Inquiry

Please characterize your first impression of the site.

What feels inviting and expansive about the site? 
Are there ways in which the site feels closed and confining to you? 
How does it motivate you?
How do you feel that the site balances feminine and masculine elements?
Does the site make you want to stay and learn more?

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3 out of 3 members found this useful.

Very nice! Huge improvement!

Yeah, this is a huge improvement over the alpha version.  Much easier and more intuitive navigation. Better, more polished overall look. Already a fair amount of good content.

One thing that does feel a tad closed, though, is that member pages have an "https://..." address (not to mention a rather long address). I see that I can view member pages even without being logged in, which is good, but I wonder if I can make Integral Life the location for my main blog or if I'll run into problems if I do. But I suppose a lot of this issue will resolve itself when the social networking features are implemented.

And a minor interface thing that seems a little strange is when media opens in a web page without any of the portal interface features (menus, etc.). OK, it's simple enough to click the "back" button when I'm done, but it's a little disorienting.

Other than that, it all looks and feels great!

Congrats!

~G

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

Thanks, fixed, and agreed

Hey Grey!

We put the security on the member pages to cover a frame issue we were having over the weekend; but we've got it all fixed now so I've removed the lock from member profiles, so yes, please make this your new blog home!

Regarding the eLearnings opening in a separate window, I totally agree that this is a bit inconvenient to be pulled away from the site navigation and we're looking into how to resolve this... hopefully soon.

There's a lot more to come, I look forward to your participation!

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6 out of 6 members found this useful.

Articles

It would be nice it articles could be downloaded as pdf-files.

Regards

Svein 

 

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Actually

Actually, it gives us motivation from several aspects. gift basket ideas

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agree

I agree with you, that would be awesome

Mariam

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

Kudos!

The site is inviting, user-friendly and fun.   Great potential for community-building, learning and participation.  Well done!

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6 out of 6 members found this useful.

Keeping Tabs

I'd find it useful for there to be a facebook-style element of easily finding people you know to a different degree of closeness than others on the site and when/if they are active. For instance, if I met John Smith and discovered he was on here, I'd love to add him to some sort of friends-list and get a ping if he's put a new blog post up or a response to something else on the site.

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"Follow" a friend

Hey Gayle,

We're in the process of developing a feature that will let members follow or subcribe to another member so that they can be notified when a member posts, comments, etc...

We're currently steering away from "friend-lists" per se becuase we don't want to encourage "friend gathering," but we want to provide just as much functionality, e.g. Community Locator and the Follow feature.

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home

The logic of the friends-lists makes sense.

Thank you!

Btw, this site is rapidly becoming a daily go-to site for me to just learn a bit, ruminate, enjoy hearing what other people are thinking and I think I've only been on here a couple weeks, at this point! Aside from other isolation issues, I travel for work so the portability of this community is fantastic as a touchpoint. Great job!!

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

Friends

My first impression after only about 20 minutes on the site is that it seems to lack a rich way of finding "friends" and diving into the social aspects of this site. I know for me, this is the most valuable aspect about the potential of integral life. I want to be able to search and browse the users on the site, find "friends" with like interests and start following my "friends" content.

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finding friends

I agree. The friend finder doesn't seem to be aware of anyone integral in Canada.

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finding friends

I agree. The friend finder doesn't seem to be aware of anyone integral in Canada.

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

A great start, congratulations TEAM!

It's a beautiful baby beta!  The aesthetics rock. It's inspiring. 

Look forward to growing the community, reconnecting with friends we lost touch with, and pimpin' out this site with lots and lots of content!

I notice that in the beta version a lot of content from Integral Naked has not been ported over yet (including about 7 of my own video clips... ha!)  But all in good time.... ;-)

A dozen or more people (on the development team) have been breaking their back on this for a couple of years.... I and the integral community thank every one of you!

Brett

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Inviting.

Excellent! This is the kind of glamarous look which won't immediately convince my friends that I'm an Integral Geek. I am but.....there's time for them to borrow my copy of SES later. (After a bit of weight training to make carrying it around easier.) There's nothing wrong with attractive surfaces, infact, who would want to explore the depths if the surface ain't shiny? This is the kind of site people new to Integral are going to love to explore.

