Games are for Children - Announcements

Blog posts while Steve is on hiatus

nospam@example.com (Karen) — Wed, 29 Mar 2006 13:42:57 -0800

Steve has always written the lion's share of articles on GAFC, and while he's on break those contributions will be sorely missed. As one of the blog's regular contributors, I can't promise to be as consistently prolific as Steve has been, but I can promise to be consistent. For the next while, I will post at least one new article per week (on/by Monday mornings), and hopefully more if I have something worth saying or debating. :) ) As always, the comments and discussion that follow the posts are a valuable and the most interactive aspect of GAFC; keep coming back to trade ideas and opinions!

I'd also like to take this opportunity to invite some of our past contributors (LD, Heather, Isaac, Eek, Adam, and several others) to consider writing some articles for the site. As well, anyone else wishing to contribute is more than welcome to contact me about it; I am most easily reached at karentertainment@yahoo.ca . The site is strongest when we have a variety of topics and opinions, so I'm hoping to continue to see that around here!

Taking a brief hiatus

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Sat, 25 Mar 2006 14:26:42 -0800

As you may have noticed, over the past few months I've been writing fewer articles than usual. A number of factors are at work that have caused me to slack on bringing the most interesting commentary to you in a timely fashion. Today, I've decided that the time has come for me to take a brief hiatus from writing for this site. I'm not sure whether the hiatus will last for days, weeks, or months, but I do intend on returning at some point.

Until then (and perhaps permanently, if she wants to continue indefinitely), I've asked Karen to become the administrator of this site and have given her full reign to do whatever she would like to continue improving Games up to the best it can be.

Continue reading "Taking a brief hiatus"

I'm still alive

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 06:49:32 -0800

I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that yes, I am still alive. Unfortunately, a lot of factors have contributed to a busy week. Things look like they'll settle down after the weekend.

Maybe Karen or Adam will post something, or if not, then I'll be back as usual next week. Until then, feel free to browse through our archives and discover some of the 400 posts that have been made here over the past year!

One year later

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 21:00:00 -0800

Today, Games are for Children turns one year old. This first post was the basis for everything that's followed during the past year. While we've expanded our horizons a bit, and have written on a number of different topics, hopefully you'll agree that we've at least done something in accomplishing that original mission of bringing attention to honesty and responsibility in dating. Hey, if we haven't, at least it's been interesting talking about it.

Here are some interesting statistics about the blog over the past year:

Continue reading "One year later"

40 days and 40 nights

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 15:01:15 -0800

As you might have noticed, my posting frequency has decreased significantly over the past few days. Unfortunately, I've been spending almost every waking minute either attending interviews, finishing this 103-page thesis, working on several major assignments, making decision tables in preparation for considering job offers, and so on.

I really want to keep writing as frequently as possible, but there are a lot of things I'd like to do if I had the time. November 21, which is the thesis submission deadline, the job decision date, as well as these assignments' due dates, should see me able to get back to sharing my thoughts on society and participating in it too. That's not to say I won't post before then, but if things seem somewhat more dead, you now know why.

Thanks for your understanding!

Start commenting!

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 09:06:35 -0700

The deadline has passed for the first "write-off" contest, and the articles are now posted. Heather and Eek are this week's contestants.

Read both articles, and then show your appreciation for each of them by leaving comments!

The "write-off"

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Fri, 21 Oct 2005 09:00:00 -0700

This article will remain at the top of the list until the deadline. Scroll down to read "newer" articles.

To prompt (yet more) debate around here, I suggested and Karen responded to an idea of hosting periodic "write-offs." With the blog software upgraded to allow anyone to register an account, everyone should contribute.

The format goes like this: there will be a single topic about which all participants will write an article (of any length) expressing their views on the issue. Writers will have one week to write entries and save them as drafts in the database. On the day of the deadline, the entries will all be published on the site. Readers will then review all the entries, post comments, and enter karma votes for all of them. Three days after publication, the writer who has the most legitimate non-spam and non-nonsense comments from non-contestants, and the highest karma ranking, wins. If one article doesn't clearly win in both categories, then one comment will be valued at five positive karma points. Note that any of the editors not involved in the competition have the final decision in determining when and if cheating has occurred - and yes, there are ways of detecting "sockpuppet" IP addresses and accounts.

The winner will receive a free item from the Games store of his or her choosing, at no shipping cost, or we'll pay you $15 cash, no questions asked. Does that interest you? If so, the first topic should draw some fireworks:

There's a long-standing adage that advises people to "respect their elders." Do people deserve unconditional respect for their ages alone, regardless of their attitudes or accomplishments? Or should everyone be treated equally based upon his or her attitudes and accomplishments, regardless of age?

There you go. See the right sidebar to register an account if you're new, and get writing. The deadline for these entries will be Friday, October 21 at noon EDT. Questions are welcome in comments to this post.

Good luck!

