better and will do that more professionally next time but there are also some things moving along now.
1. The profile page is looking good but some members still haven't put up either avatars or blurbs about themselves.
2. The poll for the new steering committee has now closed [yes, we really were in a state of flux last week - that was no lie] but now we can move forward.
3. The Fun Awards or Ignoble Prizes are coming up so the blogosphere needs to be ready - you could be the unlucky recipient of a category prize, More on that later.
Due to Blogrolling being unavailable at present I thought it might be useful to publish Blogroll here:
Andrew Allison
Bearwatch
Bighound
Blaney's Blarney
Calum Carr's Take
Cassandra
Cherie's Place
Corporate Presenter
Daily Referendum
Deb Acle
Devika Jyothi
Dragon Days
Flip Chart Fairy Tales
Gallimaufry & Chips
Great Leadership
Looking for a Voice
Finding Life Hard
Havering On
Miserable Old Fart
Morgan-Hen
Mrs Nesbitt's Place
Nourishing Obscurity
Ordovicious
Sally in Norfolk
Sicily Scene
The Broadsheet Rag
The Poor Mouth
The Waendel Journal
Two wolves
Valleys Mam
Please let me know if I have missed anyone off the list, I am going from memory.
Updated 18th October 08
Cartoon courtesy of Wolfie - pity the writing is unclear here.
Steve Green discusses the fallout when Brown meets Bush, Deb-acle warns the EU blog-ban has begun, Guthrum sheets it home to Italy in particular, Tony Sharp gives us the latest on this, Dragon Days shows us Donegal, Flipchart laughs at the finger being pointed at the working class and Gallimaufry's suggestion is just too sensible to be taken seriously.
Richard Havers looks at the demise of regional broadcasting, Liz posts junk, Alwyn lays down the Blogging Ten Commandments, Mrs. Nesbitt goes road racing, James is having difficulty with his motor memory, Ordo proves that Burns burns and Sally feels it's time to pack her bags.
Welshcakes has gone all yummy-plummy, Rob at the BSR thinks he might be drunk, Jams brings us the man who saved the world, Wolfie is betting with a man who wants to own an aircraft and Valleys Mam writes of the Cultural Olympiad, as well as on that EU Blog Ban.
Of our fresh faces, Morgan Hen sees a link between Brown and Sauron, Dan McCarthy gives us some tips on leadership strategies and Devika writes of when she looks at you.
The Broadsheet Rag is one year old today. Pop over there if you haven't already done so.
Cherry Pie has suggested we put some of our latest moves inside the site onto the front page here so:
Membership policy
It's been stated elsewhere but we work on a method of ALL members requested to peruse a new blog but we have no voting quotas. We wait five days and work on how many objections from members there are. Three objections is the cut off point.
Administrative Committee
We began with an excellent steering committee of seven but as the membership grew, it was time to change that and now we run a "sliding scale" rotating committee. Basically, our list is viewed horizontally and every Sunday, at dusk, the slide of seven names moves one place further across that list. This means that someone retires and someone new comes in. With seven members, stability is maintained as the "tour of duty" is around a month long.
Welshcakes and I have retired and Wolfie is due to and new members have therefore come in. Our turn will come again.
At Bloghounds, we don't get too fussed about power and the division between admins and membership is virtually non-existent. We try to resolve any issue amicably through our forum inside and don't take kindly to "stirring the pot". This might give the impression of a certain docility but we are actually moving forward at out own pace.
This cloud of words is a visual representation of what is going on within Bloghounds. I would like to call all Bloghounds to log in and take part in the latest forum discussions and also cast your vote in the latest poll. If you are not currently a member feel free to browse around, and if you like what you see check out the left hand bar which explains about new membership inquiries.
You might or might not be interested in this today.