I've been lurking around my intimate hood for two days now. That's the first time in a very long time, that I've done that. I'm catching up on as many posts as I can, but its tough when you only pop in once or twice a month.
While my absence has gone largely unnoticed, life has gone on for all of you. You continue to amaze me with your strength, talent, resilliency, persistence, wit and candor. There have been some amazingly powerful posts in my hood over the last week or so....stories of life, living, death, desire and victory. It has reminded me of the "old Vox", when I couldn't wait to see my hoodies' updates from one day to the next. You had enriched my life, and I felt compelled to oblige you all with posts of my own--some humorous (at least I thought so...), some as serious as a heart attack. But, perhaps oblige isn't the right word. I was driven from within; inspired by all of you, to enlighten, entertain, create and inspire in return.
I don't know how effective I ever was at returning the favor, but I tried. And, tonight, I feel some reconnection here. I had absolutely nothing to do with it, though. It was all of you.
These past couple of days, I've felt the stark pain of a parent's death, relived a decade of incredible transformation, overcame obstacles that one should ever have to confront and shared blessings too copious to recount. And, none of any of this, happened in my life....they happened in yours, and I thank you all for sharing them with me. This week, as we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US, I wish I had the words to properly thank each of you.
It is my sincere hope that all of you, find something, anything--even something as simple as a nomadic band of loosely connected "e-neighbors", to be grateful for this week. I certainly am.
To those outside of my (our) Voxhood, this is nothing but a lifeless cluster of electrons---barely able to be construed as 'words on a page'. To those within, this is life. This is pain. This is love. This is home.
I am thankful to be back home this Thanksgiving. Thank you for granting me the privelege of being a witness to your wonderful, amazing lives.
Love you guys...
Crush
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I was just told that the Amazon Conduit will be fixed by tomorrow. I will post here as soon as I get word that it's back up and running.
I know this has been frustrating and I am sorry there wasn't more I could do to make it less so. I really appreciate your patience though.
Cheers,
Bad news. As many of you have probably noticed, the Amazon Conduit was not fixed in the last week's release. Unfortunately, there was an undetected bug that is preventing the conduit from working.
We are working on this bug fix and hope to have the Conduit back up and running this week.
I will keep you posted.
Thank you for being so patient.
Blog Action Day is every October 15th, when blogger are asked to post something about a single issue to show our strength and conviction as an online community. It's a great way to feel connected to the greater good, and the participation of so many bloggers to support the world's leading non-profit organizations is something you can do to help, right now. By blogging today, you're supporting some of the world's leading non-profits and sharing your voice for change.
This year's topic is climate change, and we'd love to read your thoughts on the topic. If you participate, leave us a link to your post in the comments, so we know to check out your post!
Go to www.blogactionday.org to learn more, get a badge for your blog showing your participation, and see some ideas for your post on climate change.
Can't wait to read your posts!
~ daisy
...you have to cut yourself to remember you're alive.
Life is what you make it, and make of it. Yeah. I'll die someday. I'm working towards accepting my mortality. But, for today...
There's nothing like a moshpit in front of Metallica and 19,000 head-banging lunatics to remind me how fragile and beautiful life is. Teenagers and fortysomethings. Raw vitality and awkward resistance. Generations apart, but united and tangible energies. Living. Alive. And nothing else matters.....
The Amazon Conduit will be working again on October 15, 2009. Thank you to everyone for your patience.
Have a great weekend,
daisy, Team Vox
In my last Team Vox post, I let you know that we're aware that the Amazon conduit is broken and that we're working to fix it. Many of you want to know when it's going to be fixed and I'm so sorry I haven't gotten back to you about that sooner.
Unfortunately, I don't have an exact date to give you, but rest assured, the Amazon conduit will be fixed in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, I'm about to finish my latest book and I could use a few suggestions as to what to read next, so... if you don't mind, let me know in the comments what's on your nightstand and/or what book you think I absolutely must read next.
Thanks! :)