So, the powers that be at BCUK decided they wanted to change the tag system in an attempt to make us use them properly.

They want us to use short, concise tags to enable other users to find our posts more easily. And to be honest, in general, I do already, so their tag massacre hasn't affected me too badly. I lost a couple on my music blog, where some artists or tracks have long names, and there's not much I can do to shorten those to make them "improve the searchabilty" of my blog. I'm going to have to truncate words, which is certainly NOT improving searchability. My tag "Florence + theMachine" will not be linked with someone else's "Florence+ the Machine".

However, a lot of people don't use short, concise tags for no other reason than they don't want to. They want to tag their posts however they like and are not particularly bothered about other people finding their posts. They just want to be able to find them themselves. These people are understandably annoyed that their personal contents page has been disrupted.

This was a badly managed PR disaster. There was a post on the.blog.co.uk telling us that changes were imminent, but I for one do not read that blog regularly. The post was made on the 2nd, just two days before the changes were implemented. If this was such a vital change, BCUK should have told us their intentions beforehand via PM, giving users time to get used to the idea, and giving them the opportunity to amend offending tags.

This site is "made by us". We should have been kept properly informed of big changes like this.

So Landers, Jake and myself have signed up for Movember.

Basically, we're growing a 'tache to raise awareness of and funds for prostate cancer. It's a bit of fun, but it hopefully will prompt people to think about prostate cancer and other mens' health issues such as testicular cancer, and maybe even help someone get diagnosed earlier.

I'm clean shaven for the first time in aaaages and I hate it. Can't wait til I get some stubble back and stop looking 12 years old. Also, stubble helps hide the double chin I didn't know I had until I shaved today.

Now, as much as I'd love to say I'm growing a moustache because I like them, I'm actually doing it in the hope that people will take pity on me and sponsor me. If you would like to do so, please click the link below and sponsor me because Jake is winning.

CLICKY!

As seen here.

1. Are you superstitious?
No. I have habits about some things, but I'm not worried that something horrible will happen if I don't do it.

2. Are you attending or hosting a halloween party this year?
Nope, I don't even have a pumpkin! First time ever, I think. We had trick or treaters this year though, which we don't normally get.

3. What's your favourite scary movie?
Um. Tricky one. When I was small, I was terrified of "Poltergeist" (I never watched it all the way through until I was about 12), and so it has a special place in my heart.

4. Trick or Treat?
I like playing tricks and getting treats, so both.

5. The best Halloween costume is...?

Disclaimer: Landers showed me that video.

Thanks to Malakeas for this wonderful idea.

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My name is Brad and I will no longer tolerate online stalkers or trolls.

I will not feed their fire by responding to their comments or posts except in three ways:

1. I will choose to delete their offending comment if I can
2. I will ignore their comments/posts on another blog
3. And then, I will move on.

I will not give them blogging space or another thought for there are many other people here that deserve my energy and attention.

May this blogging community regain its blogging spirit and take back this community from stalkers and claim it as their own.

If you believe this as well, then copy and post this on your blog with your user name.

Sorry to those of you not in the know; you can just ignore this.

If you're getting these ridiculous comments from a certain ex-blogger in one of her many guises, just delete them straight away. Don't reply - that's what she wants, the attention. That comment and others have been left on Landers' blog over the last few days, and he has been refusing to post them. That's why she's posting them elsewhere. If you delete them, she'll have to come up with something else. If we ignore her, she's got nothing.

I know this post gives her attention, but I think that on balance it's worth it.

If you read this, whatever you're calling yourself now, you've made another big mistake by making out you can't contact him any other way - you can PM him, despite what your comment says; his PM status is open to everyone, unlike yours was when you claimed he had messaged you. You have his email address. If you really want to communicate with him you have other options than posting these ludicrous comments. You're clearly just out for as much attention as you can get, and you weren't getting it from Landers - well, hopefully you won't get any from anyone else now, either.

If you want to open a proper dialog to put this to bed, then you can do so. But it had better start with a bloody good apology.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - STOP, before you alienate absolutely everyone.

I've been really bad when it comes to blogging lately, but fear not, I'm working on an epic post covering the following and more:

- My family's visit in July
- My brother's visit in August
- The Hull blogmeet, including our trip to Manchester
- The farce that was my ECDL course last night

Might be up later, but this is me we're talking about.

I've been around, checking out posts. Might not have commented but I've been here!

Yeah, so I haven't blogged for weeks, I'm so bad. Have a meme.

Using only song names from ONE ARTIST, answer the following questions. You can't use the band I used. Try not to repeat a song title. Repost as "my life according to (band/musician name)"

Are you a male or female?
Excuse Me Mr.

Describe yourself:
Under Construction

How do you feel?
Hella Good

Describe where you currently live:
Greener Pastures

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
Home Now

Your favorite form of transportation:
Running

Your best friend is:
Just a Girl

What's the weather like?
Six Feet Under

Favorite time of day:
Too Late

If your life was a TV show, what would it be called?
It's My Life

What is life to you?
Big Distraction

Your fear:
Spiderwebs

So I didn't get round to blogging about my parents' visit, and today my brother and his girlfriend go home after spending a week with us...

Also, today we fly to Manchester for an epic curry with Ms The Boat, and then tomorrow we get a train to Hull to get hammered meet some fellow bloggers for drinkies.

Might eventually get round to blogging some of all this!

I'd better go; Landers is at panic stations despite the fact that our flight isn't until 5:30pm... Although having said that, we have got to drop my bro off at an airport in the complete opposite direction to the one we need to get to later...

Just a quickie before I finally jump in the bath. I just found this and it really made me smile, so I thought I'd share it.

We've all seen those surprise first dances at weddings on youtube, well, this is something a bit different. It's the original, and they've disabled embedding. Rather than go find a copy, I thought I'd just post the link, and give them all the hits they can get. Go look, and have a great Wednesday evening.

CLICKY

Just got home from dropping the parentals and associated offspring back at Shannon Airport after their stay. Had a good week overall, with a few ups and downs. Highlights include two flat tyres in the middle of nowhere, a stunning day at the lakeshore, a dip in the rather chilly Atlantic and around 40 bottles of beer.

Will post more later or tomorrow.

Who am I kidding? It'll be next week sometime.