So yesterday while I was moderating comments and I came upon one that started like this: “As you can tell by my name I am a black man…”

The name on the comment was Tyrell. My first thought? Tyrell doesn’t sound like a real name, it sounds like the kind of name people think sounds like a “black name,” like Shaquanzaa or something. (Watch, I am going to get nasty emails from girls named Shaquanzaa now.) Anyway, the comment didn’t strike me as terribly authentic from the first line, and the email address kind of sealed my skepticism:  Tyrell.DaPlaya_3864@yahoo.com.

Anyway, I scanned further down the mod queue and came across a different comment by someone named Jake, who breathlessly informed us all that we’re taking this whole Psychology Today thing “too personally.” Really? Really. And the best part? Jake and Tyrell have the same IP address.

This kind of thing happens every so often. A white person or a man will roll up in here, decide to troll, see that their comments don’t make it out of moderation, then decide to pretend to be black or a woman thinking I’m going to let them out of the box. The problem is, they don’t know how to actually pull off being something they’re not, so they fill their comments with unnecessary qualifiers like “As you can tell by my name I am a black man…”

These people are never as smart as they think they are… which is why they spend time trolling the Internets.

When Trolls Think They’re Slick -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Just noticed that there are now over 900 people who “Like” the Angry Black Woman on Facebook. Hooray! And apparently we have over 1,200 followers on Twitter. Also yay! I have not yet counted who’s currently following on Tumblr. Anyway, now that we’ve had a few days of constant content and we’re getting the band back together, I think it’s time to take a poke at the social media strategy and discover what you, the readers, want.

I had a conversation with someone just yesterday about why they don’t like us using NetworkedBlogs for Facebook, and I’m currently searching for alternatives to auto-posting. Any suggestions, please offer. Any suggestions, comments, complaints, etc. about the Twitter feed or Facebook page in general, let me know!

Finally, since social networks are awesome, as are the people on them, I will say this: when the Facebook page hits 1,000 Likes, I’ll choose a random Like-er and send them a fun gift. When the Twitter follower number hits 1,500, I’ll do the same there. What will this gift be? Not sure. But I have some cool stuff just sitting around the house, so I’m sure I can come up with something ;)

Networking Socially -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

This weekend I finally, finally got around to creating new headers for the blog. Overdue for well over a year, I know. There are four that will rotate randomly. Check the footer for information on the artist.

I’m doing a bit of spring cleaning as a result of getting fired up during a conference this weekend. I’m also tweaking the theme’s look to make it easier to read (hopefully) and find information.

This new movement in the design arena does mean that there’s likely to be more blogging around here in the near future. One avenue I’m considering is starting a Tumblr blog and feeding the posts here. It would mean more daily content (though no more than 3 – 4 posts a day), but also more link blogging as opposed to longer posts.

I’m interested in hearing your thoughts on these changes and getting suggestions. I’m particularly interested in suggestions for plugins for Tumblr.

More Housekeeping Ahead -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Just a quick note to let our lovely readers know that I made the blog more smart phone friendly today. I installed a simple plugin that will detect what kind of browser you’re accessing the site with and serve a paired-down mobile version if you’re on a mobile browser. Posts will load faster as a result, but you won’t see the sidebars and such.

ABW Is Now Mobile Friendly -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Late last week my ISPs server got hit by a hacker. I don’t think any of my sites in particular were compromised by the hack, but in order to protect everyone on our server, the ISP restored everything from a backup instead of trying to clean the malware the hackers left behind. The last backup was to 9/13, so we lost at least one post and comments on several others and that lost post. Sorry some of the discussion went down the tubes due to this. Please feel free to repost those lost comments if you like. And if you can find a cache of comments, please save and let me know. I’ll re-add them myself if I can.

Fortunately my ISP is very on the ball with this kind of thing, keeping backups of everything in case of something like this. But now I’m looking into ways to automatically backup and download posts and comments to my home computer just in case something like this happens again. I doubt any backup I had before would have been as fresh as theirs, but maybe something can alleviate that problem.

Stupid Hackers -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Part of my commitment to stop ignoring my poor blog and get on livening things up around here is a reassessment of some design aspects of the blog, including ads. Currently there are three places I’d marked for ads: the top left, lower down on the right, and the bottom of the RSS feed. The later two are Project Wonderful ads, the first one is from BlogHer.

For various reasons, I’ve decided to drop Project Wonderful. I think it’s a great idea, but for this blog we weren’t really making enough money from it to justify the space it took up. The BlogHer spot brings in more money. But since the code there is a little nanky, I don’t want to put two on every page. I’m taking ads off the feeds completely since they didn’t do much for anyone, anyway.

Instead of a Project Wonderful ad, I’m going to sell space on the right sidebar directly. Rates will be low, ad design will be subject to my approval, and at least some of the time I will offer the space for no charge to causes, non-profits, etc. My goal is to place ads that I think will interest readers, not annoy anyone, and won’t make you run for the hills instead of visiting the site.

