Cuz, ya know... shift happens.

... And I guess I like playing with it when it does. :)

}} Go visit Phaelia to see what I'm talking about. {{

I'm not really the type of person to ask for everyone to vote for me, but I encourage you to put in your vote for whichever new shirt you prefer. There are some great designs in the running.

Ah, and if the naked man-flesh isn't to your taste, I was going to create a naked-girlelf version for the boys if my shirt wins. So, y'know... just keep that in mind. We're not gender-biased here at POC! Much.

:9 Purple man...

The Name of the Game

A blog's name is a very large part of its identity. It is the author's 'face' to the masses, her signpost on the busy highway of webbitude, and the map that gets drawn whenever someone wants to spread the word about her blog. That's why, when wise bloggers write about how to get yourself started, they draw attention to the importance of choosing a name.

What's in a name?

Points of Convergence was named for a relatively simple concept. We who play World of Warcraft with the kind of love and dedication that has kept us in the game for literal years face a challenge that is new to modern society. We live in two worlds at once, bound to each by responsibilities both assigned and assumed. We need to go to school or work. We need to go to raid or gain levels. We need to pay bills and make soccer practice. We need to grind Badges and study Hunter specs.

Demands from the real world become comparable to demands from Azeroth and Outlands, forcing us to walk a very fine mental, physical, and emotional line between one and the other.

That's why I wanted to create a blog to write about the points where these two worlds meet; to try to remind everyone that there is more bridging Azeroth and Earth than a login screen. The inspiration that comes from our second home can create beautiful art, touching fiction, wonderful crafts, and even lively social discourse. The every day needs that come from our first home can be met in healthful and intelligent ways without forcing us to sacrifice one life for the other. It seemed only natural to me that a blog about these convergence points between our two homes was named... yes... Points of Convergence.

However, with the self-hosted blog in the works, I've encountered an unexpected weakness in the title: it doesn't translate very well to an ergonomic URL. Now, at this point, we could digress into a discussion of what makes a good, 'ergonomic' URL, but I don't want y'all to fall asleep and drool on my web page. Suffice to say that I want to adhere to three simple rules for the new site's URL:

1. It should be clearly evocative of the blog title.  Bonus points if it can also be evocative of the blog's purpose and its larger affiliation to the World of Warcraft.
2. It should be reasonably short and easy to type. Length is more acceptable than it used to be, but I would like to adhere as much as possible to a K.I.S.S.philosophy in the new blog. (Keep It Simple, Stupid) Shorter is better. Also, if you have to pull out a dictionary to spell my URL, I have done something wrong (and possibly educated you :) ).
3. It should be available. More and more, people are 'speculating' on the URL market, which means that the finite combinations of meaningful URLs are slowly being claimed. A lot of perfectly good options are not options because they're already taken. 

A PoC by any other name...

Herein lies the problem. www.pointsofconvergence.net (.com is taken) rather forcefully violates the second rule. It's long and tough to spell. Of course, every possible version of 'converge' or 'convergence' or 'PoC' was claimed back when the internet was a baby at Al Gore's knee.

Thus, I have been stretching the old right-brain to try to come up with some decent (though perhaps less obvious) alternatives, either through creative rescramblification of Points of Convergence or through... yes, renaming the blog. It's not something I would choose to do lightly, but when your ergonomic URL is at stake, you need to consider all feasible options.

Here's some of what I've been brainstorming:

URL:  pointsconverge.com	URL:  ptsofconvergence.com	URL:  weconverge.com
Name: Arcane Tomes URL:   arcanetomes.com	Name: Beneath Two Skies URL:  twoskies.net	Name: Nexus Points URL: nexus-points.com

I have my favorites and my less-favorites. I also have a longer list with some that are downright crazy. What I'd like to know, though, is what you think. Which of these could you see yourself typing in that browser bar*?

* HA! As if anyone actually types URLs, any more. Hello, Google and Feed Readers. :)

Outbrain: In or Out?

I know. It's not Thursday, again, but darn it... I just get excited, sometimes!

I've added a new feature to the blog that I hope everyone will enjoy: a post 5-star rating widget. It's a familiar concept with a few tweaks and upgrades for the specific needs of the blogosphere, brought to us by the far-smarter-than-I-am techie people at Outbrain. What's really unique about these five little yellow stars (and the reason I've given them a home here) is that they don't only give you the overall rating for my post from all the lovely people who've come here. These ratings are personalized to your own rating history!

I'm going to let the authors explain it, cuz they do a far better job than I can:

... whenever we serve the ratings widget to a reader, we look at his/her rating history, find like-minded people automatically, and adjust the rating scores accordingly. This is what the widget looks like with personalization:

In other words – two people might be looking at the same blog post, but each will see vastly different scores based on each one’s personal rating history. The more each person rates, the better our recommendations will be specifically for him/her.

So for those of you who follow a number of blogs and really want to get an at-a-glance idea of whether or not the post topic is going to be worth your read, I recommend that you spread your ratings around and seed Mr. Friendly Personalization Algorithm. In the end, it'll help you the most.

At least, that's the idea. :) Please leave me feedback (ratings on this post or comments) to register your opinions on this feature. I'm not above baleeting them if I'm overestimating their starry-goodness.