That's right, I give up.
I've come to the conclusion that there is no way to get the majority of you into the real purpose of this scholarship, or the program behind it. For every awesome blog posted, there are at least 4-5 mediocre to very poor blogs posted, and then another 3-4 blogs complaining about the mediocre to poor blogs being posted.
I simply can't think of anything else to try to "fix" the poor blogs; There are spell checks available for both IE 7 and Firefox browsers, there are multiple listings in the FAQ about how to write and format a good blog...
AND YET WE STILL GET BLOGS THAT ARE FORMATTED LIKE THIS OR LIKE THIS - WHICH IS REALLY HARD TO READ BY THE WAY - Or FoRmAtTeD LiKe ThIs WhIcH iS rEaLlY hArD tO tYpE. Or they're really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really long paragraphs with absolutely no breaks and they just just hurt the eyes because they are run on sentences followed by more run on sentences with continuity issues and poor use of tenses and nothing matches and maybe there's even a couple tangents and I usually end up missing the point and then I get frustrated because I lost my place in the one, extremely long paragraph with all the words jumbling together and I have to start all over again and it's very hard on the eyes. Or their r so menny spelin erers taht I cna bearely make uot wat the pursen is trynig 2 say.
Or, we get blogs that are about nothing; sometimes we get blogs that are good, but belong in the discussion forums where they belong because even though they might contain good information, or are asking serious questions - they just aren't blogs.
I, for one, am tired of it. I'm tired of explaining and trying to help people only to be told I'm a snob, or a Grammar Nazi, or that I'm trying to censor them.
So, instead of continuing to try to improve or help the people that clearly do not want my advice and do not want to listen to me - I am going to go a different route. I am going to start rewarding people who are already doing a good job - or can show me that they have listened to me and the advice I've given them (or the advice of another Pro U moderator).
I'm not sure how I'll do this yet. Maybe I'll start developing private Bonus Point Opportunities and invite only those people who have progressed during their time at Progressive U. Or maybe I'll just give people points at random when they impress me. But my mind is racing. Too many good bloggers have left this site because our attention is constantly taken up by the bad bloggers. I spend more time unpublishing posts than I do promoting them - and that's not fair to those of you who are really portraying the mission of Progressive U.
I'm tired of feeling like I'm punishing the bad bloggers when what I should be doing is rewarding our best bloggers. And that's what I am going to start doing. So, if you have any ideas on this - send them my way.
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
I'm senseing frUstrATIon at sumting.
*grin*
I try to have substance.
............Me never knotiss thees sortz ov things.
"Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
Douglas Adams
"That is not dead which can eternal lie / And with strange aeons even death may die."
H. P. Lovecraft
I like the private bonus points stuff. *smiles*
~C
Read the news
Nominate a featured blogger!
But look at the bright side--you get to slice people's blog points in shreds for it (someone whose name is purely initials has been pissing me off quite a bit about this issue). Right? Right?
---
Yes, -read- them.
http://www.progressiveu.org/150428-my-mother-has-shot-at-least-30-people
http://www.progressiveu.org/125837-abortion-a-new-look-the-concept-nobod...
I must admit that I am too beginning to distant myself from Progressive U after skipping like a page or two of bad blogs every single day. =/
But for you, I'll try to blog better...
Don't give up! It's an issue that we'll face with every single time as long as we have scholarships available. If you stop warning them, I think there will be more spamming instead of blogging!
----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mylot.com/?ref=truelife
No no no no no no... you, of all people, cannot leave right now. PLEASE stay with us and get points. PLEASE.
~C
Read the news
Nominate a featured blogger!
lol Don't worry! What I meant by being distant is like...I don't earn points or read blogs as much as I used to due to the fact that there are less good blogs on the website. But I became in love with Progressive U. I don't think I will leave anytime soon. I'm actually planning to volunteer after the scholarship for fall term is over.
I do realize that an amount of good bloggers disappear. I wonder where they went. Perhaps there's a way we can get them back...if we can think of something...
----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mylot.com/?ref=truelife
I couldn't help but notice... AmyRice disappeared practically the day she won Blogger of the Week. What was that all about? I'm actually worried about her... because her blogs were so depressing. Does anybody know if she is ok?
I haven't heard from her; but I hope she's okay...
