Recently Rated:
Stats
Welsh Blogs & Twitter
This is an important post not because it marks a new policy for this site but more of a new departure. We have had the capacity for some time to incorporate blogs via RSS feeds and Twitter streams into the AmeriCymru Activity Feed.
In the past we have held back from using Twitter feeds because Twitter is a vast site and any topic that is trending on there ( or even if it is not in many cases ) will quickly overrun the front page on AC. We have not incorporated blog RSS feeds because we did not wish to appear to be favoring one online author over another.
In future we propose that:-
1. We WILL feature Twitter feeds from time to time, probably with advance warning, particularly during major rugby matches ( Six Nations etc ) or if , as in the case of the reaction to the recent Daily Mail article by Roger Lewis, a lively and amusing Welsh themed discussion is occurring.
2. We WILL feature three Welsh blogs. I will start the ball rolling tomorrow BUT we will be looking for nominations from you, dear reader, for subsequent weeks. We will need 3 or more nominations per week. What will happen is that any new posts in the featured blogs will appear automatically in the AC Activity Feed. Since most bloggers only update once a day ( if that ) there is little chance that the feed will be overwhelmed as a consequence.
SO please get your nominations in AND please remember we will not be accepting comments on the R. Lewis 'article' linked above. The Forum is probably the best place for that.
PLEASE NOTE WE ARE LOOKING FOR BLOGS THAT HAVE AN RSS FEED AND UPDATE AT LEAST TWICE A WEEK. YOU ARE WELCOME TO NOMINATE YOUR OWN BLOG IF YOU WISH.
@Patric & Brian....diolch for the nominations...both have been added to the feature list for future inclusion
Long may the blogging continue! Here's my homely blog about Stonehenge, the bluestones and the Ice Age:
http://brian-mountainman.blogspot.co.uk/
So far 217,000 hits and a jolly band of regular contributors. The more the merrier!!
I enjoy Derek the Weathersheep's daily weather forecasts for Wales at www.weathersheep.com. Not sure if he's got RSS feed but he's got a massive following here in Wales.
The man is a linguist - and he owns a bar? Point me to him, post haste!
you the boss man .... I will keep on rambling .... it is my way ...
Iain..you will excuse me if I am of a different opinion
You are on our list...we love ramblings particularly when they come from the bar. How more Welsh can you get? But please keep posting on here. We can do more to spread the word that way.
Thanks to Swansea Jack for a nomination, but in fairness my daily blog is more the rambling of an ageing barkeep who lives more in the past historic past than the present - also my postings are not specifically Welsh though I am in Wales and proud of my connections....
I think it best that my occasional blog post if thought interesting - be featured but that it would never qualify for the RSS feed for this site ..
But thank you anyway
OK we have the first three RSS feeds ready to roll. They are these:-
http://www.mikejenkins.net/
The blog of Welsh poet and AmeriCymru member Mike Jenkins. I particularly enjoyed the poignant poem 'No Offence' in his recent post of the same name. Poems by Mike Jenkins on AmeriCymru
http://www.sarahwoodbury.com/blog/
The blog of Sarah Woodbury - historical fiction and fantasy writer and AC member. You'll find her Welsh hisrtorical novels featured on the AmeriCymru bookstore page .
http://lizwhittaker.wordpress.com/
Liz Whittaker is an AC member and a Carmarthen based writer and blogger , author of A Court In Splendour .
A couple of points:-
FOR BLOGGERS
1. We received a number of nominations and the nomination process will be ongoing. Please keep the suggestions coming in. It seems that a week is not really long enough to give much additional exposure to the featured blogs on the site so we are thinking of adding blogs for a month instead. At the moment we are limited to three featured blogs as a result of platform constraints. I will be nagging and whining in the appropriate forums to have that number increased. We hope to feature a wide variety of literary/artistic/political/social and cultural content SO if your blog is not in the first batch fear not...we have you in mind for later inclusion. Please bear in mind that whilst exposure via RSS in the activity feed is a good way to promote your blog on AC it does not beat actually blogging on the site. In the latter case we are able to expose content ( together with appropriate links back to source ) via a wide range of social channels outside AC as well.
FOR READERS
What will happen is this...every time the featured blogs are updated a link to the new post will appear in the AC activity feed. You will be able to comment on both the post itself and on the link on AC. We hope you will do both
We are looking to create a mutually supportive community of writers and readers here on AC and we hope you will enjoy and support our featured blogs/bloggers.
KEEP THE NOMINATIONS COMING AND LOOK OUT FOR THE FIRST FEATURED POST!
N.B. Extra consideration will be given to blogs that link back to us but that is not obligatory
Author of 'A Court in Splendour' Liz Whittaker now has a blog 'A Journal of ideas' for sharing reviews and information about writing in Wales and news on forthcoming and current work - http://lizwhittaker.wordpress.com/
Featured....diolch Sarah