Could the radius of search on the community locator be increased beyond 50 miles? (Perhaps to 200?) In New Zealand I KNOW there are Integral practitioners out there, but our main centers of population are well scattered. I live in Hamilton, but will need to link with people in Aukland and Thames to be part of a decent sized "Sangha" I expect.

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~my first impressions = sweetness!

love the new Integral Life portal!

i posted my first impressions on my log. it's a bit long so allow me to link to it:

http://integrallife.com/member/c4chaos/blog/integral-life-my-first-impressions

kudos to the IL team for pulling this off. keep up the great work. will give more feedback as we go along.

--

http://www.c4chaos.com

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

first impression

Wonder! Clearly, alot of planning, work and vision have gone into this, and what's already available in beta form is much more than I can begin to comprehend, at least initially. There are already so many ways this site can be approached! I'm a trusting, old soul, at least when it comes to Integral Institute and Ken Wilber, so I've already followed the link to 'What is an inquiry?' Afterall, isn't that what it's for? And what a pleasant surprise! No! This is not like any other site, not like any of a number of very popular sites. Those who want it to be like their favorite site will be disappointed, because it is doing something altogether different. I wonder how many of us are ready for this; how many will plunge right in; or, like myself, enter only cautiously, weighing each step.

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

very nice! (but it made me cringe too...)

I did not see the first development of this site. This is the first time, but I really like it. Very nice looking, a great job. Looks like it has a budget. The only thing I had a little problem with, (and that perhaps reflects me more than anything) is the intro video. That just did not fly with my taste. It just felt very "improve your life"-ish and looked like a normal superficial "promising" advertising of a health-product. You know, an un-real slow-motion state with white lights that so many advertisers use. A (high) state that only seem to promise your ego that there is a way. I don't particularly think I will have my clothes and hair vibrate and blow in the wind and having electrical white "flow-things" whip around me because I start to inquiry about my life.  

But, maybe some do and if that is what is needed, go for it.

I really enjoy the site and the interface. 

Samuel Törnqvist

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

The promise in the into video

The intro video made me squirm a bit too, for all the reasons you state. But when I mentioned this to someone, they said that if the video was meant to reach out beyond the current integral community, it needed to be in a format that would make it "digestable" with familiar aspects.    

Lizanne

 

 

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3 out of 3 members found this useful.

First impressions of the site

I really like this. I'm stuck at home with a broken ankle, so have had lots of time to look slowly through the whole site, and have really enjoyed doing so. I am now waiting for more content to appear so that I can continue to do so. It's obvious a lot of hard work and thought have gone into the site, and congratulations to everybody involved.

One criticism. I am loathe to pass on the website address to friends and others who I think would be interested in the Integral Approach, because I know they wouldn't get past the introductory video. I wouldn't want to risk them playing that introductory video even if (or because) I've advised them not to! I'm wondering if this might be a culture thing, as I noticed the other European who has commented on the new site also finds the video cringeworthy.  But perhaps me and my mates aren't who the video is aimed at? 

Helen

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

Intro Vid.

(I may be out of touch with my European roots!) I loved the video, but I was viewing it as a "hook" for people who might otherwise be seduced by approaches which are more heavy on the partial part of "true but partial"!

I agree with Helen, the video didn't seem to be aimed at me, but I think my friends new to integral will be intrigued and perhaps a llittle excited to go deeper?  

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First Impressions: Exciting and New (Much Like the Love Boat)

One of the things I like most about the site so far is the fact that you can find other members in the same area code.  I think it would be neat to be part of a group that met every now and then to discuss Wilber and all things integral.  This feature makes establishing such a group fairly easy.  Great Job!!  Thanks to all who helped put this site together!! 

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A future add on could be...

A comment field for the zip code page that comes up or some way to alert people by zip code, so we can announce group meetings, gatherings, talks or services by location.--

Ev

Pixel Ink Design

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The inquiry "Is the site easy to navigate?" is lacking the respond...

I know that this response does not belong here but I tried to add it to "Is the site easy to navigate? " and there is no <respond> button.

Also I added a response to my favorites and the link to the parent theme does not function.

Specifically I added A few suggestions from Robb Smith and when I try to go to the parent Money for enligthement it did not work. The header is <> but as you see the link to the parent does not work. As you can see in the browser the link here is back to the same comment namely a few suggestions.

