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| Arlee Bird promoting A to Z Challenge at Mt. Rushmore |
Finally! I'm back from one of my longest vacations ever. It's been a great summer for me and my wife. We've spanned the United States from coast to coast and seen plenty of the wonderful sights this country has to offer. We've also enjoyed the company of family members and friends whom we don't get to see enough.
Now, coming back to the usual routine of our most-of-the-year life, it's time once again for me to reassess my life and everything in it. One of the first things I'm going to be tackling is my subscriptions to a number of Wordpress blogs that I've followed over the years. There are many that I regularly read and comment on and they never seem to acknowledge the existence of my blogs. I've already begun unsubscribing to many of those.
Don't get me wrong, there are a number of Wordpress bloggers who have seemed to figure out how to cross comment on my Blogger platform and those will stay on my list. I appreciate the support of the Battle of the Band bloggers 'Curious as a Cathy', Sound of One Hand Typing, The Doglady's Den, Angel's Bark as well as a few other WP bloggers who regularly comment at Tossing It Out or Wrote By Rote. I'm not dropping any of these bloggers and I hope we continue to have long meaningful relationships in the years to come.
Maybe I'm being a bit petty about this, but my time is as valuable as anyone else's and even if I'm just taking a few seconds to delete notifications from my email it all adds up. I need to start restructuring my time better and it's going to start with certain blogs. No point in reading some of those blogs or leaving comments that never get reciprocated. My comments on those blogs might get answered in some instances, but I'd appreciate some of those bloggers just letting me know that I mean something to them beyond my visiting their blogs.
Sorry for this bit of nonsense, but it's been bugging me. It's time to do something about it--again. If you have a Wordpress blog and feel that I might unjustifiably unsubscribe from your blog, please leave me a comment below so I know you are out there and what your thoughts are about my current course of action.
Bodang Buck Results
Since I have a history with this McGuinness Flint tune from having owned the album back in the 70's (and still having it in my collection), their version has been ingrained in my mind. The McGuinness Flint album is a long time favorite of mine. It has some fine tunes and the band has a good sound. So that's where my vote goes. Jonny Young Four did a great job with the song, but I prefer the instrumentation and subtler vocals of the Flint version.
Final Voting Results:
Jonny Young Four 10
McGuinness Flint 14
My next Battle of the Bands post will be on Tuesday September 1 and will be combined with that month's Insecure Writer's Support Group post. However I'll have at least one post next week so I hope you stop by for that or those whichever the case may be.
Does anyone else share my frustration about bloggers who won't cross blogging platforms to leave comments? If you've ever unsubscribed from a blog, why did you do it? How was your summer?
Welcome back! I've noticed this huge divide between blogger and WordPress too but then it's also more difficult to get followers and comments on blogs regardless these days. Blogging just isn't as popular as it used to be. I've found I've got to work a whole lot harder to get anywhere with it and for me, this makes it less enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteKaren, I've been resisting this idea that blogging has been losing ground in some ways, but I'm afraid that I might have to concede that you're correct. Maybe it's the community that we've landed in over the years? Blogging does seem to be more work much of the time. I guess we have to make blogging work for us in different ways.
DeleteLee
Glad you have had a great Holiday Mr B and the weather has been good. The weather in Britain is a bit of a mixed bag this year sunny patches with rainy days. So we are sunbathing under umbrellas.
ReplyDeleteI dont seem to have to many problems with Wordpress blogs and Blogger blogs, but I agree with the first comment it seems to be harder to get visitors and comments. Mind you I am trying to put up a post most days at present and have worked out that if I do about twenty posts a month then the pageview numbers slowly increase even if I never get to visit other folks blogs much. . . Which I dont because I writing posts all the time, its all a bit Catch 22 I think.
As for your second comment Well I'm not sure how long Jiyaa will be there for, I thought these sort of things had all but vanished but it just goes to show Spammers are a hardy bunch, It is certainly a comment with a theme. I dont mind spammers as long as they at least try and make it look like they have attempted to read a blog. In fact I left one for a car sales firm in the USA once because they made a good attempt at being nice, but once they worked out my blog can be a bit mad they removed their own spam. . . . Not sure if that is good or not.
