dude

Despite my extreme frustration about personal attacks and totally unacceptable dialogues... it is obvious that most of you had no idea what was going on. We had a forum that most of you couldn't see... a private forum called The Green Room where -the idea was- our authors could discuss among themselves on a less formal basis than in the open forums. This worked well until recently when tempers flared over various interpretations of what one of our authors posted. While this was deeply troubling to me and to our other authors, it was happening in a private - not open to the general public - forum. But the problem started spilling over into the general AwesomeDude Forums. I then pulled the plug... vowing never to get myself involved in such a time consuming and often distressing position again. But frankly, dear reader, you are blameless in this brouhaha and I deeply apologize for penalizing you in this matter. You should have been treated better than that. Ironically, most of those participating in the brawl were not penalized in any way - their stories and poems continue to be posted on the main site. How unfair is that? So instead of abrogating my responsibility or delegating, I am taking my site AND the forums back and will be solely responsible for their content. You'll notice there are no longer any moderators listed. Some have left, some are too busy right now and I have decided -for the time being- to moderate all the forums myself. Most importantly, I have removed The Green Room private forum and am requiring all communications among our writers, editors and myself take place by email. I trust, dear reader (and writers), that you will all understand and show respect for your fellow members when using the AwesomeDude Forums. They are here for you. All the best

Thanks for posting that E.J. it brought happy tears to my eyes.

Well... tell us about your day at SF Pride, guys!

Des... The number of people who are registered members of the AwesomeDude Forums is miniscule compared to the number who visit AwesomeDude.com and AwesomeDude Forums and who never register. Every month so far this year we have had 35-thousand +/- unique visitors to the site/forums. The total number (including repeat visits) is closer to 50-thousand. We are using bandwidth... we are getting readers to our stories, our poems and our forum posts. For a fairly small 'boutique' type site, we are pretty popular. And our numbers are consistent. It is hard to estimate... but let me take a shot at it.. that only one in a hundred visitors visit the Forums. Now that we'd like to improve upon. Primarily people are here for the high quality stories and poems on the main site and some have joined the AD Forums so they can 'speak out'... but there are lots of people out there who eschew joining forums or mail lists or groups... all because they are afraid somebody will be able to trace them. Once they know nobody is out to get them -or worse 'out' them- they often join up after a period of lurking. One of our most outspoken family members here at AD - and I'll refrain from mentioning his name if he promises to finish that short story of his - had never been on IM or a message board - much less had his own blog before joiningg up with the great folks here. Now, there's no holding him back! He has lots of neat friends and is loved by many who would have never even known he existed. I am sure he knows that I am talking about him... heh heh All this has come to my knowldege over the slightly over two years I have been doing AwesomeDude, which was primarily an effort to connect readers and writers... and to promote the writing of good stories. I really enjoy developing and expanding the site... the nuts and bolts of running forums... bridging info about the site to the Forum members/readers I have been trying to pass along to a small group of AD old timers... most of them writers themselves. I like to pop in like this and make comments but hope I can pass off the mantle of the News & Views column for a while while I learn new web techniques... catch up our authors and stories pages... search for new authors and stories.. etc. I have been assured that TR and Gabe will be on the scene next Sunday to take over the N & V column and let me spend more time doing what I need to do. Although I am now living in a. tropical paradise and b. 3rd world, I still spend most of my days working basically 6:30 am to 8:30 pm with a couple of power naps in between on weekdays... Long rambling post... yeah I hope our members can build a bit of a fire under the AD Forums and I'll give them lots of latitude to do that. Meantime, I'll be working at least a couple hours a day on improving the main AwesomeDude.com.

Hi Gang? Guess you didn?t expect to see another ?News and Views? from me. Neither did I. But since the two people who volunteered to step in and share the duties from me are nowhere to be found? guess I?ll go ahead with it. Sorry for the delay. No new stories this week but plenty of new chapters of ongoing stories here at AD? many of them either debuting on our site or in exclusive serialization here. Heart of The Tree by Graeme is now in Chapter Three of it?s serialization. This is a new major project by Graeme who is always trying something different. If you haven?t read the first three chapters yet, please do so and offer Graeme your feedback. He?ll appreciate it. There?s a thread going right now in Readers Rule. Sealing Our Fate by Josh ? Chapter 6 has now been posted. This is a neat little story that Josh insists is NOT autobiographic. Heh heh? go to the SOF thread in Readers Rule and press him further? Someday Out Of The Blue by LittleBuddhaTW is now in Chapter 7. The author of this story is also active and seeking your comments in Readers Rule! Professional Courtesy by Jack Scribe ? Chapter 9 has now been posted. Jack has completed this story but he welcomes your comments and feedback on his writing also in Readers Rule. As this fine story runs it?s course? another is waiting in the wings. Love and Death in Venice by Jerry Miller ? Chapter 6 is up and waiting for you. Jerry?s stories often have movie house themes? something that?s close to his heart. But check out his Born To Be A Missionary? the first two parts of which have been posted? and perhaps encourage him to post more. The Garden by Nevius ? Chapter 7 is now online. Please check it out and give your feedback to Nevius (rhymes with devious?) in Readers Rule. That?s about it. I am going to have to make some hard decisions about AwesomeDude.com in the next week or so. I am getting precious little help in producing it every week but I owe too much to both my authors and readers to let it go. A new regime may be in the offing? or I can quit a couple of my paying jobs! Duh.. don?t think so. I had hoped to spend more time in site development but for the time being I?ll have to just keep up the routine of getting it posted every month.

