I thought that said it all really. Incidentally, if you think the first word is uterdsa, guess again. That got rejected... Upon reflection I can only assume it was lIterdsa... Did you get that? Putting a comment on the blog of Son-in-law-and-friend-who-loves-otters took five attempts and that was even using the trick of cycling through to find 'easy' ones. OK, I know my eyes aren't all they should be but when they are two inches from the screen they're as good as anybody's!
Do you expect a reply to your comments? I wonder how many people actually read the follow ups to their comments. Sometimes, when it's obvious I need to reply, I do so but as a general rule I don't bother. But I do appreciate your comments (abusive ones excepted). Those on my sketches were especially appreciated (buzz for repetition) but beware – asking for more art work could result in you getting bored of it! I find life is sometimes too short to go back and see if someone has followed up my comment with a reply and I couldn't cope with the hundreds of e-mails that I'd get if I ticked the little box on people's blogs! I know GB does but he has access to the internet on his phone and seems to follow about 200 blogs and read their replies as well. He always did manage his time better than me.
There is, as Adrian mentioned the other day, one thing worse than no internet connection. It's one that keeps going on and off. This old laptop I'm using keeps doing it. That was one of the main reasons it became my 'old' laptop last year. The worst aspect of all is typing a long comment, pressing the button and finding no connection.. In the process one loses the comment. For the next few comments I copy the comment before pressing the button. All works well and then comes the time I forget to copy it. Usually a really long and probably rubbishy comment but it took me a lot of effort – especially as writing in comment boxes is one place I can't increase the font size to see it properly for spelling errors. Needless to say that is when the internet connection chooses to give up the ghost again.
(Not my photo - source unknown)
Does one go back and re-comment when one has a connection or does one say bugger it and give up. Depends upon the mood in my case. So if you think I'm ignoring your blogs at the moment I may not be, I may just have reached the end of my tether.
Since January I seem to have done nothing but complain about technology and yet I do so love what it brings me. Almost instant communication with a brother in New Zealand, friends in the US, and even Partner-who-drinks-tea in the next room (she's working and in 'Do Not Disturb' mode). I can even help a fellow blogling identify a North American butterfly
Hugo Simberg - Flicka - a study of a girl
My first postcrossing cards have arrived including some from Finland – as a thank you for the ones I sent there to Pirrko.
And this is my first randomly received one - from Kseniya in Belarus. Aren't these great cards. You may not enthuse as much as I about the second one but I'm mad about letter boxes so it was perfect for me.
Sometimes I go back to someone's blog to see whether there was a reaction to a comment... but only when I have decided that I was particularly clever or oh-so brilliant. I guess I don't recheck that often, now that I think of it.
ReplyDeleteBut when it's been a reaction to an emotion-filled blog or someone's asked for reactions, sometimes I do go back. I get interested in other people's comments as well. That's how I have found people like you--I liked what you wrote on some blog.
But I have more time than most I think. I finally disabled the two word horror of Word verification. I have too much trouble with it sometimes, and I know others do. If too much spam hits my email I'll re-enable it.
Letter boxes. That sounds lovelier than mailboxes as we call them on this side of the pond.
Off to sleep with me now. It's after 1:30... Have a lovely day over there.
That WV was really appropriate...! I have developed an intense dislike for the new system, too; do I have WV on my blog? I don't think so; if I do, I'll change the settings immediately.
ReplyDeleteAs for looking for replies to my own comments: when I leave a comment that I would like to have a reply to or I think it could develop into a small but nonetheless interesting discussion, I go back periodically to check for replies. On some blogs, the possibility to get email notification on comments is not there. On some, it is there but I do not tick the little box because I know these blogs receive dozens and dozens of comments, and I don't need to read them all, I just want to know whether the blog owner replied to me.
To comments on my own blog, I always reply - I sppreciate them all, and I think if they took the time and effort to say something about my blog, so can I.
I'm happy about everyone on my blogroll who disabled captchas.
ReplyDeleteReplies to comments are cool, but not expected. I like being able to hold conversation in comments, though, which is why I switched to the Disqus comment system a while ago on my blogs.
