Well not completely…but its worth announcing. So I’m going off to visit the capital of the United States of America. I promised myself that I would go to D.C. eventually and it seemed fitting for this year. So now I finally am going to do it , but I’ll be away from June 3-7. I’m really looking forward to the trip but I’m just warning all of you now that seeing how I’m going to be off the Community Spotlight probably isn’t going to be updated while I’m away. I’ll try my best to get an internet connection if I can but don’t be surprised if the thread goes dead on those days. The other thing that I’m slightly disappointed about is the fact that I’m going to miss a good chunk of E3, but hey information trickles quickly these days so I guess it’s no biggie.

BUT LET'S TALK ABOUT THE COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

So one of the real reasons why I’m doing this blog is because I want to Spend some time talking about the Community Spotlight…because I know you all really care that much. So one of the issues that you may have noticed now is that the number of podcasts on the Spotlight has grown exponentially.  Now I have always maintained an open door policy when it has come to the podcasts on the Spotlight, but now I’m starting to reconsider that policy. Part of the issue that I have about this stems from the fact that some of the podcasts come from users that don’t really use the site very often and also that I’m spending my time having to stay up-to-date for most of the smaller podcasts. Part of the latter issues is my own fault. I happen to be one of the few Zune owners on the site which makes my life even harder because a lot of the podcasts aren't on the Zune marketplace! So I have to check everyone's goddamn blog/website every day because no one seems to have a discernible or easy to follow time schedule. So in order to know when everyone's podcasts is being released I find myself having to check everyone's website or RSS feed. So I’m thinking of delisting some of the unnecessary podcasts. It seems like the Spotlight is getting cluttered with the podcast table, but everyone is against that idea then I won’t do it.

As for the rest of the Spotlight, I’m eliminating the rule that prevents users from nominating their own stuff that they feel is worth plugging. Originally I wanted to establish this sense of community by having other people explore other people's content. However, I now feel like there’s nothing wrong with feeling proud of something you made or contributed to. It just doesn't make sense for me to punish you for having a little pride about your work. However to prevent the Spotlight from being flooded by one user I’m making it a rule for only one piece of content per user to be nominated for a single category in a single week. Also I’m thinking about doing a Best of Blog feature, but I think Sweep beat me to it with his Blogosphere thread.

As for everything else—it’s going great!  GiantBomb Community Twitter Account (which I also manage) has reached 80 followers, up from 26 users. So if you have a twitter account and aren't already following the Community Account, then go to it! Also the Spotlight has reached over 5,000 views…so I must be doing something right.

Oh well I guess that’s all I want to say! If you have any suggestions for the Spotlight or have any comments feel free to contact me. Also have a great E3 without me! Hopefully I won’t miss out in too much...and I'm still your czar...