1 EAGLETON NOTES: Following Blogs

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Friday 16 October 2020

Following Blogs

When JayCee commented on my last blog it made me go to my side-bar to see whether she had started blogging again. I discovered that somehow I had missed the fact. I went to my sidebar where the blogs I read are mentioned and it wasn't there. Possibly I had deleted it when I thought JayCee wasn't going to blog any more. Who knows?

Anyway the real point was that if it's not in my side bar then I don't regularly check for posts.

Now a lot of people don't have other blogs in their sidebar so it started me wondering how they decided which blogs to follow and read. I know one person who only reads another blog when someone comments on his blog so he could follow the link back. However, I like a bit more structure to things.

Many years ago I used a program which allowed me to read all blogs and posts and comment outwith the blogs but that was discontinued.

Anyway I decided recently to do something about it and started writing this post to seek suggestions. When I got as far as the preceding paragraph I suddenly had a brainwave that perhaps there was something in the Dashboard which perhaps wasn't there in the 'old days' or which I had simply overlooked. Ecce! There at the bottom of the Dashboard was 'Reading List'. So I went through it only to discover that JayCee wasn't even on that. Then I realised that I had never actually followed her blog even though i read it. Now remedied. The question then came into my mind as to how I managed to follow YP's blog because he doesn't have a followers widget. Then I discovered that I can do that in the Dashboard too. Sorted. 

Do readers ever look to see who is on the blog list on other blogs?

Another question. Does anyone know why someone who comments on Eagleton Notes appears in the comments but never in my emails?

To lighten this post I thought I'd show a photo of a Rozanne Geranium with a little visitor. The Rozanne is unusual in that it is a perennial Geranium but does not spread or reproduce via runners or seeds. 

49 comments:

  1. I left comments on a blog for the longest time and then realized that I hadn't followed them back! I think it was because they left comments on my posts and then, I would just go to their blog by clicking on their name (which was there on my post on a comment they had left.)
    Does that make sense? If so, explain it to me! :-)
    I also do Instagram also but I am just as hopeless at that too.

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    1. I'm not sure that I can explain it to you, Kay. I read posts that I don't follow but if I don't follow then there is no organisation and I love being organised.

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  2. Thanks Graham. I am glad that you still want to follow me!
    I use Reading List daily to read new posts from those bloggers that I have been able to follow by clicking on the Follow button on their Home Page. For anyone that doesn't have that button, I copy their URL and paste it into the widget. Occasionally I follow the link to a blogger from the sidebar on another blogger's home page if it catches my eye. I keep coming across such interesting people!

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    1. JayCee, although I don't always comment on bloggers' posts I usually enjoy reading them (otherwise I stop!). I'm with you on the eye-catching bit.

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  3. The reading list on the Blogger dashboard has been there "forever", I think. I have a lot on that list, but like you, I also have "shortlist" on my own blog, with some that I try to keep an eye on more regularly. I also read blogs on/via an app on my phone - Feedly. I find it a bit "fiddly" (ha) to comment from the phone, though... Sometimes I go back to posts on the computer later, but I don't always get round to that.

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    1. Monica, it shows either a lack of observation or of memory on my part. I have a feeling it may have been Feedly I used on my old laptop before I went 'Apple' in 2010. It was certainly something similar. I still have Feedly on my phone but I don't usually read blogs on my phone because it's difficult to comment.

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  4. I follow YP. He deletes my comments. I can understand that. Nobody likes being called a thick, tubby tosser.
    I have removed who I am following from my side bar but still can see when you post. As you are well aware my posts have changed. Not to many folks taste or interest but What the hell. It helps my head when I get stuck to write down what I'm pondering over.
    You are talking about Rachel, she doesn't appear in mine either. Very wise of her. I suspect she is computer literate.

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    1. Adrian, calling someone a thick, tubby tosser is unlikely to endear you to the person. Yes, it is Rachel and I did ask her if she knew why. If she does she is being coy about it. As you say, I suspect she is very computer literate.

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    2. Possibly fit as a butchers dog. I'll ask her for a snap.

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  5. I rely on my Reading List to follow the posts of the bloggers who have appealed to me most. It continually astounds me that real friendships are made through blogs, without ever having met people, although I have been very fortunate to have met, stayed with, eaten with, birded with, people who I got to know initially via their blog, and every time it has met or exceeded expectations. And this has happened on two continents in three countries. Pretty amazing really.

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    1. Yes, David, the friendships made through blogging can be wonderful and very long lasting I have discovered.

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  6. For some blogs I comment on, I get an email saying my email was blocked. The comment appears but the owner doe not receive an email. It seems to be something to do with google but I haven't managed to work out what.

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    1. That's interesting, Tasker. I've not experienced that.

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  7. I follow very few people. I type the URLs (from memory, of course) of blogs in which I am interested. I don’t use Dashboard or Reading List. I’m probably doing things the hard way, but it has been ever thus.

