I'm sure most of the "regulars" have noticed by now, but there have been some major changes to the site over the last week or so. For those who are interested, here's the run-down of the changes:

The Somni-Store
Well, ask and ye shall receive, or so the saying goes. many people have requested poppies.org t-shirts in the past, so I've gone one better, and thank's to bla-bla (more on that later), you can now get poppies.org T-Shirts, Poppy Tea Mugs, and Mousepads in the poppies.org Somni-Store. So buy one today! All proceeds from sales go towards supporting the site.

The FAQ Project Goes Public
Despite the fact that it is still very much in its infancy, I've made the Opium Poppy FAQ available for public viewing. There's not much in there now, but you can change that -- if you would like to join in the fun and become a contributor to the faq project, email faq@poppies.org and I'll set you up with an account on the contribution system. If we all work together, we can make the FAQ project a success.

Site Revamp
This took one helluva long time. Since the site had just been admitted to bla-bla, and I needed to add some advertising code to the site, I thought I'd take the opportunity to streamline the HTML, change the formatting somewhat, and convert the site to being template and CSS based for easy updating in the future. Well, this was a much larger task than I originally thought, and a couple sleepless nights were the end result. Now though, I think the site looks a lot better. I've re-arranged the site's structure to make the URL's more organized, added the somni-store and the FAQ, moved the bookstore link to the main nav menu, made the top navbar smaller, replaced the superfluous logos with smaller ones integrated into the navigation system, and re-arranged all of the tables to accomodate users with lower resolutions better. Not to mention creating a site-wide template so I can update the site more easily in the future. Phew, what a job that was. But now it's done, and I'm pleased with the results.

Joining Bla-Bla
On a whim, I applied to join the bla-bla.com network of sites. They're a fairly exclusive advertising network that provides tonnes of support and resources for their webmasters. I was pleasantly surprised that I was not only accepted, but indeed welcomed into their program with open arms. The bla-bla people have been great so far, with a whole host of nice folks lending a hand, even offering to host poppies.org for free -- although I'm not taking them up on the offer at this point, as I have my own arrangements for the time being.

Bla-Bla came just in time too, as I just received this letter from my previous advertising network, whom I might add never made any contact with me whatsoever after joining until the letter they sent kicking me out:

Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 12:40:01 -0500
To: "poppies.org"
Subject: Account Termination

We have recently reviewed your web site. Unfortunately, the acceptance of your site into the Network was in error. Amazing Media does not accept sites containing content relevant to any illegal activity. While your site does not actively promote the use of opium, your forum area does contain discussion of the use of poppies for making opium.

Please remove all [ad program name removed] ads from your web site immediately. You will be paid for your earnings for October and November. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns.

So, it looks like bla-bla made their move just in time, or poppies.org would be one po' site. Not that I run this site for the purposes of making a quick buck, but I've got bills to pay, and considering all of the effort involved in maintaining poppies.org, I don't think you can blame me for wanting to at least break even.

At any rate, like I said before, bla-bla provides lots of support to its member sites, and part of that was providing the ability to set up the ol' somni-store thats now part of the site. They're also going to work hard to promote poppies.org, and find advertisers willing to sponsor poppies.org. So when you see any ads here, you can rest assured that the company you are seeing is not afraid of the concept of freedom of speach on the internet. Kudos to them.

New Forums
On a side note, a couple of new forums have been added -- "Privacy and Encryption" and "Chronic Pain". Post your PGP keys in the privacy forum right away! The Chronic Pain forum was created to serve the large number of users suffering from intractable pain conditions that have discovered poppies.org over the last few months. A "Chronic Pain" category has also been added to the Links section of the site, so feel free to add any relevant links to the list!

Regards,

The Rev. Ayatollah Jones
poppies.org admin