Admin: Private Posts

I’m probably going to start adding several private posts going forward. They will be password protected using the usual password. I do this not to hide what I’m writing but because some things that I write aren’t meant for the world at large.

I think most of my regulars have that password. If you do not, ping me, and I’ll send it to you. That’s not an open invitation to ask for it if you are coming here for the first time. I need to know more about you first. But if you’ve been here for a while, comment, and we’ve talked so to speak, please ask for it. I would like you to have it.

And if you don’t do that… Ask anyway. I may not send it to you immediately, but no sense in not trying, right?

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Of Trolls and Such

I’ve been very fortunate that I’ve only dealt with two real trolls in my time here. The first was one who had a strange habit of replacing common pronouns like “you” and “they” with four-letter words. Well, I guess technically they were closer to seven letters long, but you get my drift. When I asked her (for some reason I’ve always assumed it was a her) to kindly tone down the language, she responded with a comment of wondrous word combinations, most of which I’m pretty sure are technically impossible, not advisable, or at the very least awkward.

So I banned her.

It’s pretty easy, actually. WordPress gives you enough control over the commenting features that banning is as simple as not approving their comments anymore. In that first case, she did try a few times, and then she went away.

The second troll, though, just makes me laugh.

A year or so ago, I posted about how I still dislike Home Depot, and I do. The trouble they put us through and the damage they caused to our house is sufficient that they still have a lot of ground to make up before I will ever go back. And even then, I’m not sure I would. I’ve found Lowes to be, by and large, the better store. Cheaper prices, broader selection, and more capable employees. Personal opinion, granted, but then again this is my blog and my opinion, right?

So this guy (again, not sure on the gender, but this one just came across as a guy) responds to this particular post by saying “no one cares,” which I always find funny when it comes to trolls because apparently, the troll did. At least enough to comment. Oh, and let’s not forget the anonymity of hiding behind a fake e-mail address and made up username.

So I replied basically saying that he obviously cared enough to comment, and that I would welcome real contributions to the blog. If he couldn’t, I asked that he take it elsewhere. And that was around two months ago I think, and I figured it done.

Until last night….

I got two new comments in rapid succession. The first claimed that he would make a “contribution,” so how did it start? Well….

• A ridiculous and completely unverifiable claim that he was a multi-million dollar business man (probably why I assumed he was indeed a he)
• An insult claiming that I wouldn’t understand basic economic and retail principles
• A claim that I had no business sense because Home Depot could care less if they lost one tiny customer and me thinking that I mattered to Home Depot (a claim I never made) was stupid
• And of course another fake e-mail address inviting me to kiss something of his that, frankly, I’d prefer not to

Then the second comment was one of those “zingers” [cough, cough] about my last name. Hilarious I assure you. No really, easily one I had never heard before.

And I find it all very funny. All three comments came from different e-mail addresses and different users…

… using the same IP.

Which is located in Atlanta.

Which is the HQ of Home Depot.

So let me see if I can figure this out…. Our dear second troll is probably an hourly floor worker in a regional Home Depot OR an hourly in the main office. I suppose there’s a chance he is higher up, but I would be surprised to find out he wasn’t a low-level Home Depot employee. Next, “multi-million dollar businessmen”do NOT spend their time trolling the Internet for old articles, nor do they have time or reason to behave like this guy did. They don’t get to that point by being so insecure as to feel the need to cast veiled and casual insults that seem to be more the result of a mental frenzy to be “dominate” rather than coming from any real arguments (if you’re right, your argument stands on its own without the need to attack). My guess is this guy has swallowed the company line and drank the kool-aid (orange flavored I assume).

I honestly kind of hope he replies mostly because I think trolls are kind of hilarious when they do these kinds of things. Especially since I hold the power in this relationship. He can say nothing without my permission, and I have no problem censoring garbage like he attempted to post right off the Internet. It’s really hard to be a bully when you have to ask permission of the person you are trying to bully. I wonder if he gets that….

So my friend troll. Thanks. Thanks for the good laugh. But since this is both my playground and my ball, you’re not invited to play until you can learn some basic manners.

I wish you well and good luck!

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2012 in review

Evening faithful readers!

