I switched over to a new ISP today, and a new blog platform (Wordpress, replacing the old GeekLog).  All of the old articles, and the look of the blog, have been retained, but the back end is totally different.

Among other things, GRL will no longer be sending out email updates directly. Many subscribers, particularly those with Yahoo email, stopped receiving email updates months ago because GRL was improperly “blacklisted” as a spammer. Even though all GRL subscribers opted-in to receive email, there is no easy way to dispute being improperly blacklisted by dozens of email systems, and it is next to impossible to get whitelisted again unless you are a large company with a large support staff to throw at the problem. For an individual like me, it’s basically hopeless.

As an alternative, readers can re-subscribe to receive GRL email updates via Feedburer on this new blog platform. Just enter your email address in the box in the upper left part of the page and hit the Subscribe button.

I hope you like the new, improved GRL! Please email me if you find anything amiss, at chris [at] getreallist [dot] com.

For those of you who tried to check in to my blog in the last 24 hours or so, my apologies. Apparently my blowing ISP’s database server went down and corrupted some of my blog’s tables, which they refused to help me correct, and it was only with the help of a friend that I got it going again today.

Because my current ISP is going out of business as of November, I’m in the process of transitioning to a new host and, at the same time, switching over to Wordpress from Geeklog as my blog platform. Hopefully we’ll have that done some time next week. In the meantime, “please excuse the dust” and don’t give up on GRL!

Important note about email delivery of GRL: Email delivery of GRL will also be changing after the move. Instead of emailing blog updates to you directly–which has resulted in over half of my subscribers getting blacklisted by dumb email services like Yahoo which make it impossible for me to get whitelisted again, even though everyone opted in voluntarily–blog updates can be mailed to you via Feedburner. On the plus side, many subscribers will once again be able to get GRL emailed to them, but unfortunately everyone will have to sign up again to get it. More details to come when I have them.

So, you want to syndicate the articles on GetRealList and bring them into your own site? No problem! Here’s the URL to our RSS feed:

http://www.getreallist.com/backend/geeklog.rss

The GetRealList depends heavily on you, the reader, to participate and contribute in this democratic, free exchange of ideas! You can be a journalist too, not just a passive propaganda sponge. Help out your fellow citizens and point us to the good stuff we need to see. Quality counts.

The GetRealList guidelines are simple:

1. Please keep the discussion civil and focused on the productive exchange of ideas. If you’re looking for a place to start a flame war or just shoot off your mouth, there are lots of other places on the Web for that.
   
2. GetRealList is about getting real, so keep it real. All posts must include a source link from the original source, or at least an authoritative source. Unsourced articles will not be published. But you’re always welcome to post your own comments!
   
3. When submitting a story, please include the source link and copyright notice of the source, your introductory text, and the text of the original article. Do some Google searching to find the source link if necessary. Let’s try to keep the lawyers of the world happy, shall we?
   
4. Be responsible citizens. Check your sources and vet your information before you submit it. Try to set a good example for all those journalists out there.
   
5. All decisions to publish, edit, or reject a story are the editor’s alone.

Thanks for contributing. Now go ahead and submit your story!

Here is an introduction/FAQ for the GetRealList.

Why did you make this site?

I built this site to help educate my community about important political and world affairs, and to provide a place where people could have discussion about the issues. For more, see Introduction to the GetRealList.

I also built it out of a sense of personal responsibility to my country. It (ostensibly) is a representative democracy after all! Here is my pledge to myself and my country to make a difference.

How does this thing work?

This is a Web log, or “blog,” which is just a quick way of publishing stuff on the Web. It has support for letting people comment on stories, search past stories, and stuff like that.

Anybody can view articles, but in order to post a new story or a comment, you must be a registered user. Registration is free and painless, so sign up here.

How posting works

If you post a new story, I (the administrator) will have to approve it before it gets posted. But you can post a comment immediately.

Where do I find articles?

Click on the links under “Topics” in the left-hand column. To submit a new story, click “Submit a Story” at the top. To add a comment, scroll to the bottom of the full article and click the Reply button.

Are there rules to joining and publishing on this site?

Anyone is welcome to join the site and add stories and comments. Please review the Submission Guidelines before posting.

What’s your privacy policy?

I won’t give your personal information or email address to anyone, ever. This is purely a personal endeavor without any commercial affiliation whatsoever.

How come when I log in, nothing happens?

Could be one of two things:

1. Your browser isn’t set to accept cookies, which are needed to log in.
   
2. You were logged in, but you didn’t get any confirmation. (If you can submit a story or a comment, you’re logged in.) Ehh, what can I tell ya, it’s the way this crazy open source blog software, GeekLog, is made! It’s great stuff, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world to customize. Maybe I’ll get around to learning php and doing that and a bunch of other customizations. But I’m not making any promises.

I still have so many questions!

Well then, just drop me a line.

This site is nothing more than one citizen’s attempt to contribute to the national dialogue and help educate my community. It is not a commercial endeavor. It’s purely a personal labor of love. Because I love my country and I’m very, very worried about it.

The History

The GetRealList began as a series of occasional emails that I distributed to friends in the wake of 9-11, in an attempt to help us figure out what the attack was all about.

Since 9-11, the list of recipients has grown, as has the energy that I personally have put into the list. I believe both are due to a growing sense of unease over the direction our country is heading in, and suspicion over certain actions of our leadership.

The list finally outgrew the confines of regular email distrubtion, so I rebuilt it as a Web log, or “blog”, which is nothing more than a new way of publishing things quickly on the Web, and distributing them via email to a list of subscribers. You’re looking at it.

But before the GetRealList, I had a brainchild that I built my first Web business around, and that was Better World, which was an online magazine about environmental and social responsibility. I invite you to check out the back issues and see what I was on about before I became more politically focused.

Credits

I should mention too that Better World and the GetRealList represent much more than my labors alone; lots of people have contributed substantially of their time and skills to make them happen. These are all incredibly talented, brilliant, generous souls and I’ve been lucky to have so much of their help. I’d like to give a shout out to a few of them here:

Tom Kee

Rob Gilde

Lee Thompson

Jason Williams

Mike Mell

Chris Maresca

Mighty Dave Pellicciaro

John Camacho

Chris Rimple

…and lots of others I’ve forgotten to mention. You know who you are.

Can I become a subscriber?

I welcome any and all new readers, and I welcome your comments and feedback. That’s what really makes an effort like this worthwhile, is participation. Please feel free to post stories you think will be of interest to the list. I depend heavily on my readers for sources!

You can also send me a personal note.

Regardless of your political affiliation, I hope this site helps you to become more informed, and more of a participant in our great democracy.

Where can I find out more about using this site?

See What’s the GetRealList and how do I use it?

–Chris Nelder

Editor