Comments on Just Bloggled: When Life Gets a Little Baffling: Bored to Death Mondays

I'll admit that I've been bad the last few weeks a...

2009-10-25T18:32:23.000-04:00

I'll admit that I've been bad the last few weeks about returning drops and comments. As soon as I finish this last piece of furniture, I intend to catch up, and then hopefully be able to do it on a daily basis. Fingers crossed I finish this stupid side table tonight. I'm sick to death of painting. I'd much rather be reading blogs and books than putting four coats of craft paint on a table because I bought the cheap stuff at Michael's. Learned my lesson there.

In other words, sorry if I'm one of those people. I swear I'll catch up this week. No more furniture projects. :-[

Recent blog:=- The Redneck Mobile Strikes Again

I get your point about the time put in to do EC dr...

2009-10-25T15:23:15.000-04:00

I get your point about the time put in to do EC drops. It's really insane if you consider that 85% of the people who drop on you do not ever stop to read or comment and aren't ever going to. There are even blogs that I drop on religiously who never reciprocate and blogs that I have commented on repeatedly with never a return favor. This past week I'm in a mood and I am only visiting the 30ish blogs on my blog roll. Those are the ones I enjoy and have developed some friendliness with. Less time spent and all of it enjoyable.

Recent blog:=- It's All In The Bowl

Probably. Ten years from now they'll probably have...

2009-10-21T18:42:05.000-04:00

Probably. Ten years from now they'll probably have support groups and special disorder names for all of us bloggers when technology makes us obsolete and holograms or something are the new fad. We'll have to enroll in a 12 step program and everything. VH1 will even have a Dr. Drew Presents Celebrity Rehab: Blogging Addiction for celebs like Perez Hilton and Brooke Burke. Who knows what we'll do then?

I know it doesn't sound like it, but I really didn't write this post to get people to comment or to compliment me or anything else. I just wrote it because I was frustrated with the whole EC system. The way it is set up now, it will never encourage the majority of people to do more than just drop a card and go to the next blog. If they lowered the 300 limit, I think people would be more inclined to at least read before going to the next one. I think that would do more to help the inflation they're always talking about than all the other crap they've come up with.

By no means do I expect people to comment every single time or at all. I didn't have comments for months when I first started, and I still kept blogging. Likewise, I don't always comment on the ones I read either. I think my point, which I'm too tired to remember now, had more to do with EC and the trends or patterns I pick up on when I'm doing drops & waiting for drops than anything else. It seems that, as far as EC goes, if you fall into a certain category of blogs or post certain things, you'll get comments or readers who stick around post after post. If you fall into others, you don't.

I basically just need to get out more, use BC, MBL, and all the other directories I've signed up for, submit my blog to some new ones like Blogher, and stop worrying over the stupid stuff, not to mention stop sitting on my sofa for 5 hours at a time doing EC until my eyes cross.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

When you start to leave a comment, click on follow...

2009-10-21T18:20:04.000-04:00

When you start to leave a comment, click on follow at the bottom of the comment form and choose either by email or by RSS for replies. The old JS-Kit form used to be different. All you had to do was put in your email. Now they've rearranged everything so you have to work harder to subscribe to a comment thread unfortunately.

I guess I'll try GA. It's not already included in Blogger, is it? I wouldn't be surprised if it is, I've had it all along, and I just didn't know it.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

Aiyiyi! I thought I subscribed to replies on this ...

2009-10-21T18:08:47.000-04:00

Aiyiyi! I thought I subscribed to replies on this comment stream but I obviously didn't because I just noticed now that you replied to me. Sorry. Yes I use Google Reader. I suspect that it doesn't always catch my subscriptions too as I recently noticed some blogs I used to read weren't on my list any more. Maybe Google Reader thinks I subscribe to too many too! I'd rate it a B+ as it seems fairly reliable.

Re: One of your comments to another comment about stats. I use Google Analytics to see where my readers are coming from as well as Statcounter. I try not to look at the stats too much though because I started to become obsessed with it. I'm trying to be more go with the flow...although I don't come by that attitude naturally.

Recent blog:=- Mmmmmm. Cake: Wednesday of Few Words

Staci I love your blog, it always makes me laugh! ...

2009-10-21T12:20:07.000-04:00

Staci I love your blog, it always makes me laugh! Sometimes people (I) forget that just reading and enjoying isn't enough and that you need to communicate that enjoyment. I don't know how I can forget because I'm in the same boat as you! We write, we post, we check for comments and visits all the time wondering why we are devoting a huge block of time to all this. Many days wondering if the 3 people actually reading your blog are even enjoying it!
I am embarrassed to even mention how much time I spend here every day! Are we nuts or what?

