Moderation in All Things...

I moderate comments in a relatively hap-hazard way. Anybody wishing to comment will usually be able to do so for three days. After that, a moderation system kicks in.

This is so that I can find comments made on older posts.

There is a lot to be said for having a free and easy approach to comments. Most people are too busy to comment, in any case, and seem to use Twitter for keeping up to date these days.

Winding Down for the Summer

There is an interesting post on Detectives Beyond Borders where blogging systems are discussed. How to manage comments efficiently is the main issue and it has set me thinking about how quiet my own blog is in comparison with some of the ones kept by writers.

Since photography was the main reason I started blogging in the first place, I have not set out to have a vibrant comment forum here. If I want to chat I go to a chat room, though this is increasingly rare.

It may be worthwhile for anybody who is betwixt and between in the Blogger/Wordpress debate to take a look at the various comments on Peter Rozovsky's post.

I posted the following comment there and, so far, it has not been uploaded. As comment moderation is used on that blog, this is not a problem. However I thought that the comment might be worthwhile sharing here...



"There is nothing to stop you having both a Blogger and a Wordpress blog (both free). I imported quite a few posts into Wordpress, just to get used to a new system and play with templates.

However, writing blogs do not tend to need all the bells and whistles that grapic based ones do and you might be just as well to stick with Blogger and try to resolve the comment issues.

Wordpress is time-consuming, I found, but that is probably because I'm not up to speed on HTML.

You could join the Irish Webmasters Forum and ask for help, perhaps.

Also, making another Blogger blog, designed purely for discussion, might solve some of the comment issues. Your comment box is very popular and the pages read more like a chat room. Asking posters to discuss topical posts in a separate blog might help rationalise all the material?

Although I started out with just a photography blog, I ended up making several blogs. This encourages clarity of thought and each blog is like a chapter of a never ending book."

Anouilh

Generating an online identity takes time and energy. When a "nom de plume" was requested on chat rooms years ago, I opted for a persona that would cause a bit of discussion. Jean Anouilh was my favourite writer for several years during my teens. His ascerbic wit, shot through with a fey romanticism was just right for the time and, while he is less visible nowadays, his quotes appear regularly on many sites. The pronunciation and spelling of the name, however, led to some humourous interchanges...

I've Been Around...

the World for sport again.

Co-incidentally, we had booked a ferry crossing from Dun Laoghaire to Holyhead months before the ash plume played Molly Bawn with air travel, so it was reassuring to get to visit family without any obstacles.

Hours on the motorway is part of the package, but the anticipation, as usual, turned out to be worse than the real event.   Several years ago I got hit by a truck (twice within moments) while driving in England.   Everybody emerged without a scratch, due in no small measure to the fact that I had rested every afternoon for days, in anticipation of the journey and was in top driving form.

However, although I did not in any way lose my nerve, my co-driver is now so traumatised by the memory that I have not been invited to drive again...

This has many advantages... notably it leaves time for taking photos of interesting sights along the way.

The best way to travel in England, however, is by train.   We took the slow train from York, through Harrogate, stopping at every tiny station along the way and even catching a glimpse of the gorge at Knaresborough through a misty window.

Our first trip to Leeds was a great success.
The chocolate cake in the Art Gallery restaurant, an ode to the tilers craft, was top notch.

Can't wait to go back again soon...