More Hilarious Spam

Pink Flowers 1

Most spam is of the annoying advert type, but now and again there is something that makes me laugh. The spammer will try everything to get you to interact with them, telling you all sorts of nonsense. They are easy to spot though, as they tend to comment on much older posts, which is a complete give away; if their writing were not enough of a clue!

I couldn’t resist sharing this little gem with you –

“I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This piece of writing posted at this site is actually nice.”

Actually nice? You needn’t sound so surprised!

Also, I know I have gained a leetle weight, but it’s still quite rude to refer to me in the plural! (how are you everybody!)

And, No, you are not a regular visitor; I’ve never seen you before (most likely thanks to the efforts of the amazing Akismet!)

Here’s one that flatters away without actually saying anything. It was in response to my post Please WP! where I complain about the alterations to the WP Reader Notifications!

I would like to thank you for the efforts you have put in penning this site. I’m hoping to view the same high-grade blog posts by you in the future as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my very own website now. 🙂

Yes, there was a smiley face at the end. What’s not to like about this one?

As I said above, all I did in my post was rant. High-grade? haha Nope! But at least someone appreciates the efforts I put into penning my posts!

And another gem –

Aw, it was a truly good post. In concept I should put in writing related to this additionally – spending time and actual effort to manufacture a superb article…but exactly what do I say… I procrastinate alot (sic) and no indicates locate a method to go carried out.

I totally agree… exactly what do you say?

This was in response to a Sunday Musing from May last year, where the quote was, “Don’t suffer from stress: Be a carrier!” A superb article? Spending time and actual effort?

Well at least somebody thinks so!

How about this one, which speaks for itself, amazing punctuation, spelling and all! –

Should you turn a door knob recently touched by a sneezing, sniffling person,and thus lift help to yoour nose, you afflicted both yoursslf internet marketing After the draft Direct Mail Marketing Nevertheless loved fundamental idea!

time answering when your breaathing routine is underway you’ll get to coughing a lesser amount change career Tailor selecting based over your book area time freedom

I can’t help but feel they have simply lifted whole sections from different articles at random.

And what any of this has to do with my post, River Dance, which is about rain on my stoep, I guess I’ll never know.

 

Does anyone know the purpose of spam such as these?

I understand the advert type ones; they want you to click on their site, or respond somehow. But these other ones? Are they the same, but use a different method by claiming to be a regular reader and all friendly?

I have no idea.

All I know, is that checking my spam caught by Akismet, provides me with great amusement and entertainment.

 

post script: If you find a particular post is being bombarded by spam, you can disable comments for that one post. I’ve had to do this a few times lately. You have to work from the “improved editor” not the old Dashboard and WordPress support tells you how to do that here.

I got this excellent tip from a post by da-AL; 2 Fab WordPress Tips.

 

I Am Three!

Sea View

Yes, it is three years since I clicked the Publish button on the very first post of my brand new blog; and I haven’t looked back since.

Below are extracts from my first and second anniversary posts; because I really can’t say it any better than this.

First Year:

I’d like to thank the WP community for being so great. And I’d like to thank everyone who has popped by my blog and liked or commented on a post. I thoroughly enjoy seeing all of your amazing photos and reading your posts. I feel like I know some of my “regulars” as friends, even though we have never met, nor are likely to, being separated in most instances by vast oceans.

And Thank You to all of you out there who make the whole blogging experience a pleasant one. WP is a community, and if it wasn’t for feedback, likes and comments, what would be the point? I’d still be sitting here listening to the crickets chirp!

Second Year:

But just to reiterate; thank you to everyone who has followed me all this time and who continues to support me and offer words of wisdom and sarcastic comments. I appreciate them all! (You know people are your friends when they start being sarcastic!)

I thoroughly enjoy following all your blogs too.

Third Year:

I’d just like to say a very big thank you to all of my faithful followers, who like and comment on my posts, even when sometimes you don’t get my sense of humour, or British-ness/South African-ness.

To my old friends, thank you for sticking with me; and to my new friends, welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the ride.

Without the interaction of my blogging friends, there’d be no fun in blogging.

And as long as I’m having fun, I’ll keep on blogging.

As a third year tribute to you all, I’ve selected some of my favourite photos from the past three years.

