I've made a few alterations to the blog today. I'd be interested in your feedback.
1. Most obviously, I've changed the design scheme in Typepad. I'd had the old one for three years, and thought it was time for a change. Typepad has a huge array of themes. I think it's an improvement, but some might think the main colour is a bit garish. Would a softer pastel be better?
2. Most importantly, I have removed comment moderation. Your comments will now appear instantly. It seems to me that Typepad catches the great majority of the spam, and I also have filters in place to prevent certain profanities appearing. I hope this means that when a post gets popular, the conversation can proceed faster than it currently does. In any case, all comments and trackbacks still get emailed to me, and so I can unpublish or delete anything dodgy. I still don't mind hearty disagreement, it's only the offensive stuff I'd remove. If removing moderation does let a lot of filth through, then even though I can nuke it, I'll reinstate moderation.
3. If any of you read the blog in syndicated form, you'll now find that instead of just reading the first forty words of a post to judge whether it's worth reading, that has now increased to one hundred. Again, I'd be interested in any reactions to this change.
Big Circumstance 
Hi Dave
love the new look…very classy…not at all garish.
Hope the camera is sorted …i’ve just had problems with the staff in PC World…they said i couldnt have my usual student discount!!!! eventually the manager came to my rescue !!! when you print as many pictures as i do it’s great to get 10% off ink!!!..if you need any ink etc (not hardware though)..i can get you a discount..just give me a shout…also tell Debbie i can get 10% in Matalan, Superdrug, Dorothy Perkins and some other clothes shops!!!!
Paula
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Hi Paula,
I’m just in from evening service and found your comment. I’m glad you like the new look – especially happy to get that comment from a Turner Prize winner of the future!
PC World, though – honestly, what were you thinking? 🙂 You can get prices far lower than 10% less than their normal levels with some web searching. Try, say, 7dayshop.com for your ink.
Debbie will be pleased to know, though, about the other discounts. Of course it all assumes that staff in Matalan can add up in the first place: when Debbie was in there on the day of the Chelmsford explosion the other week and the power was off, she had three items at £4 and one at £5. The assistant needed a battery-operated calculator to work it out. But then I always was a Maths nerd!
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The changes look pretty good to me and I quite like the new colour.
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Thanks, FP; actually, it’s not that different from the colour that Pam BG uses, so it must have some virtue!
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Strange, the colour scheme looks the same to me as before: pastel blue. I wonder if it will change later?
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Oh, it’s definitely red now, and the style is somewhat different, too. Perhaps you’ve still got some of in your browser cache.
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Hi Dave
I think Pam may be referring to your welcome page….that is still blue…and fron an ‘artist’s’ view, could do with a re-vamp!!!!!!
Paula
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The welcome page: do you mean the ‘About’ link near the top left? It’s all red in my browser. If that’s the page you mean, then I still think it’s an issue of cached pages remaining in your web browser. Testing that would require clearing the ‘history’ from your browser. Or perhaps you mean a different part of the blog, or maybe my old website (which I haven’t updated for two years for a number of reasons).
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sorry Dave
the welcome link is red at my end but i’ve still got your old website in blue!!!!
Paula
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No worries, Paula, at least we cleared up the misunderstanding! Next time, I’ll have to consult you on all design matters!
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Dave
With me in charge of design you will be restricted to claret and blue!!!!
Paula
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So – it’s Lilywhite, then!
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I’m seeing red now! 🙂
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Phew!
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