OOoooooo well done Mr B, poor old Jiyaa . . blink and they are gone
DeleteRob, as far as I'm concerned Spam belongs in a can and fried in a pan. Not a fan of Spam on my blog.
DeletePlease pass that rain to us. Our stupid governor has put us on water ration. I'd be skipping the umbrella and dancing in the raid if we got some.
Jiyaa? Not sure what you're seeing or talking about, but then again I just crawled out of bed and maybe weird things have been going on while I've been asleep.
Lee
Check yer spam filter you'll know all about Jiyaa. Those that get e-mail notification of your replies saw that Jiyaa spammed you about as bad as my French Invasion of a few months back.
DeleteCW, after I left my reply to Rob I discovered all of those Jiyaa spam comments in my spam folder. That guy was apparently pretty busy overnight as I see his spam on all sorts of blogs. Cleaned from mine now.
DeleteLee
Welcome back, Lee! For the rest of your life your mind will be flashing back to the Rushmore Monument and all the other places you visited on your long cross-country adventure.
ReplyDeleteYour BOTB matched mine this time, the winner finishing with a 4 vote margin. Congratulations!
If Michele of Angel's Bark comments on this post, would you do me a favor and tell her that I have been trying to leave comments on her blog for months? I have tried to vote in her BOTB competitions, 14 different attempts in all, but my comments disappear and are never published. I tried to contact her by email and that failed, too. It's frustrating because I want to follow Angel's Bark but can't. Please let her know that I am not avoiding her blog and would welcome any suggestions she has that might solve the problem. Thank you, Lee!
Shady, I guess this was probably my seventh visit to Rushmore, but it was my wife's first and I know she wanted to see it. She loved it!
DeleteHopefully, Michele and Angel's Bark will see your comment but I will also try to let her know in her comments. I've never had a problem on her blog.
Lee
Shady, I'm heading over to your blog to try to reach you. I didn't get an email so I will go search my spam folder too. I don't know why you wouldn't be able to post a comment on my site. I have no idea why that would be occurring. It's just a regular Wordpress blog. Have you ever had problems like this with any other wordpress blogs? I'm going to get right on this Shady. And thanks for visiting my blog! We'll get this straightened out!
DeleteMichele at Angels Bark
The summer went by so fast didn't it? Seems like just yesterday you told us about your trip and showed us the map of all your planned destinations. I'm glad you all had a great time!
ReplyDeleteNot getting reciprocal comments is a huge pet peeve of mine. But I continue to follow some of those bloggers anyway b/c I like their content.
JoJo, if I like comment enough I'll keep visiting certain blogs for that reason alone.
DeleteThe summer went very fast, but then so does my life.
Lee
So glad you had a great vacation! Every year, some time between the 1st and the AtoZ Challenge, I remove blogs that haven't posted in over 6 months. I also have stopped following one or two because I realized most of their content was offensive to me. There are two blogs I follow right now that I haven't visited in quite awhile, because they have never reciprocated in any way even though I had visited them, commented and even shared their work for well over a year or more. I believe I shall be removing them altogether. I see blogging as a community type endeavor, not a magazine. I did remove one blog once because they posted numerous times a day with nothing that ever truly interested me.
ReplyDeleteI don't expect anyone to read every post I make. Or to comment on every post they read. But I do expect some amount of interaction.
Barbara, the offensive blogs I tend to just not visit, but I may start unfollowing more of them. I understand when people can visit or comment because of being overwhelmed by life issues--I've been that way lately with vacation (and sadly even before that so count me guilty of my accusations). I'm trying to figure it all out to come to some happy medium.
DeleteLee
You had an amazing summer of travel.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that's limited to just Wordpress blogs. I don't follow or visit those who don't return the favor after a couple tries on my part.
Alex, as Karen said earlier and you posted about a while back there is a different blogging spirit in the air of recent years. Or maybe it's our perception of things? I don't know exactly. However the issues with Wordpress blogs have seemed to stand out more to me. There are some wonderful blog folk in the WP world and I'm thankful for them, but there are a bunch who strike me as arrogant or ignorant, I don't know which.
DeleteLee
Sounds like you and your wife had a lovely vacation. As for cleaning blog house...well... a lot of peeps are in this for themselves. And there are those peeps who have family issues which, from time to time, knocks me off my keyboards.
