Hi Everyone--

Ekny and I have been busy beavers lately. You may have noticed we've been a wee bit quieter on the board (ok, maybe not, I know I post a lot) for the past few weeks. That's because we've been cooking up a new Bad Girls website which we were hoping to launch before BG premiered on Logo. Well, we managed it, and you all are the first we're telling about it.

Bad Girls Annex

It's not like any other BG website that we're aware of. No screencaps or fanfic, just essays analyzing the show. Kind of like the stuff we post about here in the Debates forum, but a little more formal and polished. Plus, we've got Filbertfox's recaps up, which everyone should read if they haven't yet. And we'll be adding more stuff as we write it. We're also accepting submissions.

So come visit us, let us know if you like the site, or if you find anything wrong with it (we've proofread a million and one times, but we've surely missed many things). And of course spread the word.

And, at the risk of getting too long winded, the site would never have happened without the existence of this board and the people on it who have been willing to discuss every little detail of the show ad nauseum. Thanks!!!!!

A great site! Nice job and really a nice addition to the BG fandom! Well done.

Kudos to the both of you, abzug! A very nice and insightful site that I'm excited to explore further. Well done.

Fantastic site! I don't know where you have the time to do all this inspite of your jobs. I'm impressed at your dedication to BG. Bravo to both of you, Ekny and Abzug. :clap

Great job!!! And there are very interesting things. :clap :clap :clap I think this site is very useful.

Job? What job? This isn't my job? Help me out here, I'm SO confused...!

Wow! Well done on the site, guys!! :clap :clap

It's brilliant!

Lisa xx

As I told you both...it's like walking into a warm and welcoming library full of treasured volumes and I want to hug it and take it to bed with me like a favorite leather bound book beloved since childhood.

Thank you for your tireless devotion.

love,
J

This is an astonishingly literate and integrated collection of works and the visual library motif is very apt. I love it.

Thanks everyone! I am so glad people are liking the site. OK, question for the UK folks out there: is it confusing that we used the American spelling for annex? Do you think UK people might have a hard time finding the site because they might accidentally type "annexe" rather than "annex" or might do a search in google for "bad girls annexe" rather than "bad girls annex"?

There's a few steps we can take to try to address this, but I wanted to get people's opinions before doing so.

I wouldn't worry about the spelling. Since now most of your fan base will come from the USA area anyway. Just include Annexe as an alternative in the Title heading and also your meta tags. It'll help Google pick it up them. You could also just place a line on the front page that says something like:

We use the American spelling of Annex. In the UK it would be spelt Annexe.

Place it in a header tag early on, and again it'll help Google pick it up and recognise it as an alternative for the site.

Yeah, that's what I was figuring we'd do. Kind of a pain to edit the meta tags of all the pages, but oh well. So, no need to register www.badgirlsannexe.com and have it redirect to our main site?

Ultimately its up to you, but I don't think it would serve much use in this instance to register another domain name. Of course, if you want to for other reasons (to stop another mirror site for example using that Domain and taking the credit with a similar idea) as well as the ones you've mentioned - yes, its a good call.

But if its just for your google status, then it won't make a lot of difference if you can use the term Annexe on the site in the meta tags or, as I've suggested in the title headings as well (do the change at the same time you add the meta).
Also use the term in ALT tags on images. Again it'll help just push the presence in the search engines.

I've been SO lazy about the alt tags. Luckily we don't have too many images on the site, but yes, I do need to add the alt tags.

I wasn't thinking about the other URL helping with search engines. I was imagining that some interested English person might type the website address directly into their browser window and use the English rather than the American spelling and not be able to find the site. Am I delusional?

I think it's a reasonable question, Abzug, but also think our friends overseas will in the main know enough to try the other spelling. Also I suspect most will get there directly from links elsewhere on the web, which hopefully lessens the possibility of them just not finding us?

Most of our visitors to MJ and SL Net come from search engines. In fact, its a good 90% of the main traffic unless there is news and that tends to shift the balance a little more. The rest tends to be made up from links from other sites - then the last number from bookmarks or from newsgroups/emails.

