New Twitter name?

I want to rename my Twitter account for a number of reasons, primarily due to my desire to slightly alter my persona. I’m not going to turn into a gaming newsbot or anything, but originally I intended to tweet and blog entirely in-character. That didn’t happen, so here we are.

I’d love your suggestions. I want to work in the term “skald” somehow (Viking warrior-poets) but give it a little more futuristic / tech feel. After all, I really have started to focus on SF roleplaying and fiction writing in our favorite post-cyberpunk Internet spaceship world full of space Vikings. Any pointers?

(To clarify: Twitter has a rename function, this will be seamless to my followers.)

8 ways to publicize your EVE Online blog

The other day, I got a conversation request in-game. Due to circumstances of the moment, plus not recognizing the character name, I rejected the request. (Nothing personal, but like many pilots, I just can’t always chat.) The other player later sent me an EVEmail letting me know that they sought advice on EVE blogging, particularly in attracting readership and getting a bit of attention from other EVE bloggers.

After apologizing for my inadvertent rudeness, I sent a list of advice. But I thought that maybe it might assist some other folks getting involved in the EVE blogging world. Most of the advice is EVE-specific, but bloggers can apply it in other areas as well.

(Please note that this list only covers blog publicity. The specifics of how and what to write, site design, and all that jazz lie slightly outside the scope of this particular post.)

(more…)

Tweet Fleet Badge

Flying with the fleet

Because he is win, Rettic created a cool little badge for Tweetfleet members, which you can see in the upper left of my site. Give him lots of link love and support him in every way.

Maybe I should even set him blue, we’ll see… or not, I wouldn’t want to take away his fun of dodging incoming fire, right?

Image credit velodenz

Station choices

Hotness.

Yesterday, I asked on Twitter, “Tell the truth: does the station model (graphics) factor at all into your decisions regarding where to open offices?”

This came up because I needed to open up a new office or two for Back Alley Trading Company and a new operation (since I wanted to position some assets for the pilots who’d participate). When I went to the systems in question, I remembered how much I hate some of the Caldari models.

In reality, I consider location and price foremost, plus services depending on the purpose of the office. But the station design matters a great deal, too, though I won’t go to another system for it and I won’t pay too much extra for a nice design. I really like Gallente 7 (the orbital wheels) and the Minmatar mining station (with the asteroids).

My question got some interesting responses.

@Novon_: Factors more important 2 me include; monthly cost, standing, facilities, sec status, distance from trade hub, graphics r secondary

@starryeyedpod: Yes. It even influences my decisions on agents

@evewarrior: The one that pays the most for the minimal effort of the overall process (including sellin loot buying shtuff).

@jrmerson: Not so much the model as how you undock. I drive orcas a lot and because of that I do not like stations you drop out the bottom.

@escoce: tell the truth. No, location 1st, then standings 2nd… Nothing else to consoder

What about you? Do you take them into consideration? Which ones do you prefer?

Image credit Wotlankor

Current Wordpress plugins v2

Rolling with Wordpress

In response to a question from Tony about some nice-looking tables in a previous post, I thought I’d revisit the plugins I use on this site. After all, Wordpress provides a great platform, but the ecosystem that surrounds it really makes it great.

FD Feedburner Plugin: I like Feedburner because I can get a good feel for my subscriber numbers, but I want to retain control in case I decide to dump it. This plugin simplifies redirecting your readers to a Feedburner-powered setup without permanently changing the URL.

FollowMe: Adds that little badge on the right-hand side of the blog (if you actually visit it). Seems unobtrusive enough, though I always listen to feedback on that sort of thing.

Google Analyticator: Used to simplify the use of Google Analytics for better stat tracking on the site, plus it adds a little box to your Dashboard. I still use the core Wordpress.com Stats plugin, but this replaced Cystats.

Prev-Next Keyboard Navigation: Most (all?) readers probably haven’t even noticed this, but you can navigate up and down through posts on an index page with the J and K keys now. A little vi love for us old-school Unix geeks.

Twitterlink Comments: Adds a little field so commentators can include a link to their Twitter profile, if they wish. I think this helps build community and encourages folks to comment, if only to pimp their own reputation.

