Pulling of Hair; Gnashing of Teeth

Maybe it's how I spent my weekend. Maybe it's the sudden cold weather. Maybe it's my lack of sleep. Maybe it's my neurotic family.
I wasn't going to write about this, I really wasn't. I told myself it would be in bad taste, as though I were out for revenge. Which I am not.
Maybe I just don't feel all that funny. Maybe I'd like to touch on my darker side of comedy.

Aabout a week or so ago, I read this posted by another fellow blogger:

As we all have learned in the blogging world, the way to "socialize" and expand in this blogging world is to click the links of others and comment. Through this method I have been able to expand to a group of blogs almost too large for my daily viewing time. And to think, just a mere two months ago I had about 4 blogging friends. (Sad, I know, but we all have to start somewhere.)
Today, I would like to complain about another blogger. No names shall be named, and no fingers pointed. And I assume it isn't talking behind their back when they have the freedom to come read for themselves.One particular blogger, that often posts interesting topics refuses to comment back! What is up with that? I do happen to know that this particular blogger has a tracker, and even commented once about traffic being down.
Maybe if you commented back occasionally people would come back. If your name appears down the side of my page, then I visit your site almost on a daily basis (but you probably already knew that, because you too probably have a tracker.) However, I have decided to only read this page weekly, if that.
Like I said before this particular page is often interesting, so what I am truthfully doing is weening myself off their page. After my recent spike in readers (due to a little comment whoring) it isn't so hard to avoid this page these days...I don't have time anymore!
So in a nutshell. If your page is for public viewing, and you would like to have lots of readers, I'm no expert, but I'm guessing if you just comment here and there, you just might KEEP your readers!


Yeah, it's me. I'm 99% sure the poster is talking about me. In case the poster sees this, I'd like to point out some things. And I'll assume it's not like "talking behind someone's back, since they have the freedom to come read for themself."
1. I didn't create a blog to make friends. It started out as a possible way of making money, then when it didn't create a retirement account (ha ha) it turned into a full blown hobby.

2. I didn't have a tracker at this time. I had a counter. That's it. The counter even counts me when I click on the page to see how my page elements line up and whatnot.

3. I want people to read because they enjoy what they read--not because they expect me to come and leave a comment on their site. A while back I wrote about leaving bread crumbs. Basically what that amounts to is leaving a comment on someone's blog, so other bloggers will find your blog and read yours.

I don't want you to read my blog because I don't read yours on a daily basis. I want you to read my blog because you find it intriguing. Which, if you do find my writing interesting or funny, shouldn't matter where I comment or what I do in my free time. I read several Dave Barry book and articles...I doubt he's even heard of me. I read his books because they made me laugh; not because I was out to make friends with Barry.

4. "I don't have time anymore" is what this poster said. And if this person IS a regular reader of mine, they'd know that I:

a. Have a chaotic life
b. Keep up selling on eBay
c. Have a nutso family, husband, full time job with overtime, errands, chores, etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah....

Don't stop reading just because I don't dedicate my evening to checking out your blog. Sure, you could say, "Just check out mine" but there are literally thousands, if not millions of folks who might say that.

If you like what you read, if you like what I write, then by all means, continue on, friends. Don't comment simply because you hope I'll become a daily reader and click on your ads, and make you rich. Leave a bread crumb (comment) so others will find your blog. I'm cool with that.

If I'm completely wrong about this post being about me, then I speak for who it is about.

If the poster worked at the same job as me, or lived on my street, I think we might actually be friends because we're the same age and probably have some of the same interests. However, what this person writes above is exactly why I don't have any friends. Sure, it's public knowledge, but instead of going to me, or whoever the person the poster is speaking about--directly, the poster writes about it on a blog.

The poster might even email the person in question and say, "I'd like you to read my blog since I've been reading yours."

And I only say this because there's that 1% chance it's not about me. Like I said, don't read because you expect me to enter into a long term relationship. I already have a husband.


I comment to reach a broader audience, I think we all do to an extent. We are all out to reach a broader audience, sometimes we make "friends" along the way. Sometimes we pick up readers who read because they like what they read, being a fellow blogger or not.

And sometimes, apparently, we can be quite nasty.
Lesson learned.