December 2, 2005
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Favorite Islanders, Internet Island Topic #2
This is a post for Internet Island Topic #2. The topic is “Who are your favorite “Islanders”? Have you met any new and exciting folks on the Island? Share with us your impressions of your new friends and readers.”
I am going to cop out on this topic just a little. It is very hard to identify favorites when I have only visited the sites of members who posted to the first topic, and many of those sites I have visited only once. That really does not allow me to form much of an impression. Some islanders, I knew before. Soonaquitter and VaporousVenom are in that category. We have been visiting each other’s sites and exchanging comments for awhile now. Many other Islanders are people that I have just met but whom I would like to know better. It seems that many Islanders are also members of Socrates Cafe, so I have also been visiting their sites through the topic blogs for that ring. Those people I know a little better and perhaps I have been able to develop some insight into the way they think.
I can tell you what tends to give me a positive impression when I visit a blog. I like people who share thoughts and ideas. I enjoy finding people who seem to be like me or who live in my area. I equally enjoy people who are very different from me because it gives me a glimpse into a what it is like to have had different experiences. I enjoy the fact that I have the opportunity to meet people who are very different in age and background. Most of those people I would never meet except through the internet, and if I did meet them, it is unlikely that I would get to know them. It is so nice that the internet takes away many of the barriers that often keep us from forming relationships, because it allows us to get to know some very special people in a unique way. One of those people is Charlie. If you have not been over to say hi to him yet, you really should take a minute to do that.
I can also tell you what I appreciate when members of my blogrings visit my site. I love it when they use the links provided to find my topic blogs. I try to do that and to read all the topic blogs. I may miss a few, but it is not intentional. I appreciate it when ring members return the favor and read what I have to say on a topic. I enjoy having them address something that I have said in their comments. I very much enjoy seeing RYC’s to the comments that I have left on their blogs, but I do not like that to be the only content of their comments. When I visit them, I read what they have to say, and I like them to return the favor.
I appreciate it when fellow blogring members visit and comment on my non-topic blogs, but I don’t really expect them to do that. I work 4 jobs, so my online time is limited. I don’t blog every day. I try to visit my SIR once or, hopefully, twice a week. I try to reply to comments on my blogs as much as I can. I do not read many of the non-topic blogs of blogring members because I just do not have time. I do enjoy reading them when I can.
As Internet Island progresses, I am expecting that members will come and go. Each of us will get to know some members better than others. That is the way life is. Hopefully, we will learn from the experience and contribute to each other in positive ways.
Comments (17)
Very well said. I have the same problem with time and I have only had the opportunity to visit many sites once. Like you, I have been visiting VaporousVenom for awhile. I really enjoy her commentary and style. I did get the chance to read your post on “Happiness” and found the poem very true and contemporary. I will definately be back. Take care!
Although I have not joined the blogrings I enjoy reading your topics . You are right the interent is there for us to met people who were would never meet normally and it could be even people who live down your street who you would never talk to normally
I am not a Islander but Nancy you know how much I appreciate the pertinence of your chronicles . And what you say about the links created by Internet is very exact . It ‘ s almost a friendship between minds ! However I confess I like seeing the picture of you both in the picture profil .
Love
Michel
I really enjoyed this post. It has so many things in it that I’ve been thinking or can relate to lately. I think it’s interesting how everyone has a different view of “xanga etiquette” and I like how you outlined your preference’s. I sometime’s think I should do that too…? I’ve been feeling overwhelmed that I enjoy this place so much…but the time to really pay attention to each and every person on it is just impossible. I wonder if fate is what brings us to meet the one’s we do meet on something like xanga?
I found your site through someone else’s, I was wondering how you did your site index. I have four years of writing on my site, and need to do that, but I don’t know how to.
If you could help, I would appreciate it! Thanks!
I like to read a variety of people because some people make me think and others make laugh. I really liked what you wrote because I look for the same things.
Hey, Nancy – I finally tackled “enlightenment”! Yeesh! Not sure what kind of reviews I will receive, though. Don’t think many will agree with my views. If you would, please give it a look and tell me if I’m nuts or not. Take care – John
Hi there, I just linked you from charlies site. I enjoyed your post. have a great evening.
Donna
Hello,
I came to wish you a nice weekend.
I like blogs like you, all kinds. I am glad to have met you here and so many other nice and interesting people.
I visit Charlie, he is a nice boy. Also soonaquiiter, found her last summer somehow.
Strange how we run across people. Sometimes to me, it is almost like we were meant to.
I love the blogrings and all the members are interesting and smart.
Hope you have a peaceful weekend. You work alot of hours!
Take good care.
Peace and Love:)
great post have a nice weekend.
Great post, I’ll have to get over and see Charlie.
“What do you think we could do in this life to become more enlightened?”