It looks like if you put in your favorites a top level discussion it works but when you put in favorites a response it does not work.

Ricardo Fuentes

 

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

Site Review

Hi-

 

New to Integral and new to the site. Am enjoying the body of knowledge on the site. Am digging into the share section and hope that as the site evolves it will be easier to track the conversations more easily. Additionally,  from my initial investigation it appears as if there are ongoing discussion topics. I am finding it challenging to link into all of them. Perhaps a listing of all of those topic areas would make it more streamlined for reading and participating.

Will continue to dig in. Thanks.

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Great!

The site is wonderfully organized so an Integral newbie can feel their way in while an AQAL veteran can jump right into serious discussion and exploration of some of the richer content. I would appreciate being able to comment directly to media as opposed to having commentes restricted to inquiries only. The site certainly has me excited as to the future of integral and its potential for growth amongst some amber/orange folks.

The intro video, while wonderfully produced, was a little hokey, however. But I guess that's the sort of stuff that folks are used to, and we would'nt want to scare them off with an in-depth analysis of witnessing vs. non-dual state experiences, now would we?

Bravo, IL.com team! Keep up the good work...

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All very lovely

Only thing missing is the RSS button in the navigation bar on every page that has content.  This is the main way I get my webjuice, and IMO should be standard.

 

 

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Second that!

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

Nicely done-but some improvements would help make it better

Site is nice looking and the four main tabs make sense and easy navigation. I agree with several others who think the intro video should probably be ditched-very commercial feeling. Instead, how about one of the excellent introductory “power points” on the four quadrants. I miss most the many great PDF documents of substance that are on the Integral Institute website. I’m hoping that may will be ported as I prefer substantive reading to everything on video. I’m especially interested in education and sustainability issues, so keep them coming, please.

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

first impressions of the site

Very appealing and a joy to access.....

A rich source of materials and wisdoms.....albeit much of it is complex, very academic and some might say, a bit obscure.   I hope that we can find ways to describe Integral to a wider public in simpler, ways and in ways which make it easier for people to apply the insights to an "ordinary"day.

When KW interviews people on the site, KW talks too much...and in my view does not allow others enough space to think...no doubt because of KW's irrepresible enthusiasm!

 

 

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Great improvement, thanks!

While I have longed to receive the information present on this site, I have in the past been locked out due to my lack of sophistication.  This site, with its calming colors- no small comfort for computer challenged Baby Boomer types like me- feels welcoming and locations on the site appear simple to master. 

I had no idea you were working on this and I deeply appreciate it.

I am anxious to find sites related to the political events occurring in the US at present.  The email from Deepok Chopra and a recent one from a comment posted on my site, http://hubpages.com/hub/McCain-Palin-Honeymoon-Over raise me to a higher level of analysis but I need more high level points of view and hope to find them here.

 

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Possible addition to website and comments on the business aspects

  My first impression is that the website is really great.  This is my first exposure and it is better than I expected.  Obviously someone is putting in a lot of time and energy into building the site.  So far it has been pretty intuitive to get around and do things and I haven't ever had the problem of "Can't find webpage" when I would click on something.

  However, when I went to find where to send my comments on how great the site was, I had problems finding this webpage.  As long as this website is still in testing, I would suggest that on the opening page there be a "Suggestions for Website" selection or some equivalent.

  Last, as I have been reading some of the other members suggestions, I get the feeling that one of the functions of this website is to help figure out what is needed to support the integral life community.  This is not necessarily a problem or a criticism, in that this is the best way to find out if the needs are enough to sustain the website.

  That said, I would also like to hear the thoughts of the people (and members) setting up this website regarding what they think would be needed to financially sustain this great site and what other ideas they might have to allow this site to generate some income on its own, such as selling books, DVD's, music, art, services, etc. While I understand that some members might not feel comfortable in addressing the business aspects, I would think that in truly integral living, people will have to deal with this, so I would think that here would be a good place to do it as well as to see/experience how others have done it using the AQAL process.

  I bring this question up now, since having served on several non-profit organizations, I noted that no matter how much good they do or how spiritual the participants are, within a short time, much of the time of the members is spent scrambling around looking for funding.  So, mixing metaphors, I suggest taking the bull by the horns and getting our feet wet.

