Sunday, January 11, 2009

Lesson Learned

“Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.” – Mark Twain.

The guestbook on my site was set up to notify me whenever there was a signature. In my effort to improve my blog by tweaking here and there, I decided to remove this feature. I had not been notified of a signature for quite sometime so I thought I’d make room for something else. Imagine my horror when I discovered people had been signing.

My technical evaluation is that my notification doohickey decided to quit working quite some time ago. It worked when the book was first installed and I never thought to check back occasionally to be sure it was still functioning. How embarrassing! Now I am blushing as I extend my apologies to those people who took the time to sign. I have since sent responses, but some are over six months late in arriving.

The lesson I learned and would like to pass along is that if you have gadgets and such on your blog, you may want to check them occasionally just to make sure they are performing as they should be.

I removed my guestbook anyway because I didn’t want something like that to happen again and because I think technology has moved on. Don’t get me wrong, I still very much want to know you stopped by. You can do this by commenting on a blog; clicking on my email address; or you can click on my newest addition, ‘follow this blog.’

If you wonder what the ‘follow me’ button is, visit Morgan Mandel’s site. She gives a nice simple three-part explanation on how to add the gadget, follow people, and the reasons for doing so. Thanks to you J. Kaye Oldner for becoming my first follower and Sharon, my second.

When you visit a blog do you generally leave a comment? Are there any gadgets you recommend or any you would advise bloggers to avoid?

Thanks for stopping by.

Tags: Mark Twain, blushing, J. Kaye Oldner, Morgan Mandel, follow me gadget,

9 comments:

L. Diane Wolfe said...

I've never used the guestbook feature on my blog, although I have a sign-up feature for my newsletter on my main website. I do have the follow-me button - put that up last November when I finally upgraded my blog. I don't use a counter - don't like them and I feel followers & comments are a far better indication of a blog's popularity.

L. Diane Wolfe
www.circleoffriendsbooks.blogspot.com
www.spunkonastick.net
www.thecircleoffriends.net

Morgan Mandel said...

Hi Jane,
Thanks for the plug.Yes, I usually always leave a comment now at blogspots when I stop by, but I didn't used to before I started blogging regularly.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://www.morganmandel.com
http://twitter.com/morganmandel

Helen Ginger said...

I have a Follow Me button and an RSS feed, but never tried the guestbook widget.

I try to leave comments wherever I go, so they'll know I came by & because I like to get comments on my blog - it's so much fun to hear what readers think about whatever subject I'm writing about. But there are times that I stop, read, and end up not leaving a comment.

Beth Groundwater said...

Thanks so much for passing on this "lesson learned." It's a good reminder to all of us that if we add technology bells & whistles we should check periodically that they're still working.

Anonymous said...

You are very welcome! :)

Nancy J. Parra said...

Hi Jane,

I never used the guestbook feature, either. I like the follow button. (Thanks for stopping by my blog.)
I do try to comment when I read a blog.

Chester Campbell said...

I had a guestbook on my website a few years ago but removed it when I started getting a lot of porn. I've been trying to comment more often lately. I don't have a counter yet, but I have one on Murderous Musings, another blog I moderate. We've had 5725 visitors in a little over six months, but I don't know how many of those were our six bloggers.

http://chestercampbell.blogspot.com

Holly Jahangiri said...

I recently removed my guestbook, too, in hopes of improving page load times and overall performance. That didn't fix the problems I'm having with CommentLuv not loading, but I do think it streamlined the blog a bit. I know some people really liked it, but I think it was slowing things down. I'd rather they left comments, anyway.

Yes, I do leave comments when I have something to say. I wish more people would. But I don't want anyone feeling as though a "cookie cutter comment" like "nice post" or "thanks for blogging" actually substitutes for the kind of conversation most bloggers hope to engage in with readers.

I don't always respond to comments, either - if my response is nothing more than "thanks for stopping by." Maybe I should, but I'd like to believe people know I'm glad they stopped by. I certainly beg them to often enough!

lucia said...

Thanks for the Mark Twain quote; I'm a big fan, born in Hannibal. Have you seen what's happened to that town recently?? Mark Twain would blush.

Jane's Ride - Novelist Jane Kennedy Sutton's journey through the ups and downs of the writing, publishing and marketing world