Answering A Few Questions About The New Blog

Since we announced that we're moving to a new blog, I've been asked several questions that I wanted to answer.  Hopefully this will help people feel more comfortable about the move.

I decided to move the blog for several reasons.  One is Chinese porn spam that we repeatedly report and seems never to be addressed by Blogger.  That's not to say that I don't think that we will have to deal with that sort of thing on the new site, but I have to approve new posters' first posts, so that stuff isn't seen by everyone else on the blog.  Another is that we've started getting offers for advertising and other things, and while I don't really intend to do much of that, I think having a slightly more professional site will help with that.  I don't kid myself that I'm going to make money off this blog, though.  That's not the highest priority for me with the blog by any means.  We'd also like to make it easier for people and dogs who actually read the blog leave comments.  Finally, I just felt that it was time for us to take the step and grow the blog some.

Following the blog is easy.  If you use Google Reader, you copy the web address and post it into your Google Reader.  If you read blogs through the dashboard on Blogger, you just copy the web address, look at the bottom of the box and click on the "add" button.  You can paste the website address in the pop up box and still follow the blog through your blogger dashboard. 

Leaving comments on the blog is easy.  The first time you comment, it will ask you for your user name and e-mail address.  It also asks for your website address, but entering that is optional.  You'll be asked if you'd like to add a Gravatar.  This is simply an avatar that follows you to other Gravatar-enabled websites and is linked to your e-mail address.  If you already have one with Wordpress, it should show up on the blog.  If you don't have one, our new blog will use a screenshot of your blog, provided you have entered your website address.  You don't need to have one to post on the blog by any means.  It's a simple process, however, if you're interested in adding one. 

If you have any other questions for us, please don't hesitate to ask.  We want to make the transition go seamlessly and we very much still want to see our blog friends comment on the new site.  Hopefully this has answered the questions that we've gotten from other so far.