laura, i can't believe how fast you are working! this site looking better and better every second! during the time it took me to ask this question in a blog post, you put a poll up! wow!

can we have some kind of recommended diaries that go on the front page. so the selection is not by who posts, but by our vote on the content of the post?

I vote for meritocratic promotion of posts by member rating, if possible. Here is why I feel that way. I feel that those of you who are posting often will be made to work a little harder to earn the front page (unless your totally brilliant of course and not simply being given front page "rights" due to some familial relation or somesuch). And i think it also levels the playing field for those occasional posters who don't post much, but when they do, come on like banshee gangbusters. So, merit merit merit. Let the front page be open to all, based on member vote and let the members choose. Maybe we'll all work a little harder and also not end up feeling left out because we're "not front page types so why bother even when we're good".

Binti Pamoja

...nobody takes care of them, they must take care of each other... Judy, 18

As I write this, 50% of the votes say everything should go on the front page. 33% say a select group should be able to post directly to the front page. 17% say "other" without elaboration.

My own preference is to have a small group of women post on the front page to keep it fresh -- otherwise everyone has to go digging in the sidebars for anything new.

However, with posting not overwhelming, and given the 50% preference so far, I'm going to follow the numbers and change the workflow so that all posts end up on the front page. We can see how that goes. If the voting changes (and anyone can edit their own vote) or we start to get buried in content, we can change it.

But let's put everything front and center. Why not? We deserve it! (Especially on our own site!)

The voting will stay in place, and can be used to downrate a troll, should one crawl in.