The site was also the subject of a bit of vandalism. One user was repeatedly posting page after page of garbage text. Another user posted an argument where he professed his desire to perform fellatio (in slightly different terminology), which was kind of off-topic. So I hurriedly had to implement some anti-jerk technology to prevent flooding. I also had to add the ability to the admin page to completely wipe a users arguments / comments, something which I had naively thought I wouldn't need. The truth is though, that this type of site is vulnerable to vandalism, and if somebody wanted to make a nuisance of themselves then it wouldn't be difficult. All I could do is retroactively clean up the mess. I've had no problems with spam so far, because I implemented a number of anti-spam measures that using javascript to present different content to users than would be seen by a bot. It would be quite easy circumvent, but I can change the technique if spam becomes an issue -- or implement a captcha solution.

Turbogears and Webfaction hosting have consistently performed well, even when traffic spiked. I suspect that the number of visitors has never even come close to critical mass though, so perhaps my optimizations were a little premature. The content is mostly text-based and the largest page (the front page) takes up a meager 64.1K -- I've written emails bigger than that!

The XML or Text for Python Templates debates was quite popular for a while and has many compelling arguments for either site. I think I will try to include a number of Python / geek related debates. Some of the arguments in other debates people come up with are very funny. The following are two of my favorites:

" I would no more use a "Telepod of Doom" for transportation than I would a "Bus of Pain", a "Rickshaw of Destruction" or a "Personal Time Capsule of Discomfort". - In Telepods of Doom.

" Women are financially insolvent breeding mules. To expect that mewling milk spouts could afford the sort of meal required to flatter them is sheer fantasy. " In Going Dutch.

I have officialy declared the site non-beta, although I imagine I'll be tinkering with it for several weekends to come. Now I'm thinking about promotion. I really don't want to spend money on advertising, so I'd appreciate any suggestions of how to get more visitors!