Mission Update

It's been too long since I did some writing, and too long since I've mocked Hubbard's inability to do the same.  I'm still mulling over whether I've got the right novel to work with or if I need to go back to my friendly local used book store, but one way or another I intend to spork something Soon™.  The question is how to go about that.  Blogger's recent adult policy near-miss is a bit alarming - I'm glad that they decided not to go through with shutting off all their adult blogs, but I'm also concerned that they came so close to doing so. 

I don't consider Mission Spork an adult blog - its purpose is not to titillate, but to post amateur literary criticism that is hopefully entertaining.  But in the process of doing that I quote the books directly, and a few of those chapters have content that, while not technically explicit or erotica, is pretty clearly adult (and/or offensive) and stuff that I wouldn't want any kids to read.  I'm not aware of any way to mark individual posts as adult, so the whole blog gets that designation instead.  And that's always annoyed me, that such a small minority of the nearly 700 posts in this thing have such an impact on the rest.

I can't complain too much - it's not like Blogger makes me pay for this hobby of mine - but I can't help but think about whether it would be better to make my own website elsewhere.  Problem is that I'm technically inept and easily angered by uncooperative devices, so that hypothetical website would be at the end of a long and bumpy road, and there's no guarantee that it wouldn't have a troublesome content policy either.

So here's the plan:

I'm going to go through Mission Spork and clean it up.  Beyond typos and formatting errors, if I come across any quotes containing adult or other offensive material, I'll summarize rather than repeat these naughty passages.  But if any brave souls are really curious about just what Hubbard thought lesbians get up to when the lights go out, those unedited passages will still be available through links to Mission Spork Uncensored, a sub-blog if you will.  Said sub-blog will be marked adult and serve as a dumping ground for any such content encountered in future sporkings, while Mission Spork itself will be free of the adult classification.

The self-censorship rankles, but being able to remove the stigma of an "adult" blog from one that's mostly terrible science fiction might make up for it.  Once that's done I'll move on with a new book to skewer, and maybe work in some more renovations (like page ads!  Those student loans don't pay off themselves).  And if I'm still not happy with the results, I'll see about finding hosting elsewhere.

So, after months of inactivity, things on this blog will be moving again.  Thank you for your patience during this intermission.

...Isn't is strange that this blog gets to be flagged "adult" for quoting content that a sixth grader could theoretically buy from any bookstore?