Just to follow that, I'm sometimes asked what is or is not allowed in these SBP blogs, and my answer is that we all need to use some common sense, with the added caveat that I'll be totally arbitrary ;)

In four years of running open-access public sites like this, I've only needed to remove an account once. This was on my technical portal for computing professionals and so it's ironic that I recently removed and banned someone for unprofessional behaviour. It all comes down to the Tragedy of the Commons, that socio-political principle that says we all gain the most when we look out for each other and share our resources, but in so doing we must necessarily run the risk of one person spoiling it by grabbing more than their share. This is the only reason why I reserve the right of supreme editorial control.

So what's allowed? Anything that fits what the site is about, and the site is about the many threads of lives that are woven together. If that means your arcade just got a bank of new video-games, then that is your story, and it belongs here.

What doesn't belong is brochure material, sales pitches, adverts for mailorder stuffs -- you may have already noticed that this is a fine line, and for me the line is crossed when we shift from writing first-person just telling what's happening in our lives sort of prose and slip into writing junk-mail ad-copy.

What if I just want a personal journal? -- not everything really wants front-page attention. Right now, because there aren't many posts here in any given day, everything goes to the front page summary unless you un-check that box on the publishing form. I've had a few rare occasions where I've gone in an flipped that switch on a story just because it really doesn't belong in the main page, but still belongs in the archive; I've done this for most of the items I've posted about our on-going fun and frolics in the waterworks departments because it's news, sure, but it's not really front-page stuff. As the site gets more popular, I may expand that definition.

This may mean your personal blog doesn't get into the main-page, but that doesn't stop you from telling your friends to go directly to your personal blog page; they can even subscribe to your personall RSS (or will do if there's demand for turning that feature on).

Where I get the biggest charge out of the SBP is in leafing through the back pages. It's neat to see what was on our minds back when. I'm hoping that goes on and expands, picks up more people willing to tell us what's happening in their lot of dunelands, weaves more and more threads into this thing until we have a medaeval tapestry that tells all our stories, all in first-person singular.

I like the choice under my account to choose what links I see in the sidebar.