Here’s my blogs annual report for 2012. It was truly a good year for the blog, and this kind of stuff is interesting as a stats monkey. I will, of course, be posting my more normal end of the year post like I do. Oh, and happy anniversary, Courtney. Nine years. I couldn’t think of a better place to have spent them than by your side.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 28,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 6 Film Festivals.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Happy 1,000!

Yep, this is number 1,000. A full 1,000 posts on the prodigal.

I go back every now and then, select a random month, and read a post or two. Just to remember. In some ways, that word is a favorite of mine.

When I served as a missionary, my mom hid a red wood heart in my luggage. On the front of it, she wrote the word Remember. It held an honored position through out my mission, and I still have it in my box of memories and treasures.

I’m always impressed how consistently the scriptures use the word as well, particularly in remembering our fathers and their experiences. The Book of Mormon often asks if we have remembered the captivity of our fathers. If we have remembered their faith, their experiences, and their lives.

In my personal heritage, Pioneer Day celebrates the day when the Mormon Pioneers first entered the Salt Lake Valley. These are my fathers and my mothers. Have I remembered their captivity? Have I remembered the trials of Nauvoo, of Kirtland, of Winter Quarters? The sacrifices those early saints made for a nascent faith?

This year, I’ve made a much more honest attempt at journal writing. For a writer, I’m a terrible journal keeper, but I’ve come to believe that the experiences of my life should be remembered. After all, how can my children remember my own captivity if I have not taken the time to record it?

Life is glorious! Record it! Remember it!

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Broad changes to the blog

Morning faithful readers!

In light of my last post and after making the hard (hard-ish) choice to link to my blog from the articles I’m writing, I feel the need to go to a more vanilla perspective of the blog. In other words, no more public deeply personal posts, and I’ll probably be more careful about revealing too much.

In other words, more password protected posts.

I know many of my readers already have the universal password, but if you do not and would like it, ask. As long as you are a known person, long-time reader, or can otherwise show need/desire, you’ll probably get the password.

Blog posts that will be password protected include the following:

• Family discussions
• Personal posts related to me, my wife, or my children
• Posts that reveal any details that I would rather not have wildly available

Posts that will NOT be affected include the following:

• Bees
• Gardening
• Grammar
• Political commentaries
• Other posts designed for open display

I may also go back through older posts to password protect some of the more sensitive ones.

Happy Reading!

 

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Has it come to this? Getting published….

Dear Blog,

Has it come to this? The posting has drifted off and my attention is elsewhere lately. But you’ve been a long, faithful friend. A source of solace and comfort when no one else would listen. The friendly ear that accepted me no matter what came from me.

I once mentioned that a good friend is someone who will tell you all the hard things, but a best friend is someone who will listen to those same hard things. And so you’ve been. I don’t know if I’ve ever actually put this in writing but I named you for just such a thing. The Prodigal. Yes, it is in reference to the Biblical prodigal, the son who–for a time–went out to find his own way in the world. The blog was born out of a frustration with my then communication to the world. I’ve long since returned, but the blog became a companion of sorts. A trove of memories and especially of linking to friends and family.

I don’t Facebook. Let’s make that even more clear. I won’t Facebook. I hate it. I don’t like the superficiality of it all. The exposure. (And a blog isn’t exposed? Isn’t superficial?) Shut up… This is my story, not yours….

It’s just not for me. I wouldn’t post there, I wouldn’t read your posts, and no… I wouldn’t care. I’m sorry, I just wouldn’t. So the blog….

But lately, with the changes at work, with the increased pace of life, with… I don’t know. It’s just become hard to post lately. Harder. There isn’t as much going on that I care to share (the bees are an obvious exception), and I find myself actually putting a note in the calendar to remind me to post.

So I don’t know… Even now I can think of at least three or four blog posts I’d like to write, but the times I used to set aside to do that aren’t as consistent as they once were, and I honestly don’t miss it.