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    1. Bob, I have enough problems remembering my own URLs never mind those of other bloggers.

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  8. I ended up with so many on my reading list that I couldn't keep up with them. Now I just follow the ones in my side-bar with an occasional excursion into some of the others that I follow (the whole lot are listed on my Favourites bar on Google!).
    I always enjoy your blog Graham :)

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    1. Margaret, I have discovered that I can hide names in the reading list so that problem need not arise. I shall have to look for and explore the Google Favourites bar.

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  9. I too use the Reading List feature of Blogger to corral the blogs (and Wordpress blogs can be put there as well) and seem to have accumulated rather a large number, but not so many are active writers. My sidebar has a small handful but I like keeping an eye on the feature on others' as it's most often where I find new bloggers. I guess it's only of interest to those who read blogs on computers, as sidebars and any other bells & whistles on one's blog get cropped off for reading on phones, which is a thing people with better eyesight like to do, apparently. As to your comment question, it's probably something to do with your Settings.

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    1. Pipistrello, thank you for mentioning that Wordpress blogs can be put in the Reading List. I follow some Wordpress blogs but commenting can be such a drag that I don't have much enthusiasm for commenting on them. It's not helped in my case by the fact that I started following some when in New Zealand and some here (different blogs and different email addresses) and have signing in difficulties.

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  10. Beautiful flower
    I go mainly by the Reading list, and then blogs that have follow by email. Deleting blogs by mistake as I clean out blogs no longer active, (by clicking on the edit top right dashboard Blogs I Follow), has been the cause of a few missing blogs. It is my understanding that unless you register on the Follow by email, the blog will not be on the reading list.
    If I see someone commenting regularly on a blog I regularly read, then I might click on their name to read their blog. It is my experience, that after a few years, a reading group develops where you will see the same folks commenting on a group of blogs. It is rather nice to see the small blog community. I don't always comment on blogs I read.
    I still miss the baker with the gorgeous cupcake decoratin skills, the woman that paints gorgeous bureaus, the woods and fairy lights blogger, and a few others.

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    1. Maywyn, I, too, have some bloggers that have simply disappeared overnight. I find it quite disturbing. Fortunately most who disappear give notice.

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  11. We never learn anything unless we ask the questions. I have followers and It doesn't seem like they have a blog for me to follow.

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    1. Red, there are quite a few people who have followed me over the years who have no blog to follow.

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  12. If I see something on someone else's sidebar that interests me, I certainly visit. It usually involves a clever title, proving I suppose that titles are quite important if one wishes to attract visitors.

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    1. Cro, I would think that your supposition is correct. My blogs were set up in 2007 when I was living in both Scotland and New Zealand and the idea was that each of my friends could see what I was up to. That purpose for blogging ended and I suppose the subjects I blogged about changed too and my followers are now pretty random.

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  13. Because I have been limited to using my android phone for blog reading and commenting for the past few months, I follow the half a dozen blogs that come up on my new tabs screen.
    Occasionally when reading comments,if they are thought provoking or amusing, I will click on the link and read the blog, if there is one to read.
    Alphie

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    1. Thanks for that, Alphie. Yes, it can be a little disappointing when an interesting commenter turns out not to have a blog. On the other hand I have some old blog friends who don't have blogs or have stopped blogging long ago.

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  14. I use my reading list on Blogger. One or two blogs, which are hosted by other platforms, don't always show up on this, so I also follow some by email. I often take a look at blogs listed on the sidebars, as it's a great way of discovering others I may be interested in. I should really update mine, as I'm sure there are some on my list who are no longer blogging. X

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    1. Jules, I have learned from this post's comments that I can put a Wordpress blog into my reading list. My list has the date of the last post in the sidebar list but I leave them there in case someone starts up again.

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  15. On my Laptop and with Firefox I have a side bar of Bookmarked sites and I do bank, shopping, information stuff but then daily go through the Bookmarked, Newspaper, weather and Blogs that have my interest. I am not a 'Follower' and don't have the huge responsibility of writing my own blog. I comment when I feel the urge and sometimes look at the odd site that you bloggers have listed on the right hand side, the odd one or two may get moved to my Bookmarks list. I don't do FaceTube or what I believe is Social Media and have a steam driven mobile phone that does Texts. I am considering getting a Smart phone but would require a two week residential course to get use of it. Lesley

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    1. Potty, you have no idea how odd it is when someone tells me of something staring me in the face and which had not occurred to me. As it happens I stopped using Firefox for blogging when Google and Firefox became temporarily semi-incompatible. However all browsers have provision for a reading list and that had just never occurred to me. It has one slight drawback in not showing whether there is an up to date post but it provides a list. Thank you.

      I am am on social media but I don't use it much at all which often elicits emails or messages asking if I'm still in the land of the living.

