It seems that while I was lying in the bed for the past few days wishing death would come and claim me (or at the very least would let me live sans misery), everyone here has been productive little bees! 12 and a half pages of blog entries from today! I'm not sure if that's a ProgressiveU record or not, but it's certainly a record for me. I've never waded through 12 and a half pages of blog entries in my life; for any reason. But I was feeling guilty for deserting everyone and thought I'd see how it went. I didn't get that far. But, while I was at it, I realized a few things that I thought should be pointed out to everyone again.
Yes, this is a contest and it takes effort to win. However, you could post 200 blogs at 50 points a post and still not fare so well. Reads and comments, while they don't count for as many points, tend to carry the day.
Fanaile Essence, the winner of the Spring 2007 contest, had over 50,000 unique reads and had made over 500 comments by the end of the contest. Our 6th place contestant (who shall remain nameless) had about 80 posts less than Fanaile, but finished nearly 30,000 points behind her. If you do the math, you see that those 80 blog postings only accounted for 4000 of those points. The rest of those 26,000 points were lost in unique reads and comments.
So what does that mean?
Posting blogs one after another after another isn't enough to win this contest. If anything, it makes it even more difficult for you to win. As I have heard (and seen) time and again over the course of the year that I have been here, many ProU bloggers and visitors absolutely refuse to read posts by a user whose name appears more than twice in a row on the list. Likewise, many refuse to read a post that isn't formatted into discernible paragraphs (or is in all bold, italics, or capitalized), doesn't cite sources or is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.
Users who routinely post well thought out, well written (and researched) blogs, and do so at least a few hours apart, fare better in the end than do those who churn out entry after entry, don't spell check, don't research, and don't format. If you want to win this thing (and the nice little sum that goes along with the winning), I encourage you to follow the advice listed above and aim for quality over quantity. It may not seem like such a big deal, but believe me, it's the difference between first place and no place.
And if you need further incentive to make every post count; the Editorial Team does check and we will track you down to complain about multiple postings, formatting errors or refusing to run a spell check. Over and over and over again if necessary!
And as mvenus929 pointed out just a few moments ago, rating the posts of others also counts! However, we expect you to do this fairly. Rating something a 1 just because you disagree isn't fair, nor is rating something you didn't even bother to read. We do check to ensure people are rating fairly, so be forewarned; cheaters never prosper! At least not at ProgressiveU, where the moderators have walked a mile in your shoes!
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And you do get points for rating as well, so don't forget to rate the blogs you read!
~C
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Thanks you guys. That helped. I had no idea about some of this stuff. By the way, mvenus, you remember how we debated about God and evolution? Well, I'll go about it the right way in my own words this time. Will you join in? I'd love to debate with you, as weird as it may sound. I actually found some good sources. I just wasn't sure if people would still get mad at me or something.
Possibly. I've been having a hard time keeping up with the blogs I've already responded to, since I just started my job this week, and I'm behind on my schoolwork, and I have an interview in less than 2 weeks... so I'm not reading every blog that pops up like I used to. I might read it if I get a little extra time, and I'll probably read it eventually... just don't count on a regular response.
And if you found good sources, and are willing to listen to criticism, I'm sure people won't get mad at you. Just put your own thoughts into the blog, instead of just copying and pasting from your source :-)
~C
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Are you guys nervous?!! We only have like a month left! Okay, a little more. Time goes by so fast.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
This is the first time I've entered this contest. I think this contest will help me out with staying up-to-date by researching current events and maybe some practice with grammar and citing resources. My main issue is knowing how to write my posts in some type of intellectual way. I guess it's practice and some reading over other posts. Anyway, thank you for the tips! I really needed this.
Hi Steppy! One thing you can do to give you an idea of posts that fare well is to check out those in the highest rated block as well as those from previous contest winners. If you check the FAQ's, there's an entry there that lists the winner of the contests as far back as 2005!
Good luck!
