The wordpress app for the iPhone was just released. I’m using it to write this post. The app is pretty nice. I wouldn’t expect any code samples or wordy posts coming from my phone since my texting skills are pretty weak, but it’s a nice app for when blogging on the go is required. The built in access to categories, tags and the live preview are very impressive.
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This was originally posted on vanslaars.com in January of 2007. If it sounds familiar, that’s why.
I used to work with kids and it was very interesting to see how the different age groups interacted with each other. With the 4 and 5 year olds conversations would go something like this (the conversation itself is completely hypothetical and the names are made up… it was a long time ago):
[ME]
“Today we are going to talk about manners, who can tell me something that somebody with good manners does?”
lots of little hands shoot up…
“Ok, Johnny…”
[Johnny]
“You should say please.”
[ME]
“Very good. Ok, Kyle, can you think of anything else?”
[Kyle]
“You should always say thank you!”
[Bobby (calling out)]
“My dog likes peanut butter!”
WTF!?
Bobby had nothing to add, but he really wanted to be part of the conversation. When a 5 year old does it, it’s cute and usually pretty funny.
Here’s the problem…I see this same behavior from adult professionals all over the web. It’s what I call the “Me Too, Complex”. People with this complex comment on blogs and forums without adding anything, they just want to participate. I’m sure I have been guilty of this in the past.
This behavior can manifest itself in several forms, from the “I agree so I will now restate the same thing you just said” response, to the “I have no basis for my opinion, and won’t back it up but you are wrong” response.
I think blogs and forums are a great outlet for public discussion, sharing ideas and learning new things. Comments are a great place to expand on the original author’s thoughts and ideas. Comments such as “Thanks”, “Great Article” and “I agree completely” are great, they encourage the author and can add credibility to the idea in the eyes of the reader. The key here is the comments here don’t add to the topic, but they are short enough to quickly glance over as you read the ongoing comments. There is no reason to restate anything, unless you are expanding on it, then by all means, expand away.
Comments don’t all have to be sugar coated. I’m all for a healthy debate, just ask anybody that knows me ;). If you disagree or want to point out a mistake, do it. But, If all you have to add to the thread is negativity, you should keep that to yourself. I appreciate it when I get a comment that tells me that my way isn’t the best way and (here’s the important part) explains a better way.
A comment such as, “This is a bad approach” with nothing else is pointless, you might as well leave a comment that says “My dog likes peanut butter”… maybe your dog does like peanut butter, but that doesn’t add anything to the conversation (unless, of course, the conversation is about things your pets like to eat).
When somebody takes the time to write about a strange bug and how to fix it, if all you can think is “<Insert Language or Technology> Sucks and that’s why you had this problem!” Keep it to yourself.. Maybe it does suck, but that wouldn’t do anything but waste time… yours and other readers.
If you comment just because you want to be part of the conversation, try to break the habit, you’ll be making the world a better place.
I just upgraded to WordPress 2.5 and while you can’t tell from the front-end, I wish I had done this sooner. The administrative interface has been drastically improved! If you are a wordpress user and haven’t upgraded, you should do it. The whole process took me about 10 minutes and most of that time was spent downloading my backup and uploading the new files. Nothing appears to be broken and all of my theme modifications, posts, and pages seem to have made it through the upgrade without being harmed.
If you are a regular reader you are aware that I am working on writing a book. Not that I have much spare time right now so every little bit of forward progress helps and if I get a spare moment, I try to take advantage of it.
Unfortunately, sometimes when I do find an opportunity to sit down to write something for my book, I find myself getting distracted with something else that needs to be done. An icon on my desktop or an alert from an application will remind me of something and I’m off in another direction. I’m keeping busy and getting stuff done, but the book isn’t writing itself.
I just discovered a great tool for writing called DarkRoom. It has very few features by design. The key to using DarkRoom is that it covers your entire screen, allowing you to focus on writing without distractions.
If you write regularly and find yourself getting distracted y other software, system messages, emails, the Internet or anything else on your Windows desktop, you should check out DarkRoom. Oh, did I mention it’s free?
You can get DarkRoom here.
Stuff is a technical term I like to use… Ok, I just didn’t know what else to call this post.I have written about 5 entries for this blog this evening. They are almost all awful and only one of them was published. Some of them may never make it. So why write them? I haven’t been sticking to my “write something everyday” goal… I have been pretty busy for the past two weeks and I don’t want this chain of not writing to continue. I was also reminded by some of my new co-workers today that I haven’t posted lately (Thanks guys).
I found that in a couple weeks of writing everyday, my writing improved (at least in my mind) and it has gotten rusty just as quickly. I am writing a bunch of stuff to get back into it. This is my cure for writers block and being in a non-writing rut.
I’m ok with never publishing most of this stuff. I’m ok with it sitting there for another week waiting to be edited. I’m even ok looking at these posts and admitting that they are bad. They can be improved. They can be trashed. If I get back into the swing of things and start writing regularly again, they have served their purpose.
So if you ever find that your writing is getting rusty or you have writers block, just write a bunch of stuff. It seems to be helping me.
ScribeFire is an add-on for Firefox that allows you to write notes and blog posts right from your browser.
I’m using it right now to write this and it’s pretty convenient. I’m not connected to the Internet and the browser is showing a “Server not found” message but ScribeFire works just fine and will store this locally until I am ready to publish it (which has happened already if you are reading this).
ScribeFire connects right to my WordPress blog and stores my information to allow simple posting without the need to log into the blog itself. Publishing options allow items to be posted as drafts until you are ready to finish and publish them from your blogging platform.
I am pretty happy with the switch to Wordpress. One of the features I really like is wordpress‘ plugin capability and the number of available plugins.
One of my favorites has to be the Yahoo! Shortcuts plugin. The shortcut plugin scans the copy in your post and suggests links, badges and Flickr images to embed in your post.
It makes finding relevant information and images a snap, making it much more likely that my posts will be livened up a bit by a well placed image, relevant link or stock ticker for a mentioned company.
If you are a blogger using wordpress, you should check out this plugin. You can also watch this video demo. Enjoy!