Search-Powered Web Apps

Jay is one of those Lijit publishers that has been with us from the beginning. With each new blog he starts, he installs our search application and continues to amuse us with his variety of antics. Besides his personal blog, Jay also writes about Denver’s finest dive bars on The BarDiver and about the worst that Netflix has to offer on Flix Flops. (Our own Derek Greentree helps Jay with the movie reviews occasionally.)

Jay was kind enough to answer a few questions and shed some light on his motivation for blogging. Enjoy getting to know Jay, better known to his Twitter posse as Skabber.

How long have you been blogging and what got you started?

I just looked back and found a post from October 24th, 2002. Before then I had a “personal web page” but I don’t think it was considered a blog. I started to blog because I got this new phone called a Sidekick that could send email and attach pictures. I thought it would be fun to write a script that would catch emails sent from the phone and post them to the web.

What is the greatest thing you’ve gotten from blogging?

Meeting people who have read my posts. It’s rare, but on a few occasions I have met someone and had them say, “Oh, I know you. I’ve read your post about…” It’s always shocking when I find out that there are really people out there who have read my posts.

What’s your favorite post ever?

This is really hard to answer. Aren’t posts like your children and you’re not supposed to play favorites?

I just finished a post about my experience building a fixed gear bicycle out of an old 10 speed. It was fun to be working on a tangible thing and be able to write about it. Most of my blog posts are about programming or software, so this was a new experience for me.

And since we’re not playing favorites, can I choose another? This was a post I wrote about an idea I had for the Django web framework. It got a great response and in less than a month was officially part of the project.

You’ve established an entire site devoted to Denver’s dive bars and the people who frequent them. What’s your favorite dive bar?

OK, so maybe we are playing favorites. This question is one of the reasons I created BarDiver.com. I wanted people to be able to let others know about their favorite bars and discover new ones. My favorite bar is The Whiskey Bar, a great corner bar 2 blocks from where I live. They have lots of whiskey, friendly bartenders, a relaxed atmosphere and a great location (for me). You can see the other bars I visited here.

How has Lijit helped you as a blog publisher?

I love the Lijit search wijit. It is so much better than using the default search feature that comes with most blogging platforms. It allows people to not only search for posts on one blog but through all of the content I have posted on all the other social sites that I use. Plus, as someone who has written my own blog software in the past, it saves me the trouble of coding the search feature. Another favorite of mine is the Re-Search feature. It’s so cool that people can come to my blog from a Google search and see a list of other posts relevant to what they searched.

We appreciate Jay’s support and the fact that he is our first drinking widget. Perhaps, after seeing pictures of Jay, you’re thinking that he seems awfully familiar. Well, if you’ve ever flipped through a SkyMall on a flight, then chances are you have seen Jay before. He is none other than the famous Slanket model extraordinaire. So, if you’ve ever been tempted to purchase a hands-free blanket while at 35,000 feet, remember to thank Jay for making it look so good.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Lijit publishers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.