My Blog

I think I know a bit about the internet, Web 2.0 and everything that goes with it. I’ve only been reading blogs since 2006 but I have been compensating for it by blogging and commenting on others’ blogs. Please don’t subject me to a Web 2.0 test, though; I’ll fail it.

So I tried to tweet one of  The Sartorialist’s blog posts last week. And the week before last, too.  I just couldn’t understand why I was unable to.  I gave up trying to find the ‘permalink‘ and decided to google the title, which gave me the permalink to the blog post. I was relieved. And I felt a little clever, too: I struggled, or ‘struggled’ with a problem until I found a solution that worked for me. Malcolm Gladwell would be proud of me. It wasn’t the solution I was aiming for but it satisfied me. And never mind that I discovered the solution accidentally.

But not knowing how to find the permalink on The Sartorialist, or on other such sites, bothered me. I wondered whether the site owner didn’t want people to link to specific blog posts. It’s Blogging Basics 101 to make things as easy as possible. It’s also part of netiquette to give users a direct URL to a specific post. So I wondered whether I am the st00pid one. ‘Tis possible, you know.

And then I had one of those near-Eureka moments: I got it. Well, I was probably just bored. Only boredom could’ve made me click on the time in the blog post.

posted by The Sartorialist at 8:58 AM 28 comments

See that? The 8:58 AM ? I clicked on that and it gave me the permalink to the blog post. WTF.

Am I the only n00b who didn’t know that certain — not all — Blogger-based blogs’ permalinks are only viewable when clicking on the time? Is this general knowledge?

Now it’s your turn. What internet-related thing did you only discover recently? Something you should’ve known but were to embarrassed to ask for help?

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Ever walked into a store and wanted recognition? A smile, a ‘Hi’ or anything, really. It’s so simple, doesn’t cost the world, and makes you feel great. No matter if the smile is fake. But the ultimate luxury for me is when I am in a store and the owner or sales assistant listens to me. Sometimes I want to tell some random person that I’ve just moved back to civilization – Cape Town central – from the Northern suburbs. And it’d be nice if that person listens and responds.

Normally it means I’ll return and buy even more from the store. Not sure about you, but we can’t be too different: it’s nice to be made a fuss over.

Perhaps you notice a new store. You start off by just walking past the store, craning your neck to see the items on display. Then, eventually, you get enough courage to walk into the store. Depending on the sales assistant’s mood that day, they have either gained or lost a potential customer. If you’re greeted warmly, as though you won’t steal the Louis Vuitton goods in the window, you feel happy. If they offer you a cup of tea or a glass of champagne, you’re elated and probably much more likely to buy. If you have money.

Now, I feel the same about blogs. Some blogs, just like those boutiques in the V&A Waterfront Millionaire Mile, are intimidating. Yes, blogs can intimidate: high-profile bloggers, or someone with a very decent page rank. I start off by just reading the content and being in awe. I add the blog to my RSS Feed and get the newest content when it happens. Hell, I may even get new updates to my email inbox.

So eventually I leave comments. And I leave more comments. And I read the blog every day, or whenever an update is made. It feels as though we’re friends, this blogger and me. We’re not, of course. We’ve never met but I feel as though I know what he or she thinks. Hell, I contribute to the Alexa rank of the blog just by reading it regularly so I’m a customer. Sort of.

And then I feel silly when the blogger never responds to my comments. I shouldn’t feel silly but I do. My blog etiquette has improved only slightly since my early blogging days but I try to respond to every comment I receive. Some days I’m just a bit better than usual.

Sometimes I leave an awesome comment (well, I think my comments are awesome. Don’t you?) and go click the button to receive email notification of follow-up comments. And then I wait. Not consciously, mind you; I just remember your awesome post when I’m standing in the shower or when I fetch breakfast in the kitchen at work. And nothing happens. Sure, sometimes my comments do not warrant a response. That happens. But some bloggers also don’t reply to others who comment on their blog. I’m not talking about seriously popular blogs that receive millions of comments. I’m talking about small, well-written blogs with only a few readers and even fewer comments.

Sometimes strange things happen: your comment gets deleted. Ouch. Either that or it never makes it to the blog post. That hurts.

So what happens when you ignore one of my comments? Well, nothing at first. But I may feel wary of posting something next time around. If my third, fourth or fifth comment also gets ignored, I’ll find a different blog to read. I mean, there are a great amount of blogs, and not even Dave Sifry, CEO of Technorati and author of the State of the Blogosphere knows exactly how many there blogs there are. So your other readers and I have options.

If you have a blog, do you respond to every comment you receive? If not, why?

And finally. I’d be interested what percentage of the blogging community ignore comments on their blogs. Perhaps it’s even more

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I do not have too many friends who are involved in teh interweb business. And even those who do have blogs prefer to keep it private. So private that I have to be logged in with my super-dooper-secret Gmail address to read it.

So sometimes I have a problem: I want to talk about them. I want to mention something crazy that they said, or some innovation or I just want to boast about them for no reason at all. But I can’t link to them because I do not want to expose their super-dooper-secret identities. And I like linking, especially to friends: it makes me feel good.

Well, it was a problem until this morning when I was walking to work.  I walked up the stairs at Woodstock station and it hit me: link to their page on Twitter. Twitter pages are becoming the new blogs (if Twitter gets through the economic crunch) and have page rank.

I know, amazing, hey? And I only heard of this last month or so, while The Blog Herald had an article on Twitter page rank last year already. My Twitter page has no page rank yet but not to worry. I’m sure it’ll pick up soon(ish); I’ve only been using it since September.

So if you don’t want to send linkjuice to my blog, at least consider sending some to my Twitter page.

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I promise this ‘Kill Shake‘ graffiti was there since before I moved in on Sunday…

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Ever had one of those moments: you’re chatting to someone on Gchat or MSN (if you use MSN please stop reading my blog right now) and mention something. Anything. Perhaps you mention Larry Page or Penelope Trunk. Perhaps you mention polyamory. The person with whom you are chatting then asks you “Joy-Mari, who’s that?” or “Joy-Mari, what’s that?”. Or perhaps you receive an email from an acquaintance asking for the email of a well-known editor. Such innocent questions and requests, you would think, but it’s not. Or it’s not for me.

How about people who ask you, while they’re sitting in front of their computers, how to spell aficionado? And somehow this always happens when you’re busy working on an Excel spreadsheet, half listen to their request and … oops, miscalculate.

So whichever happens to you more frequently, what do you think of this person? Does it irritate you? I normally think it’s laziness and that he or she is not computer-savvy. Never mind that I’m talking to someone with a PhD. Do people not know the basics of doing a Google search? I mean, it’s not difficult, right?

And I’d like to know this from you: am I being too harsh, or am I justified in thinking they should Just Fucking Google It?

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