Blog tips

Tips for using the Blog Since yesterday was another record day in terms of traffic to the blog (I had more hits and unique IP addresses than your average NAHL team has on a Saturday night), I thought that while I have your attention I’d take a second to brief everyone on some of the technical and philosophical aspects of the blog. On the tech side, you can receive blog posts by email. That way you don’t have to keep checking and rechecking the blog for new postings. The email is automatic, and is limited to the first run of a post, so you get it as I originally sent it, typos and all. Consider it a raw feed. Comments do not get sent to subscribers, so if you wish to follow any side discussions, you’ll still need to browse the blog. Also, subscribers are anonymous, to the extent you’ll be shielded from other subscribers. Yes, I’ll know you’re subscribing, but I won’t bug you about it, and your secret is safe with me. Next on the tech side is a brief snippet about optimal viewing. If you look on the right side margin and don’t see a “Foster’s Blog” graphic and list of menu items, you’re probably still using an antiquated version of Internet Explorer whose programming was writing in the last century. I strongly urge anyone not already doing so to switch to Mozilla’s Firefox. With tabbed viewing, greater security, faster loading, and full recognition of the .css code used to build most blogs, it’s clearly a superior browser, and if you aren't using it you don’t know what you’re missing. On the philosophical side… I need to perform a task called “managing expectations.” I’ve mentioned a few times in recent weeks that “there’s more to the story” than I indicate on a particular thread. Am I holding back information? Absolutely… mostly because I don’t want to do anything that might interfere with someone's ongoing negotiations. Consider it a blog version of the “Prime Directive.” Plus, if I do leak something, I’ll never hear anything from a given source ever again. Bottom line: where news is concerned, I don’t this blog to become the news unto itself. Opinions are a different matter, of course, and if something is well beyond the rumor stage, it’s open season. But I don’t want anyone to use me as an excuse for why some deal went south.