3 More Discussions

1) Of Comments and Commenting

I know you're out there.

Writing a blog, especially a group blog such as this one, isn't the easiest thing in the world. Even with the schedule we've ironed out letting us all get away with only posting once a week, sometimes it's hard to get motivated. Primary amongst the issues which can cause a lack of get-up-and-go regarding typing something up is the nagging thought that no one is paying attention. When you spend a lot of time thinking up a post, in many cases doing research or interviews to make sure you know what you're talking about and sound reasonably well-informed only to garner little to no reaction, it can be more than a little discouraging.

According to the daily statistics we get here regarding web traffic, we get around 100 visitors a day to our little site here. When you look back on the amount of comments we receive on average, and then subtract those that come from other Gentlemen . . . you end up with not a lot of comments. So we know you're reading, but you're not saying anything. Does that mean you don't enjoy what you read? Or you do, and therefore don't feel compelled to remark further? Are you talking to us individually about our posts but not putting anything on the blog itself? Unless you leave a comment we never know.

So with our handy daily stats sheet we know you're reading, but we have no idea if you care or not. For a writer, especially one seeking to put out something new you'll hopefully enjoy once a week, that's pretty rough to deal with. All I'm saying is, if you like what we're doing here, and you want us to keep feeling like we should do it, it wouldn't hurt if you dropped a comment every now and then. Tell your friends about us, so they can come read and see if they have something to say. The little blurb on the side isn't just being friendly, we sincerely do want to hear from you. We don't want to just talk to ourselves here - we really do encourage discussion.

So help support a Gentleman. Show that you care.


2) Getting My Money's Worth

Some of you may be aware, some of you may not, but I recently added another blog to my repertoire. Rest assured, it will not interfere with my gentlemanly duties. I have spent a considerable amount of money in the course of my life on video games, and yet in retrospect, received relatively little entertainment compared to the number of games I own. This is largely because I, like many others, bought a game thinking I would enjoy it, and then let it sit on my shelf, unplayed, for years.

Thus I, with two friends in similar situations, started The Backlog. The single goal is to make it through all these forgotten titles and make the money spent on them count for something. We're not writing reviews per say, but chronicling what it is that made us buy these games in the first place only to promptly ignore them, and what it's like to go back to them after all this time. There's a lot of good stuff up there already, and you can count on looking forward to more. Check it out at http://backloggers.blogspot.com

And while doing so, it wouldn't hurt you to remember my first discussion.


3) Happy Birthday

And finally, I'd like to extend a warm birthday to my mother. Her exact age is a secret, even from the federal government, so I am not at liberty to divulge it here. However, in the time she has been with us here, whatever the amount of it may be, she has left her mark. More than the four children she raised, much of the time by herself, she has dedicated herself to aiding those down on their luck and desperately in need of someone to help them out. She works for the Prevention Council, a non-profit social services agency, and spends every day finding underprivileged women and helping them get the assistance they need finding work, caring for their children, and paying their bills. It has been a dozen years since she began, and the state of New York is now laden with families who owe their ability to get by to the hard work of my mother.

She is a remarkable woman in every sense of the word. She has been all that I could ask for in a mother, and all I could aspire to in a human being. Happy birthday, Mom. I love you, and I hope you have a truly wonderful day.

Also, her birthday was actually yesterday, so just pretend I posted this then.

Dear Gentle Readers and Scholars

We at These Gentlemen are enthused at the amount of growth we've made these past few months. A large part of that growth is because of readers like you who support us and check in day in and out for daily content and entertainment. We appreciate your loyalty and support. Because of you, a lot of changes are coming to These Gentlemen - including our own domain name, a new and original logo, our grand-spanking new Gentlemen in Residence program (and other programs coming soon), and the grand move to WordPress! We'll be making the leap soon and we want you to be there when we do. We, seriously, wouldn't be here without you.

"Oz, that's great. We're so glad things are going well for These Gentlemen. What else can we do?"
- Glad you asked, let me tell you. Comment. Please. We want to hear what you have to say. And the more you say, the better the experience is for readers and writers alike. Commenting is the best way you can provide your support and is the only way we can create lively discussions and debates. The more you comment, the better we look. And, the better we look, the more content we'll be able to bring you on a regular basis. Which leads to more commenting. It just makes everything better and better.

"But, Oz, I haven't agreed with a single thing posted today (or, if you'd rather, ever). I would comment, but I don't want to be read as attacking."
- Outside of blatant hate-speech, These Gentlemen is not going to be offended by anything you have to say or any viewpoint you may have. We're not better than you (nor do we think we are) and your perspectives are just as valid as ours. These Gentlemen have two goals: 1) to entertain and 2) to instigate discourse. We're not posting manifestos, nor do we believe that we are infallible. We're just opinionated and we want to share those opinions with the world. Part of that process is interacting with the people who disagree. There's nothing you could say that's going to discourage us from posting (in fact, we'll probably just post more). I can promise you that we won't back down easily.

"Actually, I want to be attacking."
- I have one word for you: Awesome. Seriously, if you have put enough emotional investment into our little site to warrant an all out, textual attack based on something we've posted - These Gentlemen say bring it on. We consent. We invite you to attack us. This fuels our fire. It feeds our beast. We live for this. Contradict us with what you know. Knock us down to the rest of the world. Call us out and crush us under your mighty heels. Trust me - we can handle whatever you can dish at us. Just keep it on the internet and don't do it anonymously. We'll listen to anything you have to say if you stand behind it. That's all we ask.

"Eh, I actually don't really read your website. I don't know why I'm here and have no clue why I've read this far."
- I'm sorry you feel that way. Click around and see if it works for you. If it doesn't, let us know what isn't working and we'll do our best to improve. We'd much rather have you as a reader than not. Leave a comment on our blog or e-mail me or Jason Heat (or any other Gentleman, if you have our contact information) at ozkirbas@gmail.com or jschlaf@gmail.com, respectively. That's the best thing you could possibly do for us.

Thanks everyone for reading and thank you again for your support. You can look forward to much more to follow from These Gentlemen in the near future.

Yours Truly,

Ozkirbas (and the rest of These Gentlemen)