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  16. For me there is a beautiful randomness about which blogs I read. Some I read every day, others every week and some I only read once in a while. I often forget how I stumbled across blogs - yours included. There is no real pattern to it all and it's a movable feast anyway. I simply do not get all this business about followers and following.

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    1. YP you stumbled on my New Zealand blog first I think because you followed The Last Visible Dog. I think, basically, followers and following is about creating relationships (in the loosest possible way). From reading your blog all these years I can well understand why, like not having a mobile phone, you do not understand followers and following.

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    2. Like YP I don't get the "followers and following" thing. If someone catches my imagination, usually through having read many of their comments on other people's blogs, I'll click on the link, their blog name will register in my memory and, what do you know, I'll type it in, on a (daily) whim, and there you are. Say, galenote. Admittedly I have never been one to spread myself widely. I prefer a few in-depth exchanges over a cocktail party style blogger who welcomes only sweet nothings. Echo chambers by another name. The same type which is obsessed by the number of "followers" yet has little time to give them THEIR own time in reply. So, yes, I'd say I ACTIVELY seek out a handful or so of bloggers, without prompting via email or whatever.

      As to some commenters not having their own blog. There are many reasons why they don't. Though agree, it can be vaguely frustrating.

      As an aside, and YP's blog is a good example, the best blogging hosts are those who not only allow discussion but also exchanges between their readers. Unlike one or two I could name who guard their home fires jealously and show you the door if you don't fan their vanity.

      Sweet Rozanne Geranium - and her visitor didn't even need to keep a "social" distance and/or wear a snout mask.

      All the best, Graham,
      U

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    3. Thank you, Ursula. There are several ways of looking at the "followers and following" thing. If you can remember all the URLs of the blogs you read then you're a better person than I am Gunga Din. I follow a blog if I want it to appear in my reading list. I know there was a fashion when I started blogging in 2007 for people to try and increase the number of followers and some still do. We have free blogging because some use blogs for a very different purpose ie making money. The more followers the more they attract adverts. Mind you that's now largely been replaced by Facebook and Instagram I understand.

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  17. Once when my computer crashed and I lost all, I was bereft until I got everyone restored. Blog following is a happy and soothing place to come each morning to shut out the contentious and divisive turmoil enveloping my country prior to this next election; the worst in my lifetime. I look forward to a visit with you, Graham, each morning with my second cup of coffee

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    1. Jill, I don't envy you at the moment. It's bad enough here with Brexit and the controversial Prime Minister we have. Thank you for your support. I shall try and make more of your second morning cups of coffee (or second cups of morning coffee) enjoyable.

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  18. Too early on a Sunday morning for this jaded old brain to start even trying to answer questions, Graham! :)

    I do still have people on my sidebar blog list that have long gone...I should do some housework, I guess...both in Blogland and in real land. Tomorrow...tomorrow is another day. I'm upholding my Procrastinators' Presidency position!

    Take good care. :)

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    1. Your PPP is well understood,Lee. Tomorrow it will all still be there and who will worry?

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  19. I do the same as you but sometimes I go to my Reading list. I too wondered why I get emails from some bloggers when they comment but not others. Then one day I found a heap of them in Junk mail. Check there.

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    1. Diane, thanks for the suggestion. It was the first place I checked and, indeed, I keep my junk mail folder up front so that I can always see if there is anything in it. Unless, of course, Google is junking it (I use gmail on a Macbook using AppleMail to view.

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  20. I read your blog from Melbourne Australia but don’t often comment as I’m reading late at night and the Wordpress/Blogger interface can get frustrating to deal with when I’m tired. My Wordpress blog whatliftsyourspirits is daily but mostly a photo blog with heading or very brief comment. Cheers, Jean

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    1. Jean, I've had very big problems posting on the Wordpress blogs of several friends. However I've just commented on yours with no problem whatsoever (assuming it gets through moderation).

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  21. I read your blog from Melbourne Australia but don’t often comment as I’m reading late at night and the Wordpress/Blogger interface can get frustrating to deal with when I’m tired. My Wordpress blog whatliftsyourspirits is daily but mostly a photo blog with heading or very brief comment. Cheers, Jean

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    1. Thanks, Jean. I thought I'd answered this comment because I usually have a lot of problems with Wordpress but, as you will know from the last few days, I've not had that problem with yours.

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  22. Hi Geeb, there is still a program that alerts me to your blog posts by email. And also to Mrs Splapthing's. I think it's obtained by going to a menu while on the blog in question. I shall investigate.

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    1. Yes, CJ, you can get emails if there is an appropriate widget on the blog. I don't have the widget on mine but I think I did in the earlier days.

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  23. I seem to have different people on the side of my page and on the Reading List. Both are important to me. I'm always sorry when a blog I like doesn't have a followers gadget, because I very rarely remember to look again.

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    1. Jenny, when I get around to tidying up the blog format (assuming I do) I will make sure that there is still a way to follow it. Thanks for the tip.

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