One of the things I’ve noticed while jumping around entrecard sites is some people have tons of sidebar junk. Their actual posts might take up a page but then their blog has to stretch for 10 more pages to fit all the garbage they have on their sidebar.

If you want people to keep coming to your blog, then you probably shouldn’t make them wait 20 minutes for your page to load because you have 200 images and 5000 sidebar widgets.

I understand wanting some of that stuff to be seen, but when you have that much junk then nothing gets seen. Each item gets lost in the sea of other items. So in the end the visitor is blind to all those ads, widgets, links, pictures, so on. All they see is one big blur of color.

Honestly, do you have to sign up for every website on the internet and then link to all of them on your sidebar?

Blogs like that make me feel e-claustrophobic. There is so much clutter I feel like the site is suffocating me.

I feel like my sidebar is cluttered every time I add something to it, but some of these people act like they’re competing for a freaking clutter award or something.

All your flashy graphics are very pretty and all your ‘monetize your site with Adbrite/widgetbuck/magic’ ads are….helpful… but please don’t forget that your viewers have eyes. And it’s not very nice to make them bleed with your never ending sidebar.

These people are like… packrat bloggers.

(And sorry for the cluttered post, but I wanted to post examples.)

I’m sure many people have heard about ‘Pay Per Play’ or NetAudioAds. They’re getting advertised left and right by people trying to pimp their affiliate link.

For those who don’t know - PPP is claiming a new sort of advertising where you can monetize 100% of your traffic. Instead of placing banner ads - which take up space - you can instead play a 5 second audio clip to earn money. Everyone who comes to your site will hear the ad - and you will make money.

Some people think this is the going to be the next craze in internet advertising. I’m not so sure.

Personally, I think playing sound randomly on your website will either chase off users or cause them to turn their sound off. For people who listen to music on their computer while surfing the net, this will be especially annoying.

There you are, rocking out to that song on full volume. You click a link and headbang while waiting for the page to load and then - ARE YOU LOOKING FOR CHEAP AUTO INSURANCE? SOANDSO HAS THE BEST RATES WITH THE BEST QUOTES. DON’T WAIT, CALL NOW AND GET A FREE QUOTE!

Talk about a heart attack. Even worse when you don’t have any music on but forgot to turn down the volume. All is silent until boom! Advertisement screaming at you from your computer.

I think PPP ads will be like talking banner ads except more annoying. Why more annoying? Because there is no visible ad so you have no idea where the sound is coming from. If you’re like me, you have multiple tabs/windows open. And if there’s no visible ad then there’s no telling which window/tab it’s coming from.

I also always have my volume turned on because I listen to music and watch videos throughout the day. So if PPP becomes popular then people will be making a ton of money off me.

However, if PPP pays well, and you have a site you don’t really care about, then heck yeah, throw up the ads. Only if it pays well though.

I have a junk site that I don’t really use and I’m going to test PPP on it. Just to see how it does, and maybe leech some easy money. But I won’t use PPP on any of my higher traffic sites because I don’t want to drive visitors away.

Five second ads the first couple of times you hear them might not bother you, but after awhile it starts to rub you raw.

Pretty layouts are nice and all but how important is ‘prettiness’ when it comes to blogging?

Let’s say a blog has some decent posts and information but their layout isn’t anything spectacular. Just a boring, simple layout. How likely is it that the content would catch your attention, and possibly even make you return?

Now let’s say the same thing for another blog - decent posts and information - but a much nicer layout. Is it more likely to catch your attention?

Or does layout not matter?

I’ve heard before that you need to have a decent layout if you want to get anywhere in the blog world. But while pretty layouts are nice eyecandy, the content is what should be important, right?

Does a pretty layout make up for mediocre content?

So, how much does a blog’s layout influence your opinion of the blog?

I’ll admit, it influences me a little bit. Call me shallow but I’m a sucker for pretty things. So if I had the choice between two blogs with similar content, I’d probably choose the prettier one.

But, content is still more important. So if a pretty blog’s content is not as good as another blog’s, then I would choose the other blog. A nice layout won’t make up for content, even if it is easier on the eyes.

Next, how important is an original blog layout?

People can download nice themes and use them for free, but the problem with that is multiple people can end up using the same look.

So, nice downloaded theme vs nice original theme - which do you prefer?

I’d go with nice original theme. There are some nice downloadable themes out there, but after awhile I get sick of seeing the same thing over and over.

Also, I think an original theme helps give a blog their own ‘look’. And if you want to stand out in the crowd, having your own image definitely helps.

