Refering to the Reference

Recently, I have had several people looking for content on the site, or looking for a link to a site they know they saw on the Main Street Gazette, but have been unable to find what they were looking for due to the unrelenting side column of the Gazette. Additionally, while many guests understand the real value each individual blog brings to the overall canon of knowledge, they are curious why blogs appear so much more prominently than the rest of the links provided, especially when some blogs haven’t updated in the past six months or longer. For the latter question, I inform these inquiries that this is a function of Blogger, not my own design, but it did get me thinking…

In an effort to clean up the clutter, and simplify what the readers are looking for, today I am proud to present the Reference Section. This will remove all links from the side column, aside from individual links to the various entries in Reference (more on each of these in a moment). Clicking on Reference, under Sections, will take you to all of the links we have always provided on the Gazette, plus several more that have been added during this transition. Within the Reference itself are six distinct subcategories:

HEADLINES – Sites that I recommend, and use, to get a majority of the Disney news.

COMMUNITY & LIFESTYLE – This was the toughest category to place sites into. So many community sites carry news, editorials, forums, and/or are associated with podcasts. I have pooled together some of the larger groups used for social networking I know of here, while leaving others in content areas where they appeared more focused.

RECORDS – Destinations with a distinctive slant towards the history of Walt Disney World, or a specific item or location in the history of the Florida property. Travel assistance is also going to be included in Records.

ENTERTAINMENT – These sites are dedicated to the audio and video elements of Walt Disney World.

PUBLICATIONS – All active blogs will be listed here. This list is far from comprehensive, but I hope, as time passes, to complete this woefully inadequate list of wonderful writers with intriguing insights.

ARCHIVED PUBLICATIONS – Here you will find blogs that have not published since 2009 began. A few readers asked me why I didn’t discard old, unused blogs, and I thought about the Imagineers who never discard a good idea. Some of these sites, while they haven’t updated in quite a while, are full of wonderful content that any fan of Disney should read, respect, and remember.

I hope these changes allow navigation through the Main Street Gazette to become a smoother process for each of you. Please contact me with any and all question, concerns, and comments. I hope that in the future, and as time allows, I will be able to quantify each site listed with a description of its offerings, but for now, I hope you are reading all of the well-versed writers out there and are communicating with others all across the spectrum of Disney communities.