Hey all,

I've added a new feature to Anime Nano. If there's a post that you don't want to be picked up by Anime Nano, simply tag it as "off-topic" (case insensitive) and it won't be added. In wordpress, this means making an off-topic category and putting the post into that category.

I've noticed a lot of posts that don't belong on Anime Nano. This includes posts that don't have anything to do with anime, manga, figures, etc, posts that flame other bloggers, and personal ranting emo posts.

This feature is a way for you to moderate yourselves. Before you hit "publish," think to yourself: Is this post relevant to Anime Nano? If not, please mark it as off-topic.

I'm not trying to tell people what to write. Put whatever you want on your blogs; they're your own. I am asking that you keep your personal flames and whatnot to yourselves, or at least keep it out of this community. I'd like Anime Nano to be a friendly community that's accessible to everyone. All that these off-topic posts do is alienate others.

I'd also like to hear your feedback on this. I'm not the only one reading Anime Nano (I hope!).

Goodie!!  Now I can rant about tennis without ever having to worry about getting off-topic in Anime Nano!  =)

Right, hayase! Unless you're writing about Prince of Tennis, which is totally okay ;).

If I do write about Prince of Tennis, I'm afraid I'm gonna get flamed for what I have to say about it lol. =)

I actually enjoy a bit of e-drama, but I see where you're coming from.

Shame blogger doesn't have catergories because we are for sux though

does j-drama count as offtopic? cause im bloggins some dramas this season...

I would think that it would be trivial to have blogger blogs insert "off-topic" into their post titles. Then nano can simply ignore the post when it scans the feed. I'm not familar with the tools used to construct the site (Rails is it?), but it should only add a small level of linear complexity to your input algorithm, smaller if you limit the string comparison/reg experssion to the first 9 or 10 characters. 

A better solution would be to have blogger add catagories. I mean google owns them right, what are they trying to save money on?

At any rate--as a simple nano reader--I enjoy the e-drama, I'd kind of miss it if it was gone. 

Hinano - Nah, J-Dorama is fine. I'm saying, flames, rants, and posts about soccer...

Qubed - I guess it wouldn't be too hard, but that interferes with the posts themselves, which would be annoying. 

Oh, btw, can you add a user feature to enable viewing off-topic posts under My Nano?  Or can it not work that way?  I think I tend to gravitate toward things that would probably have that tag.

Also, would you say blog-meta posts should be tagged off-topic?  i.e. On hiatus / adding new section / changing URL / changing format / etc.

This is a good idea, I don't want to read personal rants or things about 'human' sport!

I'm sure if I enjoyed someone's blogging that much I'd read their personal stuff as well, and wouldn't need to see it here on anime nano.

I don't mind if people write a post which is half about anime etc. and then they ramble on about their personal lives, as long as it is separate at the end. 

What about rants about yaoi fangirls? Anyway,in all seriousness, it's a great feature by Hung. But seth's point that it should be made an optional one is a good idea. I do like reading off-topic stuff sometimes. Like someone's new spectacles etc lol.

I also vote that it's turn on/offable 

I'd like to see those posts, I enjoy reading them, and I understand that other's don't like to. So please, make it an option.

Right now I think it would be too much work filtering out the posts as an optional thing. There's too many components that use posts (like I'd have to rewrite the search and pretty much everything).

As for the blog meta posts, just use your own discretion. Of course if you're changing your URL, that's important. If you just want to announce that you got your Xth hit and that's it, most people probably don't want to read about it (unless there's also copious fanservice involved).

Actually, for everything, use your discretion. You know your blog the best. I do, however, reserve the right to remove any post I find offensive or whatever from Anime Nano. But I hope I won't have to.

Please realize that I have better things to do with my time than remove off-topic posts. If all my time gets spent scouring Nano for off-topic posts, I might have to take more drastic post removing measures...

That sounds like your thinking about something like...{dread}...assigning "moderators." Which may be a good idea, but I hate moderators. Sure, they start out as nice guys. However, sooner or later they turn into domineering anal control freaks, with stupid little....okay, bad place to vent.

...whatever works for hung...

LOL

But what about community-specific posts? Well, not the angry flamehappy ones.