One way to end the problem of few to no comments is to disable comments from everyone but blog editors. B and I are seriously considering this. Now is the time for you to have your say. Readers can still contact us through the email addresses attached to our profiles.
Don't expect anything substantial from me for the indefinite future. Though Jerome may have interesting things to post, I'm very busy with this project and still very ill. I will not take the time to post partial or nearly completed chapters only to have them largely ignored. Mr.Schulz' Introductory Essay saw 98 page views and garnered ONE comment. I appreciate the comment. Where are the rest of you?
Surely reading comprehension is not a lost art. It takes minutes to read his introduction and seconds to form an opinion afterward. Or am I misjudging the average blog reader's mental acuity? There is no point to posting material that is ignored and that receives no comments.
There is no reason not to leave at least a simple 'well done' or 'this is wrong headed and stupid' comment. We allow anonymous posting. Fear of retaliation from your religious authorities should not be a consideration. The worst that can happen to you is that I will delete your comment which I will do if you link to a polemical site or if you post spam or if you advertise another book without asking first.
Another observation: It is not my responsibility to get copy to you, unless you offer to proof read. If you're curious about our content, visit the blog. Otherwise, expect to miss some temporary content. I may forward something to you, but do not count on that.
THE STORY IS IN THE DETAILS - Notice: I've withdrawn my books from Amazon. They are now only available at Lulu.com
Please visit our newest posts. We'd love to see your feedback. Copyright Secured. Contact blog owner for permission to use anything you find here.
Search This Blog
Separate Identity Vol. 2
Buy at lulu.com
The video
Buy on lulu.com
Click on the picture
Buy on lulu.com
Click on the picture
Contributors
Blog Archive
Counter
7 comments:
I can quite understand why you don’t want to leave certain chapters in draft on this blog for too long, although had it survived long enough to garner comments from earlier writers on the criticisms of their work it would have been both interesting and lively. (Some like Stroup are of course no longer with us). But the problem is that when Bruce’s preface appears on the Wednesday and then is pulled on the Thursday, it is very easy for keen blog readers to miss it. Not because they are disinterested, but because in life THINGS HAPPEN.
Now I have a copy downloaded and was going to comment the day after the post appeared. But then the phone rang – too many times - and I got called out, and there is a wedding to help organise here for the weekend, and there was an emergency in my secular work requiring a visit to a specialist care home some distance away, and a problem with a half hour item I have to rehearse for a forthcoming big meeting with a cast of thirty, and family stuff, all on the same day, etc. etc. ad infinitum, so in life STUFF HAPPENS. So commenting – near the top of the list – inadvertently slipped down the list – not disinterest, just – LIFE.
I could of course have just written “well done” and that would have been a genuine comment from me. But I hope you already appreciate that’s how I feel from numerous earlier comments. I am only quickly writing this because it is five o’clock in the morning and I am in insomniac-mode and today looks like being as chaotic as yesterday – although once we get past Saturday things will settle down.
I promise I will comment on the draft I have received. Whatever I can produce may not make much sense here out of context, so I may just send it back-channel. But you always used to give readers a week or two before pulling material, and in some cases, earlier drafts never got pulled. Don’t get discouraged, but just accept that for some of us sometimes THINGS HAPPEN, and we just need a little more time.
That 'thing happen' is a given. But ONE comment? That's not just things happening.
I saw the article yesterday and immediately copied and pasted it ... in case it was pulled! Like Jerome, I have meeting parts to prepare, shepherding calls and family, inside and outside the truth, to support, some with serious health concerns. Schedules to prepare for meetings and counsel to provide for talks. Occasional crisis occur, sometimes judicial concerns which need addressing, oh and did I say I have my own baggage of personal imperfections to deal with and need to work to provide for my family and pay the bills?
This being the case, sadly articles from Rachael, Bruce and Jerome, excellent though they are, get pushed into tiny corners to be considered later, beside my own research interests. In the same corner sits Zoe Knox's new book which I need to get my head around.
If you want instant flattery, this could easily be given. But I suspect you would prefer well thought out, but constructive criticism? This takes longer! It is so much easier to simply thank a brother for giving a fine talk, yet so much better to help him think about how he could improve on a good talk to give an even better talk next time. So please be patient and I, and others too, will chip in eventually.
All good wishes,
Gary
I understand that you have a life outside this blog. So do I. It is as complex as yours, perhaps more so. I understand your circumstances.
But as I said in the initial post, unless reading comprehension is a dead art, it takes a few minutes to read the initial post and seconds to form an informed opinion. The life blood of this blog is the comment trail. As with any creature, lacking 'blood' it will die. I do not intend to post significant work to this blog given the lack of real interest in that kind of material.
I do not understand the need to cogitate for days before formulating a comment, especially since most of this material is not deep, is not complex. If our readership wants short, pithy, sometimes irrelevant material, then I'll leave that to others.
As I see it, even the most uniformed reader can comment. You find something new to you? Say so. If you question its accuracy, say so. If you hate it, say so. Comments such as that do not require expert knowledge. They do require a certain amount of appreciation, in this case for the thought and research Bruce put into his Introductory Essay.
Lack of comment means lack of appreciation. That you fail to comment means you did not value the material; in face you see it as unworthy of thought, something you can put off until you've taken out the trash and had a nap. You want time to 'think about it'? Fine. say so. "My fist impression is ... but let me think about it for a while and I'll return with a more elaborate comment."
Our work informs that of others. They either paraphrase it or quote it and sometimes they footnote the point to one of our books. This is what we intended, though we would like your recognition if you use it. A simple footnote will do.
"in face" = "in fact." Spell check got me!
Additional thought:
It comes down to what you value. If you value our work, you will comment, not push it into a corner. How you view our work is up to you and your preferences. I cannot control your thought process, personal practice or preference. And I have no interest in doing so.
But I have expectations for our readers and expectations as a reader. [I'll post an essay on reader expectations one of these days.] Your lack of comments broadcasts to us exactly how much or how little you value our work, particularly this blog.
I have put a comment on Bruce's essay under the thread Temporary Post.
Post a Comment