I don't *think* she would have done anything; she's a single mom with a daughter in kindergarten. I'm sure that's just keeping her very busy lately...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
You of all people should know that giving up is not an option. Fanaile, you have one of the most respected blogs and ideas of the ProgressiveU community. Now, maybe I'm pulling that out of thin air, but I've always thought "If I could do something as good as Fanaile Essence, I must be getting somewhere!"
You should not think that it is only up to you to "punish" the bad bloggers. There are plenty of us who are plenty frustrated who will take up the mantle. It doesn't mean we have to be jerks to them, but constructive critisism and an obvious jab in the side should point them in the right direction.
Although I like the "deduct points from bad bloggers/add points for good bloggers" idea, I must say nay. I don't want to appear point-hungry, but mostly I would not want the many good blogs to be looked over for this reward. I don't know about the rest of the people here, but the best reward I can get at Progressive U is probably comments. I know, lame, but I love getting comments and constructive critisism.
Keep pluggin on F.E.
Hero of the Day Awards! ^_^ lol
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
I just logged in after a long absence mainly because I'm a bit jaded about what ProgressiveU has become. It's nigh impossible to get feedback or discussion unless one writes about one's personal life (which I don't think is the point of ProU in the first place) or a very small demographic of controversial topics. Hopes of getting a scholarship diminished when I realized writing one solid blog a day and networking with others wasn't going to get me anywhere since so many people were posting seven blogs a day. I don't know how you mods are going to do it, but I really hope ProU can return to the quality it had when it was a much smaller community.
--------
ce.apocryphalpublishing.com
This makes perfect sense to me. I personally hate it when I try to find things of a certain topic on here, and have to shift through several blogs that totally suck and sometimes arn't even related to that topic. I try not to publish bad stuff either, but I got a blog or 2 that could have been so much better, or should just be taken off. But I really like the rewards points idea. That sounds perfectly reasonable to me, whether or not I get any or not. It will make things, overal, nicer on here I think.
Whenever you find exceptional posts, in addition to pushing them to the home page, give the user 50 points, or some other amount of your choosing. In this way, you could spend time looking for quality work and give users who strive to actually WRITE twice the point impact of the people just looking to win the money.
I would love to win the scholarship; in fact I have a blog on here that got 4000 reads, and hopefully nobody just refreshed it repeatedly. But I will not post 15 blogs a day because I don't want to ask the questions that any ignorant person can ask, or make the same opinionated yet vapid declarations about abortion, poverty, the war, etc. I tend to feel like I'm being beaten by people who favor quantity over quality. I'd rather write once a week and produce something that as far as I know is a new outlook or at least is something out of the painfully ordinary.
I love you. Let's get married.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
I'm telling on you! Devious manipulative bastard moderator-guy!
You can't promise yourself to somebody else when you've already given your heart to my bestest blogger friend BurningExample. CHEATER, I say!
I didn't promise my heart, just my sperm. Gosh....
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
And I thought sperm meant something to people these days...
*sobs*
lol
She and I have a formal agreement. I am god, she's getting pregnant, and I'm working to find the next Jesus. Duh.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
Our sarcastic babies are not going to be happy with a father who practices polygamy. I must say I'm a little jealous of this Howard person... I might just go postal.
;) Just kidding. Marry who you want. My little sarcastic babies will still be perfect :)
----
http://progressiveu.org/143541-how-to-survive-the-2008-elections
I really don't know how I'm doing. I don't have any formatting, spelling, or grammar errors that I know of...or at least, not that bad anyway. But I'm not sure if my content is enough or if it's lacking. I try to have substance or bring a new idea to the table, but then I don't really feel that often like I have "new" ideas, so I don't post that much anyway.
Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've never received a complaint about any of your blogs :) So you must be doing something right!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
Damn.. they must like her better than me. : )
I bet you get dozens of complaints about my blogs. I wonder if the PETA people found my last one about the people who fought over the deer in the middle of the road... lol
No, don't get too many on your blogs. I think we've gotten more flags from you than about you.
~C
Read the news
Nominate a featured blogger!
Crap... I need to work harder to piss people off.
j/k ; )
LMAO!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
Join the A-Team. Pissing people off is like a requirement... as soon as it's known you're a moderator.... there's no escaping. :) It's like the whole Rise up and stab them with your plastic forks! mentality, methinks
;)
-----
~Fallon~
"I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud of thoughts which were not their thoughts" -Lord Byron
-----
Except with Naomi. Apparently everyone likes her.
~C
Read the news
Nominate a featured blogger!
Nah, I'm sure I've pissed someone off somewhere...
