Double Dog Satisfied & Dislikes

The double-dog dare from yesterday was satisfied completely and honorably. This is not the dislike part. In fact, I’m so proud of him that I think that if Ben wants to have some coffee with a little froo-froo creamer once in a while, he’s probably earned that right. You can see his post and all the appropriate links on his site at The Great Ice Bucket Challenge of 2020. There was even a real dog, Bubbles, who did not participate and was not frozen silly, but knowing her, I can just see her looking at her master with her head cocked to one side as if to say, “Master, what are you doing?” That whole story, from beginning to end, was a “like”.

Another “like” I have is when people comment and/or like my older stuff. When I’m talking to my sister, Beverly, sometimes she will say something during a conversation to the effect of, “Oh, yes! I saw that on your blog.” I have a couple of daughters who have done that as well. Our friend, Ishaan, began reading this blog from the very beginning and remarked how odd it was to think that this blog started before he was born. These things I like. I really like getting comments, too. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time and effort to type up a response. That says to me that what I said had some sort of impact. I made them laugh, cry, mad, happy, or something. When people take the time to do that, it’s meaningful to me because I think I am starting, at my age, to get a glimmer of understanding about the value of time.

Another in a list of likes can be the “likes” themselves. Oftentimes a person may not have or inclination to comment but wants to show they stopped by and took the time to read a post, it’s easy to click the “like” button to show you were here and after a short time I notice your name and I go check out what kind of content you have and many times wind up following it. I’ve also found several cool blogs by clicking links in comments on others’ blogs.

Today I was up on a ladder washing windows when my phone started dinging like crazy. I knew it wasn’t texts because I have a notification for those that says, “Excuse me, boss. You have a text message.” It had to be either e-mail or the WordPress app. A graphic from WP popped up saying I had broken my old record for the number of likes in one day. One person had given me twenty likes on as many different posts. There is no way possible that she read them all in three or four minutes. I looked at her site and she is some kind of wannabe web designer just starting out. her paltry offering of content was the same set of entries just re-posted every couple of weeks and a sticky post driving you to her Instagram. I think it was last week that I had a similar encounter.

I could let these knuckleheads ruin my day, I guess. Or I could just shine them on. Or I could come and vent about it on my blog. I had thought about outing them and warning people but then I realized that would be like free advertising. Instead, I want to end with a simple thank you to all of my kind readers.

Thank you.

Bubbles: Master, why?

24 Comments

  1. Thanks for mentioning me.

    Well, it is possible that someone liked your blog so much they read 20 posts all at once, but yes, they are mostly just looking for follow backs.

    • Hmm…Well, thank you for the vote of confidence. Maybe they read all twenty entries first, then went back and liked them all?

      • I have done that once, reading all and then liking.
        The next post by that person said someone had spammed the like button so he is disabling it.

        Apparently he meant me because I was the only liker.
        Since then, I always leave comments to make it clear I am reading.

        • That’s interesting and good to know. These people have business type websites that they are pushing. But it is an important point to keep in mind.

  2. How can you not smile when you see her eyes in this photo. That is me if I drink to much coffee. There are always those who like 20 or more post. The younger people can hit those buttons a lot faster than I can.

  3. You have to earn the right to froo froo coffee. I’m doomed.
    Bubbles is my favorite dog, he’s my namesake. I know its strange but true. The dog was as bubbly as me so it was dubbed with my nickname.

      • Yes, I drink coffee like water like my nephew so I think I also earned the right to froo froo coffee. Lol

        Ha, ha… on bubbly and jumping up.

        Yes brother, I still try to read it daily to wind down and escape. Love it! Fell behind this week crunching to finish up the writing for the upcoming Outreach publication. Had to get it over to our amazing graphic designer who shall remain unnamed, but is also an amazing cook and baker!

          • You’re right..thanks. I now feel better about drinking coffee with my creamer.

            Also, props and prayers to Lydia and my nephew (Lord, please don’t let them get sick). I know, I am torn….okay, I better say, “don’t try that at home, kids” and “Wow,” at the same time!!

    • Well, you only have to earn that right if you’re manly and you’re not all that manly, so don’t worry, you can have the froo-froo creamer.

  4. The technology sometimes gets in the way, I fear. I was accused of ‘spamming likes’ on someone’s website a few years back; this character said something like, “If all you’re going to do is click like on a bunch of my posts in quick succession then don’t bother coming back”. I’ve no idea where they got the idea that’s what I did; I don’t do that. I never have done that. I only ‘like’ posts I actually read (and sometimes, I’ll admit, sometimes I do that when I don’t even like the post very much, but can’t think of anything useful to offer as a comment, but still want to ‘thank’ the creator for taking the time to try).

    • I “like” a post when I’ve read it just to show that I actually did read it. I don’t always comment them, though. But when I just look at the reader and suddenly see thirty posts liked by the same person in a matter of minutes I take it with a grain of salt.

      • The point I was trying to make is: how do you know at what interval the ‘likes’ arrived? Just because the machine suggests that they arrive quickly, doesn’t mean that that’s what actually happened. (Sorry, perhaps I’ve had too many interactions lately with misbehaving technological systems, but my ‘go-to’ reaction is simply not to trust what they’re telling me. And I think too many people are willing to believe that ‘the machine said so, so it must be true’.)

        • Oh, I hadn’t considered it from that angle. Just I click on the Reader one minute and I’m all caught up and then the next minute there’s 25 to 30 separate likes.

          • I’m pretty sure that’s caused by lag in the system; the data backs up and comes through in bunches. For instance, I’ve just started my computer this morning. I already have ‘Wibble’ open in a tab, so it loads. I hit the ‘notifications’ bell, and there’s nothing new there. I reload the page, hit the ‘notifications’ bell again, and suddenly a bunch of new ones are there all at once.

Leave a Reply to HerbCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.