Quote by Tenon
Thanks for all the responses. Authors seem unanimous in their reaction to my request. I understand.

Quote by crazydiamond
oops double post

Quote by kornslayer1
Especially when a guy uses a woman's pic, what's the point of that?

Quote by Milly
Whenever life gets you down Mrs Brown...

Quote by overmykneenow
There is a definite advantage if you're an author and have av of a sexy woman.

Go to buy a magazine; the ones aimed at men have beautiful women on the covers, the ones aimed at women have beautiful women on the covers. There's a reason for this.

NUMBERS GEEK-ERY ALERT

Ok, I did a tiny bit of analysis to see if I could back this up. I took a random sample of three pages of story links from about a week ago, I didn't count the stories because they attract an abnormally high amount of votes compared to other catergories.
[code]

Total sample: 40 stories

Avatar No of stories No of votes Average votes per story
Default red male 5 33 6.6
Default red female 3 23 7.7
Miscellaneous 17 185 10.8
Male 10 114 11.4
Female 15 241 16.1
[/code]

A very small sample but certainly enough to lend weight to what most people would assume to be true

Quote by Mazza


So, we need characters like Brand (I'm not saying I'd want someone like him as Prime Minister or anything like that, but were there more like him, controversial, shaking things up, more people would be interested and likely to vote).

George Galloway was a favourite of mine (I've met him a few times, when he used to come into the office of the newspaper where I worked - he was sleazy, charming and completely engaging). He was always interesting to watch and listen to in interviews.

Tommy Sheridan was another - as a young man, starting out, he was so eloquent and had such fire and determination and you know what? He actually roused us Scots, got us off our arses and onto our feet to get rid of the Poll Tax - and we did! I can't remember the last time I've seen such unity (we need someone like him now)

The politicians, always so good at spin and backstabbing, wriggling and all that malarkey, need to accept the way that people communicate nowadays - move with the times and embrace social media, use it better to their advantage, rather than belittling those who are lethargic, lazy and do not vote (for whatever reasons) - after all, they've nurtured this mindset, haven't they? Only they can turn it around now (if they even want to)

Really, what I am saying is that we need more people who can put that fire back in our bellies, get us up and voting, interested and involved - characters like Brand are just what we need.

Quote by Mazza
You know, I think that Brand eloquently expresses the feeling of many with regard to politics - not just in the UK, but further afield.

Now, I don't know if you are aware or not, but Scotland are currently in the process of devolving from the rest of UK, but we are such a lazy, lethargic nation that it seems unlikely that anyone will even care, especially the younger generation.

Why?

Because they know little or nothing of politics. There are very few interesting politicians. At least with someone like Brand, he has a different take on things, different motivations and to my mind would be a breath of fresh air - something that is very much needed at this time...

Quote by horny4cock
Sometime back I read an article where a high school football player was suspended for making a touchdown in football then pointing to heaven. I know that we should separate releigon and politics but isn't this going too far? I thought it meant not to teach students about a supreme being but not that if you believe, you will be punished. I'm not sure I believe in a God but should I be punished if I do? Damn! it is school.

Quote by gav
The next release will use a different mechanism to retrieve your friends activity to improve performance. These activity streams are being built now, but there is not much historical data with them.

Therefore when I push this version live you will be missing a chunk of friends activity.

Thanks
gav

Quote by curious3045


Not sure who Gav is but if he is in charge of keeping the site running he is doing a good job and this is not about him. It is about the resources, yes it is free but obviously there is money coming from some limited advertising and other sources, I am just trying to say that a priority should be upgrading the equipment. My place of work uses all of the same rational that you and slipperywhenwet have used and it is not the correct mindset to have. I look at it like building a house, the foundation has to be strong and done correctly if you expect to have a good house? Correct? The same principles apply with the site and its hardware, regardless of money or the people involved, the priority should be to upgrade the hardware first and then build from there.

So, sorry for being a bit rude slipperywhenwet and overmykneenow, wasn't supposed to come off like that at all. Gav keep up the good work. Whoever is out there that makes the decisions please consider my point. From an IT perspective my thoughts are coming from experience and the hope that resources will be used to improve the foundation of lush, then the improvements are much easier to accomplish.

Quote by curious3045


Okay, please let this one go slippery, believe it or not, I do have a very good handle on what it might take to accomplish this. I know you like to add something to many topics, but this one should be left alone, K. Notice that I even said I am not being critical of anyone, all right. It can be done, for less that what most people think.

Quote by gav


It's very hard to drag and droop with your finger, ask me how I know