I hope your technology troubles ease up soon!
Actually CJ the thing about comments for me is not that I follow 200 (which I do not) and have emails on my phone (which I do but, out of choice, not for blogs) but the fact that I have a very small select life in Blogland and follow very few blogs in detail rather than a lot of blogs sparsely. This means that my bloglife is concentrated and narrow whereas some have a wide and varied existence.
ReplyDeleteScriptor,
ReplyDeleteTheir steadfast resolve put to the test repeatedly, the gods of cyberspace (in collusion with my old computer) eventually taught me to write and save anything of length in a word doc before copying and pasting it into the waiting message box. As continues to be the case, the obvious eluded me for years. This writing outside the box (ha!) effectively foils the attempts of the partners to aggravate, and moreover, provides the benefit of room for me to write in a font size I can read with relative ease.
~The postcards are charming; thank you for sharing them. Speaking of postcards, time was when every village had postcards with images ranging from tearooms to well-meadows, to heritage buildings to quirky monuments and beyond – a small loss, but nonetheless, regrettable. Time was . . ..
Take care,
McGregor
I love the one with the letterbox! And the WV example is really "spot on". As is the question how best to deal with blog comments. I've given up on being consistent. With a couple of people I often tick follow-up - depending partly on topic, partly on what I know of THEIR habits and if other comments they're likely to get might be of interest to me or not and so on. With some, I go back manually to check comments only if there was a topic I was enough interested in to remember to do so! With two people, we regularly answer each others' comments by email. With a few more, that happens occasionally. On my own blog, I primarily answer direct questions + comments that might be of interest to other readers as well + the few people I know have a habit of ticking follow-up. Then there are some I know never come back for answers; they instead expect you to go back to THEIR blog to answer questions that THEY put on YOUR blog... Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. On the whole, I don't blame neither myself nor others if from time to time we lose track of who uses what system... (Now on this one I'm ticking the box because I think I might find other people's answers interesting!)
ReplyDeleteOK Librarian, so now you've made me feel guilty!
ReplyDeleteSo thanks to you, Jeannette, Jedediah, GB, McGregor and Dawn Treader for commenting - especially as you all did so at such length today.
(Actually that raises another question? When does one use a person's real name and when does one use their blog name. How do you know how happy they are to have their real name bandied about? Blogland is full of so many questions...)
You do keep raising interesting questions! My main policy is to stick to the signature in comments if the blogger does not use the real name on his/her own blog or profile. It may also be less confusing for other readers who don't know who's who. As a new blogger I was more cautious... Now it says Monica on my blog intro pages even if still DawnTreader on the B.profile and signature; so feel free!
ReplyDeleteI think re-commenting is sort of like conversation. If there's something more to be said, then say it. If someone says "Great post!" then they're probably not going to get a re-comment from me. Unless I feel chatty. If someone leaves a long, in-depth assessment of my post, then they're most likely going to get something deep and insightful from me. Like "Great comment!"
ReplyDelete8-)
It is vexing to retype comments. Yesterday, for some reason my comments never got posted and I gave up commenting, what with the word verification and approval confusions - the first time I faced such issues :) Today I am back commenting. I usually do check up on replies to my comments for 3 of my blog friends, they always reply :)Cheers, Ruby
ReplyDeleteIn answer to the name question: if people mention their name openly, I have no problems using it, but I mostly stick to the blog name because I tend to remember that easier. There are people I know from forums and have met in person and I called them by their nickname.
ReplyDeleteI've been going by Jedediah for more than a decade now and I answer to it just as to my real name. Which is Jennifer, I'm not sure I've posted that anywhere...sometimes people are very surprised to find out I'm female. Jedediah's the name of a roleplaying character of mine. I also answer to Bookscorpion.
I think I recognise that comment!!
ReplyDeleteI have today taken off word verification as it drives me mad so did not want to drive others mad.
I never return to see if there are any follow up to my comments. Prefer that to be done through return E-mail.
I'm not lazy just time management!