*Poof* Goes the Conversation

Well, that hurt.

Years ago, Google, of which Blogger is a subsidiary, urged me to host the comments for Trollbones on G+. And that seemed like a fine idea at the time. I was very active on G+ so it meant my social networking and blogging would dovetail nicely. Yeah for corporate integration!

Jump ahead to 2018, and G+ is being shutdown on an ever accelerating schedule. The developers behind Blogger and Google are disdainfully non-forthcoming with a way to migrate Plus-posted blog comments to the traditional system, and the longer I hold out for that, the more new comments are made that will just vanish come April.

So, metaphorically ripping off the band-aid, I've just flipped the switch back to the default comments system. I had hoped the old comments would still be preserved in my regular G+ stream, which can be downloaded before the termination date .... but no, they're just gone. Years of insight and suggestions, criticism and insults ... gone. 

To Hell with corporate integration. Particularly, to Hell with Google. I'm seriously considering migrating this blog to Wordpress, or Dreamwidth.

I've Probably Peaked

My previous post about Marc Miller and Traveller has garnered more views than anything else I've ever posted here (and possibly anything I've ever posted anywhere). I'd love to follow it up immediately to reward the attention of the many fine and wonderful people who've newly stopped by Trollbones [in other words, capitalize on the audience building], but I'm a bit busy heading off to another gaming con' this weekend, Forge Midwest (amusingly like last week's Gary Con, also in Wisconsin) so I won't have time to put together another detailed post for a while.

I guess the glory of Milwaukee keeps calling to me.
Source: olsonj

But I do have some interesting stuff planned for when I can next get back for a long sit at the keyboard:

• Similar to the Marc Miller post, notes from Jeff Dee, who also offered a Q&A seminar at Gary Con IX, and also refereed a game I had the fortune of attending.
• Comparisons of my recent experiences playing several different superhero RPG's: Hideouts & Hoodlums, Savage Worlds, Marvel Super Heroes and Villains & Vigilantes 3rd edition. 
• A retrospective on TWERPS, "The World's Easiest Roleplaying System" of the 90's, my happy experiences with it and what I've recently learned about it's history. 
• A critical review of Stars Without Number, how it's played for me, why I like it, what I think its flaws are and what I'd like to see change for its upcoming 2nd edition.
• Heads You Win, a satirical yet totally playable role-play rule system that fits complete on a single 4" x 6" note-card.
• Maaayyybe finally getting back to that comparison of XP systems I started last month.