Aleisha, my mentor in beekeeping and someone I’ve long admired for a whole bunch of reasons I don’t care to write here, has gone through a great process of doing vs being. She doesn’t want to merely do things anymore. She wants to be things. It’s why she did the incredibly brave and powerful thing of stepping away from beekeeping for a year to see if it was merely a do thing for her, instead of a be thing. I hope she can be a beekeeper, but if not, she’ll be all the strong for having learned for herself what truly makes her happy.

I’m kind of in the same boat right now. I love writing. I love being a writer. But is this blog the outlet? Is this where I write?

Recently I came across an opportunity to write for a DMC site on family topics. In particular, I’m actually going to start the column I first imagined here (What Do You Think). My first article is scheduled to be published early next week. Published. Officially. I mean I’ve actually published over a dozen books now if you count my technical manuals as books. Some of them even have had publication runs numbering in the tens to hundreds of thousands. Pretty impressive, until I mention that my name appears nowhere on any of the books. Not once. But this article will actually have my name on it.

In a lot of ways, this is a dream coming true (it’s not true yet), and I just don’t know where the blog fits in anymore. At least not as I’ve used it. It’s still a great little place to come and unwind–isn’t that what I’m doing right now after all?–but for what it used to be?

I just don’t know.

Is this the end? I don’t think so. Is it time for a break? Let me be honest, I’ve been on break from the blog for almost a month now. Posting has been rote, emotionless, and done for the wrong reasons. Did you know I had a record month last month? I crushed my previous visitor total last month. Obliterated the old record. And I did it for the number, not for the reader.

Isn’t that a sign?

Best friends are friends who will listen to the hard things you have to tell them. The worst friends are the ones who use you. And for that I owe this blog an apology. It’s been more about visitor counts than content for a while now. And I got exactly what I aimed for. Lots of visitors.

Time for my classic sigh.

Sigh….

None of this is to say I’m done. I’m not. None of this is to say that nothing that I wrote was meaningful these last few months. A lot was. But I think, as far as being prodigal is concerned, that I came home recently. Whatever home means.

Every blogger seems to have this post. The I’m-not-sure-what-happens-next post. Some survive. Some don’t. I think this blog will survive, and I hope you follow it. For my part, I plan on continuing to write about bees, to write about grammar, to write about politics, and to write about life in general. Hopefully the right reasons surface. Heck, for all I know this post will reset everything and I’ll be back tomorrow (I actually do have an article I’m itching to write right now….).

Getting published…. For real…. Even if it is only a DMC site working to build a following. Everything starts somewhere. I’ve had the privilege to be started right here for the last five plus years.

I’m looking forward to many more.

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Happy 100,000

Some time early this morning, someone somewhere became my 100,000th visitor.

Congratulations you anonymous person you. I would love to find out who you were.

 

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Introducing: Adventures in Bee Land

I’ve been meaning to add this one for a while now.

This is a fun site if you’ve enjoyed watching my bees. Emily, from England, offers a fun perspective of beekeeping across the pond. She’s a witty writer, a good photographer, and she’s passionate about the bees–all positives in my mind!

When bored, I’ve found myself scrolling through the dozens of bee posts, looking at her pictures, and just generally enjoying her excitement for the bees.

Thanks Emily! I’m looking forward to lots more.

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Guest Posts!

I’ve been plotting this for several months now, and I’ve finally come around to actually doing something about it! I’ve got the first guest post lined up for some time in the coming week, and that both makes me excited and nervous: Excited for the opportunity to see other voices and view points and nervous because I’ve promised return posts and my mind is blank!

If you’re interested in joining in (I’ve already got you down Laura G), please comment to this post. Here are my simple rules:

1. The topic can be anything you want as long as it is not foul, dirty, or otherwise inappropriate. My audience is fairly religious, and I invite you to keep that in mind.
2. If accepted (and it will be provided you obey the first rule), I will post your piece unedited and properly attributed to you (or your blog).
3. In return for your post, I will offer to guest post on your blog (if you want). I would ask that that post be linked here.

Like I said, pretty simple. For ease (and security), I’m thinking that guest posts will be exchanged by e-mail. I’d rather not give anyone else authoring rights to this blog, so that seems the easiest way to do it.

Thanks, and happy posting!

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Introducing: Courtney!

Yes indeed. My wife has finally entered the blogosphere. Glad to have you aboard!

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