Site History
About five years ago, I started a blog called the Grayson Buzz which was a scattershot site that dealt with a variety of issues of local, state and national focus. While publishing that blog, I soon came to realize that most of my traffic came from people looking for information on Gwinnett County issues. There are many news sites, opinion sites and blogs that discuss national issues but there was and remains a paucity of sites that focus solely on Gwinnett County. My hope was that the Buzz could fill that void and keep a finger on the pulse of this dynamic county. Thus, I decided that I would start a new blog that would focus solely on this target interest with articles that would not shy away from taking strong positions.
On April 10, 2008 the Gwinnett Buzz was born. I originally launched the site as a Wordpress blog, my first experience on that platform. While Wordpress provided a lot of flexiblity, I continually fought bugs and formatting issues across different browers. I attempted to fix these problems, but I had no real experience with the formatting languages used for the various Wordpress templates I tried. The unsatisfactory look of the site demoralized me and, along with increasing demands on my time, led to a slowdown in activity on the Buzz. Recently, however, listening to my favorite podcaster, Leo Laporte on his TWiT Network, I learned of the web hosting service, Squarespace.com. I decided to check out the service and I quickly found a solution to all the frustrations I was having with the look of the Gwinnett Buzz. Reengergized, I moved the Buzz to Squarespace, tweaked the site layout and relaunched the Buzz on February 7, 2011. With the power of my new platform, I am again excited about the possibilities for the Buzz moving forward. Adding new features as well as evolving the site design will be much easier with Squarespace. I am ready to put the Buzz back on its previous trajectory of becoming one of the leading web voices in Gwinnett.
Due to my interest in computing, I try to stay informed about the latest trends in independent media that have been enabled by modern Internet technologies. If you are not familiar with some of the features and functionality of the relaunched site, I hope the Buzz will introduce you to the world of Web 2.0 and will empower you to get involved and make a difference for the betterment of Gwinnett County. The Internet provides everyday citizens a platform to make a difference so that we cannot be dismissed by a community's traditional power brokers.
Comments Policy
I strongly encourage feedback to my articles. Even for those that may disagree, discourse is always welcome. However, I do have a few simple rules that I intend to enforce for the Gwinnett Buzz:
- All anonymous comments will be moderated: While I would prefer that you create a login name and participate in the Buzz community, I do not mandate that. You do not have to use your full name. You do not even have to use a real name - a handle is fine. However, if you want to leave an anonymous comment on the Buzz, your comment will not be published until I moderate it. I will not be looking to censor opposing views. However, I will ensure that your comment is civil per the guidelines below and does not lead the Buzz down the path to flame wars that characterize so many politcal blogs.
- No foul or abusive language: I will not tolerate comments on this site that include profanity or abusive attacks on individuals or groups of people. Even when being critical of someone or some group, all discourse on the Buzz will be civil.
- No spam: If mentioning a business or web site is pertinent to the topic, I welcome such information to be posted. However, comments that are nothing more than spam will not be posted or removed. Repeated spam will result in having your access barred.
Of course, as operator of this blog, I reserve the right to suspend or change the above rules on an individual or wholesale basis entirely at my discretion.
Thanks for visiting! I hope you enjoy your visit to the Gwinnett Buzz and that you find yourself enriched from the information and opinions you will find here!