Did You Ever Get Stuck On A Roof?
May 27, 2008
For the last couple of weeks or so, I’ve been stuck on the roof. Not the actual roof of my house - it’s far too cold here in the North of England. The roof I’ve been on is more of a metaphorical one.
When things get too much, I go up on the roof - I cut myself off from the world. I don’t speak to anyone, I don’t reply to emails and I don’t write. During that time, I don’t think about my problems either - I shut them out.
This isn’t the greatest way to cope when things go wrong, but how we deal with things isn’t important. It’s understanding how and why we do it thats important.
Even I know that I’ll eventually have to get back off the roof and deal with things but my time there gives me a bit of space.
Thanks to everyone who has emailed me or called over the last couple of weeks - I will reply eventually. And for those of you who asked if my absence was due to reactions from a post I wrote about StumbleUpon - the answer is no. I’ve been around too long to worry about what people say about me on the Internet and if I cared, I wouldn’t write some of the stuff I do.
And I’m grateful to everyone who has carried on reading while I’ve been away - I’ve had 48030 unique visitors this month so far and I appreciate you taking the time to read what I have to say.
What do you do when too many problems mount up at once? Do you get stuck on the roof, or do you have a better way of dealing with them?
Is StumbleUpon Going Down The Tubes?
May 11, 2008
This week, StumbleUpon emailed me to say I was banned. This doesn’t come as too much of a shock, as I’ve been getting quite a bit of hassle and vulgar reviews since I wrote this post about the StumbleUpon Freaks.
I don’t think it was the actually post that annoyed the folk who like to call themselves StumbleUpon’s anti-spam group. It had more to do with a commenter pointing out that many of the so called anti-spammers are black hat SEO’ers who deliberately thumb down several posts in a row, as this helps their own trashy sites to get Stumbled more often.
It seemed that he was right. Soon the post was given several thumbs up reviews, all at the same time, same pictures. Straight afterwards, a guy who goes by the name of The Bozz commented on here that I had stumbled my own posts using a bot. Now those of you who visit this blog regularly will have gathered that I don’t have the technical knowledge, or the need to vote my own posts using a bot.
I believe it was the blackhat SEO - so called anti-spammers who got me banned and they probably did other things aside from the above. And I think The Bozz is one of them. Here’s why:
1) The Bozz’s comment appeared on this blog straight after the bot votes appeared on my post. Could that really be a coincidence?
2) The avatars on most of the thumbs down votes were plain ugly. If you’ve ever Stumbled upon a black hat SEO forum before, you’ll know what I mean.
3) Most of the negative comments I received from these assholes not only used the same vile and offensive language, but it was obvious that some were written by the same person. It makes you wonder how many profiles some of these idiots have.
4) I checked through a few of their profiles and in between all their thumb down votes are votes for Adsense littered crap and articles of an offensive nature.
5) A couple of days later, the Bozz thanked the moderators from removing all the spam from his profile. Now, I never even responded to any of the crap left on my post or profile, so I’m guessing the same bot was used to generate the spam on his profile - probably by himself.
I doubt whether I’ll appeal against the StumbleUpon ban, although I may send them a copy of this post. Here’s why:
1) I flagged the bot votes and the offensive comments on my profile and post immediately. SU deleted the bot comments pretty quickly, but not so all the filth that was left on there. I am not R rated on StumbleUpon and these comments had the potential to offend a lot of people.
2) The Bozz claimed to have had spam deleted by moderators pretty quickly. Since when did moderators on SU react that fast to anything? So I’m guessing that one of the anti-spam black hat SEO’ers must be a moderator on StumbleUpon. If this is the case, it won’t be long before SU becomes littered with the crap that most of us want to see banished from the Internet.
Now, StumbleUpon didn’t give me a reason for the ban, so I can only guess as to what else The Bozz and his asshole friends, have been up to. This is what StumbleUpon said:
“The most common cause for account suspension is a contravention of the clauses which forbid the use of personal accounts for the promotion of a business, product or service, and also with regard to the sending of ’spam’ messages to other members.”