RYC: I guess the MOST that we can do to become more enlightened is to be as open to learning as possible, and then to converse with other people to overcome the “fear of the unknown” that usually causes bias. Although I don’t think we all have to accept everything in the same way that others do, it helps to have a working relationship so we can maturely co-habit this earth and respect each other to an extent. There are many people that have a lifestyle that I might not agree with, but I have a decent relationship with them because I care for them and love them as Jesus does. Also, praying and reading your scriptures - for me it’s the Bible – would help. Asking for heavely help to gain some good ol’ earthly common sense should be a first in seeking enlightenment, I think.
You have a great site here, Nancy. I’m glad we can talk back-and-forth about things. Take care – John
Nancy, RYC on the mention of the Catholic Church in my posting – Annie did notice that reference and the lack of another example, so I went back and edited my post to include the Protestant example.
Maybe you can help me here, this situation is what I really get anxious about – using the Socratic method, we have to use examples to prove our points, but then someone will notice that their group or demographic is used as an example and then they are offended, so one has to use two or three varied and unoffensive examples in order to not offend anyone. I guess I get frustrated because, personally, I am not offended if my group or demographic, etc., is used as an example in a discussion – I am fairly secure in who I am and where I am in life. By mentioning this difficulty, I am not saying that you were offended – in fact I think you are very level-headed and can see things for what they are, and Annie, also.
So, if we are not perfect in our comments because we are not feeling well or are in a hurry or are just not perfect, others may truly take offense, and that is not what I want. I guess I respect your and Annie’s opinions, so the fact that you both commented on the same thing (using one group as an example yet not including another example to balance the attention) even though you both agreed, let me know that any “omission” of a balancing example may cause someone to be offended. I guess I wonder if others read my article and did not comment because of offense?
I am truly concerned about this, so I felt I might get some feedback. I try to be straightforward in my comments and candid – not hiding my true thoughts – but it appears that there may be drawbacks to candidness.
Any thoughts?
I’ve met so many incredibly beautiful people here that I hate to name 20 favorites because I know I’ll be omitting the names of 100 deserving others. It’s truly an embarrassment of riches that Xanga offers. I wish everybody could be that lucky to be so embarrassed as I.
Woah, you look young. I thought you were in your early forties looking at that picture.
Dear Nancy,
Like you, I know there are far too many “Islanders” for my initial experiment. I shall have to modify the list of topic posts. I think you can probably see what I wanted to happen, but then too many people joined the blogring. I can’t find any reason to turn them away, and I have only offered two topic posts, and this last time another dozen or so people show up on the approval list. I can’t “turn them down”, and I still need to create “welcome messages” and a set of links to the pertinent posts that explain what I’m trying to do here. Basically, it’s just a group of disparate people, friends and neighbors, that I want to see interacting with each other. In high school and beyond, I always was a “member” of so many different groups, and the members of one didn’t neccesarily visit the members of another, since “I” was the only one in common. I had an idea that I could possibly “turn people on ” to other great people with this endeavor. It got a bit overwhelming, but I think I’m doing all right, and I’m visiting a lot of new sites too. It makes me feel bad when I see somebody’s “favorite” that I haven’t even welcomed to the Island. Oh well.
I blogged that I liked your “Index” and I just did a major rehaul of mine the other day. That is a key to what I want to see on a blog. That way I can get to “pertinent” entries quickly, like on a website. I notice somebody has asked for help in creating an index. I see I must write a tutorial on how to write simple HTML or at least leave some copy/pasted tags for linking to individual entries. Although some of the folks still can’t link back to their own entries on my topic posts. Oh well.
I love what you say about comments, or what Miriam called “netiquette.” I don’t believe I’ve ever responded to a comment at a Xanga without responding to the entry on which I am leaving the comment. I hate it when I write a new poem, and the only comments I get are regarding what I said on somebody elses’ blog. If they just want to talk about that, I have an email link.
I hope you got time to read about what I said about your site on my TOPIC ENTRY.
Thanks for participating. I think after the third Topic Post, which will be a bit more innocuous, and involve less “visiting” I will go around to all the sites that haven’t participated and ask them why they joined the ring if they don’t want to “get around” like some of us try. That way, I can ‘weed out’ the people for whom this blog isn’t the right fit. I hate to think that a lot of people I invited (my whole sub list of over 100 blogs) just joined to “be nice” and have no intention of using the blogring as I want it to be used. I still wish I could send an email to everyone at once like on Yahoo Groups. I don’t know if a lot of the blogring members even know they have to subscribe to my site to get the topic posts and other news.
I also listed Charlie’s (xkisstherailsx) as one of my new favorites. I think his blogging is stellar, and can’t believe he’s only 15.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
Nancy, thanks for your help! Much appreciated – John
I don’t get the islanders thing, but I just wanted to pop in and say hi. We belong to the same blogring and i hadn’t met you yet. So, hello. Most of my posts are protected, but feel free to drop by anyway!!