Graduate school sucks

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Sat, 24 Sep 2005 19:43:00 -0700

I had planned for the past several days to post an article about a definite change I'm starting to notice between college and the business world, but (oddly enough), college and the business world themselves have been preventing me from doing so.

They say that looking for a job is a full-time job in itself. If that's true, then the sixteen applications I submitted today and the career fair I attended on Thursday are only one of three jobs - my paid thesis-work job and the neverending homework being the other two. Between the three, the few minutes of free time I occassionally get are usually sucked up by eating or the mandatory daily exercise period. Right now, at 11:00 on a Saturday night, I just got back from washing clothes, food shopping, and a number of other chores that I had to put off until the evening because of the job search.

I didn't forget about the site. It important, so I'm planning to set aside some time tomorrow to write, and I apologize for my tardiness. When I start my life 83 days from now, I plan on making the continual improvement of this site a top priority.

Store now available; please support us!

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 16:15:47 -0700

We've just opened a store with shirts, kitchen supplies, computer equipment, and calendars featuring the "Games" logo and various catchphrases. As always, no profit is derived from this site in any way - 100% of the proceeds from the store go towards site operating and improvement costs.

What are you waiting for? Get out there and start shopping!

Polls now active

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 20:10:46 -0700

You might have noticed that we now have a polling toolbar. Feel free to vote on the latest poll and view the results. If you register for an account, you can create new polls that will appear on the "Archive" page for anyone to vote. We will regularly select one of the most interesting to feature on the front page, so start putting your ideas out there!

User registration now active

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Fri, 02 Sep 2005 19:51:02 -0700

You may have noticed that the site is in the process of being overhauled bit by bit. If you look at the right sidebar, you might have noticed that you can now register for an author's account for yourself. Doing so allows several benefits:

You can create a profile page for others to learn about your interests.

Your username is reserved so that others cannot post comments impersonating you.

You can submit entries as drafts to be reviewed for publication. There is no more need for a "Guest Author" account, and your entries will be credited to you directly. You can participate directly in karma voting and other previously author-only benefits.

You can access features of the site not available to non-registered users, such as a better search mechanism and extra sidebar information.

What are you waiting for? Create an account now so that you can start writing articles post comments, and tell everyone about yourself!

Games are for Children: "Be happy to be yourself"

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Fri, 12 Aug 2005 15:51:49 -0700

Over the past few weeks, there has been considerable discussion among the writers about the focus of this site. The irony is that I, for one, have decided that I'm not interested in dating right now as a direct consequence of writing for this site. Heather, likewise, is happy where she is. The loss of interest in romance has led to fewer articles, fewer comments, and lower activity in general.

Tonight, I have some good news: our plans to relaunch have been finalized! We've decided to expand the focus of the blog to all areas of human relationships. There are a lot of interesting subjects that we simply can't cover if the site is restricted to dating. The games extend to every situation in which people interact, which is why we believe that you should "Be happy to be yourself."

We'll be bringing onboard new writers, offering T-shirts and other merchandise for sale, changing our slogan and creating a logo, and completely redesigning the site. You'll find a new user registration system that includes special privileges as well - don't worry, anonymous comments will still be allowed.

Karen's designing the new logo as I write, and we hope the new site will be rolled out within the next week. Thanks for reading!

Ad campaign

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 08:56:15 -0700

Those who have been reading for a while might recall that I never was ale to post the flyers I had wanted to post in early May because of a lack of time. With time becoming more plentiful as the month of July is coming to an end, I plan on posting those flyers, which have been lying in a shoebox for three months, as early as this week.

Last time, I paid for some BlogExplosion ads to go along with the paper advertising, but this time I simply don't have the necessary funds. It will be interesting to see whether the paper flyers are as effective as, or more effective than, online advertising. Any predictions?

The end of power problems

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Sat, 23 Jul 2005 07:54:52 -0700

After nearly 50 days, the electric company finally replaced the transmission lines, working between 1am and 5am EDT this morning. That should mean the end of the sporadic downtimes due to power failures.

Thanks for your patience while these problems were worked out!

Posting policy

nospam@example.com (Steve) — Sun, 26 Jun 2005 10:38:00 -0700

I sent a message to all the Games editors a few weeks ago, and it was decided that the comment posting policy for this site needed a minor addition. If you've been reading this site regularly, you're probably aware that recently there has been a rash of anonymous comments. While we respect everyone's anonymity, some use that same anonymity as a smokescreen that allows them to post deleterious comments that are contrary to the mission of this website.

Effective immediately, we reserve the right to delete comments that do not include the E-Mail address of the poster. If a comment is questionable and we're not sure whether the E-Mail address is correct, the comment will be hidden until a reply is received from the address ensuring that it is, indeed, valid. Of course, even if the E-Mail address is valid, the comment may still be removed if the sole purpose for its posting is to put down someone or a group of people.

Thanks for your understanding.