ReplyDeleteAs for Battle of the Bands, I like music but it doesn't shape who I am. And every other year it seems, I can participate in the A to Z. I wished all I had to do was concern myself with writerly things but I have another job to attend to and health issues and so on and so forth.
I don't clean out my blog roll. A lot of peeps who started out with me have left the blogging world. I also try to read at least 10 blogs a day and comment. And that is when things are going smoothly.
Hugs and chocolate!
Shelly, I admire bloggers who are working and doing a ton of other things while maintaining a good balance. Some days I have a difficult time even getting to 10 blogs per day, but I've been trying to do what I can.
DeleteFamily and work comes first and that''s understandable to me.
Lee
I tend to be a "give more than I get" person, commenting frequently and posting rarely. And most people appreciate that. However, there are those who end up taking me for granted and that can be irritating. Generally I won't unfollow those blogs, I'll just remove them from my blogroll and never return.
ReplyDeleteComments seem to be down just about everywhere right now though. I'm posting next week, but I don't expect much from it as many folks are on holiday. Also a lot of people seem to have quit recently.
My Summer has been fantastic!
Anne, blog comments always seem to go down during summer much like my own have. So much more time is spent away from the computer while doing summer things that it's more difficult to do the blog visiting thing. Maybe we'll see some uptick in the coming of the Fall months.
DeleteLee
Glad you had an incredible vacation. Nice competitive battle. Look forward to the next one.
ReplyDeleteMike, got a back to school Battle for the next round.
DeleteLee
Welcome back! You've had such an adventurous summer I'm sure the pleasant memories will last till you're ready for another go!
ReplyDeleteIt's been such a busy summer for me that it seems I was just cleaning up glitter from a Valentine's Day project and now there are grinning goblins in every storefront window!
I follow and comment on blogs I enjoy. If I never hear back I simply assume the blogger's roster is complete without me. Just the way the cookie crumbles, I guess. And yes, why keep the clutter?
Diedre, we've still got some Christmas stuff up in our house. I noticed this after coming back from the vacation. Guess we might as well just keep those things up now.
DeleteLee
It's always the question, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteAndrew, yes, such is life and not just in blogging.
DeleteLee
I've gone and house cleaned the blogs I've followed from time to time. There's so many good ones out there, it's silly to waste time on ones that you aren't enjoying.
ReplyDeletePatricia, a lot of the non-communicative blogs don't offer up anything that unique or interesting to me anyway.
DeleteLee
Oh you need to do what you need to do. I am not sure how to unfollow a person:) This shows how little I know how to do things on my blog. I know there are some I wish I could comment on but can't and feel bad about this. I like it when the BOTB is close and glad Flint won. It sounds like you have had a great vacation and it must have been wonderful to get away. I had a staycation. The car took some money and so did the 1 cat:) I still went on day trips. I saw the oldest Maple tree in Canada, went to Niagara On The Lake since it is close and my hubby and I pick a town every year that we visit for the day. This time we went to the town of St. Mary's. A lovely town known for their stone houses. Glad you are back. Oh and I made a card with one of the BOTB's songs as inspiration if you want to check it out:)
ReplyDeleteBirgit, on WP I just unsubscribe which means I no longer receive email notifications about new posts. It just cleans up my emails and saves me some time.
DeleteStaycations are nice too and the way you did it sounds especially nice.
I'll check out that post.
Lee
Welcome home, Lee! Glad you had such a wonderful holiday.
ReplyDeleteI have plenty of Blogger folks dropping by my self-hosted Wordpress site and vice-versa. (Thanks for the link. Good to know I'm not on your shit list, even though I'm usually late to the party.) There's an occasional technical glitch, but nothing major. Like you, I take issue with bloggers from any platform who don't acknowledge or reciprocate my interest and agree, it's a waste of time to keep visiting those sites.
As for the battle, several of them are pretty close this time around. Good outcome for McGuinnes Flint.
Debbie, I think when we're willing to be persistent in leaving comments we can do it and eventually there are no problems. That's been the case for me. I can't recall the last time when I've had an overwhelming problem with leaving a comment where I couldn't quickly resolve the issue.
DeleteLee
I understand how you feel, Lee, and sympathize because I'm having the same problem....and it the worst of my commenters dropped out after I changed to a Wordpress site, too.