Twitter Widget Pro: Does a good job showing my Twitter feed in the sidebar, though I really need to do some CSS work and improve the aesthetics a little.

WP-Table Reloaded: What I use for those tables that led to Tony’s query. A little extra work, since you build the table in something like a spreadsheet form and then include a shortcode in your post. But I think the results make it worthwhile.

Feel free to suggest your favorite Wordpress plugins in the comments below!

What ship do you want to fly?

Yes, we fly ships.

Yesterday, I asked on Twitter, “Question for the day: what ship class do you currently not have trained but REALLY want to fly?” I got some interesting responses:

• CyberInEve: “Heavy Interdictors”
• diaryofaraider: “Time to sound like a total noob. Battleship. I’ve been way too obsessed with T2 frigates to train beyond them.”
• tehmetalleer: “covert ops!”
• ericscho: “Still badly need to do stealth bomber and interceptors on FW pvp alt !”
• Novon: “I’m finishing my SB skills then going intercept. After that going to look a going lvl 5 in cruisers.”
• Rettic: “Right now I really want to fly a Battleship since i can’t seem to do any successful solo ratting in 0.0 atm… but really I want interceptors. Shouldn’t be too long.” This led to an interesting discussion on 0.0 ratting ships as we educated him a little.
• SHM5: “I have just trained carrier and supporting skills bit can’t afford one. I’d love to fly a Titan & blow up 400 ships in one go” Not for long!
• hi7ch: “Macherial (spelling) Have Gal BS 5 do not have Min BS5.. or even BS 1. then again that isnt a class.. sorry”
• autumnn_aether: “strategic cruiser. 22 or so days away. (and a couple hundred million ISK…)”
• MissionsCollide: “blackops. Mmmm. Blackops.”
• ChainerCygnus: “T2 ships Destroyer and above, Strategic Cruisers, and all Capitals.” Way to focus, bro..
• chocolips: “For me, marauder. I do a lot of missions in my mach. But the vargur is more efficient. Just fugly “
• 00sage00: “HICs (Broadsword), HAC (Ishtar), Recon (Curse), Command ship (Nighthawk). A lot of ships. And all different races. ”
• Ionst0rm: “easy – Wolf and Jaguar ”
• automaticjim: “I’d like to be able to fly a black ops battleship. I Know people don’t like them but the seem cool to me. ”

What about you?

Image credit unincorporated via Flickr

Let’s get connected: Guide to EVE social media

Staying connected keeps you healthy

So you like EVE. And you evidently like social media, or at least don’t mind using it (or why would you read an EVE blog?)

If so, you might also want to know about some other great ways to get connected with other EVE players with similar interests.

Come join the in-game channel EVE-Bloggers, for one. We usually number more than a dozen in there, sometimes close to twenty. Generally speaking, this channel contains some of the most intelligent discussion about current topics of interest in EVE with a huge variety of perspectives, not to mention pointers and tips about blogging, podcasting, tweeting, and other EVE-related social media.

Also, check out The Tweet Fleet, a list maintained by 00sage00 of EVE-related Twitter accounts. Of course you can find my EVE Twitter account on there, but you’ll also find a lot of others with other viewpoints and styles (and frequently a lot better conversation!)

Of course, you probably want to read more EVE blogs than just mine. Ga’len puts a lot of effort into keeping a listing of all active (and some inactive) EVE blogs, then making them available in the EVE Player Blogs OPML Download. At this moment, the listing includes 437 (!) EVE blogs, so clearly it includes a lot of great sites. If all you read is the CrazyKinux EVE Blog Pack, you will miss a lot of outstanding articles and writers.

Alexia Morgan also maintains the EVE Bloggers aggregator. This includes all the (known) EVE blogs as well as podcasts, videos, Flickr images, and EVE-related stories from Massively.

Image credit gmayster01 via Flickr

EVE Twittereans

Or “Twitterers,” if you prefer.

Do we have an updated list anywhere of the folks twittering about EVE Online specifically? With Casiella, I try only to follow Twitter accounts that focus on EVE. But during my two months away, I fear I’ve missed a bunch of folks.

If you know of such a list, or just want me to follow you, please reply here.

UPDATE: Ah hah! 00sage00 has started a list of EVE Twitterers!