Due to these changes which include a move to a subscription basis for our group to continue to exist as is, it looks likely that the fellowship will close. There will be a free option, however, that option includes an open membership (anyone can join, post anything – spam, etc, and all content will be open for anyone to see). It is looking likely that there will be no more community associated with particularbaptist.com.
The problem with this page is that it also an open type of page, with anyone that ‘likes’ the page becoming a member of it – there is little way of moderating activity, etc. I think that particularbaptist.com will have to go back to an older way of doing things, with a forum, chat, etc – all on different platforms.
It seems that there are shake ups right across the World Wide Web on community type sites – even Google Groups are changing, making Google an impossible alternative also.
Tonight I have been able to add some further updates to the Thomas Crosby book on the English Baptists. This includes adding a further 6 pages to the text now available online at:
Work has been continuing on the particularbaptist.com website, as well as associated sites. There have been a few updates over the last few days and these will be listed below:
1. The entire theology section of the site has now been overhauled and includes embedding of pdf study documents via the Scribd publishing platform. Visit the theology section of the site at:
A fair amount of content has been scrapped from the School of Theology, but this will be returned over the next few weeks in the format of the studies already available there. The way the theology section of the site is now set up will allow for far easier updates into the future.
2. The Particular and Reformed Baptist Fellowship Network section of the site has now been overhauled, though there is still more work to be done on this section of the site. I expect more improvements to part of the site in coming weeks.
3. The Random Thoughts Blog has been given a major overhaul (though it was easily accomplished). I believe the site is far more aesthetically pleasing and gives the visitor a much easier and enjoyable reading experience.
As visitors to particularbaptist.com will be aware, the Particular Baptist Library site is a library of links to many hundreds of books hosted at particularbaptist.com and from many other sites around the web. It is in effect a ‘links library.’ This sort of a site can be very difficult to maintain, with links being changed regularly and sites disappearing – therefore dead links are are real problem in such a library.
With the revamp of the particularbaptist.com site, I thought it was time for a major revamp of the library as well. The old site will remain as is for the time being – and I expect that that will be quite some time – as the new site is developed. The new site is in fact a wiki site, thereby allowing visitors who are also members of the ‘wiki editing team’ to update the site as they feel necessary. Hopefully, over time, this will allow the library links to stay up to date a lot easier and quicker
than has been the case in the past.
But the library will also be improved through the addition of user generated book reviews. As the library grows, visitors (members of the wiki editing team) will be able to add their own book reviews to each book entry. Each book entry will have a link to the online book and a place for the book to be reviewed. There will also be book entries that have no online link, being essentially a book entry containing a book review/s only. I would expect it to be also possible to provide links to sites
where the book can be purchased.
I am accepting people who want to be part of the ‘wiki editing team’ now and into the future. To be accepted as part of the wiki editing team at Particular Baptist Library, you will need to be a Christian of reformed faith and understanding. Those who are not reformed are asked to not apply for editing privileges, though you are most welcome at the library and I would warmly encourage you to make full use of it. I make no apology for seeking to maintain the site as a reformed library, as keeping with the reformed nature of the particularbaptist.com site and sites.
I have been doing a little bit more work on ‘Kevin’s Portal,’ which is the place that you can go to to see what I’m doing on the World Wide Web. There have been a few minor changes there and these include the following:
1. Scribd: I have embedded my Romans Bible Study series on the portal page as an introduction to my presence at Scribd, the online publishing site. I think Scribd is a wonderful site for publishing content on the wider web and have decided that I will use the site more in upcoming weeks, months and years. I love the embedding capability provided by Scribd. It is a very presentable method of posting things like Bible Studies, books, etc.
2. I mention at the portal that I’m now on Skype. I tried to join Skype some years ago but for some reason I couldn’t get it to work on the computer I then had. It works brilliantly on the new computer, so I now have that up and running.
3. There are some changes coming to my kevinswilderness.com site, which is listed in the directory at my portal. It is moving to http://kevinswilderness.wordpress.com/, though this is not yet mentioned on the portal itself. I’ll have this up today sometime. The reason for this has been explained in posts at the new site. The move will take some time to complete as it is a large site.
4. Pip.io Chat Room: I have now added a link to a Pip.io chat room on the portal. Feel free to pop over and have a look. I believe you need to request admittance to the chat room before you are able to do so. Please make mention of the reason why you would like to enter the room, as I do want to protect it from abuse and spammers. http://pip.io/#room/kevchat/
As mentioned earlier in the post, I have start to post Bible Studies to Scribd. While doing this, I hope to update and review the Bible Studies section of the particularbaptist.com site.
There isn’t a lot to say in this post, except that the ‘About’ page on this Blog has now been updated and the ‘Guestbook’ for the particularbaptist.com website (hosted at this Blog) has also been updated. Please feel free to pop in and have a look.
Updates to both of these pages can be gauged by the update date at the top of the page. I don’t expect to update these pages too often. Updates will only be for guestbook posting guidelines and for any points that may need to be made concerning the nature of the Blog.
Work has now begun on redesigning and upgrading the confessional standards of particularbaptist.com – but I should point out that the standards themselves are not being changed in anyway. I am working on the pages, not the standards. Phew, we are still Particular Baptist – yes!
At this stage I have only completed the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith page, with the others to follow shortly. It has taken a little longer than expected as a couple of the designs didn’t appeal to me and I had to start over. I am satisfied with the 1689 page now and don’t think I’ll be changing it greatly in the near future.
View the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith at:
The particularbaptist.com redesigned homepage is now online. There are several new features available on the homepage, including options to post the page on Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, Digg and StumbleUpon. It will be some time before the entire site reflects the redesign that has begun at the homepage.
Over time some of the existing sections of the site will be removed, while new sections and features will be added to the site. Have a look at the beginning of our redesign and if you would like to comment in our guestbook, you will notice that the old guestbook is no more. There is now a page on ‘The particularbaptist.com Blog’ that acts as our new guestbook – simply leave your entries on this page via the comments option.
There may be some tweeks over the next few weeks and I welcome any comments you may have.
This Blog is not yet connected to the particularbaptist.com site, but will soon be linked to it on the home page via a link in the site directory and by a RSS feed on the home page. The home page on our site is being redesigned and this Blog will feature on it as the means for visitors to follow what is happening on our site in both the redesign/upgrade and for the future. It will be our interaction point so to speak.
The particularbaptist.com Blog 