Site News

Let’s talk about me

26 Comments

With no baseball today, I wanted to do a little housekeeping and update you with some site news.

Tweaking the look

First of all I made a small tweak in the template. The content use to size down for an 800×600 resolution. This was kind of a pain in terms of the stylesheet and getting things to display properly. And today I noticed that in IE 6 the display was broken due to my post last night (but I can’t quite figure out why). So I checked my site stats and less than 5% of visitors are on monitors that small. So resizing is no more. You’re at a fixed width now which looks okay for 1024×768 resolutions and up. It will allow me to make the charts and tables a little bigger and easier to see. I hope I haven’t put anyone out by doing this.

Paying the bills

Second, I’ve added a couple more advertisements. I’m going to tweak the placements and watch performance. I don’t want to clutter the site too much with that stuff, and if there isn’t a worthwhile payout I’ll just take them down. But if you are in the market for tickets to sold out games, feel free to use the StubHub link or purchase from one of the sponsors on the side.

You wanna hang out?

Third, I was pondering a DTW and all other Tiger blog get together at Comerica Park. Many of us bloggers got together last year and had a great time. But I was wondering if there’s interest on the part of the readership here to do such a thing. If you’re interested leave a comment or use the contact form. You’re not committing to anything at this time, I just want to get a ballpark number of people interested in going to the ballpark.

Delicious Links

Fourth, for the last month or so you have probably noticed the link posts that come up a couple days a week. I’m using del.icio.us to help me out with it. When I see something I find interesting, I can quickly bookmark it. Then once a day del.icio.us will take all those bookmarks and create a post. I don’t get to provide a lot of context, but it is a really quick way for me to share stuff that I think you might find interesting. Plus, all those bookmarks are then available for everyone to view or search at del.icio.us/detroittigersweblog.

You talkin’ to me?

Finally I wanted to give a shout out to the most frequent commentors here. Your top 10 (not counting me of course):

  1. Adam (479)
  2. Kathy (473)
  3. Mike R (455)
  4. Anne (260)
  5. Joey C. (180)
  6. stephen (173)
  7. Kyle J (142)
  8. Dave Wagner (132)
  9. Kevin in Austin (126)
  10. David (124)

Thanks to not only the top 10 here, but to everyone who helps keep the discussion flowing here. It’s a big help and motivation to me to have this much participation. While we don’t always agree, I appreciate the discussions and the fact that we can keep it civil. So thank you.

26 thoughts on “Let’s talk about me”

  4. Second, I’ve added a couple more advertisements.

    Do what ya gotta do, man. I probably won’t intentionally click on any of them, but I understand ’em and they don’t bother me.

    You wanna hang out?

    Count me in. (I already have a ticket though). I was kicking myself last year, cuz I was there with a bunch of my teammates, but I couldn’t remember what section you were in.

    Then once a day del.icio.us will take all those bookmarks and create a post. I don’t get to provide a lot of context

    I like.

    Finally I wanted to give a shout out to the most frequent commentors here. Your top 10 (not counting me of course):

    D’oh! As last year’s runner-up, I’m very disappointed in falling out of the top 10. Heck, I’m probably not even top 25. But don’t get complacent Kathy or Adam. My schedule is starting to free up (maybe), so I might make a strong second-half showing. 🙂

  7. I had no idea I ran my mouth that much.

    I’d love to attend a game, but would need to know well in advance for planning purposes.

  8. 125

    Count it

    =P

    I really enjoy your site Billfer which is why I spend so m much time and think you along with almost every poster makes it marvelous by contributing important and unique view of the Tigers.

    Although we all agree to disagree sometimes, we all pull for the Tigers which does make us better than most in my book. 😉

    As Rod Allen almost once said –

    “The Detroit Tigers Weblogers are dirty…dirty,dirty,dirty!”

  9. We all don’t have to see eye-to-eye. Just as long as we all acknowledge that I’m pretty much always right. About everything.

    For real though, Billfer, I do love the blog. It’s the first Tigers blog i started returning to regularly. So well done. Although, I always feel bad that people like Matt in Toledo and other Tiger blogs don’t get my attention when they probably should.

  11. This really doesn’t bother me too much, but since you brought up the site layout and IE and such…

    Currently, when I view the main page, the threads appear way down below everything else. They should be next to the bookmarks, just under the DTW header, but instead the threads start where the bookmarks end. It didn’t always do this, and I am not sure the cause.

