I recently noticed a peculiar quirk on several blogs I read that are part of the Law Professor Blog Network (LPBN). No matter how many contributing authors a blog has, all posts on each site seemed to be signed within the system by the same author.

This isn't obvious if you read these blogs directly on the LPBN website. That's because the system author name doesn't display anywhere on the sites. Instead, each author manually signs his or her post within the body text, usally at the end. Thus, it's clear that each of these blogs is, in fact, being updated regularly by more than one author.

The problem is, I consume blogs via Google Reader, meaning that what I see is dependent upon what's in a blog's RSS feed. In the case of LPBN sites, the RSS feed shows the author of each post not as who signed it at the end of the post body, but instead as the account name with which the the post was submitted. In the case of the Law Librarian Blog, it's always editor Joe Hodnicki. On Law School Innovation, it's a more generic "LS Innovation Editor." On ContractsProf Blog, it's "lpbncontracts."

To make matters worse, these RSS feeds only display a teaser for each post, not the entire post, so I only see the system author because each article is clipped long before the tell-tale signature at the end.

Not all LPBN sites have this same authoring discrepancy. For example, ADR Prof Blog includes the author name from the system in its theme, and it reflects the actual post author. Consequently, the actual author is also included in the blog's RSS feed.

I'm not sure why this problem exists. Is it due to some sort of licensing restriction on TypePad? If each blog in the network is being paid for separately by its editors/authors, that may actually be the case, as both the Basic and Plus plans offered by the company restrict a blog to a single author. The Pro Plan and above all offer unlimited authors. Thus, perhaps Law Librarian Blog, Law School Innovation and ContractsProf Blog are all on the Plus plan, while ADR Prof Blog is on the Pro plan. Or perhaps ADR Prof Blog isn't even on TypePad, as it has its own unique domain name and no reference to TypePad appears anywhere in the page source. (Law Librarian Blog, Law School Innovation and ContractsProf Blog, however, are all definitely on TypePad.)

Does anyone have any insight about this?

Having decided to use this site as my new blogging headquarters, it raised some interesting questions about what to do with the archives from my other blogs. I have over three years worth of posts at No True Bill and another couple years at Library Laws. This amounts to roughly 500 posts. While I have no interest in keeping those sites around, there are a lot of posts -- and comments -- that I'd like to preserve.

With that in mind, I decided to migrate all the posts that I want to keep onto this site. In fact, posts from No True Bill are already here. Library Laws should follow soon. But these archives won't be complete. After importing NTB, I deleted about a third of the posts. For better or worse, I felt there was simply no value to be had in keeping a post that announced I'd take a short break from blogging in May 2005. And while it was fun at the time, that quiz I took in 2006 that told me which Led Zeppelin song I most resembled really serves no real purpose on this site.

A big part of this decision to manitain only a partial archive is the fact that my name now sits in both the title and URL of this site. When I started NTB, I hid my identity (though a clever investgator would've had little trouble figuring out who I was). Now, however, I intend for this site to be part of my "first life" identity. So if a prospective employer Googles me, they'll probably find this site. Given that possibility, a post entitled "Katie Couric Is an Idiot," while incredibly insightful, might not be the exact tone I want for tom boone dot com.

Library Laws, on the other hand, will see far less excision. After all, that was a professional blog, and my name was included on it quite prominently. While a post advertising a long ago filled librarian position might be removed, my writing from that site will remain intact.

Of course an additional wrinkle to that transition is that posts written by LL's other author, Josh, will not become part of this archive but will instead most likely move to his own blog, meaning that site will see its archives split between two separate websites.

The biggest remaining problem I foresee, however, is broken links. Once these old sites come down in a month or two, anyone who linked to NTB and LL will find themselves no longer pointing to their intended posts. Despite the broken links, the information they cited will actually still be available here, but the connection forever severed. While that's unfortunate, my biggest reason for maintaing these archives wasn't necessarily to keep such links intact. Instead, what I really want is for search engines to find one of my relevant posts when someone needs it, regardless of where it currently sits or where it once was. Say you want to know whether those rumors about a Pretty in Pink sequel were just a hoax, my answer will still be available. Or if you're curious about the pros and cons of using Pidgin and Adium to log into your Meebo IM account, I've still got you covered (internal link pending).

That's how a friend I hadn't seen in over a year greeted me at a party during the holidays.

