After some discussion with other Open Micers and some deliberation on my own, I have come to a few conclusions as to the future of this site.

Basically, the blog aspect of the site is great, it has sort of become a simple loose collection of blogs working seperately rather than a collection working together.  I don't think this is anyone's fault, but rather just a natural consequence of the nature of blogging.  I think when we were all together, it was much easier to work together, but seperately, it was an issue.

So, for this reason and more, I've decided to make the following changes:

1.  OurOpenMic will become a pay service.

2.  Users will pay a certain amount (5 to 10 dollars a month) for me to design and maintain a complete web page for them showcasing their art. 

3.  The main page will contain a link and updates to all the other websites.

4.  Users can have as little or as much input as they want in the design of the site.

5.  Everyone who pays will get their own subdomain that links to their website.

6.  The blog will still be up, but will be located on blogs.ouropenmic.com now.  Users will need to be paid users to be a part of this section.

 

Anyway, feel free to contact me about these changes.  It is unlikely that I will change my mind about anything, but I am open to suggestions and critiques of the system I am thinking of.

Feel free to keep blogging, as it may be another month or so before I actually start designing sites for other people.

I know it kinda sounds sucky that I will be charging for this service, but I promise you that this is about as sweet of a deal as you can get on the internet, without designing the site yourself.  I will be in charge of maintaining and designing your site, and will give you complete access to your own administrator area where you can update your art and website on your own.  Trust me, this is an amazing deal.

Hey bloggers and readers, I have some great news.  Now you can access our featured blogs even easier.  The domain names are simpler and smarter.  So, if you want to access or share their blogs simply use these sites:

Ace Blackwell - aceblackwell.ouropenmic.com

Becki - becki.ouropenmic.com

Ben McDowell - benmcdowell.ouropenmic.com

Crazy Rockwell - crazyrockwell.ouropenmic.com

Elad the Great - eladthegreat.ouropenmic.com

Matt Klassen - mattklassen.ouropenmic.com

Miriam - miriam.ouropenmic.com

Sajji - sajji.ouropenmic.com

Sami k. - samik.ouropenmic.com

 

Enjoy! 

 

A collaborative poem by open mic participants:

 

 

Sam:
It must have been fate that Elad the Great started Open Mic
Which Elates all of his Mates at Eddie’s here tonight
He’s done his part to make the web a place to voice your thoughts
So people can read and conceive instead of letting their minds rot
He’s shown us we can use the net as something powerful and bitchin’
For other things then finding porn to watch and choke the chicken
We think he’s Bomb we love his dreds and his innovation
So we each wrote a stanza to show our appreciation

Read More...

From now on, if you are a registered user, among the many other benefits, you can now blog. If this is something you have been waiting to do for a while, I suggest you get started posting asap!