This was put in place a few days ago, but if you haven’t noticed yet, here’s your heads-up. The folks at Metroblogging HQ are hard at work making the Metblogs sites even more awesome, as stated by Sean:

Our team of coding lolcats has been hard at work this week and after taunting them with many cheeseburgers we have two fancy new features to show off. Check out the bar just up top there - previously you’ve only been able to see the most recent post followed by the second most recently followed by the third and so on. Now you can see them that way, or by clicking one of the other tabs you can also see them sorted by what has the most active discussions going on in the comments right now, as well as what our fancy internal magic has determined to be the most popular. I can’t tell you exactly how we figure it out, but I also can’t tell you that it’s not 100% based on us throwing darts at our laptop screens or a triple blind survey of kids hanging out at Starbucks on Melrose. Enjoy!

Don’t forget to read stuff and comment on stuff to help make those pages get more populated.

As I mentioned earlier (and as you can see by looking at the site), there are a number of changes to the NYC Metblog. It’s not just the layout and design - it’s the whole back-end system, too. One of the things you’ll notice is that commenting is MUCH faster than it was on the old system.

In order to comment, you will also need to register. It’s quick and easy - just takes a few seconds to sign up here. You don’t have to give us your real name (though you can if you want to), but you will have to give us a real e-mail address when you sign up so we can send you your password.

The new system is really fast and easy to use, so please, sign up and tell us what you think!

You’ve probably noticed that the New York City Metblog (that’s us!) has a new look. Our friends at Metroblogging HQ did some fancy codework over the last few months and gave us a total overhaul. An extreme makeover, if you will. We’re still working out a couple of kinks with post formatting - images fit a little differently in the new layout than they did with the old, and we are working on making them all look just right again. Please let us know if you experience any problems with the site. While we finish up the final touches on the migration, things may look a little hinky for a few minutes, but we’re working on making it juuuust right.

We like the new look. What do you think?

We’ll be talking some more about the new site and features over the next week, so stay tuned.

Ex Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto was assasinated earlier today at an election rally near Rawalpindi in Pakistan. She had recently returned to Pakistan after a truce of sorts was announced between her and Dictator Musharraf who rules Pakistan after usurping power from a civilain govrnment in 1999.

Benazir Bhutto was the first female elected leader of any Muslim nation, and it is this singular achievement that overpowers all her wrongdoings. She was no paraih and has been in the news for amassing huge sums of wealth for herself and her family. However she was the one shining beacon of hope for a democracy in an otherwise failed democracy.

Hopefully, this will jumpstart the country out of its stupor and incite the people in non violent ways to kick Musharraf out of power and restore a real, elected leader.

For more on the spot reporting head over to Metroblogging Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.

My name is John Morris, an artist and lifelong native of Queens (Woodside and then Forest Hills)who pulled up stakes and started a little gallery in Pittsburgh a few years ago. I blog on the Pittsburgh Metroblog. Yes, it’s true that the Steeler Nation may be pursuing a stronger first strike capability but I’m not involved in that and I come in peace. I’m in town to help put together an exiting project in a space I will be renting on East 2nd street in November that I hope to keep everyone updated on.

But never fear, we have our crack team of lolcats working on the issues and should be back up and fully functional shortly

While I was out of the country Metblogs NYC celebrated its 3rd birthday, so here’s a little belated bday message.

That’s right, back on June 16th of 2004 this little site was born and we’ve grown to fully embrace our toddler-hood. From where I’m sitting three is a pretty nice age to be. I don’t know about you guys but I think I feel a temper tantrum coming on…

There are all sorts of bloggers out there. People blog for a variety of reasons. For fun, for information sharing, for venting out thoughts, for meeting new people, blah blah.

People read your blogs. It is true but you cannot believe it. Days go by and you have no response. Then to track people down, you install counters, stat trackers and other available freeware out there. Now you know, people ARE ACTUALLY reading your blog. But still, no response. Then finally, one day, you receive the email saying someone left a comment on your blog. You hurriedly go over and open to see who the other soul is. And???? Darn Spambots!

THE most exciting part of any blogger’s life is - when someone leaves them a comment. Correct me if I am wrong.

Now, there are boring blogs that dont encourage comments. I am not talking about those blogs. The blog that I am talking about is our very own NYC METBLOG! We all post stuff (try to) regularly. I have seen many good posts but what I have not seen is a ready participation via comments. I am not shouting out for comments here, but, maybe, an increased percentage in posting comments not only increases interest but also will encourage all of us to blog more. Increasing the number of posts thusly. Increasing the effectiveness of the bloggers thusly.

Someone should make a positive move on this issue. My idea to initiate some responses from our readers (and I had been intending to this for a while) is to collect POLLS. These are really interesting, offer a good way to collect people’s thoughts and it is just a click away.

My Dear Fellow Bloggers, Readers of Metblogs and the rest of the world!
If you happen to chance upon our blog, happen to like a post, would you happen to leave a comment to the respective blogger?
To answer this question, please select from the POLL options.
GO TO THE POLL

Let us see how much participation we get out of this one!

With the launch of MetroBlogging Kuala Lampur, we enter a whole new country! KL is the largest city in Malaysia, and also it’s capital. The vast metropolis is a hub of art, culture, transportation, and ideas, and is home to the Petronas Towers, which were the tallest buildings in the world for a while.

KL will be a fantastic addition to the MetroBlogging family. And, they are off to a great start! Here is the answer to that age-old question “How do Malaysians celebrate St. Patrick’s Day?”

[Photo courtesy of Wikipedia]

Hi. I’m… uhm… new here.

So… this is… uhm… like my first post.

Or something.

I’m not new to the blogging game, I’ve been hanging around the web over on my own blog for a couple years now. I’m not new to NYC either, I just had my three year anniversary of moving to town. I may not even be new to you. Over on my own blog I keep a diary of subway sketches that has been getting some press lately. (In fact you can check out the article on me in today’s NYPress if you feel so inclined.)

But I am new here. And that’s what matters.

So… see you ’round the schoolyard I guess.