Maybe everyone else just pisses off the more vocal people :) I piss off the quiet ones!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
Damn, I would fit in perfectly.
The adoption people seriously want to destroy me, forget the plastic forks I think they are already sharpening their spoons... that's got to be a good start.
Whatever you did seems to have worked. Quite well actually
-----
~Fallon~
"I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud of thoughts which were not their thoughts" -Lord Byron
-----
Rather too well.
I need to work on my insulting rhetoric so it's more subtle and only intelligent people realize I'm insulting them.
There is a VERY thin line. You see, when you call someone an idiot to their face, they'll respond, "No! You are!" and not get upset.
Call someone a socialist, you might get called worse.
Call someone a poor sufferer of monosomy X and they'll not realize that you just called them genetically retarded.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
I'll have to remember that one...
... what I don't understand is how somebody who clearly believes in socialist principles would be insulted when I call them out on it... and then get upset when I also point out that America is not a socialist country, and therefore if you want to be a socialist, you should move to Canada where socialism is respectable.
It's really very simple and non-insulting... unless I say it in my typical you're-a-moron-tone... then it's obvious I'm being condescending and people get angry.
: p
I think it's the whole "move to Canada and Leave America" part :)
True, we aren't Socialist, yet (sometimes I think we're headed that way) But we do allow them to believe in whatever they want. We have communists living here, why kick only the socialists out?
Can't exactly defend freedom of speech etc. if you're kicking people out of the country for their beliefs ;)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
I'm not kicking them out...
... just asking them to leave for places where they will be happier; in a political climate better suited to their personal beliefs.
*sheepishly grins*
^_^ LOL
Well, let's see...
Say we were a socialist government, and you still believed in a Constitutional Republic; Would you like being told to leave to another Constitutional Republic? Or would you rather come to that decision yourself?
Wait, wait, I know this one! :) You'd choose for yourself (personal responsibility and all)
:)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
I'd totally leave.
Fanaile, can you seriously see me living in communist China? How about Canada, where they have universal health care and almost everybody eats out on a regular basis, but then gets free college?
Let's be serious here.
Hm, I see one of two things: you'd leave...
Or start a revolution :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
GOOD IDEA!!!
FREE THE PEOPLE!!!
Damn; I probably would've been standing next to the student who died in the Square.
Although I must say my own blogs (the few I posted) definitely could use an improvement themselves, I agree that alot of blogs on here are not serving the purpose of this site. It is a waste for the well-written blogs and the authors who deserve the chance to be read. One of my biggest pet peeves is you have people bringing up real issues and making great argument points, then there are others that are just on here to complain, or talk about their favorite tv show. This isn't a regular blog site, this is to bring up progressive ideas and earn a scholarship. If only more people realized that.
"Don't let anyone ever make you feel like you don't deserve what you want." - 10 things I hate about you
Actually, I kinda like your blogs. I think you do a great job, and you should post more. Don't put yourself down.
I agree with you a bunch. I like the idea of offering unexpected points for awesome or moving blogs.
I won't get in to the spelling and grammar issues. On more than one occasion I have wanted to unpublish for all the misspellings and iMpRoPeR use of words. As a former proof reader (and I am guilty of making mistakes too) it drives me batty!
---
Respectfully,
Adam
A-Team Member
Netscape also has spell check.
Thanks! I wasn't sure about Netscape because I don't use it :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
If it makes you feel any better, I don't even think of ProgressiveU as a scholarship opportunity. I just post my blogs here to hear how other people perceive my experiences and to hopefully educate some young people on what Iraq is really like. I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I hope to be that voice they may not be hearing in their small, conservative town (or wherever they live.)
Justin.
I live in the most liberal state there is (NY), and I'm still a conservative-leaning Independent.
Damn that Hillary Clinton. : p
I just joined this program and I agree that some of the comments left are very difficult to read and respond to. Is there a way to remind people of what the content of their blogs and comments should and should not be each time they post? The reactions to the comments made about some of the poll questions I felt were personal attacks and should not have been posted. It discouraged me from commenting on the topic.
We remind in blogs at the top of the screen every time you write a blog. Most people don't read that, though.
As for the comments, if there are any you felt were personal attacks, flag them. There are some abrasive people here (myself included at times), but you shouldn't feel discouraged from commenting based on them.
~C
Check out the latest entry in the Between The Lines column!
Want the highest rated list to change? RATE those blogs, then!