First of all, people say it’s obtrusive, How is it obtrusive then any other toolbar out there today (web or not)? It’s not ginormous or anything or a size that’ll consume up most of the screen and it doesn’t even interfere with anything, I can read the article just fine without anything obstructing my view. And also, I don’t get the thing about it being in a separate inline frame being bad. First off, the DiggBar is resizable, I’ve tried this and the DiggBar just hides the text slightly and the inline frame resizes horizontally among the window meaning it works with almost every screen resolution imaginable. Secondly the web has changed since the age of flashy design elements and people are designing their websites with an mix of design and style, meaning that their designing sensibly rather then going out of control, just look at almost any site on the web today. Third, some sites still use inline frames and I don’t get the cross compatibility issues that you keep complaining about, rather they resize accordingly just like the DiggBar

Frankly, you guys that hate the DiggBar are just overreacting because frankly you can disable the bar if you don’t like it and if you don’t like Digg then you don’t have to use or join Digg if you don’t want to. While I do agree with some of your guys reasons, this is just completely insane. For people saying that they’re keeping you on Digg’s domain and not redirecting you to the source link, the source link is in an inline frame itself which means that the page gets loaded as normal and that page get’s a view count. Also I need to clear some things up about some of the absurd things that I’ve heard. DiggBar does not display it’s own advertisements per say, there are no Google Ads, no Banner Ads, nothing. If you’re thinking that it’s one big advertisement for Digg then you seriously need some help.

One thing that really bothers me is the fact that people knew that the DiggBar was coming beforehand and it had alot detailed information on how the DiggBar was going to work. It even described in full detail that it was going to be in an inline frame and Digg was going to have a shortened URL. There was even a small dicussion that was before the initial DiggBar release about some doubts that people have about the then unreleased DiggBar which was at the time being beta tested to make sure that Diggers’ would love it and not have a problem with it. You guys could of addressed these issues to Digg before they released the DiggBar and you guys complained about how sucky, that way you could of at least made a difference or at least made the DiggBar a little bit better. You guys could of said “Hey, I don’t like the upcoming DiggBar, there’s a specific thing that I don’t think is right”. Thankfully there’s a feedback button on the bar itself so you guys can help improve it but still, why didn’t some of you guys know about the upcoming DiggBar?

In closing, I have to say that all of you guys are simply overreacting to this, sure there might be people who like it and people who hate it but during the time I’ve used it, I have to say that it’s not obtrusive, that you guys are focusing too much on the inline frame as the source of criticism, that even though they’re keeping you in the Digg domain and not letting you leave Digg, you can just click the X on the top right of the toolbar or disable it entirety and most of the issues that you claim to be problems are exaggerated over the top. I admit that there are some problems such as logging in from the DiggBar is not as dynamic as I want it to be but overall people should just give the DiggBar a chance and not just complain about it because it uses obsolete technology or it radically changes Digg so much. I like Digg but I occasionally don’t like their users because of the childish way that they treat things (A.K.A. The Digg Ban Brigade), but overall the community is very mature, again, just give it a change.

This revolved over an auto-bury feature being discovered after Mike Venon, the person formally known as nitmeh3, acted out on Digg after he noticed that his submissions were being automatically buried (full story here). Then it was discovered that he had 3 blocked accounts before and to apparently prevent any damage to the Digg community, his posts were being buried. I don’t get how this works exactly considering that he might be reforming himself, if anyone knows how this works, comment below! So after talking to a few of his Digg friends, who were trying to give helpful advice but instead he decided to let his anger take over and sent an obscene message requesting him to ban him, which they delightfully did. They also offered to reactivate his account should he choose to calm down or discover that he was acting foolish all along. I know that some of you remember that I might of acted stupid, angry and blind a lot of the time but as a guy who’s blogging about this situation, I have a lot to say about him.

First of all, getting banned from Digg 3 times was very stupid, I don’t know what he did (go out on some user, go out on Digg, or break the ToS), but attempting to come back means even more trouble if you got banned previously. Seriously, if you’ve been given 3 chances to fix your behavior or learn from what you did and you break those 3 chances then that means you’re probably not going to learn your previous mistakes or you have some serious issues going on down there. Even though this guy has been given restrictive terms (IE, not being able to digg upcoming stories and not being able to be featured on the front page) but still, he’s angry because he’s unable to cope to the restrictive terms of his 4th chance to be a member on Digg and even after talking with many of his fellow Digg users, with many of them telling them to just “Let it go, it’s nothing major, who cares if you’re on the front page.” but unfortunately he decided to let his anger get in the way and as fate would have it, he acted very childish.

Also he’s doing a very, very, very stupid thing. Instead of realizing that the way he might of been acting might of been a sign that he needed to change. He sort of developed his own views against Digg and has created what he calls the “Digg Ban Rampage”, a sort of unnecessary uprising against the evilness of Digg and their “overmoderation” of users. I’ve been on the site for a while and I have not felt someone telling me what to do or forcing my words to be altered in a way that wouldn’t offend anyone. Mostly this restriction is mainly in their heads, unless I encounter some sort of “overmoderation” then I think they’re crazy, seriously. Their gaming the system in a fruitless attempt to get Digg to notice them and to get their vengeance for being “wrongly” banned and to make Digg users realize that Digg is not really what it seems. Also they posted a really ineligible but readable image that was obviously made in paint. It’s obviously NSFW but it contains a very crude message about sticking something inside the rears of Digg moderators.

