"The Macedonian Tendency is Moving

This is the last post on this site (http://david-edenden.blogspot.com/ ).

The Macedonian Tendency has moved to this new URL (http://the-macedonian-tendency.blogspot.com/"). The post below is the the first post on the new URL.

A Guide to Contributors to "The Macedonian Tendency"

by David Edenden

I am turning "The Macedonian Tendency" into a group blog. The first thing you will notice is the new URL "http://the-macedonian-tendency.blogspot.com/". This new URL should make it easier for journalists and politicians to find the blog, although there will be a period of adjustment as the search engines indexes it. The old site, http://david-edenden.blogspot.com/ will continue for the time being, until all the articles have been migrated to this site. If, like myself, it is necessary for you to use a pseudonym, please fell free to do so.

If you receive an invitation to join, you must apply a Gmail account which is free and easy to use. Feel free to introduce yourself and write on any topic relating to Macedonia, its history and culture without my prior approval. I do not expect that everyone will agree with my eccentric views, so debate within the blog is not a bad thing. In your Blogger profile, write what your interests are relating to writing for the blog. In this way, we will develop a division of labor so that we are not all writing about the same thing.

Identify yourself and format your writing in italics, while keeping the other material in regular fonts. Hopefully you will write at least one article per week ... not a great commitment. If you have written something in the past, please feel free to publish it here.

The purpose of this blog is to inform foreign journalists and politicians about "the Macedonian question" today. My main focus is to help in the process of recognition of Macedonia's constitutional name, the fight for the rights of Macedonians in Greece and Bulgaria and to a lesser extent in Albania.

We really need book an movie reviews along with the other arts. Sports reviews are also welcome.

I am not really interested in using this blog to display the divisions that are reflected in Macedonian politics. I generally support all Macedonian governments, although I disagree with many of their individual positions. Macedonians need a big tent. One of my favorite expressions is " some people look for converts, while others look for heretics." Lets all look for converts and not needlessly look for battles within our community.

Lets use Jews and Israel as a model. Jewish support for Israel is unwavering, however many Jews fell free to offer suggestions for Israeli policy. I have in the past published warnings against Nato membership, the EU and other issues without damning the Macedonian politicians who promote them.

Since it is a blog and not a online news magazine like "Reality Macedonia", articles should be short with links to the original source. I usually like to comment, no matter how small on all posts, but there have been exceptions. (1)

This long post about Robert Kaplan is a good example of the use of links. This post about Barack Obama needs to have links added. I decided it was worth posting first and then adding links later. After publishing your post, editing the title is not advisable since the search engines will lose the post. Editing of the actual posts is OK for spelling and formating issues.

For the sake of readability, I usually do not copy the entire original article, but do copy relevant material that could be lost behind a "subscription wall" (1) (2) (3). there are exceptions.

Make sure to include the link, the name of the author, relevant people and the core issue that are discussed.

"The Macedonian Tendency" is one of the few blogs where a comments on a specific news item are published from a Macedonian perspective. Lets try to improve it.