Harumph!

I'm not making any promises for the long term. Assuming I start doing this blog thing again, there will be some changes. For one, I've grown tired of this whole "No True Bill" charade. Nobody knows what it means, everyone assumes my name is Bill. Sometime soon there will be a massive rebranding, complete with a domain name change. I'll keep you posted as this happens.

Also, since a defined purpose causes me to blog far more frequently (see "Rock Star: INXS" for proof), I intend to have a couple of set agendas on which to report updates. First, I need to lose a lot of weight. And by "a lot" I mean over 100 pounds. I've been to the doctor, I belong to a gym, I see a nutritionist and I'm a member of Weight Watchers. I've pretty well backed myself into a corner on this one, and I need some public accountability to give me another push. I recently looked at some pictures of myself from my healthier days, and at the risk of sounding a bit cocky, I was a helluva a good looking guy. Did I know it then? Did I use it to my advantage? Nope. But I want to be that guy again, this time with confidence.

Also, apart from getting healthy, I made an ambitious New Year's resolution: I will read 52 books in 2008. I used to devour the printed word. When I was in grad school I always had a stack of books on my nightstand that I systematically worked my way through, and when I was in law school I read as many non-assigned books as I could to prevent myself from actually reading for class. Since I finished grad school in mid-2004, however, my reading has slowed to an embarrassingly slow pace. I rarely even pick up a book, and when I do I usually can't get past the first 10 pages. I jump from book to book to book, and actually finishing one is cause for celebration. Hell, on my Facebook profile I have three books listed that I am currently reading, and none of those is the one I'm actually actively reading right now.

Part of this inability to finish a book can be attributed to sleep apnea. I am always exhausted, and I have a hard time concentrating on just about anything. Reading sometimes makes me dizzy, gives me a headache or simply puts me to sleep. With some relief hopefully on the way for my sleep disorder, this should be less of an issue.

So with 2008 underway, I am currently trying to finish book number one: The Ruins by Scott Smith

Apologies for posting the Paris Hilton video and running. That was quite cruel of me. I'd like to say it was planned evil, but the truth is it was simply neglect. I am currently busier than I've ever been in my entire life. Between teaching, multiple web design projects, two cross-country trips to conferences, volunteer work, and all my regular job duties, the blog was bound to get sacrificed in the process. Hell, Tony called me about a month ago to discuss "Lost," and I still haven't called him back. (Sorry, Tony.)

On the plus side, I'm going to see Brian Wilson live this Saturday night. It will be almost 22 years to day since I saw him perform with the Beach Boys in Washington, D.C. on July 4, 1984. And if that isn't enough to make me all warm and fuzzy, all the surviving members of the Beach Boys appear to have buried the hatchet and made friends again just in time to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their masterpiece, "Pet Sounds." The Boys made their first public appearance together in 10 years a couple of weeks ago on the roof of Capitol Records headquarters in Los Angeles. Could a tour be far behind?

I'm off to Washington, D.C., for the rest of the week to attend a tech conference. Sometimes timing is everything, and I'm glad for the opportunity to get away for a few days. Of course, just when I decide that leaving Vegas is a good thing, a substantial amount of snow gets dumped on top of all the nearby mountains, making for a breathtaking view out of the airport terminal windows. That's something I definitely won't see in D.C.

While I'm gone, I'll leave you with a movie quote to ponder. I've always been a huge fan of the movie "Swingers," but have thought that the character of Trent (Vince Vaughn) didn't have a single redeeming quality. I'm starting to realize, however, that though he may be a douche, he is very protective of his friend, Mike (Jon Favreau), and tells Mike on a regular basis exactly what he needs to hear to stop his own doubts from driving him mad. One of the things he tells him is:

I don't want you to be the guy in the PG-13 movie everyone's *really* hoping makes it happen. I want you to be like the guy in the rated R movie, you know, the guy you're not sure whether or not you like yet. You're not sure where he's coming from. Okay? You're a bad man.

I've always loved that quote because it's funny. But I never really got it, and I don't think the Mike character gets it at the time either. But it's starting to make sense to me now, and the more I think about it, the more I realize that it just provides further proof of how much Trent cares about Mike.

Funny where your mind drifts while waiting to board a plane.

Theme music for my trip: "The District Sleeps Alone" by The Postal Service

I'll try to post more from the conference.