Recent blog:=- Wordless Wednesday

I never got the whole Stumble Upon thing. I was al...

2009-10-20T22:32:11.000-04:00

I never got the whole Stumble Upon thing. I was always under the impression that, with Stumble Upon, Technorati, and the like, other people were supposed to stumble/add you. You couldn't do it yourself. So you have to have someone like something enough first to do that or go begging on a message board for a stumble (I've actually seen that happen before).

Regardless, I was just in a blogging funk yesterday. I just woke up already in the why-am-I-doing-this mood, and everything I did just made the mood worse. I'm trying to get over the funk today. If I hadn't spent half the day getting my car fixed for the third time in two months and the fifth or sixth time in four months, I'd already be over it.

I guess tomorrow's post will be another exciting installment of the Misadventures of the Redneck Mobile, b.k.a. Another Example of How Much My Car Hates Me.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

Maybe I should read the bookmarked ones first, too...

2009-10-20T22:22:26.000-04:00

Maybe I should read the bookmarked ones first, too. Makes more sense. I just need to organize my bookmarks first. I'm kind of a bookmark-aholic. I bookmark so many things they get lost in the unorganized section of Firefox bookmarks. I keep telling myself that I need to organize them into a folder when I do it, but it never seems to happen that way.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

We think you're funny. If that matters. Entrecar...

2009-10-20T22:10:03.000-04:00

We think you're funny. If that matters.

Entrecard was a waste of time for us. Except that we met some cool people. Otherwise it wasn't worth the time we were spending. And we weren't getting quality traffic and actual readers and that's what we care about.

Stumble seems to work well for us for traffic. But we're all about trying to form relationships with other bloggers we like and respect. That's probably the best way to go. And that just takes time.

OK, too much info. We couldn't help ourselves.

well that got the comments flowing. I only comment...

2009-10-20T16:39:48.000-04:00

well that got the comments flowing. I only comment when I have something "brilliant" to say. Some posts just don't engender any kind of comment. I will admit to dropping without reading, on the other hand, I have found blogs I check out daily, those blogs are bookmarked and I read my bookmarked ones first. Some are EC and some are not. I do go through my inbox and drop on everyone who dropped on me, well almost, some blogs I find objectionable for my own reasons and won't click on them if you paid me. (yeah, yeah, I'm a mean ole Bee-atch). BUT I do look in on you every day, sometimes I comment, sometimes I don't but whatever, I'm here.

I think my problem with EC is that I feel obligate...

2009-10-20T15:35:39.000-04:00

I think my problem with EC is that I feel obligated to return every drop. Only when I'm done do I then go the blogs I actually want to read, and by then I'm too exhausted to read them. I have also gotten in the bad habit of not doing it daily, and then I'm forced to do a week's worth at once. That's why it took me five hours Sunday. I had more than a week's worth to return, and then I tried to read some non-EC blogs or some EC ones that didn't drop, but I ran out of steam.

Then to wake up and find out very few people returned the favor was a depressing way to the start the week. Plus, it makes me mad when you go to some of the spammy ones where the posts are two or three sentences long about the weather or the dear hubby's trip to the grocery store or colon cleansers (always with a a link) and those three sentences get three times the comments of a post that takes several paragraphs to write. It's like what am I doing wrong.

I think I'm slowly talking myself into quitting EC or at least not taking it so seriously. Like the sponsored ads, closed forums, and other drama weren't enough of a reason. I'm glad I found blogs through it that I would have probably never found through BlogCatalog or MyBlogLog, and maybe some people found me as well. I just have to get over the idea that I have to return every single drop that comes my way, that the EC price of my blog means anything, and that EC traffic is the only traffic I get.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

If I had a car, fancy shoes, or a car full of fanc...

2009-10-20T15:17:31.000-04:00

If I had a car, fancy shoes, or a car full of fancy shoes, I'd be keeping them, unless the shoes didn't fit, in which case I'd probably see if I could exchange them for my size first before giving them away on this blog. No offense but fancy shoes are hard to come by in a size 5.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

I may have to install GA and see. Sitemeter doesn'...

2009-10-20T15:13:26.000-04:00

I may have to install GA and see. Sitemeter doesn't tell you much really other than the basics.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

Consider? Maybe. Actually do it? No. I'd be scare...

