What Makes a Post Freshly Press-able: WordPress is Self-centered (Occupy wall street, election, cats, babies, space, etc…)

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Every day nineteen or so people appear on the front page of wordpress.com. This is the freshly pressed section that is the first thing seen by all who enter wordpress. Regardless or whether or not the posts are freshly pressed they are there, and many people wonder why those who end up there do. It seems like it has something to do with the ideas expressed in the post or the relevance of said post to current events. But lately there has been one or two freshly pressed posts about wordpress itself and mainly how to get freshly pressed.

I can understand how one or two can be relevant, even in sequence, but for over a month having a post about yourself on the front page is pushing it. I would understand if wordpress was mainly about itself, but it isn’t. My impression was that the freshly-pressed section was to highlight some of the better blogs out there (or at least the better posts). WordPress is about the community, and when the site keeps highlighting itself it just comes off as self centered.

I mean really wordpress, what about all those other bloggers out there, like me? Why can’t we (I) be on the front page? I mean I do great stuff, and none of it is ever appreciated. Just because you created and maintain the best blogging service and software on the web doesn’t mean you can be selfish about it. Just because you facilitate my ability (read: addiction) to Blog you think you can just promote yourself over me.

And what about what info I can consume? I could be reading about the “occupy …” protesters I don’t like, or the upcoming presidential election I hate everybody in, or someone’s post about their cat, or babies, or about wasting resources looking at and landing in space, but no, I can only read about wordpress. WordPress, wordpress, wordpress. Shame on you wordpress!  Didn’t your mother teach you about humility?

Speak Your Mind 23 #111-115

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QUESTIONS
1. How do you think life would be different if you lived in the north pole?

2. Do you think it is safe to ride in the back of a truck?

3. Didi you watch Sesame Street when you were little?

4. Do you have one or two pillows on your bed?

5. Have you ever had a broken bone?

ANSWERS By: Austin Smith

1. It would be quite a lot colder, and involve more starving I think.

2. Depends where you are and who is driving, but as a general rule, no. Unless it’s some type of transport truck like a semi or a military truck then yes.

3. Very little unfortunately. But I had the discovery channel and toy soldiers.

4. I have one pillow, I have two to. So I have two.

5. No, I have not once broken a bone in my body.

Speak Your Mind 22 #106-110

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QUESTIONS

1. What was the last movie you saw?

2. Have you ever been on crutches?

3. Do you like the way satin feels?

4. Do you ever eat baked, salted pumpkin seeds?

5. Is your bedroom neat?

ANSWERS By: Austin Smith

1. I legitimately have no idea.

2. Only for fun.

3. Yes I do.

4. No, I had them once and didn’t like them really. They were just bland.

5. Yes it’s really neat, but neat as in tidy or well organized depends upon the section. Part of my room are very neat, but others are a complete mess.

A Tie Sampler (With Designer Thoughts)

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I have a lot of ties, I mean a lot. I have, like, an eccentric schoolteacher number of ties. And the number keeps growing, and growing. I think on average I get a couple each week, although that is an average from getting none for quite a few weeks and then buying many of them when I get the chance and they have good ties at the local vintage stores.

I never really thought about it much, but it seems that I do have quite a few, and I enjoy the more wacky ties. So I thought why not share them with you on the internet. (it wasn’t actually my idea, but I liked it) And as a bonus, we’ll get a look inside the designers heads.

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First we have a kind of strange tie depicting Winnie the Pooh and a butterfly.

What was going through the designers head: Winnie is a bear right? Bears live in nature right? Butterflies also come from nature. I Just finished my tie design six hours early.

Then we have this one, made up entirely of french posters partially covering each other.

What the designer was thinking: Man, my poster collection is so cool. If I scanned one in and overlapped it like a collage I’m sure it would be a hit in every market.

I think this is my favorite, it’s just a toothbrush and toothpaste. With the toothpaste being three-dimentional.

What was going on in the designers head:  Crap, isn’t it such a coincidence that I got toothpaste on my tie that looks like it got toothpaste on it. If only the toothpaste had looked more real in the first place, then maybe this wouldn’t be a problem. Wait, I’ve got it.

Next we have an uncomfortably close picture of marvin the Martian, made exclusively for six flags.

What was going through the designers head: Humph, why do I get stuck with making the marvin tie? I’ll show them. I’ll make it almost unrecognizable.

Finally we have one covered in various writing implements and school supplies.

What was going on in the designers head: This tape we make for classrooms is great, I wonder what else we can make with this. Steve runs a silk factory, I bet he’ll know!