    FYI, I am using IE6 (its a work computer, I have no control) and my resolution is 1400×1050.

    In case I didn’t describe this well, here is a screenshot:

    http://img292.imageshack.us/img292/8275/clipboardpv8.jpg

    The ironic thing is, when I click the “comments” link to post or read comments, this does not happen- the threads are all pushed up right under the DTW header, as they should be.

    Good work on the site Billfer.

  12. Having fallen from #1 to #7 on the most frequent poster list, I’m afraid the skeptics will chalk up my performance last year to performance-enhancing drugs. No truth to the rumor that the 7 5/8 Tigers hat I bought last year is now too big . . .

    Keep up the great work, Bilfer. In my book, this is the #1 website anywhere for Tigers news and analysis.

    As for the ads, I’d really like to but a Pudge Rodriguez Fathead, but haven’t been able to convince my wife it would go with the rest of our living room motif.

  13. Totally agree on your last sentiment….I can’t talk enough about the Tigers, and my friends get sick of me talking about them, so it’s nice to come on here and discuss my boys and get some different perspectives. Great site.

  14. I would love to meet all of the bloggers of Tigerdom. I will be at the game on August 5th vs. the pale sox!

  15. I would love to meet all of the bloggers of Tigerdom. I will be at the game on August 5th vs. the pale sox! I live in Indianapolis so it is about a 5 hour drive. I think I will be at the game on the 21st as well.

  17. Bill:
    I’d like to add my kudos and thanks for all the hard work you do with the site. Your dedication is unbelievable. As a former (small-time) sports journalist, I’m pretty selective about where I get my news. You are accurate and interesting, which isn’t always easy! Keep up the good work, sir.

  18. Yeah, I’m with Kathy on that…didn’t know I really ran my mouth that much.

    But, I think most of those come from the games where I post fifteen or twenty times. I haven’t been as active recently.

    Kind of like Magglio’s double production.

  19. I love this site; it’s especially soothing to have company when a game is going badly. And I always learn a great deal from our more statistics-savvy posters. I go to a bunch of games and would definitely like to meet up.

  20. This is a great site. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve waited all day for a story to come through the pipe that affects the minor leagues, and then when I get home, get the dog taken care of and sit down at the computer, there’s Billfer posting and commenting on a story I hadn’t heard yet.

    You do a great job, Billfer.

  21. I certainly don’t comment much (I think this is my third comment since I was pointed to your site last year), but I come back all the time. Since I don’t have a computer at home (I know, I know…I’m a musician and there are literally tens upon tens of dollars to be made in the music industry), I can’t really comment when I’m watching the games, but during day games while I’m here at work, I’m often refreshing the posts to see what comments folks are posting to keep up with the games in progress. You all are great commentators.

    I’d love to go to a game with a bunch of the people here. Did you have a specific game in mind? Like Kathy, I’d need some heads-up for planning purposes as my time is often decided for me months in advance.

  22. I’m relatively new to commenting here, but I’ll aim high and try to make the top ten next year! This was the first TigerBlog I found (and I’d admit, I only became an obsessive fan last year), and to me it’s the best. I love watching GameCast and being able to “talk” about the game simultaneously.

    So thanks!

    (Also, I’m having the same issues as Jason, having to scroll past the bookmarks to get to the content.)

  23. I would make more comments, but since my predictions are always right, I am afraid it would hurt the enthusiasm of the blog.

    Waive Neifi!

  24. I would make more comments, but since my predictions are always right, I am afraid it would hurt the enthusiasm of the blog.

  25. I don’t do these site news posts to solicit a whole bunch of nice comments, but that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy them. This is just one of a handful of great sites covering the Tigers, and I encourage you to check them all out.

    As for the meet-up, I don’t have a game in mind right now, and I don’t even know what’s available for groups at this point. If there are at least 15 or so who are interested I’ll try to figure something out.

    As for the display issue, I had no idea it was a problem. I always use Firefox, and I have IE just for checking on the site, but it’s IE7. It renders fine in both of those. And in doing some research, it turns out that it’s been screwed up for a month. So sorry about that, but I think it’s fixed now.

Comments are closed.