November 20, 2012

The Movies At Dog Farm Manifesto

     Movies At Dog Farm started life as a closed group page on Facebook.  Phil Neff  invited me to program some movies for a photography "meet and greet" he was hosting at his home (a dog boarding facility), and I took it upon myself to start the group page to introduce myself to the confirmed attendees of Phil's event.  It was that simple -- the acorn from which grew a mighty oak, or at least a sturdy seedling with potential.

     Although Facebook will continue to be part of the picture, I've begun to realize that much of what I was trying to do on that group page was beyond what the architects of Facebook had intended.  I've grown more and more frustrated with my ability to compose, store, and disseminate content there.  Not surprisingly, Phil was the first to point this out to me.  He said what I was actually trying to do would be better suited to a blog.  He was right, of course, so what you see before you is my first stab at blogging.

     The Movies At Dog Farm group page on Facebook will remain open and will no longer be a closed group.  The MADF group page (get used to the abbreviation, I'm already tired of typing it) will become a feed for links to new content on the MADF blog.  My friends at Facebook will continue to be able to join in seamlessly, and they can continue to post comments and discussions about the linked content there.  The social aspect is, in fact, the primary reason I put off doing this for so long.  Admittedly, Facebook handles that aspect of the experience well.  In time, I hope to incorporate a more fully featured chat experience here.  The Shoutbox currently at the bottom of this page is a poor substitute for the social interactivity Facebook provides, but it's only temporary.  You can, of course, post comments on content here, as well, and I encourage you to do so.

     I also strongly encourage all who visit here to be as actively involved as possible.  As my friend Herb Miller put it, this is intended to be an "interesting evolution for . . . well . . . whatever this is".  The more my stalwart Movies At Dog Farm friends support this, the more fun it will be for everyone.  Please take a moment to sign up as a follower of this blog using the Dog Farm Pack (Followers) gadget at the bottom of the sideboard.  If you'd prefer to be kept posted via email, use the Biting The Mailman (Follow By Email) gadget above it.  You can also use the Subscribe to: (Posts) Atom gadget if you make use of feeds on your computer's browser.  There are Share gadgets at the bottom of each post, too.

     As for members of the MADF Secret Beta Testing Group (you know who you are), please sign up for all of the above.  You'll be helping me to learn how to share using all of these gadgets, and I'm depending upon your participation and feedback, in particular, to find out specifically how all of these methods of dissemination work.  You're all a crucial part of helping me make this a great experience for everyone.  I won't be rolling out the links feed to the original Movies At Dog Farm group page on Facebook until I've had some time to tinker with things a bit, but please make use of the other methods of connecting.  Post your thoughts and observations on the MADF Secret Beta Testing Group page I've created for solely that purpose and separate from the original group page.  Thanks in advance for taking the time to help.

     Welcome, everyone, to Movies At Dog Farm!  Don't piss on that seedling!


2 comments:

  1. I'm commenting on this! The End.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The less than satisfactory Shoutbox chat solution mentioned above has already been replaced by a new Chatroll at the bottom of the page. It's a huge improvement.

    ReplyDelete

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