A new feature of WordPress is to generate an annual report of activity for a given blog. I thought I’d share mine, just because. The report is here. It only has data since I activated “Jet Pack”, so since roughly May. And it only reflects visits to the main blog site and not the side pages that are part of the original Buber’s Basque Page.

The main thing is that I guess I’ve only done about 21 posts since May. Not so much. I always have the best intentions of doing more, but clearly I don’t get it done. We’ll see if I can do better this year.

Also, the posts don’t seem to generate many comments. I would like to generate more dialog with my visitors, but I’m not quite sure how to go about doing that. Any suggestions?

Overall, I would like to get some opinions on what people would like to see from this blog and this site more generally. Of course, the best intentions are often derailed by the demands of everyday life, but I will certainly do my best.

Urte berri on denari!

When I first started this site, I got lots of great feedback about the articles and pages I was posting. At one point, I felt it would be great to channel that, to create a site bigger than myself where others might contribute and add their expertise, correcting mistakes or expanding on details that would offer more information to everyone. Hence, I added the possibility of people posting their own notes on each of the pages on this site.

With time, though, things change and I’ve decided to deactivate, at least for now, the webnotes for the pages on this site. There are two reasons. The first is technical: the webnotes involve scripts that can be exploited and are possibly one of the ways that my site is used to send spam. I’m not as much of a PHP guru to ensure that the scripts are always secure. They were also clunky for me to approve, making it simply a not-very-pleasant task to go through and approve them all.

The second is more selfish. The vision I had of people adding to the articles, expanding them, adding new details, never really materialized. By far the most popular aspect of the webnotes was with the surname list. While, clearly, I have a great interest in genealogy, these types of posts were the least interesting to me, and also contributed to my lack of drive to go through and approve them all. And I did have to approve them, as otherwise spam or malicious content would have made it to the pages.

I’m rethinking this process. Maybe I will find a better method for doing webnotes, or the equivalent, and reactivate them in the future. I’m not yet sure. If you have a strong opinion, please let me know.

It’s been way too quiet around here.  My apologies.  I have my typical excuse, real life.  But, to ensure that these pages are vibrant and alive, I want to do a much better job of posting, of sharing all things Basque.  So, if you have suggestions, please let me know. What should I be posting?  What is missing?  Do you have anything to contribute?  I’m always looking…

Just in time for Christmas, I’ve completed the house keeping on the main subject pages, the pages that are linked to in the menu on the left.  I changed the format and cleaned up the links.  If anyone sees any important links that are missing or has comments about the new look of those pages, please feel free to leave a note here or send me an email.

Zorionak eta Eguberri On denari!

I’ve got a lot of things I want to write about, including our time at Jaialdi, my uncle in Spain, and more.  But, I’ve also been working on finally updating the main index pages (the pages that are linked from the menus on the left), both updating the look and fixing all of the bad links (which are numerous).  I’ve gotten two done, Euskara and Diaspora.  I’d welcome any thoughts/comments/criticisms people have.

As you probably have noticed by now, some of my pages aren’t quite working right, with PHP pages asking if you want to download them.  That is because of a change in server configuration I wasn’t aware of and now my files aren’t parsed quite right.  I’m working on getting that fixed and hope to do so as soon as possible.

Again, it has been a long while since I’ve added or posted to the pages. Sorry, everyone. Life keeps getting in the way. The site is not dead — I have new things I want to do with the site, I just need to make the time to update more often. I have some interviews in progress, I have ideas for other interviews, and there are a number of items I want to share with everyone. As always, if anyone wants to contribute to Buber’s Basque Page, please let me know.

I revamped the Photo Album, using the NextGEN Gallery by Alex Rabe, a plugin for WordPress that will hopefully make the Photo Album both easier to update and more visually appealing.  Any comments greatly appreciated.  I have new photos to add to the Album, which I hope to do soon.

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Beth writes: My husband and I are big fans of your website! We live in Boise, ID and are very involved in the Basque community here. My husband is half Basque from the Yuriando (sp? I can never remember the correct spelling ha ha) He has quite a few tattoo's dedicated to Basque heritage. The pics are of one of his qtr. sleeves. Note the Oak leaves, Fleur de le, and dancer. The Lion which is on the inside of his arm is from his Basque family crest. He has a few other's, but I don't have pics of those. These were done by Sean Wyett of BlackCat Tattoo in Boise, Idaho.

I’ve made a slight redesign of the boxes on the right sidebar.  Nothing dramatic, just a subtle change.  The big differences are that the poll is a new format and the webnote list is gone.  I’m not sure anyone cared about the webnote list.  If removing that is something people care strongly about, let me know.  And I hope that the new poll is “new and improved”.

Kaixo!

In a change that I hope that both is relatively transparent but at the same time makes both administering and using this site that much better, I’ve made the front page of Buber’s Basque Page a blog, using WordPress.  I hope that this makes posting new items a bit easier for me, so I do it more often.  It will also allow visitors to post comments on the items I post, increasing the overall usefulness of the site.

I’m trying to make sure nothing is broken, but I’m sure there are things.  If you see anything broken, please let me know.

Eskerrik asko,

Blas