Blog finished - opinions please.

Carved in mystic runes upon the very living rock, the last words of Matt
Probert of alt.www.webmaster make plain:

> On Fri, 14 Oct 2005 0544 -0400, "Lori" <learn@webfreeks.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I'm looking for some feedback yet again. My blog is finished and up
>> to date: http://ontgovernment.blogspot.com/
>>
>> Comments on how to improve it would be appreciated. Don't worry
>> about hurting my feelings this time.
>>
>
> As soon as I read the opening line "Here is my chronicle of my
> struggle with my employer" I switched off, and closed it down.
>
> Nothing personal, but I couldn't give a flying fcuk about your
> personal petty arguments. There are over 20,000 people lying dead
> around the Kashmir area of Asia, hundreds of thousands more facing
> imminent death; how is your problem significant?

There are indeed great problems that confront the world and we who live
in it; that doesn't mean we all put our lives on hold and meditate on
these greater issues. Each of us has problems in our daily lives that we
must deal with, and they don't go away simply because someone else is
having greater problems. And when the stress gets too great, it is often
very helpful to vent, especially to people who care about you.

I personally am having a fight with my landlord at the moment, which
could well turn quite nasty before all is done. Just this morning I was
talking to my mother on the phone and told her about it; perhaps she
should have scoffed and reminded me that there are people starving and
dying elsewhere in the world, but she didn't. She just listened and
acknowledged.

But it is good to know that there are people such as yourself, who have
no life of their own, but instead devote all their time, energy and
resources to struggling with the greater issues confronting our world.

Or were you just being a sanctimonious prick?

--
Alan Little
Phorm PHP Form Processor
http://www.phorm.com/

Matt Probert wrote

> On Fri, 14 Oct 2005 0544 -0400, "Lori" <learn@webfreeks.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I'm looking for some feedback yet again. My blog is finished and up
to
>> date: http://ontgovernment.blogspot.com/

> Okay, I look back once more. I see, it's actually just an excuse for
> an advertising hoarding.

The only ads I saw were two Google ads, which I presume are put in there
by blogspot?

> Nah, give it up and get a real job. You'll
> make far more and more ethically as a waitress in a coffee shop.

I don't see anything unethical about the blog. Even if the two Google
ads were Lori's, it's hardly an in-yer-face spamming/sales stunt.

--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com

Davémon wrote:
> Lori wrote:
>> I'm looking for some feedback yet again. My blog is finished and up
>> to date: http://ontgovernment.blogspot.com/
>>
>> Comments on how to improve it would be appreciated. Don't worry
>> about hurting my feelings this time.
>>
>> Thanks in advance,
>
> A bit of information design wouldn't go amiss.
>
> I think you'd actually get a lot of support from people if you put
> your core issues up-front, and be a little more agitprop in your
> style.
> A hard-hitting introductory statement about employers invading the
> privacy of it's employees might make people want to read it a bit
> more. The fact that its local government going against your own
> countries bill of rights just adds fuel to the fire.
>
> Whilst your blog chronicles your personal struggle, there are (near)
> universal themes, and a much bigger picture: the oppressed worker, the
> liberties taken by so-called managers (who have probably had no
> training), the dangers of information technology to breach privacy.
> These things are hooks that other disgruntled employees might respond
> to.

These all excellent suggestions.

> Also, reverse date order. I want to see the latest post at the top,
> and scroll down to see the history, not the other way around!

I fought with this issue when I was creating this page. People who are
familiar with blogs wanted to see it your way, those who are not familiar
with blogs wanted it the way it currently stands (as it made for easier
reading for them - less scrolling up and down).

I created the "jump to most recent post" link at the top in an attempt to
make everyone happy.

--
Lori
http://www.eYardsale.com

Davémon wrote

> agitprop

You learn something new every day.

--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com

Charles Sweeney wrote:
> Davémon wrote
>
>> agitprop
>
> You learn something new every day.

I missed that one.

In the past two days, due to this group I've looked up banality, marine/
freshwater bivalve mollusk and now agitprop.

--
Lori
http://www.eYardsale.com

Lori wrote

> Charles Sweeney wrote:
>> Davémon wrote
>>
>>> agitprop
>>
>> You learn something new every day.
>
> I missed that one.

Me too. I can honestly say it's the first time I've seen the word!

--
Charles Sweeney
http://CharlesSweeney.com

On Fri, 14 Oct 2005, Lori wrote:

> Charles Sweeney wrote:
> > Davémon wrote
> >
> >> agitprop
> >
> > You learn something new every day.
>
> I missed that one.
>
> In the past two days, due to this group I've looked up banality, marine/
> freshwater bivalve mollusk and now agitprop.

I seldom have to look anything up (except for double-checking spelling[1])
but a recent post in another newsgroup made me look up "Cleithrophobia"
(which was apparently the cause of a certain individual being homeless).

[1] I have a DOS version of the American Heritage Dictionary installed on
my hard drive. Its "crosswords" lookup allowing wild cards is handy
for looking up a word if I can't remember if it has an 'e' or an 'i'
at some location. If I can't find what I want there, I have to exit
whatever I'm viewing and go to the dictionary section of my Books and
Stamps page. The "OneLook Dictionaries" site is the handiest since it
searches several other sites with a single query:
http://www.onelook.com/
--
``Why don't you find a more appropiate newsgroup to post this tripe into?
This is a meeting place for a totally differnt kind of "vision impairment".
Catch my drift?'' -- "jim" in alt.disability.blind.social regarding an
off-topic religious/political post, March 28, 2005