The How I Met Your Mother Blog

OK, so I had an idea tonight. We all love HIMYM and have a grand old time discussing it here each week. I know there’s a lot of other stuff out there that I like as well, and I imagine you all do too.

So I was thinking, we have this great group of people that is expressive, and opinionated, and likes to talk, what if I started another blog that covered everything that wasn’t HIMYM?

So here’s how it’d work: I’ll fire up the new blog, and post topics once, twice, maybe three times a week. Then all of you fine people who come here to talk HIMYM can go there and if the current topic interests you, we talk about that there. I think it’s a great idea. What do you guys think?

As far as topics, I’m sure we’d talk about other TV shows but I’d also like to discuss music, movies, books, news, etc. I’m also thinking you guys could suggest topics, if there’s something you’ve been thinking about but I haven’t brought up.

So, thoughts? Leave a comment if you think you’d subscribe to this other blog if it exisited and participate from time to time. And if you wouldn’t, leave a comment and let me know why.

Thanks!

I won’t be around much this weekend as tomorrow is my birthday so I’ll be out in the real world with real people. Commence as you normally would, just don’t get offended if I don’t join in. I’ll be back Monday with a timely recap of The Naked Man.

Next week might be quiet too as I’m headed home Wednesday for Slapsgiving Thanksgiving. I’ll be online, but can’t be sure how often considering the high levels of food, football, and family that I’ll be experiencing. Don’t worry though, I already have a post written that’ll be published on Turkey Day. And it’s slap-free.

Cheers!

Image courtesy css-tricks.com

As you’ve surely noticed, the comments look different all of a sudden. That’s because I’ve decided to use the IntenseDebate commenting system. Don’t freak out, it’s going to be so much better. Now you can:

1. Have threaded discussions. Reply directly to a comment to have an easier to read discussion.
2. Create an account. While this isn’t mandatory (you can still comment without an account) creating an account saves time since it keeps you logged in so you won’t have to type your name and email over and over.
3. Track your comments. IntenseDebate tracks your comments not just here, but on any blog that uses the software. And since it was just purchased by the folks that create WordPress, I think we’re going to start seeing it used a lot more. If you have a ID account, it keeps you logged in so you can comment on any site using IntenseDebate without having to re-enter your info
4. Voting. Now you can give comments thumbs up and thumbs down, kind of like on Digg. I think that’s a cool feature.
5. Create a profile. Once you create an account with IntenseDebate, you can create a profile with links to other social networks, have it update with your Twitter status, upload an avatar, and more.

If you want to read more about IntenseDebate check out their web site or the excellent write up Chris Coyier did on his site.

I hope you guys like the change. Let me know your initial thoughts about the new system.

PS. Since I’ll be using my global IntenseDebate account I’ll no longer appear as “JD” in the comments but as “JustinDickinson” instead. That’s always been me, just not the me many of you have known. Hope it doesn’t confuse!

PPS. On old posts My comments will still display as “JD” but won’t be highlighted any differently. It sucks, but I’ll deal with it. Forward progress!

The season is over, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have anything to talk about. While the show is airing, it makes sense for me to create posts and have you comment. But now that we’re on summer vacation, it’s time to change things up a bit.

Have You Met Ted now has a forum to discuss How I Met Your Mother. Why should I decide what we talk about? With your intelligent, well thought-out, articulate commentary you guys are the real reason the site is a success. That’s why I want to give you all the opportunity to start discussions as well as participate in them.

If you visit the forum you’ll see that there is already some activity. A few days ago I sent out an email to some of the site’s top contributors and asked them to check out the forum and tell me what they thought. Imagine my surprise when I checked back and everyone had not only started topics but started topics that were all blog posts I’ve been meaning to write.

So check out the forum, sign up for an account, tell your friends, and let’s keep the discussion going. Anything goes, there are no rules. A few things to consider when making an account:

• A valid email address is required. Some of you like to use cute fake addresses when leaving comments. Make sure you use a real one here since activation is required. I promise I won’t spam you.
• If you’d like a better title than “member” send me a message or an email and I can change it to whatever you like. Some people are doing this already and I love the creativity. Who can come up with the best name?

Visit the forum »

Have-You-Met-Ted.com turns eight months old today. I posted Barney and Marshall have a Confrontation on September 1st last year. I didn’t know what the site would become, if anyone would read it, or if there were even that many other fans of the show out there. I just wanted to have some intelligent discussion about the show and couldn’t find a good place for it.Since then I’ve had 130,000 page views, 965 comments, 332 subscribers, and 162 posts (it feels like I’ve written 10x that). I’ve gotten a chance to get to know a number of intelligent, hilarious, and all around legendary fellow fans; launched a Facebook group, and helped a soldier in Iraq publicize his love for the show.

The show has also come a long way. When I started it had a cult following, and now it’s gone a lot more mainstream and gaining viewers every week. The world is starting to realize what we’ve known all along.

I want to thank you guys for all the comments and support for both the site and the show that you’ve shown over the past eight months. I hope you stick around, I’ve got more great stuff to come in the future.