Blogging About The Blog

Published on: 9/21/2011

I had some email back-and-forth earlier this week with the person in charge of the NOW homepages.  Seems that ever since The Mothership performed their 'update' of the community web pages there have been issues.  As is the result of all great bureaucratic updates lots of things didn't work anymore.

For instance - if you had previously bookmarked any of the blogs on your smart phone and clicked on the link you would automatically be redirected to JSOnline.mobi.  That's all well and good but I already have a link for this and a few of my 80-odd readers that use wireless devices like an iPhone, Droid or Blackberry found it annoying.  And they sent me annoying emails to that effect.

Here's another snafu.  If you clicked on the blog title you were redirected to a blank page.  That was fixed.  Alas, it has subsequently broken-down.  Back to the blank page.

Then all of RSS feeds disappeared.  Poof!  No more automatic sending of updated content.  Everyone now had to laboriously go to the appropriate web page, locate the blog or blogger and they had to peruse the content the old-fashioned way.  Strangely enough - the only feed that continued to work for me was the one for Christine McLaughlin's blog.  All the remaining ones vanished into cyberspace. 

Weird, eh?

Then to add insult to injury - traffic plummeted like a stone.  Maybe that's because us bloggers are now largely hidden from view while this apparently new notion of incessant tweeting of critically important content by paid staff was given major billing. 

Tweet, tweet, tweet. 

It's enough to drive you nuts. 

Can someone explain to me how a tweet is more important than a well-composed thought or opinion?

In any event I politely brought a few of these issues to the attention of The Man on more than multiple occasions and things are slowly but surely turning-around.  (Excepting for that infernal twitting).

For instance, the RSS feeds are back.  There is now a RSS icon next to the "Community Blogs" header on the home page for each blog.  Take this one for instance.   If you wish to create a feed all you have to do is click on the icon and install it.  If you had a previously functional feed it should be functional now.  I am told they're still working on repairing the redirect if you click on the blog title.

I pointed-out to The Man that that the Patch folks not only had a nifty mobile app for smart phones but they also offered an additional link to the traditional web page as well.  I inquired if possibly The Mothership might be able to do the same. 

I am told that the developers are working on a way to let people access the traditional, non-mobile version of the site from their phones.  So I guess me and my iPhone will settle for half a loaf on that account.

You have an iPhone?  So, Mr. Corporate, with Microsoft pumping through his veins, has an iPhone?  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!  Snort!  That's rich.

Yes, it is true.  I have gone over to The Dark Side.  I have an iPhone and am relieved to add another RIM device to the growing pile of discarded phones in an office file drawer that constitutes my Blackberry graveyard. 

I have a confession to make.  

Are you sitting down? 

I also have an iPad.  Somehow I think I have been sucked into a cult. 

One more thing - traffic seems to be up.  I'm not sure if it dropped initially due to the brilliant upgrade or picked-up due to my brilliant writing.  Nevertheless, if you Google, Bing or search on Yahoo, I seem to be Tosa's resident expert on: How to Can Your Tomatoes and How to Make Crispy, Crunchy, Sweet Pickles.  

Better yet - Google:  Groundhog Aggression.

Finally, on the subject of canning I wish to close with this.

My pal - Mennonite - left six cases of canning jars on my porch. 

Taken with my iPhone (heh, heh)

He's a Pennsylvania farm boy and he obviously has pickling on his mind.  In his words this is what he told me - I picked them up from this great old lady who said she was too old to can and wanted to pass them on to someone who would use them.

When asked what I owed him he said - One quart of homemade tomato juice annually. I'll tell you the story next time we talk.

How cool does it get?  This many jars is better than a visit from the Tooth Fairy.  Better than Old Kris Kringle.

If I ever meet this woman I might just plant a big kiss on her cheek!