This is so much fun. I've got the lights on dim, a glass of milk, and the music playing in the background. The heating is on full, and I've got a nice blank page in front of me. Best of all, I've killed the annoying Word wizard that popped up as I typed "dear readers". It wanted to know if I was going to type a letter. Well excuse me, but I don't know what I'm going to type - so I'll be damned if I'm going to have to start explaining myself to one of Microsoft's programs.

A whole new section for me to play with. I don't know why I didn't think of this before. You see, the diary section is where I write to myself for myself - but because of the interest it generates, I ultimately start writing to you guys (98% of my readership is male, BUT I use "guys" as a gender-neutral word). And you see, that's not the point of my diary. I'm willing to share it, but I don't really want it to be the place I make comments to my readers. Besides, my life is going very well at the moment, and so I don't have to address any difficult issues right now. That's great, but the downside is that I'd like more space to do some writing. That's where this section comes in. Here I'll talk directly to you. I'm not 100% sure what form it's going to take - and it may well change over time. But as far as I'm concerned, this seems like a more appropriate place to ask questions and interact with all of you. I might talk about the site (I was really pleased by the response to the sound WAV files I added last week), or about other things I'm thinking about.

As my regulars will know, I've been thinking about removing the photo pages. They are still overwhelmingly the most popular pages of the site - with the main one (photoP) regularly getting more hits than the index page of the site. When I created this site I didn't have a clear idea in mind of what I was trying to create. It was just my little project to give me something to do. I hadn't even heard of HTML. Once I'd got past the basics I looked for some content. The easiest and quickest things to add were pictures, hence photoP. It's funny, the first site was actually hosted on a Geocities Japan server. I had set up an account on the regular American Geocities, but thought it would be pretty funky to have Japanese adverts, so I got myself a second account on their Japanese server. Crazy. Anyway, before I completely lose the plot, let me get back to my story. Then I added the aboutP section, and then history of P. I remember when I got my first e-mail from a visitor. I was over the moon. In my reply I wrote as if it were no big deal - but for me it was such a big deal. Anyway, after a few e-mails, I realised that I was never going to have repeat visitors unless I had some content that changed regularly. I wasn't about to start re-typing my coming-out story every week, and so I thought I'd publish my diary - until I thought of something better. Well, just over a year later (I'm actually really peeved that I didn't realise when the first anniversary was - I could have had a party or something), and I'm only just adding in a new section that will be updated regularly. My point is, people come back because they like the content, but for first time visitors, I'm still having a real problem getting them from the photo page, onto other pages. Most people seem to be only interested in the photos. I'm assuming that's because most homepages are badly written, and so only the photos are interesting. Perhaps I'm wrong, but if you assume nothing, then it's difficult to draw conclusions.

So I was thinking, if I got rid of the photo page, people might at least bother to read something - just to make their visit worthwhile. And if they only wanted photos and they left the site - it's not exactly like it's going to make a difference. Someone manly and Bulgarian said that it's not surprising that the site has lots of hits, if it has my photos on it. Apart from the obvious compliment, it did make me think. The thing is, he's probably right - and that's a real pain. I'd like to think that my writing, and what I'm doing here is enough to get people to come back - irrespective of what I look like. I'd hate it if people only came back for more because they have a crush on me.

Well, that's why I've been thinking about removing the page. A few of you have commented on that, but what do the rest of you think? All feedback is appreciated..

If you want to comment about anything in this section, please write to me with the subject of the e-mail as "dear readers". I reserve the right to publish anything sent to me with that subject title, but will respect requests not to disclose e-mail addresses and/or real names.

A week Later

OK OK, so I didn't manage to launch this when originally planned, but better (slightly) late than never. I'm pleased to announce that along with this new "Dear Readers" section, this week also sees the launch of the nonP section. This week Natalie writes about a specific event in her life just over a year ago. I love her writing style (oh, and her too!), and so I'm as honoured as I am pleased to have her writing for the site.

As if two new sections weren't enough, I'm also launching the new commercialP section. As much as I enjoy what I do on this site, it does take up a huge chuck of my week (writing, de-bugging, replying to e-mails and forum messages), and helps me run up one HUGE phone bill. Truth be said: I don't have a job, and having a job as well as my very-very-very time consuming studies (remember I'm doing economics as well as Japanese literature (in Japanese)) would mean that time for updating the site would be vastly reduced. So (P adopts a humble voice) I'm asking you guys to visit the commercialP section. There's only one thing there at the moment, but I'll try to expand the range as soon as possible. Just give it a look, that's all I'm asking for. Surely that's not too much to ask. Is it?

OK dokey. That's it from me for this section.

P. xx

PS. A BIG THANK you for all of you people who have been active in the forum recently.