Look, the only way that you can bring change is if many of you email Digg support, email Kevin Rose, just show your general support. Not by doing this, not by doing what they’re doing currently. I think that Digg’s staff would treat you better if you acted better or acted appropriately or better yet, if you just would of not gotten in trouble at all. Because if you constantly get in trouble then they might stop treating you a bit seriously and treat you like a user who might get into trouble again, and that might be very, very bad for Digg. That goes for the users who are even on the rampage, you’re not getting anywhere. You are going to disrupt the experience for many established users, you might even drive away new users who’ll think that Digg is a bad place to go due to the fact that they think they can’t control their users. I assure you this is not the way to go, this will just end in pity and you’ll be digging a deeper hole for yourself then the one you are currently in.

Seriously, I hope that this issue dissolves and everyone can live happily ever after. These guys seriously need some help getting outside to the real world or just need some counseling and some seriously needed punishment. The fact that they’re going to game the system just because these guys got in trouble is inexcusable, gaming the system just to get the message across. Whatever message that is, it’s bad, it’s unnecessary and it could of been spread if the users would of been following the Terms of Service and it’s also an example that people should learn from their past mistakes. I wish them the best of luck at seeking help or a local physiologist to help them get their life back in shape and make them realize that what they’ve been doing is wrong. Also I’m still taking that break and also I’m not dead as my Twitter stream suggests, no. Merely I’m doing the same thing Megan is currently doing. Sad to see her show ending but hey, it’s her decision, she needs more time with the kids. In the meantime, I’ll break my twitter-silence eventually, just keep on watching.

I’d admit it, I tie myself with a community for most of the following reasons. It’s because the community is neat, you feel a certain attachment to them after an amount of time and I’d admit it, the people on there are very nice and very talented but you tend to be associated with the community after a long time. Note, I don’t mention the various names of the communities I’ve been with or in well because I feel like I want this to truly be a blog of my thoughts and opinions, also I don’t want to risk any of my other fans finding out about this site well because most of them I feel ashamed for and I don’t also want to be associated with them. If something bad happened and everybody turned against you, would you be associated with them anymore?

Also, if someone’s acting like in they’re own world, acting stupid or just have serious problems, they get much more attention and much more of the fame. I know I said something about this before but I feel that they and I need some help. I know they’re just trying to be a part of the community, trying to help out, trying to get noticed but is mocking them really going to do any good. I’ve been mocked before and I clearly know how it feels, it feels like your being mistreated and nobody takes you seriously anymore, I’ve been through it a lot of times. I just wish some people would try to show these misguided people the light, even though I might of contributed to the problem and I feel sorry for it.

I’d imagine that this would be longer but, whatever. I also have some problems with people doing stuff with my stuff that I didn’t want done, I’ve tried to speak out in 2006 but they wouldn’t even take me seriously then, 3 years later, still the same. For those of you reading, please don’t play my music and videos on radio talk shows when somebody is talking, it’s not funny and it’s disruptive. Also, I’m not a comedian, you may think I’m a comedian because the stuff that I did in the past is really funny and gut busting, hell, even I think it’s funny but I’m trying to get people to take me more seriously. I obviously have a long way to go before ever reaching that status but hell, this might be the perfect time to take a break from all of this and seriously get to some things I’ve been dreaming to do but haven’t been able to do.

Now you’re probably thinking hey, who created this theme, did you pay for it? To answer that question, I created it and I didn’t pay a penny to create it or get someone to create it. This theme took 4 or maybe 5 days to make, had to apply the code, fix positioning errors, make it cross compatible with other browsers you know, the usual. It’s dark, slick, techy, modern and it’s not even released for public download (when I do post the theme for public download, I’ll give it a proper name and download link.). I just feel with everyone using themes other people created or that are available at WordPress.com. Note that I do respect the people who create the themes and the people who modify it to suit their needs, but it’s just the fact that people can do everything with these themes without touching it. You’re also thinking why there is no sidebar on the right if you’re just looking at this post, well people might not know it yet but I don’t want my sidebar full of useless and unnecessary widgets or nothing leaving along noticeable trails of blank space which nothing will ever take up or use. There most of your questions answered.

Also note that due to the economy and various budget issues, I do not have enough money to buy anything geeks glamour over these days. So I cannot get that iPhone and start my photography career, I can’t get that iMac that I ever wanted and even so, me and my family are probably going to end up in the streets. I know I’m overreacting but I’m just here to ensure you that the following sections I depicted in my mockup will be available eventually. Also note that the Podcast is going along fine, I have a studio setup complete with a pop filter, microphone stand, USB studio microphone, though I do need to find a way for people to browse episodes. Also while I haven’t started work on my debut album "Hello! My Name is Taylor Karras" yet, I’ve been writing up some lyrics to replace some songs that I don’t think fit on the CD but it’ll probably be out by May of 2009, possibly later or earlier.

So, that’s it for me. Welcome my website, what appears to be a long winding road heading nowhere. So please, sit back and subscribe, also enjoy the ride.