Just scroll down to enjoy the slide show.

Skies of Blue

Fluidity

Happy Little Monkey

Dandelion Clock

Baby Geese

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

Pensive – Little Monkey

Fuchsia

LM and SL check out the Puzzle Tree

England

Swans 1

Mr Spaghetti Legs

Photo Frames 1

Bloom 1

Pretty as a picture – Sunset Western Cape

You Little Monkey

Blackberries and Cream

Strelitzia 1

Owl 2

The Concerns of Guinea Pigs

Baby

Little Monkey Collapsed 1

Comfort Flowers 1

Cream of the Crop 1

Little Monkey

Thank You One and All.

 

Please WP!!!

Headless Horseman??

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

 

Anyone else having trouble with the WP Reader lately?

Above is how my Awesome (ahem) photo of LM appeared in the WP Reader yesterday.

Headless!

Daft!

Pointless!

It was supposed to look like this –

Her Master’s Voice 1

I’m sorry, but either show the whole photo in miniature or not at all. Deciding to crop it willy-nilly inevitably results in failures like this!

Most of us take a great deal of care with our photos, adjusting the image for optimum effect. How annoying it is then to see these photos mutilated in the WP Reader. If you were browsing through the Reader and saw my headless dog, would this photo entice you to click on the post and read further? I don’t think so!

And, every time I opened a post in the WP Reader to read and comment, then returned to the Reader, it sent me right back to the beginning of my Reader. Do you know how long it takes to scroll all the way down to where you were each time? I already battle with rubbish internet speeds; I don’t need any more hassles. (OK this appears to be fixed today!)

Further, my Notifications kept getting stuck, showing an orange dot, meaning new Notifications, when I had cleared them all.

Also, the Powers That Be have once again changed the font in the WP Reader Notifications. It is tiny again. To achieve a reasonable reading size I have to increase my magnification to 150%. This effectively removes everything from my screen except the Notifications.

So why am I complaining to you guys and not WP?

Well, the last time WP messed around with the Reader and changed the font to smaller, they also made the print paler; as in grey not black. I commented to WP on their own post about the new improved WP Reader (their words!). The reply I got simply said, ‘Yes they had changed the font’. They did not address the issue of smaller, fainter print at all. (Eventually they did change the font back, as enough of us complained!)

 

Please Please Please WP.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

 

So, will my rant here achieve anything?

Nope! But I sure feel better for venting! Thanks guys!

Gripe over.

Happy Saturday!

 

post script: I fully understand that the majority of you will have no problem with any of these changes, but please pity the less advantaged, such as we South African’s, who have rubbish internet; those of us who already battle to read tiny print and those of us who Blog on our laptops, not smart phones. Any change affects us!

post post script: I am curious to see how my first photo above will now appear in the WP Reader! Poor LM is already headless. What else can they do to her?

Baaahahahaha! I had to add this update quickly. The only part of LM now showing in the WP Reader is her bum and the tip of her tail! 

 

Sunday Musings #83

There are no extra pieces in the Universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle.

– Deepak Chopra

 

I love puzzles; or rather I should say, I like solving them. I don’t like it so much when I can’t!

I couldn’t understand why the Likes had suddenly disappeared from the bottom of my posts when I visited my blog and scrolled down. In Settings, I double checked that I had ticked the box: WordPress.com Likes On for all posts, deleted the cache and cookies, reloaded everything, tried on different devices using different browsers: all to no avail. The Likes remained conspicuous by their absence!

Last night I went back to my Settings and checked everything again. Then I noticed that one box Show buttons on Front Page, Archive Pages and Search Results was not ticked. Now, I have a kind of photographic memory for shapes and things and I clearly remember the pattern of this set of four boxes, when I first went to my Settings after my Likes had disappeared. The box was not ticked then either.

Simply ticking this box, saving and reloading my blog solved the problem! Yeah, it was that simple and, when it comes to computers, apparently so am I!

So here’s the thing: since I wasn’t tinkering with my Settings until after my Likes had disappeared from my blog, what caused the problem in the first place? And how come no-one else seemed to see this problem, except myself, the blogger kind enough to tell me about it and one other who checked upon reading my post yesterday?

