Stalinism ahoy!

As you may have noticed, I've been doing a bit of redecoration round the ol' blog. A new template, proper use of folds, and an upgrade to the new Blogger Layouts, should all combine to make the blog both readable and maintainable.

But that's just Phase 1 of the evil master plan...

For Phase 2, I'll be going back through the blog archives. In true Stalinist fashion, I aim to delete all the blogorrhea that's accumulated over the years: the whiney posts, the inappropriately rude posts, the posts that I clearly wrote after several pints of whiskey (it's amazing how the ability to type is always the last thing to go).

Whilst I'm at it, I'll add these new "tags" that all the cool kids are experimenting with. I'm really just a victim of peer pressure...

Phase 3 needs a bit more thought. Basically, I'll make a list of stuff I know just well enough to post about, and set up a poll or something to see what my - largely nonexistent - readers are most interested in.

Which neatly leads us to Phase 4. If I'm going to put more effort into this blog, it would be nice to know that someone is reading it. I know I'm never going to be Pharyngula, but I worry that if I spend too much time talking to myself I'll wind up in a padded cell. And those things don't even have wifi access.

In thinking about this, I've found that I don't really understand how blogs attract and retain readers. This is something I'll need to consider further.