Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Comments and other “bloggy” things.

It’s been a few weeks now I suppose,  since I got around to changing the way in which anyone wishing to comment can do so.   Used to be I had something called “captcha” in the comment thingy,  and then decided to take it away to make life easier for anyone wishing to pipe up.  I’ve never had the “comment moderation”  thing. 

I think moderation is just stupid.  Sorry,  but if I have to wait around to see if the blog owner is going to deem my comment worthy of appearing on their blog,  then there’s a pretty good chance that I’ll only comment twice. 

The first time,  and the last time.

And quite likely never to return. 

 

So this brings me to the subject of spam.   Oh yes,  we’ve been getting some.

There certainly hasn’t been any kind of inundation of spam or anything, which might not have been the case had the folks at Google not introduced their ‘blogger spam blocker’.   I don’t think that’s exactly what it’s called,  but I just like the sound of that version.

Say that ten times fast.

 

No relation to Dan Blocker.

Man,  I used to love watching Bonanza,  didn’t you?

 

We’re off on a bit of a slippery slope there.  Sorry.

So easily distracted.

 

Where was I?

 

So,  on the one hand,  it’s pretty neat to see the notification of a comment appear in my email inbox,  (that was another minor change I made) which seems to be the first thing I check when I come to the computer,  but if it happens to be from Anonymous,  it also ends up in the spam coral in my blogger account. 

Huh!  Who’d a thunk it? 

Sad to say,  it took me a little while to figure that out too.

See,  I’m not overly interested in checking out your credit union website (in French?  c’mon)  and thankfully nobody has offered yet to give me any kind of surgical (or otherwise) enhancements.   I’ve had a few of them show up in the past,  but the numbers are dwindling.  There’s a “dwindling” pun in there somewhere, but let’s not go there,  shall we?

Maybe it has something to do with being satisfied with one’s lot in life (being one of the 99%?) but I’ve never had any issues with the size of any of my appendages.   So Big Bob isn’t going to be making any changes to Little Bob any time soon.  Again, resisting the temptation to pun you all to death.   (Anyone for a couple Lorena Bobbitt jokes??)

*ahem*

 

While I certainly appreciate the kind offers from all the spammers,  I think I’ll pass. 

 

I some how suspect that as I get on in years my ears will continue to get bigger,  but there’s not too damned much I can do about that.   Have you noticed the size of the ears on some old guys?  Whoa! 

Which brings me around to putting too many damned mirrors in RVs,  but that’s a whole other subject.  Suffice to say, I have very little desire to look at myself any more than about once a day.  Let’s leave it at that.  Who ever designs those things,  and what demographic are they looking at?  Honestly!

 

I should also point out that,  I have indeed had “Anonymous” comments come through from people whom I actually know,  which is a pretty good indicator that,  as long as you don’t have some link to a goofy website,  you can even comment as “Anonymous”.  By “knowing”,  I mean I could actually describe what they look like,  and perhaps what beer or wine they drink.  That’s as much as I want to ‘know’ just about anyone anyway.

So really,  commenting as “Anonymous” is perfectly fine,  since some people really would prefer not to sign in/up or whatever. 

 

***********

 

The other thing that I wanted to mention is that silly little map that you see down at the bottom of the page there.

I guess I’ll keep it.  I don’t know.

This was mostly something that came as a part of contributing reviews to Tripadvisor.  I can’t say I’ve been all that effusive in my contributions,  mostly since I tend to forget to submit a review.  That is,  unless I’ve had a pretty crappy time at a restaurant or hotel,  but then who wants to always read all that negative stuff?  Besides,  I don’t really “travel”  all that much.  We just seem to live here.  There’s a bit of a difference.  Should I review our trip(s) to the Slovenian cousin’s place in Sava?  How good was the blueberry schnapps?  (pretty damned good,  actually)

I don’t think those types of reviews would be much use to the average traveller.

