Community

Walking Stanley

~ beetleypete ~ 64 Comments

There used to be a local man walking a small Lurcher. The dog is named Stanley, and he is very friendly. Recently, I saw Stanley with a lady, and it turned out to be the wife of the man I used to see regularly.

She told me the sad news that her husband has been stricken with Alzheimer’s, and will have to live in a care home. She is going to be busy arranging all that, then visiting him when she can.

I offered to help out by taking Stanley for a walk with Ollie when she was unable to take him herself.

Yesterday, we arranged that first walk. Stanley was pleased to see us at the house, but a little reluctant to walk off with us at first. Once we got to the path leading to Beetley Meadows, his tail came up, and he trotted along happily. He is younger than Ollie, with lots more energy, so it felt a little strange for me to be having to keep up with a dog, instead of waiting for one to catch me up.

After completing the usual walk, I headed back in the direction of his house, two streets away. He picked up the pace and pulled on his lead, knowing he was heading home.

Next week, I will take him out again. It is company for Ollie, and helps out the lady.

It is also what living in a small village community is all about.

“Invites You To Follow…”

~ beetleypete ~ 53 Comments

One feature available on WordPress is that a blogger can ‘Invite you to follow’ their blog. During the past ten years of blogging, I have received an ‘Invite to follow’ email on more than sixty occasions. The latest one appeared on Sunday evening.

To this date, I have NEVER followed a single blogger who sent me an invitation asking me to follow their blog.

I might be ‘old school’, (and occasionally grumpy) but to me that is somewhere between begging, and bad manners. The bloggers I follow work hard to create good content. Most of them also follow my own blog, but not all. They write about things I want to read, publish photos I want to look at, or just ooze the kind of personality and character that makes them irresistible to follow.

Not one of them, to my knowledge, has ever emailed a complete stranger asking them to follow their blog.

Blogging is a community exercise. We look after each other, care about each other, comment on posts, make suggestions, offer useful links. We share experiences, whatever our differences of age, location, politics, or beliefs.

A good blogger DOES NOT email someone out of the blue, and ask that person to follow their blog.

So if anyone else is thinking of asking me to follow their blog by sending me an unsolicited WordPress email, I have two words for you. (In bold type.)

DON’T BOTHER.

Has Blogging Reached Its Peak?

~ beetleypete ~ 103 Comments

With new followers as rare as hen’s teeth, and many of the ‘Lockdown Bloggers’ disappearing as quickly as they arrived in 2020, I am left wondering whether or not Blogging has had its day.

From limited research, it would seem that Instagram and You Tube have attracted people who might otherwise have been blogging. The instant gratification of a photo or video is a lot less work that an 700-word blog post or a fiction serial, let’s face it.

Over the past few months, I have noticed that comments on my posts are almost always from the same group of people. No complaints about that, as they are my blogging friends, and I value their input and contribution to our community more than I can say.

But casting my eye over other blogs, there is definite evidence of a ‘slowdown’. Many are receiving fewer comments, and no replies to replies. The Reader seems to be being used to just ‘Like’ posts almost immediately, and the amount of comments generated by most posts is falling all over WordPress.

So, does this matter? Personally, I would blog to online tumbleweed, comments or not. But many bloggers are becoming frustrated by the lack of engagement in 2022, and I understand that frustration. I confess that I am lucky. I have amazing followers, regular comments, and daily blog views are usually around 300 since the ‘slowdown’.

Becoming part of such a community takes commitment, and a lot of time at the keyboard. Content is king. So if you do not post regularly, you will get sparse views of your old ones.

Let’s all agree to keep up with the blogs we follow. Show some encouragement, leave comments as well as likes, and keep the circle of blogging alive.

If not, what was it all for?

The Missing Bloggers

~ beetleypete ~ 69 Comments

I got to thinking about the bloggers who have gone ‘missing’, with little or no explanation.

I miss their posts, their comments, and their occasional emails too.

Some of you will remember them.

Michel. https://raistlin0903.wordpress.com/

Kim. https://cadburypom.wordpress.com/

Abbi Osbiston. https://abbiosbiston.com/about/

Wilma. https://lolawi.blog/

That is just a selection of four of them, but there have been many others. I believe some of you followed those featured.

I am worried about them. In some cases, I have emailed them a few times, and received no reply. Others have left their blog open with the last post published showing the date of their departure, reminding me of the tale of the Marie Celeste.

It is not my place to pester them, but blogging is all about community, and caring about our blogging friends.

So if any of you see those links or pingbacks, please let me know you are okay.

Enough Followers?

~ beetleypete ~ 72 Comments

I checked my Stats earlier, and realised that I am fast-approaching 9,000 followers on WordPress.

8,395 WP followers.
47 following by email.
382 following on social media.
Total : 8,824.

Okay, we all know that most of those don’t really ‘follow’. Some probably don’t even exist, or have long since stopped blogging.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that I have 2,000 active followers. They produce around 325-475 views a day, and generate a lot of comments, depending on how many posts I publish.

