PostSecret Article

I had to get my weekly PostSecret fix today before I left.

The cards this week weren't particularly striking overall. I sort of miss the time when I first found the site and every week brought something a bit more provocative, interesting, or sentimental. I personally feel like the site's gone down in quality of the cards being posted, but I guess after a while all the secrets seem the same, just with different words.

Anyways, at the end of the post, there was this link to an article in USA Today. The article is more interesting than the cards. I liked learning about his personal philosophy on the site, the cards, the book, the e-mails. I have yet to send in a postcard (I'm scared that it would be posted - the act of making the card was enough for me).

I really don't have anything profound to say. I just wanted to share some thoughts before taking off. Plus, I finished repacking but can't fall asleep.

Good morning to everyone.

Spring Break Plans

Originally, I had planned to clean up the site over break. That... doesn't look like it's going to happen. Or if it does, it will be a rushed, 2-3 day job instead of the week I wanted. This is all of course due to the fact I want a social life. Outside of school.

Service on Tangst is going to be slow during Spring Break due to the fact that most of the admins are going to be out of town and/or actually doing stuff besides sitting in front of their computer monitors, patiently awaiting the newest post.

Out of town at various points during the week (that I know of):
Me (sithgirl)
Tabula Rasa
Nanotyrannus
SwalesT'shooth
PChis
DoctorAnonymous
knight_racer979
TintedFragipan

For that reason, starting tomorrow, 龙年 is going to be acting head admin for the next week. Any questions and stuff can be directed to him. You can still e-mail me and stuff, but I won't respond as quickly as usual - I don't think I'm going to have computer access on a regular basis until I get back into town next Thursday.

Once I get back, Tangst might still be a bit slow - we're going to be doing a massive overhaul of the site. Fixing broken hyperlinks, getting rid of spam on old posts, updating the popular posts list, etc. We're also going to mess with the template a bit anyways, maybe resize a couple of things, use new link designs, etc. If anyone has suggestions, leave a comment to let us know.

I hope everyone has a great Spring Break, gets more sleep than usual, and doesn't do too much homework!

Love,
sithgirl

More Tangsty Wallpaper

Like Rashi, I too found myself bored for a few minutes one evening, and decided to make a wallpaper for the good folks of Tangst. It's up in the most common screen resolutions, though if you want a crazy one, like 640x480 for that tiny 1980's monitor in your basement, just leave a comment. This too was done in a matter of minutes, so criticize at your leisure.

(Normal Screens)

Small (800 x 600)
Medium (1024 x 768)
Large (1280 x 1024)

(Wide Screens)

Medium (1280 x 800)
Large (1600 x 1000)

Tangst Wallpaper

(Wide Screens)

Medium (1280 x 854)

I was bored tonight, and so I decided that I would shop around the numerous facets of Tangst for images from the Tangst Con and the like. I came to realize that Tangst now has T-shirts and pants, but no wallpaper! So I decided that I would use my incredible skillz to make some of my own. It's formatted in 1280x854 pixels (the dimensions of my own screen), though I would be happy to make in other dimensions if this becomes popular. Download if you like, criticize if you must. Just remember that I put this together in about 15 minutes.

Alas, I am too slow.

I did not get a picture of everyone's Tangst gear yesterday. It made me sad. However, the pics I did get, I'm happy with. Most of the pics are on either here or on Facebook. Or both.

Tangst has been alive for roughly six months now. Six months ago, I had no idea how fast or how far Tangst would spread. I just thought it would be a fun thing to do with my friends.

I still haven't gotten all the admin pics yet, but I'm putting them up anyways.* I'm tired of waiting, plus, I finally have one that I like of myself. Once again, they're both here and on Facebook.

*Admins who don't like their pic, talk to me and we'll get another one taken.

Removed Posts #8,9,10

Removed three comments from "Share a Secret".

The comments included random keywords, vulgarities, and links to various porn venues. Due to said material, they will not be reproduced here.

The comment was in violation of the Tangst anti-spam and non-commercial linking policies (General Policies, Section E). This comment was removed from Tangst proper.

This notice is made public in the spirit of full disclosure.

TangstCon Recap

Sorry this is late. I meant to do this, and a lot of other things, this weekend, but I got really busy and bogged down with personal stuff.

Friday afternoon, as I'm sure everyone in the Raleigh/Cary/Apex area remembers, was beautiful. The temperature was just right, the sun had finally come out, and the wind was the soft kind - just enough to tease your hair, but not enough to whip it around your head.

I got there just at 3:30; PChis had driven me home first so I could change and grab snackage (Fruit Roll-Ups, Doritos, Cheetos, and various sodas). Most of the other admins were there already, they had found the right shelter (which I had forgotten completely) and were hanging out on the monkey bars in the playground. Tasha had taken most of the admin pics* already.

