Changes to the site

Just a small bit of housekeeping to get through here; firstly, the blog celebrates an anniversary today – in the month since it was properly launched it has received more than 6,000 individual hits, so a big thank you is due on Southern Fried’s part to everyone who has visited and got the venture off to a great start. I can only hope I keep the content interesting enough to ensure you all keep coming back! Secondly, there have been a few notable changes to the site, which reflect both necessity and the fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-and-learn-as-you-go-along mantra which saw me dive headfirst into blogging without knowing the slightest thing about it. They are, in no particular order: Email subscription and RSS Southern Fried is now available via email subscription, which means you get any new content sent to your inbox once it is published on the site. You can subscribe by clicking here or following the link under the ‘Subscribe’ heading in the sidebar. Alternatively, those of you who are familiar with RSS feeds can subscribe to the blog by clicking here or clicking the RSS link located at the top of the sidebar. I’ve also included the RSS feeds from The Hook and EuroHockey for those interested in reading what’s going on elsewhere in the hockey world, and I’m looking to expand this feature, so please let me know what you’d like to see in this regard. Full league tables and results archive While all results – and goalscorers where available – will be posted alongside the relevant match reports or roundups, I’ve also started a results archive here that will be updated throughout the season. The permanent link can be accessed under the ‘Pages’ section of the sidebar. In addition, I’ve scrapped the IHL and MSL Div 1 league tables – which catered just for games played and points accrued – from the sidebar in favour of compiling more comprehensive tables, which can be viewed here or in the ‘League tables’ link under the ‘Info’ section of the sidebar. Links I finally got around to dividing up the links section; the links to hockey-related websites are now separate from the blogroll, which is a very random list of other blogs I read or subscribe to. However, during the, ahem, intensive Googling process that led me to the sites of the various clubs, I noticed that many were months and sometimes years out of date, but seemed to be the only web resource for the clubs concerned. If you can direct me to a more up-to-date online home for your club, please do so be leaving a comment or emailing musterhockeyblog(at)gmail(dot)com. Comments Perhaps it’s because Southern Fried is a little bit too sheltered, but I love receiving comments on the site; it’s a small affirmation that this is all worthwhile, and one of the aims of the blog is to stimulate debate. However, allowing these on the site is a bit of a minefield – many will remember that PlanetFieldHockey’s demise came about partially due to the libellous and defamatory nature of some of the comments posted there. While Southern Fried moderates all comments before allowing them to be posted on the site for this reason, members of the hockey community have expressed concern at the potential for disaster here, due to the fact that the majority of those leaving comments do so anonymously. As already outlined here, I’d like to – naively, perhaps – repeat the appeal for people to stand behind their opinions; the debates will be far more constructive and worthwhile if this is the case. How can the site be further improved? While the aforementioned amendments have been made – and more will inevitably follow – Southern Fried is only one man, and I’m always open to suggestions from readers as to what they’d like to see on the site. I’ve been kicking a few ideas around the living room in the past few weeks, which may see the light of day here in the future, but in the meantime, if you’ve any ideas for features, interviews or whatever, please let me know via the contact channels outlined above. Without getting all teary-eyed and gushing about it, this blog exists to serve the hockey community, so I want to know what those within it want to read about. Keep reading and thanks again for your support so far! Southern Fried