Well, I haven’t used StumbleUpon to promote a business product or service, nor have I sent spam messages to any other members. But if it’s possible for the StumbleUpon Freaks to use a bot to generate false votes, I’m guessing they can probably generate spam messages too.
They also said I can appeal but: “be aware that we will only have imposed the suspension if we believe it to be warranted.”
To be honest, I’m not sure whether I’m going to appeal. I wasn’t using StumbleUpon all that much before the ban, as I simply wasn’t getting time. Also, the quality of stumbles was deteriorating fast.
Do you use StumbleUpon, or do you use it less now than you used to? Do you believe the quality of Stumbles has deteriorated? What do you think will happen to StumbleUpon if it continues to be dominated by the so called anti-spam group?
*Comments from the assholes mentioned above will be put in the spam folder. You may have been able to litter my StumbleUpon profile with your filth but you’re not welcome on my blog.
43 Amazing Resources For Writers
May 8, 2008
If you want to improve your creativity and become a better writer, check out these amazing tools and resources for writers.
Margaret Atwood on YouTube: Excellent YouTube Interview with Canadian novelist, Margaret Atwood.
7 Deadly Fears of Writing Explored: From rejection to exposing yourself, Men With Pens discuss the fears commonly encountered by writers and advise you on how to deal with them.
Create Your Own Ebook In 7 Days: Brilliant resource which shows you how to create your own Ebook in 7 days and how to make it sell.
The Courage To Hear Yourself Sing: Wonderful free ebook by Joanna Young which covers 5 takes on authentic writing.
Creative Writing Prompts: Never be stuck for words again - over 300 writing prompts to stimulate your imagination.
Arvon Foundation: Considered by many to run the best short courses in the UK for writers. Courses in many different genres run Monday through Saturday in four different centres throughout the UK. It’s best to book in January when the new brochure comes out as places go quickly.
The Bridport Prize: This poetry and short story has been running in the UK for over 30 years and is open to writers from all over the world. The closing date is the end of June and the winner of each section receives a prize of £5000 ($10000) and will also have their work included in an anthology
.
BBC Writer’s Room: Are you interested in scriptwriting. The BBC accepts unsolicited scripts. Check out the Writer’s Room to discover what they’re looking for and how to submit your work.
Tips, Contests and Interviews: An extensive resource from Writer’s Digest magazine, with tips, contests and interviews for writers.
Writers Write Discussion Forum: Excellent and busy forums for writers of all genres.
25,000 Words and A Week in A Freelance Writer’s Life: You’d be forgiven for thinking that it was impossible to write 25,000 words in one week. Monika Mundell shares the secret to a regular freelance writing income.
10 Universities Offering Free Writing Courses Online: Here’s your chance to take a short writing course, from your own home - completely free of charge.
15 Craft Exercises For Writers: Jump start your imagination with these excellent writing exercises.
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Inc: Massive resource for fantasy and science fiction writers with advice for beginning writers and also advanced topics, including “how to build new worlds” and “murder your darlings”.
Free Mini-Courses: The BBC offers dozens of free mini-courses for writers of all levels.
Stanford University Sentence Generator: Sometimes, the biggest challenge in writing is actually getting started. If this is something you struggle with, let the sentence generator come up with the first sentence for you. This sentence generator will actually let you choose the type of sentence - eg. Bond Movie, Bionic Woman etc. I chose “suicide note” and this is what it came up with: “Dear dog, I want to jump off a bridge sometime or another because Hell sounds interesting. I’m sure you will be glad to hear of my death. Please dispose of my corpse by cremation and give my heart to my fish. Take me away!”
Random Name Generator: Are you writing fiction and struggling to come up with good character names? The random name generator will find a name for your hero, no matter what part of the world he/she comes from.
Writing Advice From Minette Walters: Best selling novelist, Minette Walters shares some excellent advice for writers.
Why The Internet Is The Perfect Market For Writers: If you’re considering writing for Internet markets, check out this article by Bob Younce, which explains why the Internet is a great market for writers.
Mslexia: Home of the magazine for women who write. You’ll find plenty of great writing tips and author interviews here.
Glimmer Train: Monthly competitions for writers of previously unpublished literary fiction.
