(Blog) Edits

As you have very likely noticed, I've redone the DevCo layout once again. I hope you like it. Just a couple of quick things, then:

My main reason for doing this (and for changing to a pre-made theme) is that blogger has recently added the ability to include separate pages within one blog, and I thought it would be nice, if instead of trying to squeeze descriptions of ourselves and our writing into 25 word blurbs, we could do that but also have whole, infinitely long pages to talk about ourselves and our work and, of course, to shamelessly plug both.

To make life easier, I've set up pages for the Admins. At the moment, all but mine are blank. If you want to put stuff on your page, just go to posting, follow the edit pages link on the right, find the page with your name and click edit. It's pretty smooth sailing from there.


If you can think of any other pages you want added, lemmi know. The downside is that we're only allowed 10 per blog. This means we'll have to choose wisely.

I think that's everything. Lemmi know what you think of the new design (If I can get a good quality, smaller version of our old background, I'll be putting it back up. Not that I don't like the books, but the one-of-a-kindness was good)

Whoops!

Sorry for the state of things. I'm in the process of (I hope) improving the layout and look of DevCo, so think of this as the equivelant of a drop cloth and a bunch of paint brushes left lying around mid-redecorating.

WTF?

I tried to visit this site a few minutes ago, and this is what came up. Apparently, DevCo is a known exploit, phishing or social engineering website. I don't know what social engineering is, but I'm pretty bloody sure we don't qualify as either of the other two. I don't know if this is something only I am seeing, or if everyone who tries to get onto DevCo is getting the same information if they have AVG. I also have no idea how to deal with it; I'm wondering if there's an AVG complaints department.

At first I thought it might be because of one of the gadgets on the main page, which is why the mini feed with the beginnings of all the articles is missing atm, but I don't think that's it. Well, here's hoping your virus protection software actually lets you read this...

I set us up a library thing account, which is where the lovely rotating book thingy comes from. If you want to add a book, just email me and I'll send you the account name and the password. You can add reviews and stuff too!

Introducing...

Marco, the marketing gorilla! I kinda felt like DevCo could use a mascot (not that I don't love the fish!). What do you guys think?

Also, on a total aside, I'm trying to find a way to a) put our profile pictures with our names at the bottom of each post and b) rotate the scribes list, so my name isn't always at the top. If anyone has any ideas on how to do either of these things, please let me know.

And now for the actual reason for the post, which wasn't really going to be about Marco, but was going to be about marketing. I want to know what you think of this idea for marketing on less than a shoestring:

My thought is this: I want to do a book tour, but without the author, the signings or the book stores. Not a blog tour (although I do plan on having one in the mid-to-late summer), but an actual physical tour. What I want to do is send a single copy of my book to someone who has agreed to read it, review it (this may be optional, not 100% decided) and pass it on to someone else who has agreed to read it (possibly review it) and pass it on to someone else, etc., etc.) Each person who receives it will write their name (full, first or last), approximate location (as long as they give province/state and country, they don't have to give a city if they don't want to) on the inside cover, along with, if they want, the date they received it. They'll also be encouraged to include small stickers/business cards/lightweight, flat tokens of their location (ie small canadian flag stickers, or whatever) next to their names or on the inside back cover of the book. For my specific purpose, I plan to include a little paper doll of Moloch which will fold flat and make the journey with the book, so that participants can post pictures on the Facebook fan page/blog that I'm going to create for the purpose of Moloch in their town/ wherever he ends up. I kind of want to make it an interactive sort of deal, where the page (wherever it is) would track the book's progress (and Moloch's adventure) as it travels around to various places.

So, that's my plan. Thoughts?

Facelift

So, as you can see, I've given DC a wee bit of a facelift. Thoughts?

P.S.: Happy 2010, everyone.

Taking Off

I'm moving! I got a full-time job in another province, so I'm heading out there on Friday. The Internet being the wonderful thing that it is, I'll still be able to post and update and stuff, but because of how remote this place is (I'll be working in a resort near the rockies), I don't know how fast their internet is, or how often I'll be able to update.

At the moment, Rhiannon is the only other administrator, so if anyone else wants to be an admin, let me know, and I'll set it up. I'm happy to have everyone be an admin, as long as no one messes with my html; this site took me for bloody ever to code ;)

My edits on Aigaion have come to a halt, but I'll start up again as soon as I'm settled at my new job. I'm still hoping to be done editing by September, but it might be later... we shall see.

I think that's it for now.

...

Not to jinx this (I'm knocking on wood right now - which makes typing a little awkward, to be honest), but the troubles with posting seem to have gone away.

>:G

As you can probably see from the most recent short story post, and have possibly noticed, if you've been trying to upload anything yourself, something is playing silly buggers with Devereaux Court. I have no idea why that post ended up ruled, or why there are suddenly error messages popping up every time anyone wants to post anything.

