Whimsical Wednesday - with Birthday Wishes and a humble request (or two) for your consideration

NaBloPoMo-Day19

Make Time for Small Reflections

Happy Belated Birthday to
Akelamalu of Everything and Nothing
who celebrated November 18th
(I stand corrected ... Thanks!)

and a very Happy Birthday to
CrAzY Working Mom
who is celebrating today!

(I apologize if I've missed YOUR birthday,
and if you'll let me know ...
I'll add it here)

I encountered & responded to a post at Izzy 'N Emmy's recently ... realizing I have a similar (even larger) problem since I have 750+ emails waiting for me to do something with them. A while back I found it impossible to respond to comments on my blog as I'd done since starting entering this virtual world.

Because I enjoy the 'conversational connection' ... I've experi- mented with the practice of responding in email to those of you who make your email addresses available when you comment or (have sent me email previously so I have access).

That brings me to the humble request for your consideration.
The post from Crackerjacks said (and I quote here because I was given permission to do so when I asked):

"I have a small favor to ask.

I currently have over 100 emails sitting in my inbox that I am trying to respond to. I like responding to the many comments Izzy 'N Emmy receive. BUT, those 100 of you sitting in my inbox are sitting for one reason; they all have the "no-reply blogger addy."

Nikowa over at Knowledge House Academy linked to Halftime Lessons for a great tutorial on how to change this, if you'd like. Many of you may not want to change it, but if you do want to and just don't know how, GO HERE.

My days are becoming busier by the moment and I am finding that I cannot make it to each and every site to leave a reply comment in another post. Sending a reply email is so much easier and more personal.

So, think about it and try it. If you don't like it, you can always change it back."

So ... I'm asking the same thing if you're willing to give it a go. If you'd rather not make your email available to everyone in the Blogosphere, perhaps you might consider sharing it with those of us you trust not to abuse it?

My email is available on my Blogger Profile page ... and has been since I've started blogging. You'll note it's associated with my Blogger account rather than my personal email. That allows me to keep things 'orderly' ... separating the two. It's easy to establish a free gmail account, so that's an option too.

One more thing while I'm thinking of it. I know some of you use 'Word Verification' to protect yourselves from 'spammers' ... perhaps with good reason. I removed that feature from my blogs after just a couple of weeks in the Blogosphere and haven't had significant problems with spammers. On the rare occasions spamming does happen, it's a simple matter to catch & delete those comments because I received emails whenever anyone leaves a comment on my blogs.

5:22am addendum on Thursday morning
I've noticed that Travis of Trav's Thoughts has had 8 or 9 'anonymous spam (advertising) comments' added to his 'Peace Post' ...(I get follow-ups in email, remember)... this morning. This happens to me occasionally (perhaps 5 times in the course of the 13 months I've been blogging), but since I receive email notification ... it's a simple matter to delete the series of unwanted comments forever. I suspect that's what he'll do also.

In addition, I allow folks to add their name and/or URL when leaving a comment ... something that permits others to enter a 'specific' link rather than the general one (listing their Blogger Profile page that may contain multiple blogs like mine does). All I ask is that you think about these changes and perhaps test them out to see what happens. As Crackerjacks points out, it's a simple matter to change back if problems occur.

Click if you're looking for the 'pink tag' in Monday's post ... and if you missed yesterday's post, check out Live Simply, Laugh Often for a variety of chuckles. I added a few more this morning, just because ;--)

Small Reflections ... Smile Back

Thought for Today
"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak." Hans Hofmann