Thanks,

MB

 

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"Free to be fully human" and Active Inquiries link

  When logging back into the home page I noted two things that made me go hmmm.., so I went back to this comment section again to make a note about them, but the program wouldn't let me make a second comment, so I am making my comment as a sub-comment.

  First, I go hmmm... about the home page stating: "Free to be Fully Human."  I don't have a problem with that intrinsically, but it make me think of humanistic psychology, which isn't AQAL.  I suppose if one includes the transpersonal states as part of being human, then this statement would be accurate.

  Second, I then had trouble finding my way back here again, since the "Active Inquiries" link is in a shaded portion of my web page, while the My Blogs, etc, is in a separate column and is well highlighted, etc.  Perhaps Active Inquiries would be easier to find it it were in the same column as "My Blogs", but perhaps that is not the original intent of the originators of this website.

Yours,

mb

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1 out of 1 members found this useful.

Wow!

I love it! Visually appealing, and easy to navigate, I find. There certainly is excellent access to articles and videos and presentations which, the ones I've viewed so far, are helpful and enlightening! There's already quite a bit on here - that it'll take me about a week and more likely more to comb through it all.. but overall, I'm psyched with this site. You all did a really excellent job putting this together!

Despite the quantity of content, I don't feel overwhelmed when entering, and the site feels very inviting. There's not too much on one screen shot, and you can surf through at your leisure. It feels quite open and flowing to me.

It certainly makes me want to stay and explore all the nooks!

Thank you! Lynn

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first entry... for a white raven ....?

... this site is sluggish in letting me enter. I know I am registered earlier as Tzujan. A new way openened up now. I am in as Tzujanneman, the child in me.

When clicking as to entering my picture to the empty place ... I was directed to the result : the torso of no•body. 

Some times a total blank page shows up. It reminds me to blank my mind. Welcome. Although ....

Somewhere else al kind of problems arose around my use of a service, administrative matters and such. The people there said I was the only one with these phenomena. So I was glad, I am a white raven to that enterprise. Here too?

Any way, it opened using this part of me.

 

Greetings form he heart, Tzujanneman

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Quick impression

THANK YOU for all your hard work!  It truly is a monumental undertaking to present Integral in ways that do justice to the power, beauty and promise of the theory and methods.  This is much more accessible and inviting than previous public faces of the Integral community.  I look forward to being able to use this with my clients (owners and senior executives of small and mid-sized firms) who are ready to view the foundations of the coaching and consulting approach they have been enjoying.

Keep up the good work!

Paul Landraitis

 

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Technical difficulties

In the last week I've had technical difficulties with the site, though I've tried to access through different operating systems (Windows XP, linux) and different browswers (IE6, IE7, firefox).  I am unable to edit my profile; I get an error page when I click "submit".  Also, please have a look at the posting "Religulous" by Greg Mayers,... since I added a comment, all comments (including others' as well as mine) are no longer visible.

I'm not sure what's going wrong here, or if someone can help me resolve these,...

---Frank

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downloading materials

The site itself is very appealing, seems to be full of useful materials, but it is impossible for me to download any free materials. Why is it? Please help me.

I always get the following message: "The requested site is either unavailable or cannot be found. Please
try again later."

Rita

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really?!?

 Are you kidding?

I don't see anything feminine about the visual elements of the web layout. It's all blue and mechanistic/techno-chique. 
It's not bad. That's not what I'm trying to say, you guys are doing some pretty neat work. I just don't think that it's very balanced in that respect... specifically.
 

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Hmmm

I can see how someone could interpret it as mechanistic.  I'm see other things too.  Like looking up through water or a thick mist, soft edges but definite borders in something quite 3rd dimensional throughout. 

Is blue masculine?  Not sure.  Probably it is traditionally.  This blue is aqua and again evocative of water and air.  I do see it as masculine with the whole thing being about spirituality.  Actually I think even women since modern times have become more and more masculine in thought and expression. 

Although women are traditionally depicted as earthy if they're spiritual.  And the strong green background carries that.  Certainly it appeals to me. 

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Please characterize your first impression of the site

It's very interesting and informative, and as I have said in a previous post, I'm glad that Wilber is influenced by Habermas as my thinking about problems in the contemporary world is influenced by the philosophy of Habermas as well.