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Fallon
"It is never too late to give up your prejudices." Henry David Thoreau
"In case of dissension, never dare to judge till you've heard the other side." Euripides
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Yeah, its my first time too and it helped a lot in seeing the other side to things and I learned a lot about news.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Quality over quantity that seems to be true in every aspect of life. For example if person A writes 100 books, but none of them are very good he will not make any money. On the other hand is person B puts in just as much time on one book it has the chance to be a masterpiece, and person B will be the person with fame and glory. So it is best to write one great blog than 100 that are not good at all.
http://www.progressiveu.org/181343-who-are-you-yelling-at
thanks for the advice. i'm just a beginner =]
Thank you for posting this--I was thinking along the same lines as I perused pages of one-line posts or blogs quoting song lyrics or nonsensical posts. It's frustrating to be we working really hard to say something meaningful and get lost in the mire of meaninglessness. I mean, it's called ProgressiveU for a reason--we need to actually be progressive and open discussion for change!
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ce.apocryphalpublishing.com
The one line posts should be pretty much cleared up by now. The minimum word count (100 words) was turned off for some reason, but we turned it back on a day or two ago. If posts continue to slip by that don't mean the 100 word count, flag them for review and we'll look into them and fix point totals accordingly.
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Fallon
"It is never too late to give up your prejudices." Henry David Thoreau
"In case of dissension, never dare to judge till you've heard the other side." Euripides
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
There is nothing nonseical about lyrics. People can still promote change by posting their poetry, stories, etc.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
This was really helpful, thanks a lot!
Hello! Thank you for the tips. I am new to this site, and I can sure use all the help I can get. Thanks again!
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Out of curiosity, all these tips that the writer gave, did the write win a previous contest? Cua thats who should be giving advice, but thanks anyway.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Fallon was made a moderator because of her heavy participation on the site before the end of the last contest, so she was ineligible to win. She did, however, help go through blogs and posts and got to see the exact point scores of the winners and the rest of the top 10 bloggers. She also won our A-Team scholarship for her dedication to the site. Don't disregard her advice because she didn't win the blogging scholarship.
Fanaile Essence, who did win the last contest, has posted several blogs telling people what they need to do to win the contest. npsm18 has also written a couple blogs, and she was one of the runners up for the last contest.
~C
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
OUt of curiosity, how much is the A team scholarship?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Can't remember off the top of my head, because we just re did the system.
As a side note, please don't respond to every single comment in threads. It's really annoying.
~C
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yep, thanks.
It seems that writing to improve my own writing and thought process is the best way to go, if that makes sense.
that honestly makes me feel so much better. i always like to take more time with my posts, because i feel really uncomfortable putting something out there that i'm not fully committed to, and how can i be committed to something that i spew like so much verbal diarrhea? =P
--stacie
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
I haven't seen verbal diarrhea on here. People who have pointless blogs write very little. The lenghty ones are the ones that bring the most debate and discussion.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I completely agree with you on how people won't read blogs that are done up all pretty, not thought out, or are not correctly written. I get bored, and i get too critical of the mistakes (even though i know my first blog here was not perfect, due to me being so excited of finding such a great place to blog), and i don't like to read those people's blogs that are obviously only here for the contest, hence the reason they post 200 times a day, i am really only here to write and read and see what others feel and think, if i happen to win something while doing it then so be it but i doubt i will, and i know this....the contest is not my worry. So, summing it up, you're so right.
Thanks for putting that out there.
Over N Out
Tiny
Vote!!!
Yes voting is the best idea ever esspecially when you want to nkow if the post is worth reading.
all truths are easy to understand once discovered; the point is to discover them ~galileo
As someone who is just now joining the site I thank you for your advice. I will be sure to do such things.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
I hope you like progU!
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Good advice =)
Caity =)
I was so getting ready to post something like this. I read like 30 new bloggers posts and it was all your generic "today I went to the mall, and OMG, I totally saw this hot boi there." And one person told me, after I civilly told them that those kid of blogs would end up costing them valuable points, that she would continue to post whatever was on her mind at the time. I believe I counted 4 of her blogs per hour, if not more.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
I'd personally keep nagging and bring it to the attention of the editorial team. Mike can get after them if they don't want to play fair!
