Level Orange

It took a lot of work, and a couple of missteps, but the new Podtacular.com is now live!

Hosted by Foo Mo Jive, Podtacular started in July 2005 as an unofficial podcast discussing all things Halo 2, including game tips and strategies, interviews, custom gametypes and the Xbox Live community.

Having originally built the site on the e107 publishing platform, there were problems from the start, with everything from the templates and structure to the constantly-changing core (which is still in development). This caused a couple of nasty problems to show up in the course of developing the site, so I had to back out and look for an alternative. I just couldn’t risk building what I hope to be a great community site on a faulty foundation. I didn’t want it to fall apart at any given moment.

So I moved everything over to the CivicSpace platform, which runs on the Drupal “engine.” As it turns out, CivicSpace is built almost entirely around the idea of a community site. So it’s well equipped and well-developed for web standards and an organized site structure. And then there are all of the plugins, also called “modules,” that extend the CMS even further. The level of configuration within it all is staggering and at first, a little intimidating, but for standard users, I think it’ll be a comfortable fit.

So if you’re into Halo 2, Xbox games or just online gaming in general, check it out. I’m even scheduled to appear on the next podcast sometime soon!

The following is a real e-mail. Names have been changed to protect the parties involved, but really, it doesn’t make it any less ridiculous. Enjoy.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

RE: Emails

We all receive more than our fair share of emails every day. Some emails are time critical and others are simply informative while some are simply a waste of everyone’s time to have to open and read. In order to streamline our efforts and prioritize which emails need immediate attention (and which are low priority), The Company is implementing the following policy rules regarding emails. Everyone is expected to adhere to this system going forward.

SUBJECT HEADER:

Any email which requires the recipient to approve something should be prefixed with “FOR APPROVAL [subject]”.

All emails that are time-sensitive should be prefixed with “TIME CRITICAL [subject].”

All emails that are news should be prefixed with “NEWS [subject].”

No one should be sending out emails without a subject header. Additionally, no one should send out an email that has an ambiguous or hard to understand subject header… that is simply poor communication and unprofessional.

The Company encourages the use of the exclamation “!” point as well as the down arrow “↓” for everyone using Outlook or Exchange as their email program or other programs that support those features.

MESSAGE BODY:

Every communication to a group or individual should always clearly include the following:

1. Who the email is directed to (place these individuals in the “TO:” field)
   1. These are the people who you (the sender) expect to take an action and/or receive a reply from.
   2. Any recipient of an email whose name is listed in the “TO:” field should know that the sender is expecting a reply.

1. Who the email is being sent to as a courtesy communication (place these individuals in the “CC:” field).
   1. You should not expect
      anyone in the “CC” field to take an action or reply. If you do, then their name needs to go into the “TO:” field.
   2. If you “-cc” anyone, you should EXCEPT that they will read it when they have time, or maybe never.

1. The message body
   1. Declare the type of email on the first line of the message body

i. “FYI” (meaning: For Your Information and no reply is necessary)

ii. “Action Items” (meaning: a reply is necessary)

iii. “Dear [person]” (meaning: addressed to the name or names of the persons who you are communicating with and you expect a response from unless otherwise noted by the “FYI” or “Action Items” markers)

1. 1. Clearly state the purpose of the email.
   2. Maintain direct, to-the-point communication (Keep it simple.)
   3. At all times, AVOID USING PRONOUNS (he, she, you, me, they, etc.) in your communications and requests. Instead, use the person or persons names (or project’s name or company name) when communicating.
   4. Indicate action items

i. If sending to more than one person, indicate which people are to take which specific actions.

ii. Include a deadline turnaround time for all action items

REPLIES:

Please think carefully when using the “REPLY ALL” feature. It is a gross waste of everyone’s time when someone sends and email and then another 2 or 3+ people say “THANK YOU!” to the entire group.

Replies should only include all the “-cc’d” recipients only if it is really necessary.

GENERAL COMMON SENSE: Emails should not replace face-to-face meetings and picking up the phone. The purpose of email is for communicating to individuals who are NOT in the office or who are otherwise unavailable to speak with. Email is for communicating to large groups when those individuals are NOT available for meetings because someone in the group is either traveling, out sick or has immediate scheduling conflicts. Email should not be used for ‘chatting’ within the workplace…. Especially when we are all in the same building now. There is no excuse not to pick up the phone.

Any individual who continues to abuse the email system and waste others’ time will be placed on corrective action. Remember: Face to face meetings and picking up the phone. It’s that simple.

If there are any questions regarding this system, please contact me directly.

Your attention to this important productivity issue is sincerely appreciated, both by me and your fellow co-workers.

Kind regards,

Owner of The Company

Aside from the new look of the site, I’ve been tweaking the recent addition of the “meta tray” as I’ve dubbed it at the bottom of the page. Here you can find a little info about me and the site, some favorite links of mine and now a del.icio.us feed to see some links of interest. It started out as a test on just the home page, but it’s now made its way to every page of the site, so you can check it out whenever you like.

And today, I moved the RSS feeds over to Feedburner and added some buttons to subscribe using some popular RSS aggregator services. This way it’s just a little easier to keep up with the haps around here.

Enjoy!