 

So I started filling in places where I had been,  and at first it was places where I had spent a day or so,  and then decided to widen the set of criteria to at least having spent an afternoon or part of a day.  In spite of those self imposed guidelines,  I still see I’ve put in a place like Houston, Texas,  even though I’ve only made a couple stop overs there to get a connecting flight.   I think it was because I had 79 places,  and I wanted 80.  Pretty sad, I know.  I cheated.

 

Then I noticed a few lines of html,  which meant it could be added to a website as a “widget”.   I don’t have too many widgets,  so I hope you don’t mind if I indulge myself with a little bit of clutter.

It’s certainly better than some of the animated junk I see on some websites,  or the music that starts up as soon as a page loads.  Gawd, I hate that annoying kind of junk!

Almost as much as getting Anonymous comments with stupid links attached.

 

 

So you’ve probably gathered by now,  that there’s not too danged much special happening today in Wienerland.  The report back from Travelling Companion is that all her work on the weekend paid off,  since there were no holes that could be blown in her presentation.  This is always a good thing.  I’ve heard quasi horror stories in the past of others who would get grilled on into the evening,  while she and her Operations counterpart would sashay out after their allotted time,  and bugger off for home.   This most recent version was done as a conference call,  but it still could have got nasty.  Thankfully it didn’t.

One thing I’ve learned over the last,  oh I don’t know,  20 years or so,  is to be a really good listener.   Most times it’s best not to offer an opinion,   since opinions are like butt holes.  Everyone has one.  And in a similar fashion to the aforementioned simile,  it’s usually best kept to oneself.

Sometimes I break that rule and pipe up with a minor prognostication,  but that doesn’t happen very often.  At least that’s my intent.

 

I did have a picture of the sausages that I managed to have explode last night after pre-boiling them just a tad too long,  but when I moved it to the computer and had a closer look,  I realised there was no way I was posting that.  Just too nasty looking.

They tasted just fine,  but looked pretty bad.

The after the fact words of advise?

“Ya,  you have to keep an eye on those”.

“Right. Thanks, dear”.

 

It’s at that precise moment that it’s also advisable to NOT roll your eyes. 

 

Just thought I’d pass that along.

 

Keep washing those hands.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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8 comments:

  1. boy you had a lot to say today!!!..you seem to be a bit scattered?...from Dan Blocker of Bonanza to mirrors on a motorhome!..thanks for the laugh this morning!!

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  2. What a great way to start my day. Thanks for the fun post. And you definitely do not want to "roll" the eyes.

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  3. We are with you on the comment moderation and the word verification. Our comments get posted right away and other than the odd spam item that gets though we have had no problem. I can live with blogs that have the moderation but we really hate the word verification. Sometimes we have to use our internet stick and it has a limited bandwidth so we turn off the pictures/images then the stupid word verification won't show up or we have a slow internet connection and it takes forever to come up. So we don't leave a comment. Seems pretty useless to us.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  4. Not sure how to describe it.
    Some sort of "stream of conciousness" that I sometimes get swept up in? Hence the Google Blocker/Dan Blocker foolishness.
    And hey, as long as I'm not the only one who starts to chuckle from time to time, then it's all good! ('cause, if I was the only one who found it amusing? I'm pretty sure the mental health professionals have a term for that.)

    Everyone's mileage may differ....

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  5. OK, I meant to post that in reply to Sue, and while I was farting around, two more comments came in.
    Just mentally stick that one up in the number two spot, if you wouldn't mind.

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  6. You sure covered a lot of ground in your blog today - pretty interesting read. I remember 'old Hoss' well.

    I'm with you on comment moderation - I have to know the blogger pretty well to bother leaving a comment when it has to be 'approved'.

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  7. Entertaining as always! Keep up the sense of humour and witty excursions!

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Well, I've been getting too many spam comments showing up. Just a drag, so we'll go another route and hope that helps. So, we won't be hearing anything more from Mr. Nony Moose.
I guess I'll just have to do without that Gucci purse.