Thursday, July 20, 2006

WARNING - THEY DON'T MEAN IT!

I will admit that since starting this blog, I've come to attribute a great deal of importance to the amount of comments I get in response to each post. To reveal my psychological connection between automatic doors and Jedi Masters and recieve a total of 9 comments is, in my opinion, a great success. I felt that I had managed to connect with people in a way I had never quite achieved before. People coming together and sharing stories and feelings that had previously remained suppressed. On the other hand, the complete lack of response to my probing questions on the subject of sex left me feeling downcast and melancholy. Maybe people weren't ready. Maybe people misunderstood. Maybe people simply didn't care.

And it hasn't stopped there:

I admit that I have been struck by jealousy at the 14 comments that have been left in response to Ben's latest post.

I have scoffed as I have noticed the big fat zeros underneath some of Matt's more recent messages.

I have danced a merry little jig in my heart when I have logged on to find a new comment has been left.

And when I have sneakily crept online during work hours to find that no one has commented in the 30 minutes since I last checked, I have died a little inside.

Yes I confess - I have probably placed far too much importance on the presence of comments.

Therefore, the recent con that I have fallen victim to, while teaching me a valuable lesson, has also caused a certain degree of pain as I have been built up only to be knocked right back down.

I logged on to my blog this evening to find (woe is me) that no one had commented on my latest post since I last checked. However, as I scrolled down I discovered (oh happy day) that a new comment had been left on the post prior to that. The comment was from a Mr Anonymous (not preferable but still, better than nowt) who said, rather generously, that he loved the idea behind my website and that he thought that it was very unique. Well that was nice. Within the whole blogging community, someone had stumbled across my humble site and thought it stood out enough to be labelled "unique". I wasn't sure exactly what he meant when he said that he loved the idea behind the website (what? The idea that I have a site in which I regularly update my friends as to what I'm up to? It's a blog.) but I figured he was probably refering to my unique and engaging prose style. All in all, if a bit confusing in places, a very nice and positive comment. And I felt a little bit better about myself for it.

But it didn't stop there.

Further down I noticed that another comment had been left in response to another post. "Well that's marvelous" I thought, "how wonderful". And I wasn't dissapointed. When I clicked on the comments, someone (another anonymous - they're probably just embarrassed at being so unrestrainably nice) said: "Hey what a great site keep up the work its excellent."

The next post: "I'm impressed with your site, very nice graphics!" I'm starting to get a little bit suspicious now. Who is this anonymous compliment merchant? Is it one person or is it many people? Should I be surprised that my complete lack of graphics has got itself a mention as being graphically advanced?

Next post: "I say briefly: Best! Useful information. Good job guys." Ok - What!?!! This one doesn't even make sense. It's as if it's been passed through the google translator. Something's going on here...

And that's when I noticed it. The tiny little blue link at the bottom of each anonymous comment that took me to (you guessed it) some cheap web-based product advertisement. The dirty stinking sychophants were only interested in one thing: themselves. They had toyed with my emotions for their own selfish gain.

I won't pretend it didn't hurt but at least I can say that I've learnt two very important lessons here. First, to enable the word verification option on my comments list (bloggers of the world I would advise you do the same - these cretins'll get ya otherwise). Secondly, I'm not going to allow my self esteem to be judged by comment quantity anymore. I am who I am and I am without comment. So there!

7 comments:

Glyn Harries said...

Um...I notice that no one's commented yet.

Did I say something wrong?

Mitchenstein said...

g'day glyn!

first of all, thank you for mentioning my little fundraising project on your blog - and for managing to tie it in with an insult! good stuff! ;-)

but don't assume that because you don't get comments, we don't read and appreciate it! :-D

my blog on lietchenstein received no comments, but i maintain that it was my most interesting and informative yet!

have faith in yourself man!

Anonymous said...

Glyn, I would write something but I wouldn't mean it.

Is that OK?

Becks said...

i read your blog all the time and thouroughly (if that is even a word how i spelt it) enjoy it. i understand about the commentiing- i even wrote 'discuss' on one and i got 2 comments. i feel your pain.

Tom Underwood said...

Great blog. Useful information and fantastic graphics. Good job Glyn.

Anonymous said...

Just laughed out loud at your blog. Ok more than once..infact quite a few times. Ben told me to check it out and although I still think it's sad to blog, I have to admit that yours is quite entertaining. (and at least I know your alive)

Glyn Harries said...

Huh! Interesting. Ummm, who are you?