My Dear Hard Drive

Archive for June, 2008

Hmph. Unfortunately, this one is going. I started using it a while ago, and it seemed like it could be worth the trouble at first. People were coming in, adverts were being applied for and I got a lot of drops. However, the thing is, I hoped it would make blogging more social. I mean, I comment on yours, spark your interest to visit mine, then you would comment on my blog or maybe even do a ping back on your post as I inspired you, but no… None of that has happened. What I do get is a lot of drops, from people advertising their own blogs and collecting credits for the drops. This is unfortunately one more of those cudos for nothing things that really should be taken out of the equation already.

Unfortunately fighting for visibility online is hard work – even if you deserved the visibility. Oh well, I keep trying anyway, as that’s what I do…

Popularity: 12%

It’s my 10 years online anniversary year. The first time I logged on would have been maybe August or September, it was on the autumn side of summer anyway. I remember this, because I then met a guy who had an internet website design company, and we were together for 2 years… And he had an internet connection at home. Wow. So I tried it. I left the guy eventually, but I haven’t left the Internet.

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Popularity: 3%

I followed a link in my EntreCard inbox, and found myself on this page on globallyrational.com. It leads to a radio conversation about global views on America. I was positively surprised that there was a study made yearly about it in USA, but not very surprised when the expert commentators pretty much said USA should not pay too much attention to it. Of course they shouldn’t – they’re America! In their view what ever negative views people might have about America, are based on their cultural upbringing and therefore should not be taken seriously. May I just crack up at this point. It is the American culture we disagree with, the American up bringing of superiority just because you’re American. I’m not saying that all Americans are like this, good heavens no, there are some great people in America, I have a few American friends who I love dearly, but the general idea that simply because I was born in America, I’m better than you. It doesn’t matter that my IQ is around 70, I know shit about nothing, I can’t speak my own language correctly, I live below the poverty line and I can’t afford my health checks, I still pay with checks and money orders that went out of fashion in Europe around the 70’s, but I’m still better than you, because I’m an American. Nobody likes to be belittled for no reason or for a reason, and this is what USA does constantly to the rest of the world.

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Popularity: 10%

(This post isn’t probably what you were looking for, but please check out the Part Two that I wrote because of the popularity of this one.)

When the somebody is a government official. We thought we had well provided evidence of a genuine relationship for the migration officials, but no, they want more. We don’t own anything together, houses or shared phone bills, so proving that we’re together has become that much more difficult. This is like a question: “how do you prove that there’s light in your house?” Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 3%

I was inspired by this beautiful post by a husband about his wife of 23 years. He wrote a reason for each year, but since we’ve only been married for 3, I think that would not be sufficient.

He’s my bestistest friend. He gets me, and there’s nobody I’d rather be with anywhere.

He has the best cuddle. His chest is warm against my cheek, a little bit fuzzy and tickles my nose. The best time of day is when we cuddle up to sleep.

He never speaks disrespectfully to me, even if I deserved it. He has never called me with names or used a sarcastic tone with me. He has never once belittled me.

He knows a lot of my Barbies by name, and has even named a few. I suppose most men would roll their eyes with a wife who plays with Barbies, but instead he makes me feel like an artist when I dress one up or remake one. And he tells people he’s happy that I have such a cheap hobby, even after encouraging me to spend over 100 euros on one doll.

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Popularity: 2%

On the post Handling conflict on a forum I was pondering situations that put your discussion group in danger. One of the best ways to pre-empt a problem is to come up with good set of rules, that are easy to read and easy to understand. Most free boards and site packages come with a default terms of use, but practically nobody ever reads them, so they are useless in the sense of creating harmony, but perfect for covering your ass legally. If you can be bothered to read them through yourself, I congratulate you, I haven’t yet… So I prefer to write my own rules. The following rules are written for a general topic discussion board with adult users on it. Don’t ever copy and paste them without reading them through and seeing if they actually fit on your site. This is to help you think. (Comments written in italic, and are not meant to be included in the rules.)

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Popularity: 7%

Do you ever get the feeling of being used? The latest thing that brought up this feeling was Social Spark. I’ve got tons of friends already, and I haven’t said a word there. I have props for nothing, but my mail box is full of messages “gave you props, hope you do the same for me.” I mean… If props come for nothing, the site would have a field “edit your own props”, and I would find that more appealing than logging in a hundred times to give props for nothing… If you consider spending countless hours a day visiting people’s profiles for props ‘doing nothing’. The only thing they really want is to boost their own ranking I’m sure… I’m sure there’s a ranking list of most popular sparkers somewhere…. I’m just sick and tired of these empty popularity contests that require no merit at all from anyone. Count MySpace and the sort to the list.

Popularity: 1%