Radio Free Blogistan 3.0

This has been a fallow period at RFB, even with the new contributors (we’re all head’s down these days, working, which is actually a good thing), but there are some things going on under the hood.
When I added Rayne and Liza and filchyboy and Andrew to the roster, we started an editorial-discussion blog separate from this one. It’s currently password-protected, but I sometimes think that it should just be open or even a category here. (The argument for privacy is that one can speak without thinking about who might be listening in, but then the odds of this stuff not getting out eventually are pretty slim, and secrecy just breeds suspicion.)
Anyway, some of the things we’ve been discussing are a redesign, with a cool new visual design that Liza is working on (with all of our input, or at least input from filch and myself – Andrew and Rayne, have you given Liza any feedback?), an integrated way to post briefly noted quick links inline and various other ideas.
RFB’s MT instantiation has gotten really sluggish, which leads to many duplicate comments and pings, and annoying delays for the regulars. I should probably follow the optimization steps I was bookmarking last month, but I haven’t. I’ve been busy on other things.
Plus, I really want to open up contribution to a wider range of our readership. So now I’m thinking perhaps the new design should be implemented in Scoop, with diaries, as at kuro5hin, DailyKos, and Clark04.
Alternatively, I could use Drupal, which I’ve already installed and set up in the form of Deanspace sites.
Either way, my sense is that RFB has yet again outgrown its current CMS and that it’s time for the next step (soon).
Also soon, I’ll be decloaking a blog I’ve been writing since last December as part of the process of writing a book that I’m about halfway through. I believe later this week I’ll be able to formally announce the weblog and the book, or at least take off the password protection for that one instead of obnoxiously sending trackback pings hither and yon from behind a duck blind.
Would more of you post your own links, news, and thoughts about blogging to RFB is it were set up more like a community site?
Update: Funny how the ads on this page are for dating services like eHarmony. Is that because of filchyboy’s name?