Isabel’s Guide To Writing & Getting Published: Novelist, Isabel Wolff shows you what questions to ask yourself to determine whether you really want to write. She also explains how to go about getting an agent and becoming a published author.
Sold On Song: BBC guide to the whole song writing process and the music business.
Poetry Magic: A comprehensive guide to writing and publishing poetry.
100 Best First Lines: Can’t get started? Use one of these best lines from published novels and carry on writing.
31 Ways To Find Inspiration For Your Writing: Leo of Write to Done shares 31 sources of inspiration that you can use.
Authors and Magical Thinking: Great advice for writers, including why stalking publishers and agents just isn’t a smart idea.
How I Write A Novel: If you keep getting lost in your plot, Tobias Buckell offers some great advice for getting yourself organised. In fact, his whole blog is an excellent resource for writers.
Write a Memoir: Do you have an interesting personal story to tell? William Zinsser explains how to write a memoir by being yourself, speaking freely and thinking small.
How To Write And Publish Your Own Ebook In Only 7 Days
Writers Weekly: This excellent ezine features excellent advice, writers markets etc and it is also home to a regular 24 hour short story competition.
Literary Agents and Publishers: Free database with details of over 1600 literary agents and publishers.
Gotham Writers Workshop: Writing courses and workshops in New York City.
Courses in California: Writing courses and workshops at the California College of Arts.
Online Writers Groups: Join an online writers group in one of several genres including contemporary fiction, short stories, fantasy and crime.
Inside the Mind Of A Crime Writer: Author interview on YouTube with Patricia Cornwell.
100 Best Novels: Writers need to read good books. Check out the 100 best novels of all time, as recommended by The Guardian.
Writing Blunders: From waking up scenes to head-hopping - several writing blunders you should avoid.
Filmmakers: Huge database of screenwriting competitions.
How To Write A Haiku: Advice for starting to write this short, popular Japanese form of poetry.
Interactive Plot Developer: Just enter a character, setting and plot and this free tool will automatically generate a plot for you.
Dear Writer: A great letter from John Steinbeck with advice for beginning writers.
Ten Timeless Persuasive Writing Techniques: Learn the art of persuasive writing from Brian Clark of Copyblogger.
To Share Or Not To Share?
May 7, 2008
If you intend to use a blog to promote your business, or build a brand, you need to decide at the outset whether you’re going to use your real name, or an anonymous pseudonym. Your decision will probably be based on what you’re trying to achieve and the message you want to share. And if you choose to use your real name, you’ll need to decide how much information you’re going to give away.
No matter what they’re writing about, most of the most successful bloggers give away snippets of their own lives and experiences. Often, they’ll share their mistakes, their hopes and their plans. Many bloggers fall into this category including: Ian Denny, Liz Strauss, Monika Mundell and Barbara Swafford.
We begin sharing information that we hope will be useful to our target audience. But the trouble is, when you first begin blogging, it’s like speaking to an empty room. Then a few more people visit and some people begin to comment and it’s like having an informal discussion with a small group.
But as the months pass, a handful of visitors can soon become thousands of people each week and that’s when you start to question whether you should be giving away so much.
Since I began blogging, I discovered that some folk I know in the offline world read this blog. And that’s ok - it’s nice that some of them want to read it. But if you’re like me, there’s some people you just don’t want in your audience. When you begin blogging, it doesn’t even occur to you that those people might be reading.
Trouble is, once some people discover that you blog, they will begin reading not because they’re interested in your blog topic. They’re simply interested in gathering information about you - or worse still - stalking or harrassing you.
Now, I wouldn’t share important things on this blog that I hadn’t already discussed with my family, which is just as well. Would you believe that someone actually called my mother to make sure she knew that I was planning to move to Australia? Of course she did but it was clear that the caller was hoping she didn’t.
I like sharing information that may be useful to others. And I’ve blogged a lot about mistakes I’ve made. But now I’ve started to wonder whether I should censor what I say.
What do you think? Blogs do need to have a personal touch, but how much information is too much. Has your blog audience grown to the point where you think you should be censoring what you have to say? Or will you carry on saying what you want regardless?
