Blog Drive-Bys for 2007-06-06
I'm continuing today with the blogs for authors and writers who've made me a Technorati favorite since the last time I wrote about people who made me a Technorati favorite. I'm also continuing on with commenters from my long list and trying not to hit two blogs twice (the closer I get to present day, the harder it gets). I'm also planning to throw in a couple that are not on any of my lists. Enjoy today's…
Every once in a while, someone else pushes a button or two and gets me to consider the reason I have for doing things the way I do. Andy Beard did that to me recently with his article on the "Top 32 Forms of Linking Payola". It generated a lot of comments, including my own, and I still had to sit back and think about it.
I'm not the only one that's generous out here in blogoland. That savvy dude at Savvy Affiliate volunteered to digg and stumble people too. Use him. Use me. It doesn't matter – use both of us. Get your articles dugg and stumbled as quickly as you can and maximize the number of readers who may be seeing your blog for the first time.
I have to award some kudos to Jo at Life With Heathens. Though she started blog writing as a means of relieving the stress associated with cancer treatments, she has found it does a lot more for her. What she probably doesn't realize is that her experiences are doing more for others than for herself.
His Technorati profile says "I'm 700 lbs. and have never known the pleasures of a woman." I don't know what Tyler means by that (I'd rather know the pleasures from a woman myself) but he has an awesome tech blog. He recently wrote all about Firefox multimedia plugins at balloontoablimp. There's some great information there for Firefox fans that I haven't seen anywhere else.
The DragonLady at DragonLady's World is an evil maniacal lady for torturing me with the themes from old television shows. Unlike some of my readers, I watched them when they were originally aired during primetime in the US. Remembering back, some of those shows were pretty lame, even back then (at least I thought so). I have to admit, though, my adolescent hormones went haywire whenever I saw Valerie Bertinelli. I had no idea what that show was really about.
This is disturbing. I just read about next season being the final season for "Battlestar Galactica" at Rusty Lime. There are very few programs that I bother having sent to me and this is one of them. I'll have one less of those that I watch now. Oh well. I guess I'd better enjoy it while I can.
Rob over at Rob's Blog hadn't posted in so long, I thought he had joined the ranks of blog abandonment. I was surprised to see him back in top form and writing about things he likes to write about, like his recent post on "geocaching". This is a term I'd heard before but was clueless about what it was. Rob's post finally put it in perspective for me.
My "top commentator" and good friend Matthew is probably one of the reasons I keep blogging at a frenetic pace. I expected the recent blog interrogation of eJabs to be longer and more in depth. Heck, I was looking for a chuckle or two, but it never came. I expected The Pisstakers to dig in for some meatier results, but it didn't happen. Maybe Matthew is just too nice to mess with.
I sometimes forget about the people who linked to me until I see a referral from their pages. Mia's Secret Garden is one such blog. No, I didn't find her in the comments yet, but I saw the referral and had to take a peek. Her latest post is a commentary on the loss of "Eros" in today's America. I quite agree with her. It's one of the reasons I have no regrets about leaving the work force there.
I just read an interesting perspective on inspiration at My Article World. Inspiration comes in many forms and for many reasons and I find it refreshing to read how other people perceive their own inspirations.
MikeM posted an experiment in collaborative brainstorming at Mike's Homefront. He asked for volunteers for this project, reminiscent of the old "Neverending Story" that BBS's used to host, and already has 13 takers. Why don't you volunteer to be another? These stories are fun and this one will probably be better than the kind I mentioned because these are writers, not just users, getting involved.
I recently thought about the "bullets" next to the links in my sidebars. I did a search and came across a blog that explains how to change your dots to image bullets at ManasT.com. Not only did I find out what CSS properties to look at, but I also found out where to get some custom bullets from. I downloaded them, but I haven't had a chance to look at more than a few.
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One thing about American doctors that I never liked was how they used to throw out the medical lingo at me and expect me to understand what the heck they were talking about. It surprised me when the doctor who did the LASIK surgery on my eyes, an Indian, talked to me like a peer and not down at me. Why can't American doctors behave in such a way?
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Lol..I see Eric on your MyBlogLog Widget (Eric is the creator of MyblogLog)…I clicked on him but apparently he's not him…
Very strange..
New way of spamming? I don't think so because the icon is different on the landing page.
I think the widget has a problem. That picture changed twice and it wasn't who the pictures showed (it was Jonathan-C. Phillips both times). I think it's a code flaw on their end. Odd, because everyone else's image seems to be correct.
The Pisstakers is an extremely interesting site. Thanks for the link.
I'm a great fan of your blog drive-bys series. They are really good.
Thanks, Nirmal. I look for the best articles of each blog I visit, or at least the ones that interest me the most.
Thanks for the Plug RT. Didn't mean to steal your idea, but hey, a good idea is a good idea.
BTW, have you considered resetting your top commentators? Self Made Minds recently implemented an algorithm to only count posts made in the past 30 days. I think that is a clever way to reward people who stay active with your site. But just a thought
Also, I'm a big fan of the scrollbars on the side for each widget. I may have to look into implementing those. I think it is a nice way to display the information without cluttering up your page.
I personally do not agree with "resetting" top commenters. If any blogger chooses to "reward" people for commenting, I have no problems with that, but to take away that reward if a person hasn't commented in a while seems a bit petty to me.
I plan to do it a little different. I want to have a Top 100 Commentators of All Time, within the last year, within the last month, etc. The most currently active would appear on one whereas those who used to be active but aren't now are still accounted for.
I don't like resetting anything. It takes a link a way as a kind of punishment for not commenting and I don't operate that way.
Exactly what I wanted to say – you put it in a better way.
The Pisstakers questions were limited, but Ed definitely pulled some good information out of me…
Don't worry though RT…the humor will come!
I submitted my answers too. If you know me, you'll know what to expect.
Hey this is a neat thread, I guess I was saddened, pleased, amused and encouraged in the space of a few minutes reading! That is better than s-e-x.
I found a few minutes out my crappy life right now to pen an article that hopefully addresses a few of UV's "concerns". No hard feeling, no remorse, no sense either, but a little light shed on the art of blogging from my perspective at least, and a light on the thinking of the blog interrogation feature.
Thanks again for the plug mr PR4, you got one back from a PR5 authority in pisstaking, (If you ever needed proof that google PR means nothing, here I am!)
cheers Ed
Hi Ed!
PR really does mean nothing for a lot of people, except for those who use it for pay per post monetizing.
I actually enjoyed the interrogation, but I didn't chuckle when I expected to and it wasn't the questions that didn't do it for me. Matthew is just way too straight forward and honest in his answers. Hari's answers will be much more amusing.
I hope it didn't sound like I didn't like your interview style because it had nothing to do with that.
Sounds like we have cleared up the loose ends, beat the topic to death and learnt a lttle something along the way!
A shame you don't do interviews, though, we could have made you a bit more famous and perhaps revealed some useful secrets to your blog.
What a well organised commenting system you have btw! Very sophisticated.
See you later, oh Technorati fave to the stars
cheers
Thank you for including me in your blog drive-by.
This is such a great idea and I'm enjoying visiting new blogs thanks to you.
Hugz,
Jo