The blog magazine went glitchy for a bit yesterday/today – being the procrastinator, I did not want to upgrade to Wordpress (mainly because I didn’t know how) however the original theme had some glitches which were fixed in an upgrade that only worked with Wordpress 2.5, meaning that I was stuck in a lil pickle. Anyways, thanks to George over at GPearce.co.uk, I’ve been sorted on both Blog Premiere and TUK with WP 2.5 To be honest, I preferred the old dashboard better, and don’t know why they had to change ( 
) but I guess I’ll learn to love it in time. If you haven’t already, upgrade… now that the laziest person in the blogosphere has gotten around to doing it, you really have no excuse 
I have also gotten the tshirt design done (thanks to Daniel of Daily Logos) and have put in a basic order for 100 shirts. To see what the tshirt will look like, click here. Fairly decent – I will update on the progress of getting them made. What I will be doing is writing off the cost of producing the tshirts, but charging for shipping – if the website grows enough, I’ll probably be able to give some away free eventually, however at the moment I sadly don’t have bottomless pockets and can’t 
I am thinking around $10 USD a shirt, extremely high quality (perhaps too much so, but he promised me that you need high quality to succeed so there we go. )
First off – before you read below, take a look at the contest and enter if you haven’t. At the moment, there’s a solitary entry in for the cash, and less than five posts about the blogging magazine – come on guys. 
Alright, now into the meat of it. I truly want this to be the premiere blogging resource on the Interweb – one that all bloggers, both new and old can visit and not just learn stuff, but also have fun and network. Here’s some of my ideas for it – take a look, let me know what you think.
Forum. This has to be done to build a community – a place where bloggers can relax, ask each other for advice and network in their spare time. I’m a forum junkie of the highest order, and although there are some large blogging forums around there is no real dominant force in the industry – I’ve never let competition stop me and I sure as hell won’t now.
For the beginning, I’ll be using a standard blue vBulletin theme, however will eventually get a forum custom designed and coded – I’ve asked around, and prices are fairly decent… so why not. I will also be looking for moderators (and have gotten a couple people on board who KNOW about vB, so I won’t have to suffer a repeat of the catastrophe that was EXPForums – remember that?), so feel free to send me an email if you’d be up for it.
Directory. Not a free one – although free ones are great, there are hundreds of them out there. One that is paid, but cheap enough for anyone to get in – low/high $x. I’ll be user editing it to make sure that quality remains high, and it will be a place that people can visit to find interesting blogs.
Nothing completely unique, but it will add more reason to visit the website (and thus more value overall).
Digg Clone. Although there are established names in the industry (Blogging Zoom, Blog Engage) I do think that the magazine would do well off with something like that (see increasing reasons to come to the website). If the blog magazine grows as I envision it to be, it could be a good place for bloggers to gain exposure for articles they’ve written.
Store. Nothing groundbreaking – I’ve already ordered tshirts, anyways if this kicks off get the logo put on hats, mats, cups, bags, women’s lingerie… you get the idea. Could be fun to see Blog Premiere skateboards, you think?
I have been working hard on preparing stuff for the magazine so don’t have time to post much on here today – anyways, I’d love to hear thoughts. I’m glad that yesterday’s post was such a roaring success too 
March 31st, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I updated to 2.5 yesterday, I really don’t like it to be honest. I was planning on holding off on it, but I was getting that nagging “new version available” on the top of my admin panel that made me feel bad, haha.
I don’t think any of my plugins had a problem.. .then again… little do I know if something major is malfunctioning behind my back
Jim’s last blog post..How To Effectively Use Images on Your Blog
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March 31st, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Some interviews would be great. And perhaps once it kicks off you could hire regular columnists.
Hafiz Dhanani’s last blog post..Blogging Toons #1
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March 31st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Anything I can’t learn or gain anywhere else. I know that sounds too broad, but I only have small pieces of the puzzle and I tend to see the same types of information repeated over and over again.
Plus I think you should feature Aaron Abber from FullTiltBlogging.com often on your blog. It’s just good karma.
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March 31st, 2008 at 8:36 pm
About the wordpress thing, I had the same problems and still have not upgraded. Too much of a pain. But, after reading some more about it, I ended up writing a post about it, telling about it’s features. It has got some good features!
Nathaniel’s last blog post..Wordpress 2.5
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Heh, thanks for the link love
I’ll see if I can find a plugin to give you the old desktop again, I’m sure you’re not the only one missing it
Interviews would be excellent, go for people like tyler cruz and suchlike
-G
George’s last blog post..29er Images
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:05 pm
Is there some urgent reason to update to 2.5 now? I kinda figure on this stuff I wait until thousands of other people lose their data and somebody fixes that pesky comma that should have been a semi-colon.
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:41 pm
I kinda like 2.5 – the dashboard is really different, but I thought it was a bit more intuitive this time. The one thing I did not like, and spent 20 minutes on today was on write page — I couldn’t find where to set the post date/time!!! Then I saw that small, itsy little “edit” button… Guh. THAT should be opened up, and not hidden away.
…anway to comment on the post, interviews. They make for very interesting reading.
Mo
Mo’s last blog post..This Smart Aleck Could Teach YOU A Thing Or Two!
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March 31st, 2008 at 9:57 pm
A repository from many bloggers on their own tips and articles. Like a blogger advice scrapbook. No dupes, just original articles, or reworded ones.
JustChris’s last blog post..Wordpress Gotchas after “unpacking” for the first time
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March 31st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
I’ve updated yesterday. Actually i delayed upgrading a bit just to see if there were any problems on other blogs first lol.
