I’m just wondering, because when something goes wrong on LibDemBlogs, it seems that you no longer email me, but instead write blog posts. Which due to things going wrong mean I can’t see them!
I have now spotted the second “Am I banned?” post, which tries to make out that the blogger is a victim of a secret LibDem blogging conspiracy, whereas emailing me would have got the answer quickly.
Then when LibDemBlogs goes down because my webhosting company think it’s funny to display error messages instead whilst I’m busy at work, do bloggers think “I’ll just drop Ryan an email to let him know, I’m sure I’ve got his email address around here somewhere as I emailed him before about being added to the site”? Nope, instead they post on their blogs “Who has stolen LibDemBlogs”, or visit forums or cix and try to guess what has happen.
My email address and information about why your posts might go missing is included in the About (FAQ) section of LibDemBlog, I suggest some of you might want to read it.
Maybe because LibDemBlogs is so big now, and people don’t necessarily know you personally?
Funniest thing I have read in weeks! Good to see your normal James Bond-esque air of cool melting away at last 😉
Jennie, but if something went wrong with a site you were using, wouldn’t you first send an email to their support team?
*I* would, but I’m not every user of Lib Dem Blogs 😉
What??? You mean when something goes wrong it isnt a conspiracy??? Organised by CIA??? And NSA??? This is the internet!!! Get with the reality man!!! Theyre behind it all!!!
Ryan, from experience with my otherwise fairly switched on and intelligent Livejournal using friends, no, they wouldn’t. Every page has a link to the Support pages, the Known Issues, the FAQ, etc.
But I regularly see posts saying “Oh noes, this is wrong”, even though it’s either already got a fix or flagged up as an issue. This is especially true of comment notifications, and people still use their webmail ‘report spam’ buttons for EMs from the site of spam comments, even after they’ve been told many times this’ll mess things up.
The more people you get signed up, the more likely you are to get people that simply don’t think. And a fair number of the blogs registered will think that it’s in some way a party service, not something you do in your spare time, even though it’s blatently the case.
It doesn’t surprise me at all to see who the conspiracy theorist is again, it’s all part of the plot by the blogging elite donchaknow. Apparently I’m a member of said elite, gods know how they’ve worked that one out…
As one of the technologically backward bloggers, if something isn’t happening as it apparently should, I tend to think, “Oh, something must have gone wrong. Ryan will probably fix it when he has time, assuming that it’s something he can fix.” Otherwise, I wait for normal service to resume.
Perhaps we might say thank you occasionally, so thanks, Ryan, for making the Lib Dem blogosphere so much more accessible than it might otherwise have been. Something like two-thirds of my readers come from Lib Dem Blogs, so I have a debt of gratitude.
Good on you, Ryan…
Gosh it must be tempting to ban people for complaining about being banned.
But you banned me too, you bastard!
Oh sorry, I just forgot to tell you my new blog URL…
Why not change the news message to an explanation of what to do when something goes wrong….
Points well made Ryan. I am Sure I have the initial email asking to be added to aggregator somewhere in my archive. But it is over 3 years ago and I’m not sure which of the 4 accounts I was using at the time I did it from.
However, when I do do detect an error I don’t cast blame on you normally blaming your host and making light of it. I would dig out the link to such an occasion but honestly can’t be bothered digging.