ReplyDeleteIn my own defense as a reader/commenter, I can only say I've had a very bad year of crises ranging from family illnesses to computer crashes. Sometimes life does that to us....
Patricia, prior to this year I also had a lot of computer problems which thankfully have been resolved until my current computer goes kaput. Only recently did I discover that you had moved your blog and I've yet to visit. I'll remedy that now.
DeleteLee
Welcome home : ) We've also been on the road for what feels like the entire summer, including moving twice. We're building a house, so there's another move in our future, but not until 2016. I need to do some housekeeping too. Now that we're settled into our temporary housing, I'm anxious to re-establish a writing routine. So glad you've had an enjoyable summer!
ReplyDeleteJoyce, moving and housekeeping can so disrupting and time consuming. Good luck with your new house adventure.
DeleteLee
Nicely competitive Battle, Lee. And I'm glad y'all made it home, safe and sound.
ReplyDelete~ D-FensDogG
'Loyal American Underground'
STMcC, back to the normalcy of this abnormal California world.
DeleteLee
My first win! Yay, I'm usually on the losing side of these. I guess the wordpressers do have a hard time figuring it out. So many hoops to jump through on both sides though.
ReplyDeleteYolanda, well I had to jump through a whole lot of hoops before I could regularly comment on WP blogs so I figure the Wordpressers could do the same for the Blogger crowd. Or maybe they don't think we're worth it.
DeleteLee
Sometimes, I find it annoying to have to resign in on different blogs so as to comment, but if I really want to leave the comment I just do it. I can understand the hassle, I guess, and I get you not wanting to bother with folks who don't want to deal with that hassle. *shrug*
ReplyDeleteMadilyn, I've gotten past the hassles by dealing with them for a while. Now I comment with no problems on any platform.
DeleteLee
Glad you enjoyed your vacation, Arlee. My online presence has been sporadic lately. I get a good momentum going and inevitably something (usually a health issue) knocks me back a step or two.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I don't comment on too many blogs, I read as many as I can. It takes me a little longer than most to 'get around' I suppose. Enjoy the rest of your summer! Hugs. Eva
Eva, those health issues can be a real setback. I guess there is always something to interfere with blogging--you know, things like life.
DeleteLee
Glad to see you back, Lee! I totally understand your frustrations regarding bloggers who fail to visit or comment, but I don't know that I've had problems with another platform. Maybe, I have and didn't know it. Anywho, so glad you're not hacking me off your list. lol I'm trying to go through my subscription list, too and am slowly removing myself from some. It's not necessarily because said blogger wasn't visiting or commenting, but more importantly the blog isn't one I visit mainly due to the type of content. Thanks for sharing the winner of your last BOTB. Honestly, I can't remember who I voted for now. My brain is so scrambled these days! Oh well...it's time to hit the hay, so I'll say goodnight and welcome back to Blogosphere!
ReplyDeleteCathy, talk about "scrambled brains"--I almost ate mine for breakfast.
DeleteLee
Hi Lee - glad to see you had a lovely holiday and were able to catch up with many family and friends and see some amazing places.
ReplyDeleteBlogger and WP commentators always gripe at each other during the A-Z .. thankfully I have a WP account, which I don't use, so I just comment using that. Some WP commenters have just flatly said they don't comment on Blogger blogs ..
Such is life I guess - but we are all busy and time is definitely not our friend! So we need to tidy up and eliminate unnecessary actions ...
Cheers Hilary
What I should add ... is that we can so easily miss some great bloggers if we ignore or just blank out the other sort of blogger - in this case WP ones ... H
DeleteHilary, my thought is that a number of WP bloggers are arrogant and cliquish.
DeleteLee
Great photo and neat T-shirt. How did you get the blue sky? We haven't seen any in Wales.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I tend to follow blogs on both sites - and use Wordpress for mine - I have to admit that I don't comment on every post I read. If I don't feel that I'm adding anything interesting, then I move on rather than 'clog the system' with waffle/rubbish. But then maybe I can't do the one-liner comments. And this is a case in point.
Also with Wordpress sites, I can stop receiving email notifications but still remain following the sites from my Wordpress Reader. However, that may only be available to those with a Wordpress site like me.
