I am sure that there will be plenty of "controversy" and discussion about the recent changes here on Kingsnake.com. Some people will prefer if everything went back to the way it was, while others will hopefully embrace the changes.

I have to admit, one thing that has bothered my about KS for a long time is that the site seemed "stale". Nothing seemed to change and beyond being a site for a fair number of forums and perhaps the most well known herp classifieds online, there really wasn't much else to it. The worst part of all of this was that it didn't seem like the owners and moderators were in too much of hurry to make any changes either.

I'm not the kind of person who gets upset about being wrong. In fact, I look at it as a learning opportunity. This time, I'm ecstatic about being wrong! I really am! I am so HAPPY that Kingsnake.com finally took the leap into the "new" internet. Perhaps we should change the name to "interactivenet" (I didn't steal that from anyone, it just occurred to me now, so if it becomes big sometime in the future, I reserve the right to profit like crazy from the term! LOL!).

I'm sure there will be a few bugs here and there and some things are most definitely going to change and evolve over the coming weeks and months, but, by and large, the new Kingsnake.com should prove to be much more of an enjoyable experience for old and new members alike.

It seems that nearly every breeder with a website has started their own blogs detailing their breeding trials. I've never been a fan of such blogs. For me, they were always pretty boring and didn't really give me any more information than a simple table with detailing the genotype of both the Sire and Dam followed by the clutch or litter's genotypic results. Beyond that everything else seemed to be bragging and chest thumping.

Despite my negative experiences with personally owned reptile related blogs in general, I'm actually looking forward to Kingsnake's attempt at the public blog. Sure there will be plenty of people (both with and without their own personal websites) that will use the KS blog in the same-old, same-old manner as every other breeder out there. That's fine. I know there are plenty of people who enjoy those types of blogs. Due to their popularity the "breeding blog" seems to have become a website staple for nearly every reptile and amphibian breeder out there. I suppose a majority of keepers, breeders, and hobbyist enjoy reading these blogs otherwise they wouldn't be so prolific. Fair enough - to each their own.

I'm not sure how often I'll be typing up new entries for this, my very own Kingsnake.com blog. However, for the entries I do make I intend to put to a different use than the standard "breeding blog". I hopefully will be able to find the free time to be able to write about some of the topics that I find intriguing, interesting, important and (sometimes, maybe) even controversial. I don't intend to start arguments or get into flame wars with other members, but I do know that some of the things I write about won't be very popular with some people. I can't even be sure anyone else will even read my blog. I've been on KS for a long time now and I would think that a fair number of people have become at least somewhat familiar with my name at least.

For those that do know me, you know by now that I tend to ramble, sometimes, I rant, sometimes (okay, oftentimes) I end up going off on a tangent or two. That's just me. I try to type with the same cadence and tone as I speak so, sometimes, my entries can get a little "long-winded". I'm sure this has caused more than one person to decide to just skip my entries on the forums when they see them - like I said before - "So be it - to each their own".

One of the other reasons I usually write more than most other people when I respond to someone's inquiry is that I never take another person's experience level for granted. Since I don't know what someone else does and does not know or understand I prefer to err on the safe side. I do this by explaining everything as though I were explaining it to someone with little or no experience with their particular question or dilemma. Some may find my responses to be condescending, but I promise, it is never my intention to come across as either prideful or arrogant. I'm simply trying my best to explain everything in as much detail as possible. I figure that only one in twenty members actually post messages. The other nineteen simply "lurK" in the background, reading the various posts that they find interesting and gleaming what they can from the experience, questions and responses of other members. Even if my response to a member's question contains more information than the original poster requires, there is sure to be a lurker or two who has less experience and will be able to (hopefully) learn something new from the various responses that people post. I'm writing my responses for those people who lurk just as much as I'm writing for the original poster.

See, I've done it again, I've gone off on a tangent. I began this by discussing the new (and in my opinion - improved) Kingsnake.com and ended up discussing (and somewhat defending) my style of writing and response. I suppose this just supports my claim that I write as if I were having a verbal discussion and like verbal discussions the topic tends to slowly morph and jump from one subject to the next.

Well, I think that is enough for my first blog entry. Like I said, I'm not exactly sure when I'll add another, but I've already have a few topics I'd like to discuss. Perhaps, this blog will end up being a discussion of sorts. If that happens, if I decide to allow comments, all I ask is that people keep their remarks civil. We won't all agree on every topic and I'm sure there will be times where all will have to "agree to disagree" and leave it at that.

Until next time,

-B-