2009-10-20T15:12:08.000-04:00

Consider? Maybe. Actually do it? No. I'd be scared of two things: (1) people would be throwing money at me to put my clothes back on and (2) people I used to work with would be sitting on the front row. Plus, I'd probably break my neck on a stripper pole. Then there's all the prework involved--spray tans, crash dieting, getting places waxed that I don't want waxed or need to have waxed, trying to find a thong that doesn't make me look fat. Way too much work. Just stick with the law thing.

Then again if someone wants to pay me $1 million for five minutes of stage work, I'd probably change my mind and go shopping for stripper shoes. (Yeah, like that would ever happen.)

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

Staci! I'll go to Six Flags with you next time I'm...

2009-10-20T14:32:41.000-04:00

Staci! I'll go to Six Flags with you next time I'm in the area. You crack me up every time I visit. You can always be counted on for being authentic For as glad as I am to be done with Entrecard - I'm glad I met you :) PS - Unless it's for a car or fancy shoes, please don't do any giveaways. xoxoxo

Recent blog:=- Myrtle Beach is Not Exactly a Typical Place to Live

I would agree with Chris about writing what please...

2009-10-20T13:56:30.000-04:00

I would agree with Chris about writing what pleases and amuses YOU, because you might as well have fun doing a blog, right?

I'm a mom who will never ever blog about being a mom, for a whole lot of reasons, and the cats don't do enough to write about (mostly they sleep on beds and couches and scratch the odd bit of the carpet).

I like Google Analytics but it can be depressing, as is Sitemeter, so I wouldn't mindwhat they say too much. I like EC as a way of keeping in touch with blogs I like (like yours) and making it easy for people to drop by mine. I've cut down my drops though because it is nice not to spend - well, I won't say how long I was spending every day but it was a LOT of time.

When I started out I had no idea what my blogs would become, they change over time depending on what will be fun for you to write about (and only as often as you like, I post more on Kitchen Retro because it is really fun for me but am going to cut back even more on the others)

Lidian

Recent blog:=- The Dixie Cup Horror

Write for yourself first, and don't worry so much ...

2009-10-20T08:07:37.000-04:00

Write for yourself first, and don't worry so much what others think. That is if you are in this for the love of writing and expressing yourself. If your goal is money, then you do need a different tact as there may be some "catering" involved.

Remember that the percentage of people who actively participate in any site is a tiny, tiny proportion of that site's overall traffic. A simple package like Google Analytics will help you track some of those other numbers (no stats package is perfect) to see what happens outside the realm of comments.

I enjoy your writing and would hope you keep it up.

What a great post. You crack me up with your hones...

2009-10-20T07:56:16.000-04:00

What a great post. You crack me up with your honesy. Five hours of blog reading is impressive--I try to sneak my blog reading in at work, in spurts. I have felt the same way you do about blogging, and that's usually when I take a week or two off.

So you'd really consider stripping, just not in a redneck place?

Recent blog:=- $50 says my boobs are going to hang the lowest, plus, a giveaway

I think I need to switch readers. I just use Yahoo...

2009-10-20T01:02:54.000-04:00

I think I need to switch readers. I just use Yahoo Reader to keep track of blogs I like that don't have the follower widget, but it's always crashing on me. It only loads the links to a third of the blogs I follow with it. What do you use, Google Reader? I need something that will let me import all the feeds so I don't have to resubscribe.

I have too many to read in one sitting, too. I think I need to break them up into groups of 25 or something and assign each group to a day of the week so I can read them all. Sometimes by the time I get to some, my eyes and head are killing me & I give up reading, commenting, or anything else. For all I know they could be giving away money on some of these blogs, and I'm missing out because I haven't come up with a good way to manage it all.

I understand the line of thinking that you're referring to. Maybe that's my problem--I think too much--but when you're sitting here with no one to talk to but two dogs who don't talk back, you do a lot of thinking, and you start to wonder, "Why am I doing this again? Aren't there other things I can be doing? And what are those other things? I haven't done other things in so long I've forgotten."

I'm just having one of those "why did I ever start blogging" days. Maybe I'll be over it tomorrow.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

Like Delta Delta Delta from Saturday Night Live? I...

2009-10-20T00:53:19.000-04:00

Like Delta Delta Delta from Saturday Night Live? I always wondered if that was a real sorority or just one they made up. My college was small so we only had four national sororities, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Delta, Phi Mu, and the Thetas (for the life of me, I can't remember what the Thetas whole name was). No Tri Delts unfortunately.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

I'm sure a lot of mommy bloggers would disagree th...