P.S. Please tell Blogger that I'm not a robot. He's convinced I am and I hate selecting photos for him. Pancakes, waterfalls... Grr - beep, beep. Or am I?
Roland, we had plenty of blue sky days while traveling which was a good thing. We need your rain in California though.
DeleteIf you're talking about the Word Verification thing I think you can just ignore it. That's what I've been told at least.
Lee
Word verification is fine, as are numbers. But sometimes Blogger wants me to "select all the photos of pancakes/soup/waterfalls or robots." Most are easy but some are like mind-games. But maybe that's part of the fun.
DeleteWith all the wildfires in US, I realise that raing is critical.
Roland, sometimes those mind games are kind of fun, but usually I'm in a hurry to move on. Fortunately i rarely run into those spam screeners.
DeleteSeems like we get these fire problems every year. I saw evidence of past fires in some of the places we traveled.
Lee
It does seem to be very quiet on the blogs these days, perhaps it's just the vacations, but also it seems a few people manage to get to hundreds of blogs when I mange to get to half a dozen. It's a real problem visiting as many as I'd like - I just thank goodness for those with Like buttons, since then at least they register I've enjoyed their post.
ReplyDeleteJemima, I do like those blogs with "Like" buttons though still I usually can't resist leaving an actual comment if I'm there.
DeleteLee
Welcome back from your extended vacation! How nice that you could take all that time to travel and be with friends and family. What a blessing that is! I never get to go anywhere in the summer time (or at the holidays for that matter) because I'm always too busy with my dogsitting business to get away. I have to go during the slow seasons...when others aren't traveling. The good thing: I usually get decent airfares because it's off peak times.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had more time to visit blogs. I don't get to visit near what I'd like to but the ones I do visit, I most always leave comments or at least will "Like" the post.
Michele at Angels Bark
Michele, being in business does limit ones freedom to step away. I used to have the same problem when I was a manager in my last job. Now with retirement and with my wife as a school teacher our summers are pretty wide open time wise.
DeleteLee
Hello Lee, good to have you back.
ReplyDeleteDon't delete me, please. I love reading your blog and even though I don't always leave a comment, your writing and challenges are a lifeline to me.
As far as deleting blogs I follow and never hear from again, well if I just leave them lying there for a while they seem to delete themselves. Anyway, you never know, they could come to life again, I know there have been big gaps in my own visits, normally due to issues in my own life.
Blessings my friend from Geoff in South Africa.
Geoff, you're in good shape with me my friend. The only blogs I'm unsubscribing from are those of which I receive email notifications and though I comment on their blogs they never leave a comment on mine. It's just a matter of saving some time for me on a relationship that is one-sided. It's kind of like if I'm always talking to someone and they aren't listening to me then why waste my time talking?
DeleteLee
I totally get your stance. It's hard to get to all of the blogs sometimes and I am guilty of visiting the first couple of posts that appear in a reader list and not getting back to others.
ReplyDeleteBlanket apology to all I missed this time - big, crazy week.
You do what you have to do, Arlee! If it's not fun, why bother?
Cherdo, I'll be the first to admit that I'm very lax in respect to reciprocative commenting these days. I wouldn't blame anyone for unsubscribing from my blog, but for the most part I don't think people are as apt to subscribe to Blogger blogs as they are WP blogs. I'm just kind of here for most people and I greatly appreciate when they do comment and almost always leave a response to their comments even though I might not always make it to their blog posts in a timely manner. We are all constrained by time and have to do what we have to do.
DeleteLee
I had a so-so summer.
ReplyDeleteAny bloggers who didn't reciprocated vanished my subscription list many, many years ago. I only follow less than half dozen WordPress blogs, and the only beef I have with WordPress is that I lost my avatar when they acquired Gravatar. I was unable to find the website nor really able to figure out the WordPress menu for those subscriptions I did have.
Blogging is definitely a lot more work these days and most of the new blogs I see are maintained by writers who post nothing but writing (either their own or tips about) and post on an infrequent basis.
Father Nature's Corner
GB, I guess so-so is better than no-no.
DeleteMaybe our blogging circles have evolved into the more mundane and have lost some of the spirit they originally had? Or maybe they have determined their niche and now stick with it. Me? I'm still looking I guess. Then again I mostly do the Battle of the Bands related posts.