Hopefully this arrangement will work out for everyone. But if you have any issues or questions or comments on the state of ads here, please let me know in comments.

Here’s the page that describes the advertising scheme in-depth.

Ads on the ABW -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Some of you may have noticed that I haven’t been around much, lately. Life stuff, work stuff, you know the drill. But this weekend at the WisCon feminist SF convention I and the other Angry Black Women promised unusualmusic that we would return from our life implosion-based quietness and begin contributing again. Not that she hasn’t been doing a fabulous job here. I don’t tell her enough how much I appreciate her hard work.

So, the first step on my end is to get back into reading blogs again on a regular basis. But since I’ve been out of the habit I only have a few core blogs on my list when I know that I used to read more. Plus there are new blogs that I haven’t come across but I’m sure are wonderful. So I’m humbly asking for your suggestions.

Tell me what blogs you read and enjoy or that make you think or even that make you angry. I’m looking to add blogs that deal with race and/or gender, but those blogs don’t have to be political (often they are, but it’s not a requirement). Group blogs, individual bloggers, the whole gamut. And, of course, political blogs. Also, art, music, or writing blogs by people of color and/or women.

Leave suggestions in the comments, and don’t be afraid to suggest your own blog. There’s nothing wrong with self-promotion!

What Blogs Should I Read? -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

As I am about to embark on my Great West Coast Adventure (starting with a three day cross-country train to Vancouver, would you believe it), I must bid farewell to the ABW. It’s been an educational experience, to say the least. I don’t know if I really have the constitution for regular blogging, but it was a privilege to get to write about issues that are important to me, and engage with all sorts of readers and fans and curious individuals about them.

If you have found this blog (and my posts about the POC!Bechdel test and Supernatural) though external links, a few things of note. I am not the Angry Black Woman. The Angry Black Woman is a friend of mine and asked me to guest post on her blog. I was happy to do so and I’m grateful to her for giving me this opportunity. My name is Alaya Dawn Johnson, I’m a writer of speculative fiction, and you can find out more about me on my website.

If you happen to be based out in LA, you can catch up with me on October 4th at the West Hollywood Book Fair, where I will be presenting on an all-star panel about vampire fiction (my book MOONSHINE, which is coming out in February, is a 1920s vampire novel).

Otherwise and in any case, my thanks for all your thoughts, opinions and perspectives and maybe we’ll see each other again later.

so long, and thanks! -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Hello, ABW readers!

I’m Alaya, as the Angry Black Woman already said, and though I read plenty of blogs, I don’t blog myself. I hope to make the most of this opportunity!

Here’s some of what particularly interests me:

• Literature, in pretty much all genres (I write fantasy and science fiction, mostly, but I will read almost anything). I have this wacky idea that perhaps one of the things I will do is re-read, or read for the first time, a lot of those classics of African American literature that most of us encountered in high school or college: Their Eyes Were Watching God, Beloved, Invisible Man, The Color Purple, Go Tell It on the Mountain, Native Son. If you have other suggestions, let me know in the comments.

• Television, but only certain shows. I don’t watch very much, but when I do, the obsession flower has its full bloom. Past favorites include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Veronica Mars and X-Files. My current obsession is Supernatural (and I will argue with all comers about how good it is). Being a socially conscious person pretty much guarantees that I find some aspects of all these shows problematic (and I’ll probably post about why), but each of them has enough stuff that I love to make me overlook the questionable decisions.

• Japan. I majored in East Asian Languages and Cultures back in college and I still love and am interested in most things Japanese. I also lived there for four months. I started my love with Sailor Moon (also a great show! Don’t pay any attention to the dub!) and still watch anime occasionally. Favorites include Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo (the best hip-hop/Samurai mashup ever made) and Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyo (His and Her Circumstances).

• Music. I grew up on blues and R&B from the fifties and sixties. When I was in high school, my parents had to talk me out of singing “Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On” for the school-wide talent contest. I have also had long arguments with my mother about how Poison Ivy isn’t actually about, uh, poison ivy. I have lately come to love rock and some modern alternative, but in general, I always have something playing in the background. My favorite musician of all time is Stevie Wonder.

• And, obviously, writing. But you can find all that stuff on my personal web page.

So, pleased to meet you. Here’s hoping this blogging experiment works out.

Pleased to meet you (even with your black drawers on) -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman

Through the end of this month into August we’re going to have another guest blogger: author Alaya Dawn Johnson. You may remember Alaya from her guest post a couple of years ago during Black History Month.

Alaya’s first book, Racing the Dark, is available now in hardback and will be out soon in paperback. She also wrote a really cute Twisted Journeys book called The Goblin King and her next book, a vampire suffragette novel called Moonshine, is coming out later this year.

In addition to her books, she also writes some great short stories. You can find a complete bibliography on her website.

Alaya is an amazing writer but a very infrequent blogger. But as we always end up talking about race and gender foolishness in the science fiction and fantasy genre, I figured she would have no trouble finding things to post here for the next month and change.

Guest Blogger: Alaya Dawn Johnson -- Originally posted at The Angry Black Woman