Gimlé

I took a break from weblogging these last few days to think.

Last Sunday, as I returned home, still worrying about money and finances as usual, I found out about two posts that had linked to Gimlé in the last few hours. Both caused me to stop and think about what I have been doing with this weblog.

Been pondering on it—hence the silence.

First of all I read Jonathon’s reply to my nasty, vitriolic anti-everything rant and realised how much of an arsehole I’ve been here on this weblog.

It’s not a nice thing to wake up and realise that you’ve become one of those angry, argumentative and contrary internet pundits that pollute the web.

Also it finally sunk in how badly structured and horribly written most of my recent writing has been.

The second post to make me think was Dorothea Salo’s reply to my budding thoughts on this subject (namely: why am I writing this?).

She scribbles on her weblog because scribbling is one of those things she does.

Made me realise that I’ve been using this weblog as a soapbox (or pulpit) because being a loudmouth is one of the things I do.

Which is not at all what I had in mind when I started this weblog (public correspondence would be closer to the mark).

So I set about changing a few things.

I apologise to Jonathon, Stavros, Dorothea, Jeff Ward and others for being a git.

My friends would tell you that I tend to be a prat at times but a swift slap on the side of the head would usually do the trick of bringing me back to planet Civility (alternatively a short “Baldur, you’re bullshitting again” comment does the job as well).

So in the interest of making it easier for people online to remind me when I’m being an arsehole, I’ve added a comment facility, courtesy of Rael’s writeback plugin to his excellent blosxom weblogging system.

I’ve also changed the base URL for the weblog to http://www.unishade.com/gimle/ (although the old url should continue to work as well).

And I’ve installed John Gruber’s SmartyPants plugin for that added typographic touch I like so much.

So, fewer speeches and more thought and discussion.

I feel that I’ve come out of this week with a better handle on this weblogging thing but I’ll be damned if I can explain it coherently.

Do let me know if you find that something isn’t working on the site.

Baldur Bjarnason.
Clifton, Bristol.