prolific.org

Hmm. I don’t like WordPress at all. I don’t like that I don’t have a linky blog. I hate that I have to add a plug in to be able to do something as simple as upload images. I have to click around so much, my pen tool’s worn out. And most of all I hate having 1000+ ‘draft’ posts and no way to either publish or delete them in one go. I’m not keen on its GUI either.I like the design of my site, though, even if the bulk of it isn’t mine. I just made it prettier. But WordPress has to go. Soon. Maybe I’ll go back to MT for a while, until I figure out how to port this design (with the ‘first post – different look’) to Pivot.Elsewhere, Tom Coates minimalises even more — up front, in your face, lovely.

It’s the season of giving! No it’s not, but I’m feeling generous. No, I’m not, but Flickr just awarded me a couple of free Flickr Pro accounts to give away. Want one?

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I was just going over to Plasticbag’s to steal their comment disclaimer for u2log.com when lo and behold, Tom writes:

“U2log.com – one of the first and best single-subject magazine-style weblogs. I’m not a great fan of U2, but it’s still an impressive site – and more importantly was created way before Gawker media and the current fad for commercial webloggery. I wonder if it makes any money…”

Finally, someone recognises U2log.com. I always feel it’s been ignored by web pundits — probably because they find its subject matter distasteful. I think I entered the site into the Webbies twice without being short listed while the much younger and more derivative Whedonesque got in without problems.

Do we make any money? No, we don’t. We don’t make any ‘big’ money. We make pocket money. Enough for me to buy my many editors a Christmas gift. Enough to pay for bandwidth over-usuage. We’re probably in the Top 5 U2 fansites, but nowhere near the largest. We get 5000 to 7000 (front)page hits per day and just had our busiest day last week at 23000 page hits.

We started this site as a joke, just some old IRC friends mucking about. Our style reflected this. We were irreverent, with a Brit/Aussie type humour – unlike any other U2 sites. Always taking the mickey out of the band. These days we’re rather professional, with press accreditation and access to big events, old skool reporting and what have you, but we’re still doing it because we’re obsessive about documenting the band and still in love with the music.

This week I’m mostly going to be…

…mother goose-ing two seemingly unrelated interviews done for two of my sites. Although the interviews are unrelated, the people interviewed have known each other since the late 70s and it is likely that subject matter will overlap. The people interviewing do not know each other, and could both be seen as ‘amateur’ journalists. Both are involved with sites of mine, but have not had an active role for a long time. One interviewer has avoided questions about the other’s subject. The other interviewer hasn’t. One of the people interviewed is a musician. And the other… turns out to be a musican too. One of the people interviewed is a journalist himself. The other one… isn’t.

I feel like a spy master running agents in the field.

A spy master who has a ‘cover’ job on the side that sadly takes up most of her time. Running spies is so much more fun.