Welcome to softthistle.net, my new domain, both in name and nature.
This site will be a work in progress as I go along, building it up as I go, so get ready for a (hopefully not too bumpy) journey with me as I go through setting up a new blog, talk about anything and everything, and get to be more myself than I have before.
What is softthistle.net about?
Truth me told, I’m not entirely sure what direction this blog will take yet.
I have been blogging at A Little Space for Me for almost two years now, documenting what’s been going on in my life, and that of my family. The thing is, it no longer feels like a little space for ME. I have been censoring myself a lot recently, and it’s time for that to stop.
You won’t get so much of the “Mum” me here, as that will stay on the other blog. Here you’ll get pure unadulterated Softthistle, whether I want to talk about blogging, flylady, photography or World of Warcraft.
I’ve had Darren’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog in my possession for a while, so I will be using it to help me get my butt in gear, something I’ll no doubt share as time goes on. As it stands, the blog is in its bare-bones thesis theme, and I will attempt to pretty it up over the coming weeks, hopefully with some input from any readers who may come on by (please give me comments – I’ll send you cookies!).
So… first question…
What plugins should I be using?
I’ll make a post of any tips given later.
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Twitter: snarksnladders
October 8, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Great to see that you found a solution to your ‘Gagged-Softi’ (and not in the good way!) problem. Enjoy having a place to vent, talk, and just not be afraid of saying what you think! <3
Thanks Angela, you never know, you might find a post about being gagged in here some time!
Welcome to your new space, I hope you find it cozy.
I really like the somewhat spartan feel of the theme you chose, it highlights your writing as opposed to some more busy themes that can distract from it.
As to what plugins to use… my poor little site is still free hosted, I just use what they give me.
Thanks Dech. This is the bare-bones of the Thesis theme. I’m pretty sure I’ll tweak it here and there once I have a better idea of what I want to do with it.
also, just noticed your rss button gives me a page of gibberish as opposed to a way to subscribe.
first thing I fixed!
Hallo!!!!! Um.. Akismet at least, no? (plugins that is) Some stat tracking one? Contact form stuffs?
Hey Fim, thanks for stopping by! Done, done and done
Softiiiiiii! <3
My only real must-haves are Akismet (which comes built-in), Intense Debate (which I was kind of leery of switching to at first, but it adds so much to the built-in commenting, it’s great), and Twitter Tools. Your mileage may vary, but those’re my 3!
Thanks Stop, I’ve had a look at Intense Debate but I think I’ll stick to what I’ve got here for now.
Twitter tools – thanks for the reminder! DOH!
Well, hello there… I think this is definitely a good idea.
Thinking about plugins, there’s a few I’m pretty sure you know of and others you may not.
Firstly, Comment Info Tip is nice enough and allows a little hidden link-sharing for each commenter–and tying that into any ‘remember me’ plugin will make it seamless for returning commenters to do what they love best.
I’ve been a fan of Simple Yearly Archive for a while, but I doubt you need it just yet. Alas, it’s a good little plugin.
After that, there’s a few ragalongs that are worth the effort–Twitter Tools, WPtouch iPhone theme and if you like using Feedburner as a replacement for WordPress’ default RSS then get FeedBurner FeedSmith.
Oh, and before I forget… Something to preview comments would be nice too.
Had a look for Comment Info Tip but it doesn’t seem to be around anymore. I have it on alittlespaceforme but it does seem to take a while to load, so I think I’ll leave it out.
Welcome to the Blogosphere in your new space!
Hmm, Plugins that I use on all my WordPress sites, no matter if they’re gaming or not include:
TweetMeme
CommentLuv
All In One SEO Pack
Yet Another Related Post Plugin (yarpp)
Various ways to communicate with others and help others find more interesting articles to read in my blogs
Take care! If you make a World of Warcraft category be sure to leave me a note on my blog, so I can add a link to that part of your blog from mine
Valdesta
http://WoWGrrl.com (my WoW blog)
Hi Val, thanks for the tips! I had been thinking of giving TweetMeme a go so thank you for mentioning that!
One of the good things about the Thesis theme is it has a built in SEO pack rolled into it.
I will let you know if/when I blog about WoW.
I found your link on twitter. Good luck with the new blog! Darren has an awesome site and I’ve read his Blogging for dollars book.
Thanks for visiting my newbie site Chris, I really appreciate it!
I’m about half-way through Darren’s book at the moment too, so far it’s proving pretty damn helpful.
I agree with the Akismet suggestions. Even in my low (very, very low) traffic site it’s grabbing stuff. I also have Feed Statistics and Lightbox, though I have yet to get the latter to play nicely. Good luck here!
Errun´s last blog ..Why play Wow?
Thanks for the ideas Errun. Akismet is now active and I have my google analytics thingy in place now.
I had a lot of trouble with Lightbox after a wordpress update a while back, so I’ve stopped using it. Maybe it’s time to find something similar…
It’s all move house here, move blog there with you now, isn’t it?
Hope you have fun with this, and sorry, I can’t help with the plugins. I remain a WordPress refusnik.
Adam´s last blog ..The Good, The Bad & The Uke
Boring old Dollarite you
Well I can’t really suggest any plug-ins unfortunately but I look forward to reading unbridled Softthistle.
Thanks Sonvar – I hope I don’t disappoint!
Helllooooo, looking forward to seeing you pretty your new blog up.
Hope you get what you want out of your new place on the net. I totally hear you about feeling restricted about what you can blog about due to readers unknown (or worse, known!).
xxx
Thanks hun!
I’m not so bothered about people I don’t know reading it, more people I *do* know, like my ex and his family >_<
Hopefully he won’t find out about that now though!
Hey Softi,
here I am back from traveling and I see you got yourself a new place to blog!
I just want to say hi and wish you success with this blog! I’ve been reading through all the things you wrote while we were gone, here and on the old blog of course. So I wish you good luck with this place and all the things going on in your life!
–Yashima
Yashima´s last blog ..Budapest