Thursday, June 10, 2010

Why There is No LFCA Today

You may notice that this post doesn't look like the usual LFCA post with the computer icon in the corner and the neat categories of information (note to self: you must update that computer icon because it's over three years old). And that's because it's not your usual LFCA.

I only upload the LFCA when there is a critical mass of blurbs. And for the past few weeks, there have been random days where there simply isn't a critical mass of blurbs, such as today.

The LFCA only runs when you submit your own news or you submit your friend's news. Truly, it is here for your usage, and will run as long as people wish to use it. We are the only area of the blogosphere that I know of that has a clearinghouse hub space that anyone can use in order to direct people to their information when they need support.

Every other area of the blogosphere, you're shouting into the ether and hoping someone hears. In the ALI community, we actually have a resource which can provide the information in blurb form and hopefully the reader follows that link and gives support (though the LFCA cannot guarantee that people will click over to lend support. You can only lead a horse to water; you can't make them drink. Still, it works a lot of the time).

We have two options: if we want the LFCA daily, people need to submit news. Either their own or when they are reading a blog of a friend, submit their news for them. I've always said that it doesn't bother me to receive the same blurb from 10 different people. I just delete out the other 9 and put up 1. Or, we can start having the LFCA run semi-regularly, starting with three days a week. I am fine with either option, but rather than just move it to three days a week, I am setting this out there in case there are people who feel strongly about reading it daily.

Because there are people who expressed that it's their first blog stop of the day, or it's the way they catch up on news if they're busy at work, or it creates a more level playing field. So if the LFCA is important to you, take a deep breath and submit your news so people can know what is going on in our area of the blogosphere.

If you don't know what to submit, just read the LFCA and you'll get a sense within a few issues. Or peruse this list of items that are appropriate for the LFCA. I don't think we need to make this complicated nor do I think the LFCA needs to be revamped--it still has the same readership (in fact, the readership continuously grows), it just as fewer blurbs being submitted. Which says to me that people still find the LFCA a helpful site--even if they're not submitting their news.

PSA over. Your normal LFCA returns Sunday night, but I'd love to hear your thoughts below on whether LFCA should remain a daily occurrence or move to three days a week.

47 comments:

Amanda said...

Daily! Daily! Daily!

I promise I almost always submit stuff when I read it. I'll take this as a huge hint that I need to be more diligent about my blog reading (and commenting).

foxy said...

I absolutely love that this amazing resource is here for all of us. I especially love that it is a community driven resource, and that everyone is invited to submit news. I find myself often wanting to send in news that doesn't fit the guidelines, but can commit to sending in guideline news more often. Whether it is posted everyday or every few days, I don't have a preference.

Anonymous said...

Daily please! I promise to try and submit more :).
Some days, I click over for encouragement and go straight to the birth announcements - I love seeing the beautiful faces of the babies that have been prayed for for so long.
Other days, I love to click over and meet new bloggers, or say a quick Happy Birthday to someone. It's a great way (and easy way) to get me out of my little corner of the blogosphere and I really appreciate you taking the time to put it all together.

Marie W said...

Daily!

JJ said...

I definitely look forward to it each day!

ApronStringsEm said...

Daily ... Daily ... Daily ...

Thanks for all the hard work you put into it. I'm sure you don't hear it enough, but you ROCK!

E. Phantzi said...

I'm always sad when there's no LFCA. I'm pretty conscientious about submitting news from my section of the blogroll, and I love seeing blurbs I've submitted show up in this space. Sometimes there just isn't much news in my corner... or maybe I need to expand my concept of what is newsworthy.

My vote is for Daily as well, although I'd be ok with 3x/week. Predictable is nice.

Also, about adding a "must-read" section - I wasn't sure what I thought about that, so didn't chime in - I guess my thought is: does it level the playing field? I often post must-read links on my own blog, in lieu of an actual post of my own, so I could see contributing to something like that. I guess I felt like if it was part of LFCA with its ultra-democratic premise it might change the flavor of that space - you know, create jealousy or something. So that's why I'm not sure about it.

AussieJenn said...

Daily Please! I love LFCA it IS the first stop of the day for me, it's how I know which of my fav blogs have news, or puts me in touch with new blogs I didn't already read. I'm not a blog writer myself, although I am a member of the IF community and used to be a big poster on "the boards" for many many years. Now I don't have much time for personal computer use, so go where I am most interested to see if any updates - LFCA! I hope it is okay that I left a comment, I'm not a member.

Elana Kahn said...

I do like it daily, but you should have an option saying how many days you want your news to run. For instance, if someone accidentally misses reading a day then they might miss a big BFP or a miscarriage (G-d forbid).

Annie said...

LFCA is such a wonderful resource. Thanks, Mel, for all you do to keep this community connected. I will try harder to submit news I see and I hope others will as well!

Unknown said...