TangstCon began with everyone sitting around pigging out on junk foods and telling random jokes, sprawled across several picnic tables. There were many repeats of "Tangsters do it anonymously!!!" before we got down to the serious business of shirts and jeans. I think everyone's turned out really well. I think I will get more people to write on my jeans tomorrow, while I'm wearing them to school. I must find my black Sharpie again.

Several people came late, while others left early. Most of the admins were there at some point (which reminds me that we're still looking for admins, if anyone is interested; I'm thinking of taking another break after Spring Break). When the population dwindled down to the final six, we packed everything away and spent the rest of the time at the playground, hogging the swings and a section of the monkey bars.

So lots of fun, lots of stupid jokes, lots of Fruit Roll-Ups, lots of laughter. There's nothing quite like hanging out with your best friends on a really beautiful day.


*The pics will posted on here once we get all the admins. There are still a couple of admins who haven't had their pic taken yet. Tasha and I are hunting them down.

Site Archiving

For about two months now, Tangst has been on the policy of showing published posts on the main site for 3 days before shifting them to archives. Starting this week, that has changed.

Beginning this week, published posts are shown for 7 days, while comments are still automatically closed on post discussions at the end of the 7th day of a topic's existence.

Related to this, the archives references module in the navigation column has been changed to reflect the new system, displaying weekly links, instead of the old monthly system. It is broken automatically into two even-length columns to prevent an endless list of archive dates.

On a final note, it's been a fabulous weekend here in Raleigh in terms of weather, so I hope everybody got (or will still get) a chance to be out and enjoying it!

Removed Post #7

nice words.
great blog!


keek
12:03:17 AM

---

Post is in violation of the Tangst non-commercial linking clause (General Policies, Section E). This comment was removed from Tangst.

This notice is made public in the spirit of full disclosure.

Note: Hyperlink removed on username (keek).

Removed Post #6

Removed one comment from "Share a Secret".

The comment included random keywords, vulgarities, and links to various porn venues. Due to said material, it will not be reproduced here.

The comment was in violation of the Tangst anti-spam and non-commercial linking policies (General Policies, Section E). This comment was removed from Tangst proper.

This notice is made public in the spirit of full disclosure.

The Countdown Begins...

Not that I just stole that phrase from Doctor Who or anything...

Tangst Con is exactly one week from today, although since it's past 8 now, the convention will be over and we will all be sitting at home, uploading pics for all of those who couldn't make it.

Final details are as follows:

When: Friday, March 10 @ 3:30pm
Where: Pullen Park, Shelter #6 (that may change). Here's a map (pdf). If you can't find it, just gather around the carousel - the admins will be looking for you.

Remember to bring your item of clothing, list of quotes, and $5. If you can, bring permanent markers/fabric pens too.

If you're an underclassman, and thus have no ride, RSVP here or through e-mail that you want to go (you must include your name). The admins are working on the transportation issue right now.

I can't wait to see everyone there!

February Tangst Report

February 2006 was a time of growth and stabilization for Tangst. Below is the report on overall traffic for the community during the past month:

Monitoring Period: 1-28 February 2006

Total Hits: 8220

Average Hits/Day: 294

Lowest Day: 24 February 2006 (162)

Highest Day: 12 February 2006 (578)

To give a brief overview, Tangst recevied fewer hits than were reported by the January Traffic Report, though this may be attributable to the decreased length of the reporting period. On the whole, traffic was more consistent in levels, and access rates appeared to be much less prone to fluctuation than in previous months.

On a related note, Tangst has welcomed an increase in its user base! Per the blind system of analysis outlined in the last traffic report, the following data has been collected to show geographical visitor representation:

Continents: 6

Nations: 37

American States: 34

Canadian Provinces: 7

Local Regions (Total): 234

In other news, Tangst welcomed its newest admins, Nanotyrannus and thewordofrashi!

On 9 February 2006, The Et Cetera Clause was created to house literature and poetry posted to Tangst, and to act as an outlet for tangsty literary critiques.

A final note of discussion is the perception of Tangst by the rest of the web.

At the time this report was written, Tangst is ranked 764,848 (of all the millions of websites!) by the Alexa Traffic Ranking. Over the last weeks, this rank has increased dramatically as the popularity and traffic to the site has increased and stabilized, as reported earlier.

Somewhat related to the traffic the site has received, Tangst has published its 700^th user submission at 11:37 PM on 28 February 2006.

From another angle, Google and MSN Search have finally indexed Tangst as the best result for "tangst." This means that you can go to http://google.com/, enter "tangst," click "I'm Feeling Lucky," and tada, you end up at the Tangst we know and love.

Hurrah for Tangst!

Oh yes, don't forget about the Tangst Convention in Raleigh on 10 March 2006.