Gawd... I hope he saved his fish! :(

Thanks TR... this poem was so kind and means so much to me... I have put it on my own personal site www.michaelwengert.com Mike

I have to add my comments to Codey's... This was originally posted during a time I was majorly distracted or I would have jumped in. I like this... for what it is... an attempt to 'swing loose' which we WASP males often find so hard to do. Question: Is the entertainer Clay Aiken, William Hung or a closeted teen idol, Blue himself? :p Mike

Let me guess... is it Graeme?

Good to see you again Thirdeye. Poetry Editor Gabe (RusticMonk86) is giving you the opportunity to post on the actual AwesomeDude Poetry Corner. The website has a much wider audience (about 100+ times) than the Poet's Corner here in Forums... why don't you take him up on it? :)

You must eat a lot of raw fish there in Taiwan, Little Buddha! The story is excellent and is very well edited. I hope everybody takes a look at it although, admittedly, it is not G-rated. But then again, neither are most our lives. And if your life has been G-rated then this story is a way to have a 'more interesting'one . :D

After having seen glimpses of this story from Graeme over a period of several months... I'm super happy that we can bring it to you now! Thanks Graeme and editor Aaron! :D

The video of Willy Nelson's latest hit is now out. A friiend has it at his website... if you have broadband try: http://www.earthweek.com/Willy.mov

Yes... I have been so frustrated in reading stories in the past on Nifty to find one I really liked that was abandoned... some just a chapter short of completion! When I started AwesomeDude just a bit over two years ago it was my goal to avoid that at all costs. But it has been very difficult... on the ongoing Serial Novels at the bottom of the AD home page... I keep a tally of the last time the stories have been updated and their final status. And in the stories listing -which will soon be up to date- a story is listed as a novel if it is complete and serial indicates it is still going... but you are right we need to indicate a story's status. I rashly made the comment when starting AD that I would delete authors and stories that turned out to be incomplete. That would -if I had followed through- mean I'd lose some of my best authors, not to mention AD staff members! :roll: Some authors have legitimate reasons for not finishing a story... I have learned and I have done as much as I could behind the scenes to get them to finish. Sometimes life just overtakes us... and mundane considerations play physical or spiritual roles in what we can do. Alas, readers, writers editors are all human. So in consideration of the suggestions made so far in this thread... I'll see what I can do to: a. put a story status page up for readers to easily know which stories are complete and when the last chapter WAS posted in the case of those which are not. give me a couple of weeks to get this one done. b. encourage our writers to make the final effort to follow through on their implicit promise to readers to actually finish a novel.

Once again Gabe has written something to make readers think. And comment! I think this is a good and healthy discussion. Certainly somebody crossing the line between gay and straight would fall into the 'bi' catgory in my book. Gabe's approach to things is always fresh and unconventional and he almost single-handedly has pressed forward our policy at AD of pushing the envelope while -at the same time- covering a wide variety of stories which might appeal to all types of readers. And from the emails I get, you'd be surprised how catholic in taste (small 'c' intended) many of our readers are. Now don't quote me on this -ahem- but there are some hanging around the back stairs at AD who think the story should have gone into the 'Drawn From Life' section. :roll:

You know, it is amazing. Graeme came to us and to DeweyWriter not long ago -wearing the paper hat labeled newbie writer status. Even as a beginner, his stuff was good and with positive feedback, in very short time, as he got better and better, he became one of the pillars of this site. Not only that, Graeme has constantly shared his feelings and experiences selflessly to other writers making that same climb, not only here in Writers' Workshop but especially in the Editor's Desk. When Black Swan came along... I think most of us read it... and smiled... and recognized that Graeme had 'done it again.' This is his finest short story yet. But why didn't anybody say so? It could be that once you reach that point in your writing... people just expect your story will be top rate. I think that's what has happened here. I was deeply moved on many levels by Black Swans. More than even Love Never Dies -even- which admittedly hit me in the solar plexus. I am sure that Stephen King gets fewer fan letters now than when he first started writing best-sellers... but then again he makes a hell of a lot more money. People expect it from him. I say it time and again, but this writing for the web involves just as much blood, sweat and tears as producing a novel for hardback publication. I think so many of us forget that and take especially for granted our better writers. Another factor in generating reader and even peer response is the type of story. A short story may profoundly affect you as you read it -usually in one sitting- then before you can jot off something to the author, either in an email or in the forums, zap something comes along to divert your attention and you forget. Or worse -if you're like me- forget and forget you forgot! Those who write serial novels are more likely to get responses especially as readers are constantly reminded of the story by seeing a new chapter coming out regularly and often get around to writing after one or two chapters have been posted. Let me just say this Graeme... I loved Black Swans and will read it again and again, I'm sure. If you didn't get immediate responses on it -I believe- it's just because a fine story is expected of you. And to Rain - just as writers don't come out of the box as polished authors, neither do editors. Aaron and AJ and Emjaycee, Jan and Pecman invested a lot of time and effort getting to their skill levels. And you'll find that even the most even-tempered authors (and webmasters :roll: ) have a tendancy to be human - with all the good and bad that may imply. Seriously. I am so proud of the community of writers - editors - and readers we have put together here at AwesomeDude... I could just burst! Let's go into the year 3AD (third year of AwesomeDude) by getting back to the basics. More in the March 26 edition of News & Views. And also look for another addtion to Graeme's Family Snippets as I am about to work on some formatting snafus over a fresh pot of coffee!

OMG! I was so busy saying good bye to my possessions as they were loaded into the container that I forgot completely that is was Blues birthday! #-o :occasion4: Better late than never, I ALWAYS say....

C'mon Graeme... can't you see it's a story about the dangers of smoking? :p

You score again, kid! Nice job... you might share a bit of how you happened to write the story with our readers...

I just figured out what makes Fathers and Sons so powerful. It reads like one of the news stories I read on my daily newscasts... those about hate crimes. I often feel almost as bad for the perpetrators as for the victims... often they are both victims. Am I crazy? Anyway, excellent story Jamie... it's right up there at the standard we expect from you!

I have removed this story until the author can clarify just which version of the story is correct.

A few problems... local construction sites sending spikes up and down the power lines and a general unstable power mains situation prompted me to buy an AVR Automatic Voltage Regulator about six months ago after I lost 3 (count 'em) PC power supplies. I did overkill and got a 3KW unit... lightning season started after that and while a major lightning storm fried my cable modem, and those of about 300 other folks, nothing got through the AVR and all MY equipment survived. Telco is great up here with shielded telephone lines... so my DSL and ISDN backups kept me online. Do I sound paranoid? Well I also bought a power generator at the same time, lest I miss broadcasting a newscast on OutQ! An ounce of prevention.....

Well, Blue's original suggestion was actually pretty good. A lightning rod won't help too much if it takes a direct hit, as Pecman pointed out but the idea of a grounded lightning rod is actually to handle the smaller voltages/currents (static electricity) that are constantly around us and that precede a real strike. A major lightning strike happens in a fractiion of a second but it is preceded by a build up of difference in potential (emf) between the earth and the surrounding air. Dissipating that can make it less likely that potential will built up to such a level that lightning acually stikes. Static electricity can appear in a variety of circumstances. I once happened to unplug my ham antenna during a snow storm and actually saw a two-inch spark jump to a radiator from the connector. And that was with no lightning in the area! Trab's suggestion of a grounded ham radio tower will also work as it has the same effect and by it's larger diameter and could carry more current safely. Most important is to make sure your house isn't the most attractive point for the strike... reducing the static charges in the air is a good way. But frankly, if lightning strikes nearby power or telephone or tv/Internet cable it can take out your TV/Computer/Home Audio/Video equipment, no amount of home protection is gonna guarantee you are unscathed. On that happy note........

Arrrrgh.. it has been a couple of weeks since The Pecman (who writes on the web as John Francis) agreed to co-moderate this panel and I have yet to properly welcome him. Mea culpa, mea maxima culpa! Der Pecman, as his co-moderator TR refers to him, has been a constant supporter of both the AwesomeDude.com site and the AD Forums and has spent a lot of time in presenting thoughtful suggestions to budding writers both through his essays on writing gay fiction for the web and in comments here and in other parts of AD Forums. He has also contributed through his editing efforts on a number of stories you read here at AwesomeDude. And to boot, he has correponded one-on-one with a number of writers on the art of writing. I am quite proud of our moderator team here at the AD Forums and hope you will appreciate the skills and talent both The Pecman and Tragic Rabbit bring to Writers' Workshop.

Sometimes... we are left speechless. This is one of those times. The poem expresses so much... whether you picture yourself as the Geezer or the Cowboy. Attaboy Codey, your poems always leave me in awe and cause me to think... and think... just wish I could express my thoughts as well as you do. Mike P.S. For Codey: If this is the final revision... I'll be adding it to your Author's Page. P.S. For everybody else... check out Codey's page at http://codeyspen.awesomedude.com