2009-10-20T00:49:58.000-04:00

I'm sure a lot of mommy bloggers would disagree that I'm one since my kids have four legs and fur and I dang sure didn't breast feed. I guess you could call me an aunty blogger, but that just sounds weird. I wasn't trying to put mommy bloggers down. I can and do visit the club. I can even be allowed to swim in the virtual pool. I just can't join the club without pushing a kid out, adopting one, or fostering another one and learning the secret handshake. These days it seems like the majority of bloggers are members, so if you're like me and you're not, you feel like your back in high school and eating lunch on the wrong side of the cafeteria.

To answer your tracheotomy question, I took amoxicillin for a sinus infection in high school. The amoxicillin killed off all the good bacteria in my body and caused the bad bacteria to take over. It started eating away at my colon, and I guess it somehow made the rest of my system shut down. They had to do a trach in the ER, and I had it in for 4 weeks. When the respiratory people came to switch the tube out for a throat box thing, the thing wouldn't fit so they just left the gaping hole. Didn't clean it. Didn't stitch it. Just left it. One of my docs said later that it shouldn't have healed that way (red, raised, & ugly) but he didn't offer to fix it for me. After a lot of scar pads and Mederma gel, it's now smoother, flatter, and about the color of my skin. Most days I forget it's there, but every now and then some jerk like the dental hygienist last week points it out & makes me self conscious.

I also have about a four inch scar on my stomach from having a malignant melanoma removed as a baby, but since you can't see it on a regular basis, I don't count it.

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

I wasn't begging for comments. I was just having a...

2009-10-20T00:38:59.000-04:00

I wasn't begging for comments. I was just having a moment. I think I'm finally getting traffic from non-Entrecard sources, like you, but I'm not getting that through my thick skull so when I'm on EC and I see I only have 20 people visit a day, per EC, it just depresses me. Maybe I need to sign up for Google Analytics so I can see where my traffic really comes from. Better yet, stop worrying about it altogether, enjoy blogging & reading other blogs, and forget that there are such things as numbers (visitors, PR, subscribers, etc.). It might be a lot healthier.

Just ignore me today. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I think. Maybe I need a Snickers or 2 or 10. :-[

Recent blog:=- Bored to Death Mondays

I'm actually not sure what Entrecard is - I've see...

2009-10-19T23:47:25.000-04:00

I'm actually not sure what Entrecard is - I've seen you mention it a few times but haven't investigated it. From the sounds of it I'm not sure I want to get involved.

This past weekend I was so busy that I couldn't keep up with my blog reading. When I logged in last night I had over 1000 entries in my reader!!! Yikes! I only managed to read about 50 posts before giving up and going to be but yours was one I made a point of reading. See there are people in the blogosphere who want to read about chairs and dentists...me. Unfortunately I didn't have time to comment.

Glad your dentist found your spot and fixed your problem. And hey...nice chair!

I often wonder why I don't get a lot of comments. And then I fret that I'm boring. And then I wonder why I blog. And then I wonder why I care since I'm supposed to be blogging for me and for fun. The chance of me becoming a "Big Blogger" is slim so I figure I might as well blog about what I want to talk about.

Recent blog:=- One Year

that is TRI-delta I suppose I should have specifie...

2009-10-19T22:47:04.000-04:00

that is TRI-delta I suppose I should have specified.

I used to love entrecard, but that was when I didn...

2009-10-19T22:46:20.000-04:00

I used to love entrecard, but that was when I didn't have too much else to do. Now my actual blogging and commenting on blogs that I like keeps me busy. I still do entrecard because I find blogs (like you ;) ) that I like. I have also found some of my most faithful followers on entrecard. That being said, my bounce rate is huge and I just don't have the time to keep dropping on all the ones that are just dropping to drop and not to really make a connection.

And I will admit, as a mommy blogger, I can definitely see a trend towards us. BUT, I recently joined SITS, and I have found a TON of bloggers like you. You might want to try it. It is called the secret is in the sauce, I don't remember the site~and I am going to ignore that this totally sounds like a way to get you to my blog and tell you that if it doesn't pull up with that, just check my right sidebar, there is a pink button that will lead you right to them.
And I will admit I didn't get the bra joke, but I haven't read that post yet. Plus I am tired and have a UTI and am cranky. Too much info but hey, I read all fifty-to prove it, hey fellow sorority lady, I am was a tridelta, and you are a mommy blogger, who cares if you are missing the hubby part, and how the h-e-double hockey sticks did you end up with a tracheotomy, and I only have 1 irl friend and a brand new one that I met through blogging.
See, I read it!