OFFICIAL BLOG OF THE TRIDGE

Friday . May 2, 2008 . 7:30 p.m.

Short update.

The Tridge has some really exciting plans for this summer. We’re also thinking about adding cigar and wine reviews. We have acquired an excellent wine reviewer originally from the Mid-Michigan area, who now resides in Honolulu. We’re looking forward to those new sections.

One technical note, however. The black lines on the sides of article pages (the ones that border the article text) are having some trouble showing up properly on PCs. Macs are not having trouble with the lines, however with PCs, the lines are not being extended all the way on the first visit to a page. If you would like to see the page as designed, simply click the back button on your browser, and then click the article/link again. The lines should then be fully extended. We're working on the problem.

Just wanted to keep everyone updated on our progress. The next issue is also looking promising.

Tuesday . April 29, 2008 . 8:00 a.m.

As we found out last week, there is a small pocket of The Tridge readers that create a unique dynamic when it comes to responding to what works and doesn’t work on our site. To put it simply: they hate us, but yet they cannot look away. This is interesting.

To be fair, there are some that just needed more information. Although it puzzles me that most of the information they were looking for was on our FAQ, and our e-mail address is prominently placed on the site under the ‘Contact’ button. Nevertheless, we enjoy answering reader questions about our publication. Unfortunately, there remains those individuals who no matter what we publish will find ways to criticize it. Mind you, criticism can be a good thing, and a lot of what is said helps us in what we do, however it’s not very hard to distinguish genuine concern from petty complaints.

My favorite is the “lack of content” complaint. We’re a weekly publication, and we say so in our FAQ, however one user made a comparison to us and the Midland Daily News (a daily!) on the frequentness of our updates. Hilarious. To me, complaining about lack of content is analogous to receiving a donation, and then complaining that it wasn’t enough.

We’re hoping you’re enjoying this week’s “Writers’ Issue”. We have some great writing on the site now with Managing Editor Patrick O’Hara’s Revolutionary War short story and Aaron Crossen’s award-winning essay on Robert Kaplan’s Anarchic Africa.

As always, continue to let us know, through e-mail and elsewhere, how we’re doing. We appreciate the feedback (even the criticism) more than you think.

P.S. An update on the Haines-Manary piece: after senior editors approve the piece, it has to go on to our lawyers. That’s the reason for the delay.