I guess some puzzles will never be solved!

 

I’d like to say A Very Big Thank You to everyone who helped me yesterday, by telling me if they could see my Likes when they looked at my blog. You guys out there are my WP support!

 

post script: It’s not that I want lots of Likes (just as well!) but rather that I have my blog set out this way, so it is easy to scroll down and see every post and Like if you wish, without having to visit each post separately. Those of you living with rubbish internet, like me, will appreciate this; as do I, when visiting other blogs.

 

Help WP! Nobody Likes Me!

Rose

My Blog’s a bit broken!

I discovered last night that the Likes button has disappeared from the bottom of my posts when you visit my blog. If you click on the title of each post, then the Likes appear again.

In my Settings I have WordPress.com Likes On for all posts. 

As far as I know I haven’t changed anything. (Maybe my extra long post yesterday was too much of a shock for my blog!)

I wondered if anyone else had encountered this problem and if so, how you fix it? I can’t remember how to contact WP for help!

I have deleted the cache and all cookies and un-clicked and re-clicked the above button and saved the changes.

No luck.

Any and all suggestions are most welcome.

Thank you.

 

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Finally, I have reached 1000 followers. No fanfare or fireworks. Even Word.Press waited till I had 1001 before sending me the above notification. I know, because I was keeping an eye on my followers and noted the 999th (Yay!) and then the 1000th. I had to wait another day for WP to realise I had tipped their magic number and send the notification.

Also, there was nothing from WP at the end of the 2016 year (that I saw anyway) with our annual stats round up and fun personal facts; such as most viewed post, top commenter, how many cable cars or trains your viewers might fill etc – Surprisingly, I missed that.

So how do I feel about this new achievement?

Meh.

It seemed such a big thing when I first started blogging. I’d visit other blogs and notice their large following and huge viewership. I wondered if I would ever achieve those kinds of numbers.

I don’t think like that any more.

Most of my followers do not actually follow me. I calculate only about 5% of them do. Most have never even visited my blog, so technically they haven’t really followed me!

This is why I don’t put my follower stats on my blog any more. It means nothing; especially as I still have people counted as following me, who have deleted their blog.

But, the genuine followers that I do have are awesome! You are very supportive and always there for me when I need it and it’s great to have you as my friends.

I am a small blog and always will be. That is absolutely fine by me. If I am following you, I will read your posts and comment fairly often. If I had more genuine followers I wouldn’t be able to do that.

.

However, I noticed something funny last year, when I was absent from the blogging world for a while.

Normally, I get very few new followers any given month. What is weird is that I find I have been getting more followers than usual, ever since I stopped posting for a while and then returned posting less often.

In one day once I got 7 new followers, but I have to say that only one was a bona fide follower; the rest are just those who go round clicking ‘follow’ to all and sundry, hoping for follows back to boost their stats. They do not even visit your actual blog or even bother to ‘like’ a post in pretence of having stopped by.

I just find it baffling, that my absence promoted more interest in my blog than my actual blogging did!

 

It seems the old saying is true after all; Absence makes the heart grow fonder!

 

Galaxy 1

Glass Horse

Gallopy Gallopy Gallopy!

I was exceptionally lucky at the very beginning of this year to get a new cell phone; my first Smartphone; a Samsung Galaxy J3.

Although my previous phones could access the internet, they did not have WhatsApp or Skype – or any of the vast array of emoticons I now find at my disposal! (Yet, still no hamster?)

I love love love my new phone!

I can chat to my family in the UK, without it costing me anything, as long as I am connected.

And of course, I tried the camera out in the first few minutes.

The photo above of a glass horse ornament was my fourth photo. I played around with the settings and chose sepia.

I really like the effect, so decided to do a short series of ‘Galaxy photos’, like I did ‘Nikon photos’ way back when I got my Nikon camera. (Nikonography.)

Obviously my new phone camera does not have the quality of my Nikon camera, but it fits in my handbag and is fun to use.

I find a lot of my photos are blurred, because I do not keep my hand still and also I am not allowing the camera time to focus –  sooooo used to my trusty point-and-click Canon!!

But as the whole purpose of my blog is to learn new things and have fun, here’s the new series anyway!

I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I shall!