History is shaped by our hands.

My apologies to my readers that do not have Mindsay accounts, as this will mean nothing to them.

A little while ago we were given a new feature to look at in our Mindsay Inboxes. For lack of a better name, I'll call it Mindsay News. On the left 2/3rds of the screen are all your updates from the folks in your network. On the right 1/3rd of the screen are general updates that go to everyone.

I shouted a 'thank you' to the Mindsay staff, danced gloriously, and felt much joy.

And why? Advertising. Mindsay advertising, more specifically. And I'm not referring to the google ads that show up on our inboxes or our comment pages. Those, while many fought them, are extremely well done. Let's be honest here. It costs the staff a chunk of money to keep Mindsay up and running. If they need to put in some ads to pay for it, fine. Just keep them off of my main blog page, my creative domain. They got their ads in and didn't take anything away from most of us in the process. I do hope it is paying off for them.

The advertising I'm talking about is advertising Mindsay phenomena. Some great Mindsay things going on that might make Top Blog, but deserve to be mentioned to everyone. Of course, I selfishly thought of WTF first, but that's not all I was thinking about. There is Mindsay's other big radio show, The Best Damn Tech Show Period, there is Mindsay Birthdays, the Mindsay Yearbook, and the Mindsay collaborative story, 1943. And these are just a few of the many amazing things that are happening daily in the Mindsay community but never get the fame and glory of Top Blog.

Imagine my disappointment when someone starts advertising blank DVDs in the Mindsay News area. Then there is an Amazon ad for Father's Day gifts. Most recently a great deal on the new Harry Potter book was in there. I love the Harry Potter series and that pissed me off.

Here are my thoughts on this. If you want to post a deal on your blog, go ahead; I've done it several times myself. I know what many of my readers like and I love it if I can help them get those things and save a little money. Further, you can use or misuse your blog however you see fit; I misuse mine daily as I tell my readers to go watch TV shows that I like. And that's the beauty of your blog - you can write anything you want to on it. Go ahead. Do it.

But in the Mindsay News area? No thank you. It is not news to the Mindsay community when buycrap.com is running a deal on Star Wars Pez dispensers.

Here is my plea to you, oh gentle reader. Use some discretion when submitting items to the Mindsay News area. I've had to do it on many occasions. I would have loved to promote The Inside in a location where the entire Mindsay community could see it. But I didn't because it really didn't belong there.

And here is my plea to you, oh gentle content approver. Don't be afraid to not post an item that really isn't Mindsay news. By controlling what gets into Mindsay News, you have been given great power. Just remember that with great power comes great responsibility.