Thursday, April 8, 2010

misc blog poop





Thanks to Hilary of The Smitten Image. She has, once again, included me in her Posts Of The Week for NDE possum style. I'm honored to be included in this group of excellent blog posts.  Go visit Hilary's blog.  She takes some awesome photos.

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I go back and forth about replying to comments on my blog. Not about replying at all but rather, which way to reply. Sometimes I will reply on my blog if I think I am adding something to the original post but lately I have been replying via email. This is because I don't always go back myself to a blog I have commented on to see if there was a reply. But I wonder if people are getting my replies via email, especially if they have a spam filter like I do which is set on high. I do get a notice, though, once a day of 'suspect' emails so that I can catch the ones that aren't spam.

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Like most of us here in blog land, I get the occasional spam comment from 'anonymous'. It doesn't happen so often that I feel the need to moderate comments or use the word verification function. I get notice via email of new comments and when one of these pops up I just go right back and delete it. Although on one particular post, the spammer posted it three times! Delete, delete, delete. Anyway... Occasionally I will get a real comment by anonymous and at least three times now I have gotten weird comments. Not exactly spam but seems irrelevant to my post like these two (copied verbatim):

Approvingly your article helped me truly much in my college assignment. Hats off to you send, wish look forward for the duration of more interrelated articles promptly as its anecdote of my pet subject-matter to read.

Good brief and this fill someone in on helped me alot in my college assignement. Thanks you for your information.

What?!

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I've noticed a lot of blog make-overs lately. Some blogs change their header regularly, but lately there seems to be a lot of total renovations. Many have gone over to the 3 column format. And personal blog buttons are multiplying like, well, like rabbits. I've kept mine clean and simple but now with all the re-dos I'm thinking about spiffing it up a little. I still like this clean look so no background wallpaper for me but I might add a lot more pictures of my work on the sidebar. I like having the wide format too because it allows for larger pictures.

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I'm having a love/hate relationship with the 'updated' post editor. It has some features that I really like, the 'strike through' which is fun to use now and then and the picture poster which makes it so easy to size, place and move pictures. But for some reason it is also so aggravating. It won't always hold my formatting, frequently changing it when I publish. It will through no direction of mine suddenly change the font on certain paragraphs. And don't get me started on the spacing. Even when I am posting and placing my pictures, it will act differently to the exact same commands. Arrrrrgh! And the font size I tell it to publish in that seems to show on other computers does not show itself on mine and when I want to center my text I have to give it the command twice. I have gone back to the old post editor out of frustration but that didn't last very long.

13 comments:

  1. Congrats on the POTW!! That is super!!
    I guess we can never escape scammers...just like telephone sales calls...sooner or later they will catch up to you! I just delete them.
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  2. Congratulations on the POTW. Well deserved!

    I'm glad to hear that someone else has problems with the spacing commands on blogger ... I thought it was something I was doing ... well, just at first ... now I know it's not me and have just resigned myself to it ignoring my commands - kind of like a 'bad' dog.

    I've never commented to comments by email - as I figure it must take a lot more time ... I have you and two other people who respond to my comments via e-mail - and you are right I do not always return to see if there are responses to my comments. Not enough time!!

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  3. You deserve awards and I'm glad you got one ... or is it two now. I got a few odd comments so I do the moderated/after approval now. I think the ones you got were 'foreign' languange ones being translated. (someone learning English maybe)

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  4. Congrats on the award! Sweet, honest blog! I've only been blogging for 3 months and still have lots to learn, but I like simple best! Following and will be back soon to read more! :-)
    HUGS,
    Coreen
    PS. Love your pictures too!!

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  5. Congrats! I liked that post too.

    I use the "email follow-up comments" feature if I want to read other comments on a blog where I've posted. I don't usually do that on yours because you email your reply straight to me - & I like that. I've been trying to do that more on my blog - if I think it adds to the discussion I'll email the person AND add a comment on the blog.

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  6. I'm having the same problem w/ the new post editor! If I try to place pictures off to the side & then add text... once I publish, it's all askew! (it looks right in preview, but it's not!) I find I have to keep going back & editing. Same thing on the text size/font sometimes. Huh. I do the same on the comment thing, too~ back & forth on how to respond. It's fun, though, this blogging!

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  7. Congrats on being a Post Of The Week, a nice title to hold :) I hadn't seen that before, and like Hilary's idea of listing her fave posts.

    With the commenting back question of email vs in the comments, I usually leave it in the comments, thinking it's a way to contribute to the ongoing dialogue there. If not for the original commenter, then maybe for the others who follow.

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  8. Not only is your post comforting as far as knowing someone else has the same probs with blogs but also the other comments here. Makes me feel much better about my "nobody knows the trouble I've seen, but yous guys" probs. tee hee
    And congrats on the POTW.

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  9. I usually select the "email follow-up comments to:" box when I'm interested to see what others might have to say on a topic and/or if the blog author might reply. Then it's a quick scan through the mail to see what's there.

    I'm hearing a bit of buzz about that perplexing spam as a sort of a supposedly innocuous access to your account for later material theft. I don't understand how that's supposed to work but it often results in genuine blogs being (reversibly by appeal) shut down as promoting spam or porn when in fact it's a faux mirror blog doing the damage. So it's best to delete those as soon as they become known to you.

    Thanks for the linkage, Ellen. :)

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  10. no kidding i read that comment 5 times trying to figure out what they were trying to say. haha, i got nothing.

    also, i changed my page up some just because i also like the plain background.

    i have an email address for my blog only. i like to keep them separate and im glad i havent had any weird things come thru. for the life of me, i havent the slightest as to how to set all that email stuff, but i do click the email follow up comments on occasion.

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  11. Man that anonymous comment is funny. I've had some crackers. Hold on a sec, I'll dig one out...

    "What a great resource!"

    That one made me smile, but what about this one...

    "Greatings, Ń—Puedo tomar obtener Foto de su blog?"

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  12. Congratulations, Ellen, on POTW. Those possums deserved it! ;-)

    I have had all the very same problems with the post editor, and like you, I tried going back to old editor, but it didn't last long. I also wish it would not "save" every 15 freaking seconds. It slows me down when i am trying to work fast.

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  13. The thing I miss the most is the spell checker, is it there and I am blind?

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.