Lee
I think you're doing the right thing, Arlee. We're all busy but we can carve out some time to reciprocate a visit, definitely. Sounds like you had a terrific vacation. And I use Wordpress but I've never had any problems visiting and commenting on Blogger blogs.
ReplyDeleteYou're one of the good ones, Quanie. I visit you with fair regularity and you stop by to visit my blog (and others). You're no WP snob by any means and that's the way it should be.
DeleteLee
Welcome back from your trip across the U.S. I know many people have exotic places they want to visit and I've enjoyed visiting some wonderful places in Europe - The Greek Isles being my favorite, but my dream trip now is to load up and travel across the states. There are so many places here in the U.S., I long to visit.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand your frustration with the blogger/WP divide and it bothers me as well. Like you, I've left dozen of unanswered, unreciprocated comments on WP blogs. I understand it is difficult for them to comment, but many of them find a way just as I find a way to comment on WP blogs that I read and enjoy.
I've been tossing around the idea of moving my blog to WP and I recognize all of the benefits. The number one benefit is owning your own platform and we never know when Google will take blogspot away. My biggest drawback and what is keeping me from making the move is that I don't want to lose all of my blogger friends. It seems like it's us or them and I've even read comments from many WP bloggers that they won't even read a blogger blog, much less attempt to leave a comment.
What's the answer - oh wise one. Surely , if there is an answer or compromise - you are the one who can figure it out. Sorry didn't mean to put that on your already overburdened shoulders. I'm just frustrated .
Take care.
Melissa, I don't think Blogger would ever just abscond with our blogs. I've heard the rumors of this happening but I wonder about the veracity of these stories.
DeleteIt's sad that such a divide exists and I certainly don't have any answers over all except I'll just keep doing what I do.
Traveling the U.S. can be such a great experience. I never tire of riding the highways of America.
Lee
Why on EARTH would anyone want a Wordpress account anyway? (Snobs.) ;)
ReplyDeleteYou're funny! I've been told that I should ditch my Blogger blog and go to Wordpress. I'd feel like a traitor.
DeleteArlee Bird
A to Z Challenge Co-host
Tossing It Out
I certainly agree with you. You would think a little consideration would come into play. But I've found it's not just cross-platforms. There are some bloggers I've been dedicated to following in years past that recently I've stopped visiting because A) They never visit (or if they do, certainly don't tell me). or 2) Never reply to comments posted. Makes me feel like my blog or my comment isn't good enough for their attention. Sure, I may not have the best blog in the blogsphere, but I hope I provide a little entertainment and/or information to those (like you) stopping by to read and leave comments and showing a little appreciation. To be honest I rather love comments, and am quite happy with longer ones, as it's easier for me to reply.
ReplyDeleteMaybe some people don't have the luxury of leaving longer comments. Who knows? I probably don't get around as much as I could because I dwell longer on the posts that I do visit like taking time to read them, think about them, and then come up with something that I think is worthwhile to say..
DeleteIn fairness to the bloggers who don't get around as much, blogging does take time and we all don't have that time to spend.
Lee
True, but I think some form of appreciation would be nice. Replying to a comment is a good start. Usually doesn't take very long. And I've never been worried about the length of a comment. Short and sweet is still showing appreciation. They are taking a bit of time to let you know you are apprecaited.
DeleteIn reality I agree with you, Jeffrey, but I'm just trying to give the benefit of the doubt to other bloggers. But what you are saying is closer to the truth of it all.
DeleteLee
Blogging comes second for me, writing-wise, but when I do find the time to make a post, I always make time to do some reading of other blogs. It's part of the deal. If I'm neglecting the commenting, it's because I'm neglecting all of it! (BTW, this is your best title ever.)
ReplyDeleteKelly, I need to get my writing priorities in line such as you have done. Thanks for the compliment on the title.
DeleteLee
I don't understand why some folks using Blogger or Blogspot think it's such a hardship to leave a comment on a Wordpress blog. It's really not that difficult. The only blogs I'm loath to comment on are the ones that make you register for some lesser-used commenting platform (not Disqus). If almost no one uses that commenting platform, and it's such a hassle to sign up to use it, it doesn't seem worth the effort just to leave one comment.
ReplyDelete