Many people begin blogging hoping to get 10,000 followers. Some would like to have 100,000 followers, or ten times that.

But if you love to interact with the community, as I do, and if you love your fellow bloggers and cherish them, as I do, then how many followers is too many?

Would you have time to comment on all the blogs you follow, or to reply to the comments you receive from your own followers?

If you are a serious community blogger, with a love of blogging, and a sense of responsibility to your followers, then there is a limit, based on what time you have available on a given day.

So I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but almost 9,000 followers, active or not, genuine or not, is enough for me to cope with.

Still Worried About Michel

~ beetleypete ~ 52 Comments

Despite my earlier post, and trying again to contact him by sending emails, I can still find no trace of fellow blogger, Michel.
https://raistlin0903.wordpress.com/

His blog is still online, but there hasn’t been a post on it since November the 25th, 2020.

It is so unlike Michel not to post, not to comment on the blogs he follows, or to reply to emails.

I have a bad feeling something awful has happened, and would dearly love to hear from anyone who has been in touch with him in 2021.

If you don’t want to reply in the comments, please send me an email (address on my About page) and I will keep your information to myself.

Thanks in advance, Pete.

Blogging: The Time Of Calm

~ beetleypete ~ 75 Comments

Not yet halfway through 2021, blogging on WordPress seems to have calmed down. I haven’t been put in Spam for some time now, and I am really pleased to still be able to use the Classic Editor for the time being.

Checking out the revised Block Editor, I found it was a lot easier to create a basic post, even adding photos and links. Many bloggers have completely embraced it now, and wouldn’t return to the old editor even if it was an option. Some of them are also producing excellent tip posts and video turorials which are a real help to those of us who find the technical changes daunting.

It seems we have found some middle ground, with those of us still clinging on to Classic currently able to do so, and some who hated the Block Editor coming around to see the benefit of its extra features. I don’t blog on a phone or tablet, I use a PC. So I cannot speak for those of you blogging on mobile devices. However, it does all seem to be going a lot more smoothly than expected in 2021.

And no, I am not going to say anything negative this time, I’m trying to be positive about my blogging hobby from now on.

Another bonus has been the number of new bloggers who seem to understand not only what to do, but how to do it well. They leave nice comments, reply to comments, and don’t expect everything to happen overnight. Well done to all of you who can recognise yourselves in that category. I hope you carry on blogging, and soon become part of this great community.

So that’s all really. After more than two years of constantly slagging off everything to do with ‘Mr Blocky’, I have finally stopped.

New Bloggers: A Helping Hand

~ beetleypete ~ 97 Comments

It seems that a lot of the new bloggers who have arrived on WordPress this year are keen to read about some tips and advice to help them get a start in blogging.

My three recent posts on the subject have received well over 2,300 views in a very short time.

Now we all have different ideas about what makes for good blogging, and also different views on blogging ‘etiquette’. For the new people to become part of any community will take some time of course. Meanwhile, we can all help them along the way with any useful tips and advice that might spring to mind.

I won’t be asking everyone to put up a post on the subject, don’t worry. You are all busy with your own blogs and lives, so another suggestion from me is the last thing you need.

That said, adding a comment to this post won’t take you long. It might help a new blogger, encourage them to continue to blog, and eventually grow this wonderful community that we all enjoy being a part of.

So all I am asking is that if you have any blogging rules you swear by, or some valuable tips that you have yet to share, just add them as a comment below.

The post will stay up, and hopefully be found by many of those new bloggers.

Thanks in advance, and best wishes to everyone. Pete.

Concern For A ‘Missing’ Blogger

~ beetleypete ~ 41 Comments

Has anybody heard anything from Michel, who blogs at https://raistlin0903.wordpress.com/ ?

He hasn’t posted anything for ages, not since November 2020, and didn’t reply to an email I sent him a while ago.

I remember him saying he had been unwell, so I am really worried about him.

Perhaps you can let me know, if you have been in contact with him.

Thanks, Pete.

The Modern Salonnière

~ beetleypete ~ 46 Comments

Pippa has let us know the sad news of the death of Sarah Vernon. Accomplished actress and artist, and one of the cornerstones of our blogging community for many years. She published the sites Rogues and Vagabonds, First Night Design, First Night History, and First Night Art. One of the first bloggers I followed, and someone I am proud to say I counted as a good friend.

SCRATCH POST

This is a post from 2013 dedicated to my great friend, Sarah Vernon, who died last week.

Through bad health and bad luck, Sarah’s acting career was cut short. Like many actors’ children, she could never be sure if she would have gone into the entertainment industry if her parents had not been actors. It wasn’t an industry for Sarah: it was a romance and an art. Being an actor wasn’t a job for Sarah: it was body and soul, an act of love uniting emotional aspiration with technical accomplishment, a child’s dream of perfection made real. Don’t put your daughter on the stage.

Sarah could have been a casualty of the devil’s profession, but she had a brain, a life-sustaining sense of humour, and other artistic and literary talents. She engaged in the present and the past with equal intellectual force, she was computer and internet savvy, and…

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