Upgrading WP usually don’t take more than 2 mins, but the process of upgrading, back up database etc.. is annoying
btw Jason, don’t start a directory…i run 5 directories and they take way too much of my time.
Bruce Cat’s last blog post..Is Ebay the Only Way to Make Money Online?
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April 1st, 2008 at 3:30 am
Hey Jason,
Thanks for the link to daily logos, hope the tshirt turns out well, logging onto msn now to see if we can get the 125×125 banner done.
Talk to ya there,
Daniel
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April 1st, 2008 at 6:24 am
Didn’t I mention “interviews” on the Blog Premiere contest page?…. Anyway, I think another good feature would be a questions and answers section, where visitors can get their questions answered by top name bloggers (similar to what Jim Karter occasionally does on his blog).
BTW, the shirt design is very nice, looks like it would be a very cool “techie” shirt to sport around.
egk’s last blog post..Mercedes-Benz C Class :: RE: 2007 C230 squeak from inside dash/cluster Please assist!
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April 1st, 2008 at 6:46 am
Logo for the t-shirts looks good
Is the wordpress admin panel looking just confusing or is it made simpler in the new version? Just wanted to know before i decide to upgrade.
Chetan’s last blog post..March top commentators winners
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April 1st, 2008 at 9:37 am
Now thats a Complete blogging magazine.
looks good.
Tech blog’s last blog post..Craziest Marketing Contest Gonna End !!
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April 1st, 2008 at 9:42 am
Didn’t think to put before, but for the digg clone, try using pliqq(.com), it’s excellent.
George’s last blog post..29er Images
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April 1st, 2008 at 10:39 am
Yes like Gorge said I had a site back there with pliqq free script. It’s OK for digg site.
Aleks’s last blog post..Joke – Grandma
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April 1st, 2008 at 12:57 pm
@ Jim, I didn’t like it too but am growing to. I’m sure you will too, especially as you have no other choice
@ Hafiz, interviews are already an idea. As for columnists, if this kicks off I will have regular paid bloggers
@ Aaron, to be honest, a lot of the information will be repeated – that’s just life. However, I want to have ALL of it available in one place, so that newbies don’t have to run around 1,000 blogs looking for help.
As for Aaron Abber, if he releases his revenue secrets, sure
@ Nathaniel, I’m growing to like it. The theme I use is pretty sweet on WP 2.5
@ George, enjoy. Tyler rejected my interview request, damn.
@ Aaron, the theme I used for the magazine had to be updated, and the update only worked on 2.5, so I had no choice. We’ll see re the errors, there are probably some lying around
@ Mo, I think they’ve tried to make parts of it too uncluttered, and thus they are difficult to find – although I feel once you get used to it, it will be like a second home
@ Chris, all my content is original. Will think about your idea
@ Bruce, I delayed too, but I’m a lazy ass. As for the upgrade, I got someone else to do it for me so didn’t have to worry about such things
@ Daniel, cheers for the logo, will let you know re MSN.
@ EGK, not sure – will check back. As for the questions, there will be a section of the forum for that – check http://www.BlogPremiere.com/Forum
@ Chetan, somewhat easier, somewhat harder. Might as well upgrade as you’re going to have to do it eventually, so don’t procrastinate
You can read my thoughts here:
http://blogpremiere.com/upgrading-to-wordpress-25/
@ TB, glad you like.
@ George, think you mean PLIGG. That’s what I was going to use, will probably need your help setting it up
@ Aleks, cheers for the comment, will look into it.
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April 1st, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I updated all my blogs as well to 2.5 just because I was annoyed by message ” update to 2.5″ I like the new wp admin dashboard but yet when it comes to navigation old one rocks!
LiveCrunch 2.0’s last blog post..Linux Tipping Point No Way To Hack
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April 1st, 2008 at 10:48 pm
“now that the laziest person in the blogosphere has gotten around to doing it, you really have no excuse ”
Ohh Jason, you see that is where you are wrong. I just updgrade to 2.3.3 last monday, and now I am have to updgrade again?
Nobody beats me in the lazy department…nobody.
Living on Adsense’s last blog post..Living on Adsense Blog Stats for March
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April 2nd, 2008 at 1:53 am
My site would be running wordpress 2.5 too.. I have just installed it. Seems a bit weird but I guess it takes a little getting used to.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 2:29 am
Ha ha Living on Adsense, i will send you a mail after the next version of wordpress is released.. So that you upgrade to 2.5 then
Chetan’s last blog post..March top commentators winners
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April 2nd, 2008 at 6:40 am
@ LoA, I never upgraded to 2.3.3. Teehee!
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April 2nd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
@Chetan: thanks! I usually wait until Fantastico is set up to upgrade, that way it is just a press of a button.. It just seems like too much work to upgrade manually!
@Jason: Damn Foo! Why you gotta go steal my flava?
Living on Adsense’s last blog post..Living on Adsense Blog Stats for March
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April 2nd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Perhaps some on page SEO methods? Or blog layoutting tips?
Speaking of upgrading, I haven’t done so. Because I noticed some plugins don’t work well with 2.5
Louis Liem’s last blog post..PageRank Update – HomeBiz Resource Rakes 4 from N/A!
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April 4th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Dont create a general directory.
Make a blog directory like bloggeries. And keep the cost low for people like us.
Tech blog’s last blog post..Technology and Travel
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April 4th, 2008 at 12:39 pm
A blogging directory is something I considered. $5/admission, lifetime.
We’ll see how it goes
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July 21st, 2008 at 2:44 am
I would love to see my blog in a blogging magazine
Ryan McLean’s last blog post..Smarter Wealth – Not Just Another Financial Blog
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