March 23, 2007 Tofu Records went down for “relaunch”.  And they’ve been down since.

I had emailed them several months ago, but got no reply, and now the website is down. I guess Tofu Records isn’t coming back. Kind of sad.

I had a love/hate relationship with TR. They were around when HYDE came to the U.S which I am eternally grateful for.  They kept us up to date for all the info we needed. It was perfect timing - right after I graduated high school - so I was able to go. It was also nice having a Jrock source here in the U.S.

The forums though… They were a mess. The admin/mod was rarely around so there was constant fighting going on. If you disagreed with someone then you were an idiot, and if you were attracted to anyone then you were a stupid fangirl.

Fans were constantly ripping each other apart over who was a ‘better’ fan. There were so many times people on that forum ticked me off so bad that I wish I knew where they lived so I could punch them in the face.

The forum also got a lot of spam. Near the end of Tofu life the spam bots had found the forum and were leaving several messages a day. Tofu was using phpbb forum with no captcha so it was pretty easy for spambots to register and very difficult to get rid of them. Plus, like I said, tofuwebby was rarely around so us users were stuck sorting through all the spam posts.

But as much as the forum annoyed me, it did give me something to do. A place where I could go and talk with other Jmusic fans when I was bored.

I hope they come back one day, but with a better forum and some mods that are actually around. Extra points if they bring HYDE back.

I’m sure everyone has heard about the newest internet war.

All Scientology stories have been getting dugg to the front page on Digg, since nearly everyone is in support of Anon. Usually I get annoyed when I see the same things posted over and over again, but for this I’m okay with it.

I really don’t care if people believe in some of the Scientology stuff, but I don’t like the way the treat people.  Not only their own members, but also people who question and/or oppose them.

You can believe what you want, but you can’t infringe on the rights of others.

Plus killing/threatening/suing people is not a good promotional method for converting people.

I also don’t like the way you have to BUY enlightenment. If they were really out to help mankind then wouldn’t this enlightenment be free? With this setup, only people with money deserve to be enlightened.

If you’re poor and seeking enlightenment… too bad. You’re not worthy if you can’t pay up.

When it comes to this war, I do hope no one gets hurt. I hope all Anon members stay anonymous and don’t get caught. Who knows what would happen to them if they got caught.

I also think it’s interesting to watch a band of anonymous internet users take on a huge, powerful church.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Hello there lovers, now I don’t know about you but I suffer from something called ‘chronic boredom.’ Well, it’s not really chronic but sometimes it feels like it. And I suppose I could just go out and get a life but I’m too lazy. And it’s cold outside.

But yes, I get bored a lot. When I’m in my ‘bored phase’ I tend to jump around a lot in what I’m doing. Most things can’t hold my interest for too long because they don’t update/change/whatever fast enough.

So, what kind of places do I visit when I’m bored? I’m glad you asked! I will share with you various sites I visit in hopes of curbing my sudden onset of boredom. Perhaps you’ll find something that interests you in my little list.

Unexplained Mysteries Forum. I found this site awhile ago when I was looking up stuff on Cryptozoology. I tend to be interested in all kinds of weird stuff, so this forum is interesting. You can discuss all kinds of histories mysteries, conspiracies, unknown creatures, sightings, etc. I like to browse by there every now and then.

FictionPress - I used to read stories on fanfiction.net and have since moved to fictionpress. It’s a place for writers to post their original fiction and for readers to… read them. Some stories are horrible and cliche and some stories are pretty good.

I like some of the stories by Bleeding Air (aka hate to hope). Her stories are kind of twisted, but so far I like the ones I’ve read.

Aznv.tv - Streaming Asian tv. They offer Asian dramas and movies that you an stream for free. I believe most of the videos have subs. If you want to access more stuffs then you can upgrade to a premium account, but there are a lot of things you can watch with a free account. I visit there when I’m in a Japanesey mood.

Digg - Ah, Digg. I love this site because it has so many different things you can read about. News, tips, humory stuff. I can’t wait until they get the new comment system in place because the current one is horrible.

Overheard in New York - As well as the other ‘overheard’ websites. It’s full of snippets of conversations that people have overheard. Some of them are pretty amusing.

One Sentence - True stories told in one sentence. Some of them are random, some of them are confessions. Pretty simple but interesting.

And that’s all I can think of right now. But next time you’re bored, perhaps these websites can help you.

And please share any other websites of interest that might help alleviate the bored mind.