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.
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.
The particularbaptist.com Blog 