I do know how to get around the whole html error message thing, though, because the same thing started happening to my Aigaion Girl blog one day, and I have to do this every time I post on there. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to get rid of it within the next couple of days. In the meantime, this is what you do:

When you try to post, an annoying error message appears. (click to enlarge)

Highlight everything up to the first p (it looks like this <, followed by a p)

Despite the fact that it says the title tag is the only thing that's wrong, taking care of that won't work, because it just puts the tag back when you try to post again.

Delete everything that's highlighted and publish the post. Everything should work swimmingly now.

Sorry about all this, guys. I have no idea why it suddenly started doing this, because I assure you that neither Rhiannon or I have been messing with any of the code lately, and of my 11 blogs, this one and the Aigaion Girl one are the only ones to have this error. Hopefully I'll get it sorted out soon.

~Athena

Links

If you want a link added to the links list in the sidebar, just comment on this post with the url and whatever the link should appear as, and it will be added ASAP*

*Devereaux Court Scribes only, please. If you are not a scribe and would like to join, click here.

Email

Devereaux Court now has an email address. I don't anticipate it being used terribly frequently, but in the case that we are, for some reason, sending out emails, they'll be coming from devcourt@live.co.uk. If you send emails there, they'll be forwarded to me, so I can respond to them.

If you guys want, I can try to set it up so that we have an email that forwards to everyone. I didn't want to go ahead and do this because, after all, we do have a blog to communicate with, and I wanted to know everyone's thoughts on the matter first.

Suggest a Scribe

Do you know someone who might want to join the Devereaux Court community? Comment on this post, and let us know why you think he or she would be a good fit.

Want In?

Comment on this post. Let us know your name or pen name, your email address and why you want to join.

Getting Started

Dear New Member,

Welcome to the Devereaux Court community of writers. This site was created with the English coffee-house in mind, as a place for forward-thinking writers to gather, share and discuss their work and trade knowledge. Glad you could join us.

There are a few guidelines, which will ensure a smooth-running, easy-to-use site for everyone. Please read through them before you start posting.


Introducing Yourself

The first step to becoming a contributing author of Devereaux Court is to introduce yourself. Normally, this isn't something that would require instructions, but this introduction process allows us to add your profile to the Scribes list in the first right hand column.

1. Create a new post, with the name you write under as the subject.
2. Add your display picture (must be a 75x75 px square) to the post, using the 'left' layout and the 'small' picture option. Please upload this picture rather than hotlinking, as this ensures it won't disappear on us.
   
3. Put your name in bold directly to the right of your picture, using the 'small' text size.
4. In the smallest text size (like this), describe yourself in 25 words or less.
5. Highlight your name only (or your name and your picture) and link it to your website, if you have one.
   
6. You're done the technical stuff, so hit enter a couple of times, change the font to whatever size you want, and let everyone know who you are, what you write, what you read, what you eat for breakfast, or anything else you feel like sharing.
7. When you're done, make sure you use the Labels function at the bottom of the post editing window. Include your name, introduction and anything else you feel fits.
   

**After much deliberation and rearranging of the sidebar, it's been decided that scribes will be listed in the side pannel in the order that they post their introductions.**

Posting

Posts can be anything, from articles to critiques to story excerpts to poems and lyrics to shameless plugs. The only necessities are that they be kept relatively clean (swearing in moderation is fine, but gratuitous violent or sexual content will be removed if it's not preceded by a big, unmissable warning), polite, and that some effort is made to make sure there are no gross spelling and/or grammatical errors.

If you're posting material that is not your own, please cite - and where it's more than one line long, use the blockquote function.

You can post whatever pictures you want, as long as they're not overly violent or sexual in nature. Copyrights are infringed upon at your own risk, and in the event that we are contacted and informed of infringement, the image in question will be removed. Hotlink if you like.

When you're finished your post, please use the Labels function at the bottom right of the edit window, and include your name and the type of post*, as well as any other labels you feel are appropriate.

*The type of posts are: short story, chapter, oneshot, excerpt, poem, lyrics, critique, news, article, rant, question, please advise, plug (for when you're promoting someone else's story, product or work), shameless plug (for when you're plugging your own stuff), list, poll, information, instructions and of course, introduction. If you can think of any other labels that should be added to this list, coment on this post, and they'll probably be added.


Commenting

Please feel free to comment on any and all posts, including this one. Anything goes as long as, once again, it's kept clean (nothing overly sexual or violent) and polite (this means no flaming). Comments not adhering to these guidelines will be removed.


Thank you for taking the time to read through the guidelines. On behalf of all the members of the Devereaux Court community, welcome.