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Fallon
"It is never too late to give up your prejudices." Henry David Thoreau
"In case of dissension, never dare to judge till you've heard the other side." Euripides
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Wait, how would posting such a blog cost her points?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
thanks for this entry! i really appreciated it. you've got some good advice.
This site is so interesting, I've been spending waaaay too much time here, haha.
But how can I not? Everyone here has such different things they feel strongly and not so strongly about. I think that's what attracts me. I didn't realize there were so many different ways to get points either! It's like a big lovefest because we're all giving and receiving points towards something awesome.
Yeah yeah, I'm being corny...but just because I'm happy.
:-)
Times flies like the wind; fruit flies like a banana.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
I spend too much time, too! If I get on, I can't get off. Before I know it, its been 6 hours!
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
LOL! Holy crap - I had that much of a response?
Wow I feel loved and read :)
Aww, Progressive Pudding all over again :)~
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"Dream as though you'll live forever, but live as though there's no tomorrow" --James Dean
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
Nominate your Favorite Blog to become a Featured Blogger!
Yep! And I meant to tell you were going to be my example but you know, I never made it that far:)
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Fallon
"It is never too late to give up your prejudices." Henry David Thoreau
"In case of dissension, never dare to judge till you've heard the other side." Euripides
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Your points were like way out there. The closest person behind you was several thousand points behind you, if I remember correctly. They got a lot closer together after that...
~C
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
You are a very inspiring author. You should write a book some time!
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Wow, thanks!
I think that's one of the best compliments I've received (at least in a very long time)...
:)
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"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Well, its the truth! :)
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Wow, that's useful. I've been commenting around, trying to get the lay of the site, and this post is quite useful, though I guess I should have figured from the beginning that blog posts would give you more points then comments. But what use is blogging if no one gives feedback and opinions? Comments carry the day indeed. =)
You were right, author of this blog ( I forgot your username and am too lazy to look it up). I tried blogging, but I realized that you get WAY more points just by responding and in no time, the points add up. It really works.
Thanks for the Heads up
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Ideshun! Were have you been girl?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
one question though. By "unique reads" regarding the 50,000 Fanaile Essence did, are those to the reads she did or the blogs she posted? Sorry if the answer may be right in front of me. I'm just a little confused with that.
unique reads are reads from an individual user. For instance, if I look at one of your posts 7 times, you only get one read for it. You have to have 50000 different users all look at the same page to get that many unique reads.
Nicholas Aden
Self-Promotion
It's unique reads to posts you put up, not to reads you make.
~C
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Whats a unique read?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Unique reads are how many different people went to go and look at a page;
For example, if you read a blog 8 times, and I read a blog 4 times, that's 12 reads - but only 2 unique reads because ten of those reads came from duplicate sources.
Make sense?
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"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
So you only get points for unique reads?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Well, not exactly.
You get points for the number of reads you get. We expect some people will visit the same blog a few times (to read the conversations, rate, reply, and etc.); but if we see an ISP address that is beginning to try to phish for reads counts (such as reloading the page over and over again to build up fake reads) we begin deducting points.
Make sense?
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"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Hmmm....didn't know you could do that, but okay.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
That was really nice of you to encourage others. Thanks for sharing.
I am in the contest for the scholarship, but I feel that the rules of this "game" weren't explained very well at the start of my endeavor. I admit that if I had thought of a strategy, I might have perhaps limited my blog posts today; I think, all counted, I had nine or ten within seven hours.
My excitement is bubbling over! Not for the contest, though; I am excited to be able to share my life experiences and practice my writing. I have so many poems, short stories, and miniature autobiographies floating around from previous English assignments and personal goals that I am exploding with blogs. I love to write; I am working on an autobiography that I hope to publish one day. My AP Composition teacher encouraged me to start writing everything I can remember about my life down, because the teasers I have given her are only a small glimpse of my overall life experiences.
With this stated, I apologize for my excessive blogging on my first day of membership.
"Be the change you wish to see in the world..." - Ghandi
Thanks for the advice. Just started this yesterday so any advice should come in handy!
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
IS it better to spend all my time blogging or posting comments?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
You probably want to do a nice mix of both ;)
I.e. - don't post blog after blog after blog of stuff... but don't reply to every single comment or feel the need to post a comment on every single post. When you do that, it looks forced and people get annoyed :)
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"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Oh, sorry!