However, the prevalence of crosses on this website is, quite frankly, giving me the creeps!

I'm Jewish, and I do not like the fact that the symbol for Integral Judaism is a Star of David with a cross superimposed on it.  This is the third time I am going to say it in a post - Please, please [!], remove the cross from the Star of David.  It's dishonest to both faith traditions (Judaism and Christianity) to have it there, and I find it offensive.  I respect the autonomy of Christian beliefs and symbols.  Analagously, non-Jews should respect the autonomy of Jewish beliefs and symbols.

Seeing a cross superimposed in the center of a Star of David is making me reconsider whether I should participate on this website at all.

I would like to learn more, but it is making me feel very uncomfortable.

 

Shalom,

Marion L.

 

 

 

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A bit cold

My very first impression was that it was rather inaccessible and demanding. The colours and style is rather on the cold side. You might feel a bit "less" for not paying. You do need to "get into it" and it takes a while. When it opens up you marvel at all the thought that is going into this and not least the fact that new features are coming up all the time. That's exciting to follow, as it seems cutting-edge. I think personally I would opt for a bit more warmth (design-wise especially) and greater accessibility to the watched posts. I am not too keen on clicking all the time!

www.vivimaricarpelan.com

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profile editing glitches

Hi team, awesome beta site, lots of great content and relatively reliable.

there is a glitch in the profile editing process though, as well as the upload profile photo which has no active interface that I can find.

I like the neutral colour scheme and the 'light' platform which performs well even at low bandwidth, keep it simple and elegant I say, the content speaks for itself!

Thank you to all concerned :-)

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Good but

This isn't exactly a first impression but I don't know where else to do this...

 

I think that there should be a relatively easy to see "comments" section underneath all of the content pages like all other websites have.  It would be much better/easier than having a "blog post" about them (and easier to see the totality of people's responses on the same page as the content).

A reddit-style (www.reddit.com) up/down vote arrow thing would be great too instead of the almost worthless "did you find this helpful?" icon.  If this could be used in the comment section (as reddit does) as well it would be all the greater.

Also I've noticed a few of the audio submissions are flash files (specifically the ten minute reconnect with spirit/ three faces of god submissions).  I cannot get these on my ipod for easy listening in car/subway/etc (which I think would be a good time for that, no?) without a lot of effort on finding out how to rip them from the site then convert them into mp3 or w/e.

 

There's more gripes I have I'm sure :P, but that's all I can come up with right now.  All of that being said, I really really do appreciate that we have this resource to connect and share and awaken and all of that fun stuff :) [and this is a great improvement from the Integral Naked site].  I'm just a tad grumpy at the moment...

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Amazing

It's truly amazing for me to have access to all the inspiring information and to connect with others along "the Way".

It really motivates me to learn and experience more and start looking for ways to contribute.

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I'm Home!

In the UL quadrant: I feel at home! I belong. I can breathe in here. I feel moved. I think the information is well-organized and easy to find. I like the graphics. I am touched and inspired in this environment of knowledge paired with care.

In the UR: I keep coming back for more. I watch the videos. I browse. I visit every day.

In the LL: (Any Hebrew speakers?) 'Hinei ma tov u ma naim, shevet achim gam yahad' How good and how pleasant for brothers [and sisters] to commune.

In the LR: The information abunds and is easy to find. Easy to connect with community.

I find the masculine energy predominant. The blue background reminds me of the air element, which represents thinking, which is the masculine energy. I am happy to learn theory presented in a masculine way, focused, clear, well organized. The place where I would bring feminine energy for balance would be the 'Share'. Community is feminine,is Earth, and I could see earth colors and images there.

Did I tell you how much at home I feel here?

--

Tana Saler

www.tanasaler.com

 

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Yeah...

It just looks like every other message board on the internet. That either means there are a lot of third tier web page designers out there or you're just a bunch of average joes with average web design skills who can't really think outside the box. Your followers seem to be losing their shit over how "Integral" white-on-blue is though, so, mission accomplished, I guess. 

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First

First, every sites need to have details that catch viewers attention. Information stated on every pages must have valid idea that benefits audiences, it also have educative shares and approachable. And to keep every visitors always part of them, they must have a great advantage that is competitive to other site.

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