Having said that, you can get a domain name registered cheaply enough in the US. 1&1 Internet are the best we know about for Domain Name registration (but if someone is reading this and thinking of using for hosting as well - avoid! We had nothing but trouble with ours).

Ultimately its down to you and what you want it to do. If you look at it and decide you could do this for a number of reasons, its often worth just buying that additional domain name. Is also useful in case you land up with a problem on the other site for any reason to have something in reserve as it were.

I agree with previous posts. This is a splendid, wonderful website. I'm glad you have included the synopsis by Filbertfox. I enjoyed reading them on the dykesvision site(S1-S2)

Hey, just wanted to mention that ekny and I have been busy bees working on the website over the last week or so, and we've added many terms to the Glossary, improved the Art Gallery, and added two longer essays, one on Camera Angles and the other analyzing the way Bad Girls depicts the judicial system.

Thanks for the notification of updates, Abzug!

The web site is wonderful. Thanks for putting it together. :D

I recently checked this site out and it is superb!! I think it has to be one of the best now out there for Bad Girls Fans and I've really enjoyed reading it all. I can't wait for the additions as you manage to put them up.
Thank you and well done!!! :clap

Many thanks for the feedback, it's great to know people are stopping by & reading things, that's why we do it! :)

Got an on-site thank you where I posted on AfterEllen too. Under the Bad Girls First Season Review.

Hiya, just wanted to announce a few of our more recent updates. First off, Richard wrote a wonderful essay about Nikki:
http://www.badgirlsannex.com/NikkiandHeroicTraditions.htm

Also, we've got two new episode essays:
http://www.badgirlsannex.com/S1E8Essay.htm
http://www.badgirlsannex.com/S1E9Essay.htm

And, the glossary just keeps getting bigger and better.
http://www.badgirlsannex.com/Glossary.htm

And I know I am like a broken record with this, but the Annex wouldn't be possible without the amazing folks on this board, from those who have contributed essays, to those who are tireless proofreaders, to those who are willing to discuss every little scene ad nauseum. Thank you!

azbug and ekny,
I read it all. I thought I was just watching a tv show, but reading the the essays and analysis on the Annex and following the debates here, make the experience all the more fun. Thanks. ss

:clap
As always top notch work everyone!
:hug2

We can see searchwords people use to find the site, and some are just a riot. My personal favorite is: Yvonneism. Like, how anybody ever even FOUND the site with something that quirky is beyond me, but it's just great, regardless, I was totally charmed.

:rofl Haha, that made me giggle! Site's still looking great guys :)

abzug, ekny, amazing site, thanks to both of you for putting so much effort into it.

I've loved it ever since I first saw a link to it in abzug's signature on Afterellen. I'm pretty sure I read everything there and I do some re-reading before or after a new episode is aired on Logo (well, it's not like I watch it on Logo though, I must enjoy YouTube instead.. I don't know what I'd do without it). Excellent work!

Thanks a lot for all your work on the Bad Girls Annex - it makes for very interesting reading!

Under "Bodybag" in the glossary section is says "We've looked without any success on this one: obviously there's a tie-in to Bodybag's husband, who runs a funeral home. Beyond the word's military use, we'd like to know its origin and whether it's prison slang in general. Any more specific info welcome."

I've grabbed my "Bloomsbury Dictionary of Contemporary Slang" on this one and although it does not make a direct reference to "bodybag" it does contain the word "body", which is defined as: "a person, suspect, victim or 'arrestee'. A term used particularly by police in counting up arrests or number of detainees. To have a body means to have a suspect in custody for a particular offence." Next had a look at the word "bag", which is defined as: "(1) an unattractive and/or unpleasant woman; (2) to arrest or catch".

So if we put these two definitions together, we can probably come up with something to define "bodybag" as "an unattractive/unpleasant woman who counts up the number of detainees under her command."

(The Bag who bags her bodies?)

Just been reading the Glossary and I think it's amazing. I also noticed that the word nonce isn't up there yet, and I'm sure its mentioned several times in the series, no?

