readers of Oracle blog aggregators unite (and take over)
'Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It is 25 years, 3 months and 47 days since my last confession.'
According to Feedburner, Tim Hall's Oracle blog aggregator has 723 avid readers.
One of those readers summoned up the courage to send me an email complaining about my continuous off-topic posts. Apparently, the straw that broke this particular camel's back was my participation in the evil '8 things' Oracle TagFest.
Forget the fact, my blog is not currently aggregated by OraNA which is purely a temporary oversight by Eddie and will be rectifed imminently (once my cheque for $250 clears).
Forget the fact, I didn't tag 8 other unfortunates to propagate the Black Death. That was only because I have no mates and am very lazy.
I can only apologise. I owe you, Roger Howard, an apology. I never meant my inane posts to push technical content off the front page within 27.8 seconds.
I never envisaged that this blogging meme might possibly 'inconvenience' you. May the Lord have mercy on my soul.
"Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Oh, hang on, I nearly forgot your penance. 67 'Hail Marys' and 43 'Our Fathers'".
8 things
Tagged by Tim Hall.- In my first year at University, I had a lecturer who was male. When I returned for my second year, he was a woman.
- My first brush with the police was at 14 when I crossed Chester Road against police orders and a copper said 'Think that's funny, eh ? Would you still think it's funny if I took you into that van and kicked your head in ?'
- I have seen United win (1977), draw (1983) and lose (1995) in an FA Cup Final.
- The Hillsborough disaster saddened me but when The Independent posted photographs of people crushed against metal fences, gasping for breath, dying, I broke down and cried like a baby.
- Most of the people I care about now live in Australia. Slowly but surely, I am getting the message.
- I am the only person in my family not to have broken a limb.
- I have stood on the top of Ayers Rock.
- I joined a gym on 1 December 2007. Since then I have lost 1 stone but I'm sure it will turn up somewhere.
fringe benefit of SezWho
Occasionally, people take the time to comment on this blog which is always welcome. However, the vast majority of comments however are not so thinly veiled advertisements by spammers. Unfortunately, due to recent problems with Spam Karma, I have had to revert to Akismet to block this torrent of pharmaceutical, financial, pornographic and vacuum cleaner spam. This means I have a few more comments held in moderation for judgement. The family convene every night with a cup of Horlicks to sit in judgement on the assorted comments. Norma kindy takes the minutes and Norman Junior twitters the whole event (live). The 'Comment Approval Board' recently approved a comment from a heavy metal fan. We took care to follow Akismet's advice and checked the link which purported that 'Heavy Metal is our life'. Approving this was not an easy choice but hey, this is a broad church and everyone is welcome. When I subsequently happened to scan the SezWho profile of the author (a man with the unusual name of 'HeavyGod'), I found to my horror, that he (or a program) had left the identical comment on multiple blogs.'Really good and really interesting post. I expect (and other readers maybe :)) new useful posts from you! Good luck and successes in blogging!'The clues were all there. Commenting on a recent post sandwiched between other valid comments, a gmail address, the double use of 'really', the smiley, the compliment that I naively fell for. Hook, line and sinker. I had been tricked. By a heavy metal fan. Oh the eternal shame.
SezWho comment ratings system
Just installed SezWho on this blog. At least, it imported all existing comments (unlike Disqus). I would like to change the red colour to blend in with the theme but haven't worked out how. Now just rate each other nicely or you will be sent to bed without any tea and the plug-in will be removed. Any feedback, just shout or comment. Another interesting service but, again, the problem is that it needs to be installed on the majority of blogs/wikis/forums in the world to be truly useful. I think marketeers call it 'traction'. Pity the support email supplied is totally broken but still. What a blessed shame SezWho doesn't currently support Blogger which means this superlative comment couldn't add 5 stars to my embryonic profile.Top 10 UK blogs
I am still in shock at not being shortlisted for the 'Best UK Blog' but I decided to swallow my pride and enjoy a few hours enjoying the high quality content of the 10 finalists:- Ian Dale's Diary - A tagline of 'Commentary, analysis and gossip from the heart of Westminster' completely turned me off and I closed the Firefox tab before I was subjected to any more torture.
- Guy Fawkes - Hoping for top tips to blow up the Houses of Parliament but just got more politics. Yawn.
- Neil Clark - The winner apparently. Anti-war hack with a lot of posts urging readers to vote for him.
- EU Referendum - Simply couldn't summon up the enthusiasm to click through.
- Pub Philosopher - Promising title but yet more (right wing) politics. May as well buy the Daily Mail.
- The Devil's Kitchen - Considered outpourings on the wit and wisdom of David Cameron. No thanks.
- Baggage Reclaim - Much better. A blog recording amusing anecdotes from an anonymous baggage handler at LHR. Oh no - wait a minute - it's just a blog about dating and 'relationships'.
- Nourishing Obscurity - Promising title but this excerpt completely lost me: 'I see that the current crop of parents lost their moral compass long ago and this is the first generation to grow up "moral-code-lite".
- Bright Meadow - Soft porn alert 'She loved how the amber glinted off his bones'. I daren't read any more. Particularly as I am on a formal warning from my employer.
- Kickette - At last. A discerning blog all about football. Only this one is about celebrity footballers (Fat Frank), their tiresome girlfriends and pictures of Ronaldo with his shirt off.
- BlogStorm - Internet Marketing/SEO but, refreshingly, from a UK blogger.
- Caroline Middlebrook - a lady who took the brave step of quitting her IT job in favour of blogging.
- Donncha - WordPress employee #2 and aspiring photographer.
- Doug Burns - Scottish DBA with wicked sense of humour.
- Modern Life is Rubbish - Quality not quantity.
- Pete Ashton - Brummie blogger with varied mixture of music, photos and tech with no signposts or self-importance. Pure blogging.
- Random Acts of Reality - I help people read books. This guy saves people's lives for £10 an hour. Deserves first prize for the blog name alone.
- Tim Hall - Oracle DBA, film critic and Karate Kid. Another Brummie.
- Tom Raftery - Irish slant on IT, tech and all that Web 2.0 stuff.
- Who Ate All The Pies - Genuinely funny football blog.