Problems with Blogger.

Hi All,
The Blogger service seems to have had a serious system issue in the last few days.  They deleted tens of thousands of posts across all blogs using the blogger system and in restoring them they seem to have pushed a number of older posts up the list.  At the same time I have been editing the labels on old posts as part of a wider project that is currently ongoing.  As a result anything I edited in the last few days got deleted and then restored with yesterday's date.  Therefore you may have seen posts from 2006 suddenly popping up again.  I have fixed these and hopefully blogger have fixed their system.

Thanks
Colm

Back from Holidays

Hi,
You may have noticed that posts have been a little lacking in recent days.  I was away on a brief holiday for a few days.  As a result I have a mountain of e-mails and articles to catch up on.  I'll post as much as I can now but if you sent me an update and I missed it apologies.  Please send it on again.

Colm

Shortlisted in the Irish Blog Awards

After two or three years of being nominated we have finally made it from being nominated to being shortlisted in the Specialist blog categry.  Brian Cowen being good enough to hold the Irish Election and accompaning debates at the same time as the judging for the short list certainly helped catch the attention of the judges and I hope they saw other things they liked here.

I'm not sure how one goes from the shortlist to the final but fingers crossed.  There are some strong blogs on the list but you never know...

Blogger oops

A couple of posts I had half written with a mind to publishing in the next few days got pubished this morning even though they had dates out in the future and should only have scheduled.  Apologies for any confusion caused by references to last year's worlds.  It looks like the issue is fixed in blogger now and scheduling is working.  I'll tidy them up and post them.  To the person who posted a comment on one I'll include the comment and the suggestion.

Back on line

I was offline for most of the last 10 days so lots of stuff to catch up on.  Over 1000 articles in the debate section of my Google reader.  I'll scan through them and post anything interesting.

Updating Template

I'm playing with some new templates for this blog.  I don't have one that I have ready to just slot in. Therefore I'm experimenting with it a little as I go.  Therefore if you see some strange things over the next couple of days that's probably me messing with the settings.

If you have any suggestions of stuff to add (or take out) let me know.

Delays in posting

I have been a little slow in updating the site in recent weeks.  I've just been very busy at work and with an 11 month old at home.  Keep sending in the updates and I'll try to be faster in updating them.

Back on line

This Blog been a little quite lately. This is mainly due to the fact that for the past 8 days I have been on top of an Austrian mountain with what I would charitably describe as "poor" internet access.

I will post a few catch up articles. If you sent me something to post to the site and I don’t publish it please send it again as it is more than likely lost in the mountain of e-mails.

On holiday

Hi all,
Just a quick note to say that posts will be a little sparse this week.

I am on top of a mountain in Bulgaria with very limited internet access.

I will post when I can but that may not be as frequent as normal as it all has to go through my N95 and very expensive roaming rates.

Assuming I get through the weeks skiing lessons without a not so nice tree hugging experience (and today saw a few near misses) full service will resume next Sunday.
Colm

Update: back safe from the trip. For anyone looking for a good ski trip as a beginner I would highly recommend Bulgaria. And internet access isn't as bad as I thought. On the final night I discovered the internet cafe in the hotel across the road from ours.

Nominated for Irish Blog Awards

This site has made it onto the long (in some cases VERY long) list for consideration in the Irish Blog Awards.

We have been nominated for Best Blog

We have been nominated for Best Specialist Blog

As you may recall we got nominated last year but didn't make it to the final short list. Fingers crossed this year that the intelligent, good looking and extremely talented judges will put us through this year.

Some of my favourite blogs that I have on my Google Reader also made it onto their long lists. While they are not strictly debate related I'll make an exception and post some of them.

Italian Foodies (My favourite Italian take away. They have put up lots of excellent recepies. Anyone coming to Limerick for the IV at the end of February should check this place out as it is a 5 minute walk from the front gate of the University.)

Ice Cream Ireland (Well after all that Italian food.....)

The Limerick Blogger

Pricewatch

Irish Blog Awards

Nominations for the Irish Blog awards are open for 2008. If you would like to nominate this blog then visit http://awards.ie/blogawards/nominations/.