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Just another point I'd like to make... If you don't believe in the power of reads, consider this. I've been on the site for two contests now, but every single one of my blogs (including the one I wrote less than a month ago) has over 100 reads. Some have over 1000 reads. The blogs themselves are only worth 50. The reads are worth a point each. Obviously not every one is a unique click, but still... over 100 reads will equate to just about 100 or more points. So my points tripled (or would have tripled, but since I'm not participating in the contest, it's a moot point) by writing a blog worth reading.
~C
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Did you win both contests or any?
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I was brought to the A-Team at the same time as Fallon, but wouldn't have won the blogging scholarship even if I hadn't been invited. I was nominated to win the A-Team scholarship with Fallon, but I turned it down, so she was the only winner.
~C
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Oh! That is so nice of you!
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
thank you so much for the tips :) now i gotta start earning those points! haha
Speaking of points, does anyone know why I can't see my points or anyone else's on the account page? I can see mine when I post something, but I can't see anyone elses anywhere. It helps to know where you are in the competition.
We have it that way for a reason. If you want to know where other people are at, ask them, and if they don't tell you, then leave it be. You should also be able to see how many points you have in the sidebar, under 'Scholarship Points'.
~C
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Thanks. Where are you at? I have 1595 points. I haven't posted anything lately so I am feeling behind. Not sure. I like commenting more.
The A-Team isn't in the contest. It stopped collecting our points days and days ago.
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~Fallon~
"Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." Henry David Thoreau
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What Fallon said. My point total is stuck at 190... which I got in about 2 hours. But, you know, people on the A-Team tend to most more public service announcements, so it's not really fair to judge based on how much we post.
~C
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Thats a lot of points!
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I have seen some strange and uninspiring blogs lately, but that explains them...the quest for points...LOL.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Well its pointless what they are doing. They get their 50 points, but thats it cuz it doesn't attract a lot of reads.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Thanks for the secret!
Thanks for the advice!
"I am a Stephens Woman."
Yep, I totally agree with the whole not reading posts with thousands of grammatical errors thing.
Boy oh boy, I don't know how I'm gonna get that many points though.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
I don't really pay attention to grammatical errors. As long as the blog has meaning.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Hmm...This was really helpful! Thank you! ^^
_ _
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King Jr.
http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
IT bugs me when people write in all caps cuz they are lazy to take time to capitalize and stuff. I won't read the blog if they do that.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
English isn't my first language though. I also lack vocabulary in many of my blogs. But it looks like I'm doing well. I noticed a lot of people almost stop blogging because of bad comments they, and some are even discouraged to lack of reads. I might give up the scholarship and just blog for fun. lol. I think people run out of things to talk about, so most of the topics sound familiar.
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http://www.mylot.com/?ref=truelife
If you, or anyone, ever needs help with proofreading prior to posting you can send your post to one of the Editorial team members for editing. It's one of the many services we offer users.
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~Fallon~
"I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud of thoughts which were not their thoughts" -Lord Byron
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
True. People run out of ideas and they write the same stuff others do. ITs annoying.
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
I feel overwhelmed now. I have only gotten a few posts in.
Hang in there, you still have plenty of time!
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~Fallon~
"I stood
Among them, but not of them; in a shroud of thoughts which were not their thoughts" -Lord Byron
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http://www.progressiveu.org/090204-dont-miss-this-chance
Yeah. Same here. The contest is almost over and I haven't been posting enough!
DISCLAIMER: I am not being rude. I'm stating my opinion. No personal attacks are meant. Please give some leniency on how you take my words. imagine me saying them with a smile. ^__^
Thanks for the info. I'm new to this contest and i thought that I just needed to post as much as I can. Apparently, that is not the case. Luckily we still have plenty of time to do some good postings and readings.
I'm very glad you posted this. I just joined about an hour ago and was trying to figure out how this website works. I guess I just read the right blog at the right time. I, now, have some strategies I can use and a little bit more knowledge of what's-what.
Thank you again