Do you RBJ?

I am uninspired to write an entry. I have been busy with one thing or another, and I am brain dead. Maybe this would be a topic for a blog itself, but it would be sooooooo self-serving, to the point of being pathetic..

So it think I'll talk about RBJ. I'm sure the RBJ administrator, Carlos, is just rolling his eyes... hehehe... Anyway, RBJ, or the Rice Bowl Journals, is a non-profit organization for those of Asian descent. It is a virtual clearinghouse for Asian bloggers to connect with each other by listing sites by ethnicity, presumably to allow like minded people to connect. Of course, this is ridiculous. I think a lot of Xangans tried out RBJ, but were basically disillusioned because it is impossible to connect with someone strictly by ethinicity. The best place to connect at RBJ is on the Forum where there are a number of different categories: TV, art, school, humor, sports, etc. I have read the comments of some non-Xangans through these forums and I now visit a few sites through RBJ. But this is not my original point.

Since some of you have accounts there but rarely visit RBJ, I just thought I'd tell you guys about some of the changes over there. First, is that they now have an Enhanced Membership grade. Previously, everyone was on an equal footing, and perhaps those who dontated to this organization received a bit more exposure. No problem. Now they have a different grade called Enhanced Membership that costs $10 per year (or $1 a month). This fee, I presume, is to help defray the cost of running a relatively active site. Yeah, yeah, I too thought: "more money?" But guess what: I paid it. There is one feature that has proved to be helpful: Bookmarks. We Xangans have our own list of subscriptions to peruse, but they are only other Xangans. Bookmarks on RBJ now allow me to conveniently check other sites I find interesting but are not Xangan. Unfortunately, with Basic Membership, you can only Bookmark ten sites. With Enhanced Membership, bookmarks are unlimited (for now).

Another thing I learned recently is the change in rankings at RBJ. Previously, they had the Top 300 which was the number of hits that people got from differnt sites. As you probably know, the same group of usual suspects always headed the list. Now, they have the Top 40. Instead of hits, the new ranking list is based on the number of times a person have been bookmarked. According to RBJ, this is perhaps a better indicator of popular blogs since it shows the number of subscribers (regular readers) rather than the number of hits. Damn, if the O-girl was on RBJ, she'd rule...

Another enhancement on RBJ is the Tagboard. This is a running commentary similar to the chatterbox seen on many Xangan sites, except without the popup ads. I somtimes lleave a comment but since I'm not really a "regular" on RBJ, I am unfamiliar with many of the Tagboard posters, as they are unfamiliar with me. Also, they've decided to put up avatars (profile pics) on the tagboard as well, but I am still undecided about this new development. While a pic may foster familiarity among posters, it takes up a lot of screen space and dminishes the resulting convenience of reading the Tagboard itself--at least on my small notebook screen.

Suggestions for RBJ: But the main problem witll exists: How to connect with like minds outside of ethnicity. Here, on Xanga, I subscribe to and am subsribed to by others of different ethinicities. Most have an interest in Japan, but not all, and the great majority are ethnically, non-Japanese. There are two ways of connecting that I'm familiar with. One is the Blogring where people subscribe based on shared interests. Perhaps RBJ could create an area where members can subscribe to certain "interest" categories: Arts, Sports, Games, whatever... It could even be a perk of Enhanced Membership: two categories for Basic, unilimited for enhanced? Hahaha, sorry guys...

Another enhancement they might consider--really consider--is ordering bookmarks by updates. This is an indispensible feature on Xanga. Obvioiusly, RBJ cannot link to every member, but perhaps there is a way for members to submit a "newly updated" info with a button on the "my RBJ" page that would then list sites on bookmarks in temporal order. I think people who are interested in having their blogs read would be more than happy to take this step, and people who bookmark will find it convenient to know who has updated. An added benefit would be that this would allow RBJ administrators to moniter inactive blogs and dead links.

Anyway, if you are a member and you haven't visited RBJ recently, take a look and see what's happening. Bookmark your favorite sites by searching them on the the RBJ home page--after logging in--and adding them. If you have the time and patience to join the Forum, this too can be pretty interesting interaction with other Asians. Sammy is a regular contributor. Far more than me... but like RBJ itself, you have to register... *sigh* So many hoops to jump through...

Did I say I was uninspired to write? Hahahahaha. Diarhea of the keyboard....

Correction Update

I haven't gone to RBJ recently, so I went the other day and saw a new topic posted in the Sports section by Sammy and just assumed he was still pretty active. Sammy tells me he has not been on as much. I stand corrected. You know what they say about how to spell "assume": ass + u + me...

And I forgot Enygma81. She is a regular poster on RBJ, although she rarely leave me a comment these days... :(