I think this blog best fits in the "Best Specialist Blog" category. You don't have to nominate in every category but if you know of any other Irish run blogs then feel free to nominate.

Website fixed

I finally got around to uploading the up to date version of the site to flynn.debating.net.

Apologies for the delay and it should all be working as normal now.

Website update

The good people at debating.net have fixed my log on (thanks guys).

However things have been further complicated by the fact that I am currently in the process of moving house. Internet access has been switched off at our old house in Limerick and has not yet been switched on in the new house in Ardfinnan. Three months after applying I don't even have a connection date which, knowing the track record of eircom (our internet provider) means it will most likely be the new year before it gets set up.

Therefore please ignore the strange old main site at flynn.debating.net. For the moment it is best to go straight to the blog at worlddebating.blogspot.com. I will re-upload the newer version of the website to debating.net when I have access but I'm not sure when that will be.

Continue to send me (or any of the contributors) updates you would like to see posted to the site. I have e-mail access through my N95 and will post the updates when I get a chance.

Colm

update: Now that my log on is fixed I actually might have a plan to update the website without having broadband at home. I'll try to get out to the University of Limerick tomorrow and avail of their wireless internet.

Website update

The guys in Debating.net have got the site back up. However it looks like they had to restore an old version from around 18 months ago so the site looks a little strange. Also my log on isn't restored yet but hopefully it will be soon and I'll upload the newer version of the site.

Web issues

As you may have noticed we are still having some issues with the site. The blog part is working fine but some of the links and images are down. I'm trying to get it fixed. Apologies and bear with us.

Website issues.

The main site (flynn.debating.net) seems to be down at the moment. It looks like the guys at debating.net are doing some work on it as some of debating.net is working (they are usually very quick at fixing any problems). I hope it will be back up soon. In the meantime please use worlddebating.blogger.com and bear in mind that some images, backrounds and links around the site may not work.

Updates to site

As some of you may have noticed I've been changing the format of the site. Now the links on the left have been built into the blog instead of on a separate page. I hope that it will add a more uniform look to the main page and make things easier to update. (After the day I've had trying to migrate everything over to the blog it better be easier from here on).

Update on the Blog Awards

I meant to post an update on the blog awards. Unfortunatly we didn't make it to the short list but thanks to all those who voted. The eventual winner chosen from the short list by the judges was a site on Ice Cream so hard to compete with that I suppose.

Thanks to all of those who voted.

Contributors still required.

As you may have seen I have recently added some contributors to the website to mark its 10 year anniversary. I am very pleased with the people I have on board but I'm still keen to get some more if possible so that the site has a strong flavour of news from around the world.

At the moment the list is as follows (with the areas they can provide strongest cover for)

Chris Bishop – New Zealand AIDA & Australasians
Mark Dowling – Canada/Ireland
Kenneth Flemming – South Korea & All Asians
Colm Flynn – Ireland & IONA
Anat Gelber – Israel & Central Europe
Derek Lande – Ireland, IONA & Worlds 2009
Ian Lising – USA Worlds council
Logan – Malaysia, Asia & Australasians
Manos Moschopoulos – Greece Balkans & East Mediterranean
Justice Motlhabani – Botswana & Southern Africa
Vinay Kumar Mysore – Canada
Rashedul Hasan Stalin – Bangladesh & South Asia

Some obvious gaps at the moment are USA (APDA, NPDA, IPDA etc), England & Scotland, Australia and the Philippines but I'm sure there are others.

If you are interested in joining it is still not too late (and to be honest probably never will be too late). Just send me an e-mail with the region you can cover and a little about your debating backround. Contrary to rumour I haven't had to turn anyone away so far and the Debating CV is just a check to make sure I don't give any spammers access.

Anat Gelber joins the Team

The latest addition to the contributors to this site is Anat Gelber. Anat has broken at two Europeans in both the main competition and the ESL. She was also best ESL speaker at Worlds in Dublin. She has broken as a judge at Worlds and Europeans. Anat can provide more updates from Israeli and European competitions and I am very pleased to welcome her to the team.