I'm good with daily or three times a week. I probably only get to read three times a week anyway. However I must say I LOVE LFCA. It is by far the best way I find great blogs to read. However I only submit news once in a while (ok only twice ever)! I'll be better... Promise!

Anonymous said...

I would love it daily or weekly, I just love reading the LFCA!

I guess I always feel a bit strange about submitting news from my own blog. And since I am dealing with IF and foster/adoption...well, some of my news doesn't "fit" into the normal categories.

As for other peoples blogs, I do try to submit news when there is some.

Stacie said...

I love the L&F. Love it! It is one of the first stops of the day for me, too. Plus, I can't tell you how special it makes me feel when someone notices that I need support and adds a blurb about me to the L&F. I've been a little...okay, a lot lax about submitting blurbs about other blogs, but I will definitely step up to the plate.

Thank you, Mel, for all of the work you put into keeping this community connected.

Anonymous said...

Please count one more vote for the daily LFCA. As for many others, this is one of my first stops. It helps me keep up with the news, find new blogs, you know...
Thank you for doing this for us, Mel, and for reminding us what WE have to do. Sorry for dumping it all on you...

VA Blondie said...

I am fine either every day or three days a week. I also could try to submit news. I do not really, and I follow a good number of blogs which do not pop up on LFCA.

Anonymous said...

Daily!!!! I will promise to do better in my submissions to the LFCA. I seemingly go in spurts ... but I have noticed that things are running slowly in our corner of the blogosphere lately.
Not going to make any excuses though. Will.do.better.
Scouts honor.

loribeth said...

Daily, definitely. : ) But it's understandable if you want to scale back simply because there's not enough news to post every day.

I do send you some of the stuff I see, but not all of it. I will make more of an effort to send more. Thanks again, Mel, for being our den mother. : )

The Hopeful Elephant said...

WOW! You have some strong opinions here.

I will send you more stuff.

Also, I am so biting my tongue right now. It's probably bleeding. ;)

xoxox

quadmom said...

I will try harder to submit news more frequently! I love LFCA!

Anonymous said...

Daily, please! And I promise I will do a better job at submitting news.

Thank you for doing this, Mel, and for everything you do to keep this community close.

HereWeGoAJen said...

It's all my fault! I haven't been sending stuff in because of the move and I broke the LFCA!

We are moving my computer desk downstairs tonight so that I don't have to do internet standing up at the kitchen counter any more. I will be better, I promise.

Sharpiegirl said...

I have trouble asking for help in real life expecially from family and it's been very helpful to be able to send a little blurb in and have it posted. Just seeing all those little dots on my map that shows me that people have stopped by lets me feel support I don't have in my real life.
Please keep it up! I'm cool with whatever you decide.

Beth said...

I read daily, and would be so sad to not be able to do so. I will try to submit news more regularly. Thank you for all your hard work!!!

Delenn said...

This is one of THE places I stop by daily. I will try to be more vigilant on the submitting!

Please, try for daily, but if there is not enough news, 3 days is good, just let us know what days to expect.

Thank you Mel, for all you do!

MrsSpock said...

Still a Clicker after all these years...grab a section of the blogroll, folks, and insert into your reader.

Chickenpig said...

I love reading LFCA. I find so many great blogs this way. However, since I'm no longer in the trenches of TTC I don't usually have any news that fits into the guidelines. There isn't a lot of room to post stuff of the parenting-after-infertility woes here, which is fine.

Keiko Zoll said...

Funny this is the latest edition of LFCA. I had a post about it and promoting it to my readers scheduled for Tuesday on my blog but bumped the publish to today after seeing last night's edition. (I tweeted the link and mentioned you too).

I am amazed at how much work and love you put into the LFCA. After the first time I was mentioned, it was like feeling all that love from the internet coming to me. I realized how special the LFCA is and have tried to promote it and submit news when I can. My participation has been sporadic, but I've tried in recent weeks to step up my frequency.

I'm sure maintaining this is a ton of work, so while daily would be ideal, I'm sure semi-daily makes your life a bit easier. The last thing I want to see is it go away entirely. So if that means doubling up my news submissions, I'm up for the task. Thank you, thank you, thank you Mel, for this wonderful network of support you help to maintain in the ALI blogosphere.

Lollipop Goldstein said...

Anything that requires support or celebration (people have posted new jobs, car accidents, graduating, buying their first house) falls under miscellaneous support. It's community news--not necessarily fertility news.

Just making that clear since more than one person said there isn't a space to add their news on the LFCA. If you're part of the community, there is always a place for your news either under misc news or misc support.

Julie said...

The LFCA is one of the sites I check every day. I always try to make time to ready ever blog that shows up, even if I don't always have time to comment. I would love it if it were every day!

