The Virtual Symposium Returns: Let’s Pick A Topic!

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The virtual symposium represents some of the best ideals of the blogosphere – community, creativity, and fun. It’s time – some might say overdue – to hold another!

The twelfth virtual symposium (Participants List For The Twelfth Virtual Symposium International Intrigue) featured newbies, photos, erotica, personal memories, and all-around goodwill and support of fellow bloggers. Ready for the thirteenth? Let’s pick one topic from those listed below, and on the morning of Sunday, November 1 I’ll provide a central landing page which will have links to all contributors’ offerings. No matter which topic we ultimately choose, I hope folks will warp it as wildly as befits their personalities. Essays, fantasies, poems, image collages, other artwork – the more offbeat the interpretation, the better!

Be sure to leave a message on this blog indicating that you've made a . I get notifications here faster than through any other channel...

A note: While we’ll accept contributions all day, this site’s problems with links going live should come as a surprise to no one. The earlier folks post their contributions, the sooner, it seems, links go live.

Regarding the symposium itself, the only two rules are: A ) Please post as early on the chosen day as possible, to allow for maximum exposure (and, quite frankly, so I’m not glued to my desk all day), and B ) the posts should be entirely original, as opposed to commenting on other posts from the topic. Ideally, posts should be created beforehand, and put on the site on the designated day. (The comments sections, of course, would be fair game!)

A suggestion: Participants may want to refer to either the virtual symposium or the topic itself in their headline. Not a requirement – there are no requirements, save for originality and participation – but a suggestion which will let the wide blog community know what we’re doing. They should definitely let me know, once they’ve posted, that they’ve done so in the comments section on the blog: I get those notifications faster than through the site email system.

And… this is not a contest. No souvenir mugs will be sent, nor ribbons or bling awarded. The idea here is for those interested to, on a single day, offer an interpretation of a single topic for the sheer fun of it.

By all means, encourage other bloggers to participate – and to let me know they’re doing so through this post, so on November 1 I can link to their posts. Oh, and consider this permission – nay, encouragement – to pimp the symposium and link back to this post! I’d like to make sure folks interested in participating have the opportunity to do so. Pimp, pimp, pimp – and remember, pimping is a great way to influence your topic of choice.

Electioneering is perfectly legal, here… so feel free to leave reactions, persuasive arguments, and snide asides (about topics, but NOT bloggers) in the comments section below. Also: A comment or two here will increase the symposium’s visibility… and it would be nice to affirm what the blogosphere can be.

So what topic will we use for the next virtual symposium? I’ve listed four – I think they’re general enough that, whichever one we end up choosing, most folks should be comfortable offering reactions. At any rate, here are the choices. Feel free to electioneer in the comments, below, for any you find particularly compelling.

Voting for the topic will close at end-day on Sunday, October 25. Pimp this vote… and let’s get some newbies involved!

Participants are encouraged to note in their contributions that they’re part of a communal effort and provide a link to the central page (adding that link retroactively, after I’ve created the central page, would be very helpful). Doing so allows someone who stumbles on one individual’s blog item to enjoy as many of our pieces as he/she wants… and further strengthens a sense of virtual community.

Pimp that vote -- newbie participants are always welcome!