jemjabella

Happy 1000th entry, and 8 years too!

I was just gearing up to write an entry on the best of jemjabella as it's 8 years since it was created on the 29th, so I logged into my dashboard and saw that I'd written 999 entries, making this number 1000!

Strictly speaking there's been many, many more than that. For starters, my early blogging days were not blessed by a content management system and thus are in an archive of html files somewhere. Next, there's the small matter of 2 hackings back in the day, and 2 lots of me deleting the wrong database and losing everything. Yes, my l33t skills weren't always this l33t.

Anyway, on with the show... here's my top 10 posts from over the years (in no particular order):

1. In Which I Poke Fun at Apple — I find it hard not to be smug about the fact that Apple isn't as perfect as the fanbois make out. >:D
2. A Real Example of a Bad Web Developer — in which I pwn a grown man, which results in him removing his website from the interwebs.
3. I'm a Woman, Actually — PMT at its finest. ;)
4. Don't Blame CSS for Your Incompetence — in which I pwn several grown men with my l33t CSS knowledge. I sense a theme occurring here...
5. PHP Includes Aren't What You Think — this needs re-iterating. Apparently people still think that include() is the be-all and end-all.
6. My StumbleUpon Beating — because I'll probably never again get over 20,000 unique hits in 24 hours :( Plus, that made me over £60 in referrals. :D
7. Making Bold Claims The Wrong Way — Mallory cleared the air with me a while back, and I don't hold any sort of grudge against her (or anyone that fucks me off... too little time, too much to do) but I have to LOL at myself because of the lengths I went to, to prove my point.
8. Proper HTML Like Wot I Does — lmfao. There's no other words.
9. Quick and Easy Lunch Ideas? — this is a boring-ass post like whoa, but it brings me shitloads of hits. One day I'll do something useful with it.
10. Pants: Swimchick.net — it had to be in there. Jessica was the only person who ever accepted her award and we're cool with each other, but this post STILL gets her rabid fans all of a fluster. I hope she finds it as funny as I do.

Shit, that was more difficult than I thought it would be. I'm not sure if it's a measure of my awesomeness that there were more than 10 posts I thought rocked, or just an indication that I talk too much? Don't answer that. ;)

Any memorable posts stick out in your mind from over the years?

Giving it all up (sort of)

I have spent the past week or so away from the computer for the most part, and in doing so have had time to contemplate where I'm going in life and what my various online dedications mean to me. As a result of this, I have made some decisions to cut back on a huge chunk of responsibilities. Obviously this is, in part, due to pending sprog. However, it's no secret that I've been spreading myself thinner and thinner and I'm beginning to lose the balance between being online and retaining my sanity.

Firstly, I will be getting rid of my fanlistings (contact me if you're interested in 'adopting'). It's cute and fun to maintain these little cliques, but TFL's annoying "you must update even if nobody joins" rule makes it more and more of a pressure. Of course, one can argue that I could run the fanlistings independently, but it becomes redundant when someone else is running exactly the same site with 'tfl approved' slapped all over it. I will still be involved in fanlistings for the sake of BellaBuffs, though.

I've dropped out of my position at CSSbake although have offered my continuing support as a guest/part time contributor because it's a project I feel really strongly about and definitely see continued success in its future.

I've already implemented huge changes at the q*bee in terms of responsibility shifts and so on, and want to keep doing this. Not only does it allow other members to become involved in their club and shape it into something they want, but it increases 'points of failure'... i.e. when I disappear for a few days on the spur of the moment (or because I'm in labour), nothing is going to fall over because people can carry on without me.

I will be contacting those who volunteered an interest in moderating rev.iew.me with regards to taking up those positions, but thankfully the site is pretty much independent (although could quite honestly do with me rolling out upgrades to jumpstart interest again). I'd be interested in teaming up with another PHP developer who is genuinely interested in helping to improve rev.iew.me, so if you're looking to contribute to a project let me know.

tutorialtastic is... in limbo. Changes were planned but haven't gone anywhere as of yet and I'm concerned that this is a valuable resource being wasted. Only I can deal with that, though. Need to cut my losses or get off my arse and get on with things. Gah.

Most importantly — and the point of this long and rambly entry — is this site. Jemjabella is my online identity. It is my metaphorical 'baby' and I really don't want it to be usurped by, well... a real baby. That said, the site is too big for me to feasibly update on a frequent basis in its current form, and it shows in some of my old articles and reviews. I keep starting X cool new feature, only to give it up because of the stress of other drains on my time. In an attempt to make things easier for me to keep up with, I'm going to totally pull the site down and restructure from scratch. Anything that can be converted to a blog entry (reviews, articles, etc) will be, I will finally finish the blog (search, proper categories, using tags to their full effect, etc) and I will get rid of anything that either a) doesn't get any hits or b) isn't of any actual use.

My various scripts will be moved to a separate site where they can be properly maintained, supported, tracked, updated etc. Exactly where is to be confirmed, although the general consensus seems to be that they should go on jemturner.co.uk (currently forwarding here) in an attempt to build my professional reputation.

It's a huge deal for me to relinquish control over a growing 'empire' (for lack of a better word) and I've had debates in my head that'd rival even the best Pants Award drama. Nonetheless, I think this is the best for all sites, and all users involved.