I'm not the glossary maven (that's ekny), but I have to say microsofty, I find your reasoning very compelling. We Americans don't use the word "bag" the same way English people do, so I had never thought of that dual association before.

Sadly, there are a lot of words we haven't been able to include yet. There's a waiting list. :) No, seriously, it's just time-consuming, as you can imagine, to pull out all the words and their contexts, and then find good definitions for them. So we're always adding new words as we can. It's kind of like a never-ending project.

Gosh, sorry I missed these posts, sometimes my browser updates the little graphics (the Helen/Nikki heads) in an odd way--yes, I was amused by microsofty's Bodybag Reasoning as well, thanks for that, pretty persuasive! And yes liverpoolkiss, I will add nonce to the list--the Glossary has more or less turned into The Thing That Ate My Young but hey, it's for a good cause. (Nonce, ironically, was probably the first piece of slang I wound up discussing on this board when I joined; I think it's buried somewhere in the now-ancient thread about Caroline & other various questions at the very start [or as Abzug once put it, the thread that kept on giving]). But anyway--DO please post questions or requests here--I do pay attention & try to prioritize those. So Nonce (and bird) will be on the next update.

(Btw, there was a mini-update abt 2 weeks ago, we just didn't announce it here.)

Thanks all,

e

I'm tellin' ya e, you've got to use the handy "Today's active posts" link at the bottom of the home page.
http://z4.invisionfree.com/Nikki_and_Helen...&CODE=getactive
I never trust the heads.

LOL...what heads?
Makes me laugh. I know about active or new posts, but I don't see any heads with it...

And I too love the glossary...Like "bird"...I was totally wrong about the use of it...I thought is was diminitive and an endearment and it turns out its offensive...

Never was an anglophile in the past, but I'm coming around.

Thanks for all the work on the ANNEX (and here too...reading commentary and discussion is sometimes meatier than seeing the show... fun.)

No, you really can't, can you.... But yes'm, you're right. I just never got into the habit. Moving to active links now. :)

(I think the heads sorta work--for 1 computer/1 browser. Problem is I use multiple browsers & of course am logged on half the time from work & half from home, & I don't think the system's quite up to sharing/updating my home computer from whatever settings I left it on at work.)

Thanks abzug and ekny. I must admit prior to reading those definitions in the "slang dictionary" I always just assumed Bodybag was a reference to Bobby's line of business. Now Hollamby's nickname makes a whole lot more sense to me as well!

Latest updates include:

--Added an episode analysis for S2E3 "Visiting Time"

--Glossary

Cheers all,
ekny

Thanks for the notification ekny. Will take a look tomorrow, as I'm not staying online for long tonight....... BG on in half an hour ya know :D

Thanks, ekny and abzug (and anyone else who was involved). Love your bad girls annex! Lots of fascinating stuff there. Keep up the good work!

Yeah, I agree. The glossary is excellent!

As a Scot, I'd have to say that I don't really find the word 'bird' (often spelt 'burd') offensive. I agree that it can sometimes be used offensively but it's the context that you use it in that determines whether it is or not. My understanding is that its meaning is female, usually a young woman or lady (but not always). As the glossary rightly says, add 'my' (often spelt 'ma') then it becomes girlfriend. At one time, 'ma burd' was used by guys to talk about their girlfriends but I'm sure that many girls were introduced as such (without any consequences). The word is really a bit old-fashioned now so is mainly used when talking in Scots dialect (in a jokey, affectionate way), such as this news article or the way Simone used it, or telling a Scottish joke. The latter does very much depend on the wording as to whether is it is offensive or not. Anyway my point being that it was NOT offensive in the way that Simone used it.

ETA - As you've realised, 'bird' is a really, tricky word to define. It has a hint of derogatory about it. In the example quoted, you can't simply replace 'bird' by 'girl' without subtlely changing the meaning. On a scale of 1 to 10 (where 1 is the least offensive), bird has a 'derogatory factor' of 1. It is a perfectly acceptable word to use but it's the context that determines how offensive it is. Hope that makes some sort of sense?