April 2021 Update and Announcements

The latest updates on the site, including a FAQ, financial transparency, social media accounts, and exciting news.

April 2021 Update and Announcements

Hello everyone!

Some quick admin updates for you all. I know nothing gets the heart racing with excitement like the words "admin updates" so I'll try to be quick. Well quick for me. You know how it is. OR DO YOU?

Ahem. Which is to say first update is hello new subscribers! We've had new folks join us and also folks who upgraded their subscriptions to paid ones. Hello and thank you to you all for your support!

Speaking of support, the Ko-Fi donation page has been updated to include a goal tracker. This way there can be more transparency about how we're doing with money and where said money is going. The current goal is one year's worth of web hosting. If/when that gets fulfilled it'll be updated with the next expense item on the list.

Not that we're running up huge expenses here, I just like being clear so you know I'm not spending all the money on a marathon session in a pile of kittens or something. Much though that would be awesome.

Ko-Fi donors also get access to the super special behind the scenes Bonus Content for them and for paid subscribers. So those of you who have recently donated and/or upgraded to a paid subscription should feel free to check out what's there already. You'll get notification when new content goes live so long as you have your donor/paid subscriber status.

On the topic of updates, the site now has a FAQ to answer such questions as "Who are you?" "What do I get if I donate or upgrade to a paid subscription?" and "You claim the Bonus Content includes pet pictures but can you promise that your pets are cute?"

Only the important information here, my friends. As is right and proper.

In full disclosure news, I'm experimenting with adding affiliate links to the site. While I don't like ads (again, ad blockers are your friend) my main issue with affiliate links is that I didn't think to sign up for them. Ahem. So yeah you'll see those scattered about now as appropriate. Current examples of articles which have been updated with affiliate links are here, here, and here. Basically all things I was talking about and linking to anyway, so hopefully shouldn't be obtrusive.

In social media news, TBQ Talks now has a Facebook Page. Feel free to go give it a like if you hang out on Facebook. As a reminder, I'm also on Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest so please feel free to follow any and all of those as well.

You will especially want to follow on social media because last and certainly not least is the announcement of fan appreciation shout outs! This is a way to give a show of thanks to all subscribers, followers, and so on for doing something to help out the site regardless of their subscriber status. In other words, it's a way to thank people for helping even if they can't do so financially.

Such actions can include but are not limited to:

  • Sharing articles you like on social media
  • Signal boosting the site in general
  • Bringing topics to my attention which might make good articles or references for articles (regardless of whether or not I use them)
  • Encouraging positive, constructive conversations on the various social media accounts
  • Giving good quotes about the site and/or articles that could be used for reviews
  • Telling me my hair looks good even if you have literally never seen it
  • Telling my pets that they ARE adorable, yes they ARE!
  • And any other number of things which indicate you are a nifty person who brings a smile to my face whenever I see your name pop up on my timeline. Though somehow in relation to the site because otherwise it's just weird. I mean I appreciate it in general but the award is more site related. I'm not carrying these around to hand out to strangers. They already think I'm weird enough, or that's what my anxiety tells me.

ANYWAY.

The shout outs will be decided by a completely unscientific method of who did what that stood out to me and is it on a timeline of some kind (for instance if an action is in relation to an article I'd want to show appreciation soon after the article was posted). They will be announced on the aforementioned Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts so it's certainly worth following at least one of them. Shout outs will be of the winner's social media handle as its known to me. So for example if I only know your Twitter handle I'll only use that, but if I know your Twitter and Instagram handles I'll adjust accordingly.

As this relates to the site it shall fall under the name of - wait for it, this is a good one and I'm really proud -

THE TBQ KREWE!

Eh? Eh?? Get it? It rhymes and it's a New Orleans thing and it RHYMES!

Which means that the shout outs will be - seriously wait it because this is awesome -

THE TBQ KREWE THANK YOU!

IS THAT NOT THE BEST? I know you love it, don't even lie. You're sitting there like "My God that is the best thing ever and merely reading it has cheered me more than most if not all major world religions and anything that the producers of the Big Bang Theory put on my TV screen which let's admit is damning with faint praise but is still true."

I know. And you are correct. Also good looking.

So yeah, keep your eye out for those as the first one will be announced this week. Again purely unscientific method but if you do something on social media and want to be sure I see it either tag my social media handles listed above and/or use the hashtag #TBQKrewe to increase the odds that the algorithms of the various sites don't hide your awesomeness from me.

And that is all for now. If you have any questions let me know, otherwise see you in the next articles.

Bye!