Well, we don’t have a survey (yet). It’s in the works and should be posted next week (so that all three of you that read this blog can participate). But I am interested in your opinions.
Funny thing is that everyone always has a lot of opinions after something is launched or introduced, but they rarely offer their opinions (even when given an easy way to do so) when they could be of most value (i.e. before the launch or introduction).
And don’t feel you have to wait for the survey. If you’ve got thoughts or ideas about how to improve Sacred Loops and make it more meaningful for you, send ‘em to me. You can post a comment here, or you can send me an email (kent dot kingery at sacredloops dot org). I don’t have my 1-800-GRIPE-LINE set up yet. 
I’ve talked with several folks as I’ve prepared for this change, but I do want to hear from anyone interested in sharing.
Kent
Confession is good for the soul. I confess that I ate too much turkey over Thanksgiving. I confess that I slept in a little later than I had planned this morning. And I confess that I haven’t been monitoring comments on this site in some time.
The lengths that people go to in order to put spam on your blog is simply amazing. Even more amazing is the type of spam that is submitted. I did a (decidedly unscientific) survey of the 22 pages of comment spam on Sacred Loops today, and I found that the majority of spam is about drugs or supplements. I figure this is merely one more indicator of the state of our society. After all, almost nobody spams a blog with links about Jesus or God or salvation.
I’m working through the various options for slamming spam (filters, captchas, prior comment approvals, etc.), and I’ll have a solution in place by the weekend. My apologies to all of you who submitted comments over the last several months, only to have them disappear into moderation limbo.
As mentioned in a previous post, Sacred Loops has languished a bit since I took it over some time ago. Chalk it up to big plans, no time, competing demands, and all the other things that make up “life”. But I’ve been working steadily over the last few months on some plans to revitalize the site and offer up some changes that I think will be valuable.
So, the countdown to January 1st begins. New Year, new Sacred Loops site, new (or renewed) energy to provide meaningful information on using audio and music technology to glorify Jesus. I’ll be posting each day in December to talk about where I’ve been, where I’m headed, and where the site is headed along with me. I’ll also have some thoughts about technology bits and bobs that I’ve been working with over the last few months.
Get ready. It’s countdown time.
Kent
It’s never easy to make changes. You make plans, you strategize, you dream, you even hope a little. And inevitably there are challenges, obstacles, and just plain screw-ups that hamper your progress. Sometimes you feel like throwing in the towel, and you often discover there are indentions in the wall where you’ve been constantly banging your head.
Such has been the path with Sacred Loops since I acquired it. Problems with the old hosting provider, problems with the new hosting provider, challenges with the whole model and approach, and personal “stuff” too involved to discuss. But I’m finally digging out.
Starting December 1st, I’ll be talking about the future and then relaunching the site (and a new sister site) on January 1st. Consider it a New Year’s baby without all the yucky stuff. For 31 days in December, I’ll talk about the hopes and dreams and ideas and even some other related (and non-related) topics to whet your appetite.
Stick with me. I think it will be worth it.
Kent
I was talking to a couple of folks today about Sacred Loops and about how it’s a fairly anonymous system. Even back when we had the ability to sign up and submit content directly (which is coming again, I promise you), there were a lot of folks who visited and took advantage of the content but remained nameless. One of the people I talked with suggested having a regular posting about various people who visit and use Sacred Loops. Sounds like a plan, so…
If you’re interested in seeing your mug and a brief story about you and your work here, send me a quick email at kent (dot) kingery (at) sacredloops (dot) org. At a minimum, I’d like to get up a photo, a link to your website or your work (MySpace, etc.), and a brief summary of what you do, tools you use, etc. I’m looking to kick this off in the next week or two, and I’ll probably start with myself as the guinea pig so you can see the format before you commit.
If the idea doesn’t have legs, we’ll find out soon enough. But I’m intrigued by it. I hope you will be, too.
Todd Berger over at Enter the Worship Circle has announced a remixing project (of sorts) here. Looks interesting, so go check it out.
You can hear Todd interviewed in a podcast on Chainsaw Weasel.
I’ve made a change to the MIME type settings on the site, and this should correct a file downloading issue within the content pages. Apparently the bit of code I am using to create the content directory dynamically was creating a link for each file that was not triggering the application/octet-stream identifier. The download icon has been working from the beginning; it was the filename link that was messed up.
Thanks to Dan Lukas for pointing this out.
The nice part about moving into a new place is that you get to start all over with where to put things. I’ve finally gotten all the old content (i.e. the loops, samples, patches, etc.) uploaded to the new site. It’s currently just existing as a pretty directory listing, and you can find it here:
http://www.sacredloops.org/content
I think there’s a lot of duplication and some junk that needs to be removed as well as some general reorganization. Additionally, the only real meta information about each file is the directory in which it exists and the file name. Nonetheless, you can get to the files and download them now relatively easily.
Please let me know if there are any issues you notice or files that seem to be missing. I’m working a new page where you can upload new content and tag it appropriately. Bear with me.
Welcome to the new Sacred Loops site. It’s taken longer than I had hoped and has been a bigger hassle than I imagined to pick up the existing site and move it. I’m in the process of revamping some things, including how the content is managed and searched, so be patient.
I’m working through the issues of transferring the old WordPress content, and I’m hoping to have that done in a few days. Until then, if you need a loop or have a question, please feel free to email me at: sacredloops (at) gmail (dot) com.