E. Phantzi said...

Hey Lollipop,
The thought has occasionally crossed my mind that sometimes you're traveling or ultra-busy under a writing deadline or taking a well-earned family vacation - is there a way that somebody else could take over the spreadsheet cutting and pasting job while you're away? So you don't always have to be the only one doing all the work?

Anonymous said...

DAILY!!

kate said...

Hmm. It seems that daily would be the most appropriate format. I occasionally notice that news is out-of-date by the time I read about it in the LFCA (like yesterday when I clicked over to a bedrester's blog to find out she had already given birth!), so it makes sense that we'd want to read about news as it happens. I mean, clearly, there is the need to attempt to respond promptly-- birthday wishes three days late aren't the same as wishes on the very day.

BUT (huuuuge but... bigger than my twin-pregnant-butt...), it SO does not make sense to publish a full LFCA just for one or two bits of news. The LFCA is a LOT of work, I'm sure, and even though it is much appreciated work, I bet it feels weird to put in so much work when there's not much news being shared.

So, I would perhaps propose a sort of "mini" LFCA, if there isn't enough news for a full LFCA. I don't know whether that would be more or less work, but it could be some sort of minimally formatted post of "here's the news of the day, more info in the next full version of LFCA", just a quick post of whatever blurb was submitted on someone's behalf. I would envision this to be an uncategorized list, and blurbs could be repeated on days when the full LFCA was published. Again, this may work out to be more trouble than it's worth, but if there were a way to set it up to be a quick and easy kinda thing, that might work to keep people apprised of happenings daily without requiring you to hound people for enough news to make a full post.

I don't stop by the LFCA as often as I should (though I'm trying to change that, because I really do appreciate the support and I enjoy meeting new bloggers), but I know it's super important for some people. And I know it has to be a lot of work for you, so I genuinely hope that there is some way to make it such that there is less work for you but the same reward for this community.

Anonymous said...

Daily - I read every day. I hesitate to submit because what if it's duplicate or someone doesn't want it sent - I will do better.

heidi said...

I have been a horrible horrible clicker. I promise to do a better job and am setting up a blog reader in google reader just for my clicker blogs.

Daily please!!

heidi said...

I have been a horrible horrible clicker. I promise to do a better job and am setting up a blog reader in google reader just for my clicker blogs.

Daily please!!

Anonymous said...

Daily! It's my break at lunch!

Heather said...

I'm new to LFCA and I love it. (I don't know where I've been since I started blogging, but I just found this.) I'd read it every day too and start submitting things more often. Thank you for putting so much hard work and effort into this for us. We so appreciate it.

TwoDogMama said...

I check the LFCA daily, but I had never heard of it until someone submitted my bad news to it. I cannot tell you how thankful I was to that person, whoever they may be, and for all the voices who left me messages of support. I do admit that I don't submit as often as I should. I also realize how hard it must be to keep up with the LFCA, your blog, your writing, your children, ICLW, and the list goes on and on. I would love to see it daily, but would totally understand if it was scaled back to 3 days. I also will be submitting much more often. Thank you for all you do Mel!

Jem said...

I'm a HUGE fan and have benefitted directly from the support it can bring. I promise to submit more news, especially when others are having a hard time or a celebration.

Thank you for making this happen. It is totally appreciated.

Roccie said...

I just found this house yesterday.

I am already in a slight panic thinking it might slow down.

Daily please.

Help a girl stop fixating on her own uterus by showing her another one to care for - every day!

Anonymous said...

I will read the LFCA as often as you are willing to post it, be it daily or thrice weekly. I think whatever decision you make will be alright. Just know how much I appreciate this space to connect with others!

Anonymous said...

Daily!! I will start submitting mroe things! But this is my daily stop!

Baby Smiling In Back Seat said...

Oops, sorry for slacking on submissions this week. All of my blog time (and more) has been going into dealing with my mom being in the hospital. Which you may not know because I didn't submit that news to LFCA -- symptom and cause wrapped up in one.

I have a feeling that Sunday night you will have more than enough entries, and Monday may even be a record-breaking LFCA!

Dresden said...

totally daily. And I so need to be better about submitted news that just isn't my own silly bit of fluff.

thank you sooooo much for giving our shoulders a stern shake on this!!

Bea said...

Daily seems to be the sentiment, but I think if there's the odd time that things just aren't busy, it doesn't hurt to skip a day or so. Then again, depending on the workload involved, I'd be inclined to perhaps lower the critical mass needed rather than decrease the frequency of posting.

I admit that, personally, I underutilise the space at the moment. But if you are scratching for news: I have decided to start posting again at Infertile Fantasies as we re-start treatments (first appointment report is up).

Bea

Anonymous said...

"life is just so daily"

Glass Case of Emotion said...

Daily! It's such a wonderful way to share news. Maybe there can be more general catergories, to enable people to feel they have something worthwhile to share?

Thanks Mel- the support this site has engendered has really helped me through...