Crabby Blogging Lady

Egads!!! ANother upgrade?!?! What do they think we do, sit around in our desk chairs all day, waiting with baited breath to upload ANOTHER update for the week?!?!

I am sick of WordPress updates. Come on, already!

I’ve been terribly grouchy lately. Not crabby. Grouchy. There’s a difference. Crabby is more of a temporary fluke kind of thing, and can have humor associated with it. Grouchy is cranky with a sort of negativity associated with it. :-p I’m VERY grouchy that I have been grouchy. It’s no fun. Reminds of those days of doing all those diets for quick weight loss, boy, did THEY make ya grouchy!

It’s just a hard time right now. Lots going on, good and difficult. I’ll get through it, and I’ll even get through it SMILING. :D see?! —-> SMILING. But right now, I haz grouchy. *sigh* I will feel better when I get some chocolate and drink some luscious strawberry smoothie. My diet has been awful lately so that may be part of it. And I work long, long days. But I’ll get through it! I won’t walways be grouchy! Crabbiness will prevail!!! Muahahaha

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… people come out of the woodwork to either spam your blog or drown you with measly $1 link offers.

Oh THIS blog doesn’t have Page Rank. Sheesh, thanks a lot, Google. UP DOWN UP DOWN… make up your mind!!! First it was 0 then 1 then 0 then 2 then 0… then 0.. then 0….

I don’t do sponsored posts here, so I don’t know what has their dander up.. ya think they don’t care for my rants about them? Or all the wedding invitations links or something?? What’s their problem?

So anyway.

I have PR on some other blogs. When they were at 0, I got NOOOO offers… [crickets chirping] that’s right. Now, now that I have PR… BLAMMO, spam is through the roof! And even more, I get these offers from advertisers who want to pay me $1, $3 for a link. What, THAT pittance?! I’ll jeopardize my PR for a couple of bucks?! Do I look like an Asian mommy blogger to you, hello?!

Patricia of Communication Exchange brought up an extremely interesting issue; it concerns a psychology study– “cyberpsychology” to be exact– that performed a content analysis on MySpace blogs (which, according to the authors of the study, are no different than other blogs and bloggers on the Internet (I’m not sure I agree with that, however).

CyberPsychology & Behavior
Blog Function Revisited: A Content Analysis of MySpace Blogs

Abstract

The present study concerns the content of MySpace blogs and whether it differs from the blog style found on sites specifically designed for blogging. A content analysis of MySpace blogs was conducted to investigate trends in purpose, format, and style and to compare these across sex and age categories. Most blogs were written in a positive tone, and the main motivations for blogging appeared to be writing a diary and as an emotional outlet. Findings also indicate that while there were no significant sex differences, blog purpose and style differed across age groups; for example, bloggers over 50 were more likely to use the blog as an emotional outlet with a negative tone. Bloggers between 18 and 29 predominantly used a semiformal language style, whereas bloggers over 30 were equally as likely to use a semiformal or formal style. Results suggest that MySpace blogs are not dissimilar from other forms of blogging because they provide an important outlet for emotion and self-expression.

The study is brief, only five pages long (with one page of references). I did not read it thoroughly, but I did skim over it. The general consensus among the study group is that blogging is, by far, an emotional outlet. Patricia, in her usual perceptive manner, brought up some good points and food for thought:

One of the most fascinating findings was that older bloggers (those over 50) tended to have a negative tone to their blogs.

This finding runs contrary to everything I experience each day in the blogging community. As an over-50 blogger myself (and I think one with a fairly positive tone), I try to visit many other older bloggers. On the whole, I find us a remarkably positive group. Of course, there are a few exceptions (e. g., Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars, Crabby Blogging Lady). These exceptions, I think, occur because these senior bloggers use a negative style in a humorous way to foster an image of a curmudgeon. In real life, they are nothing like their on-screen personae.

Patricia asked for input from her readers. So here’s mine.

Firstly, I am not in the “over 50″ group. I am in my early 40s. I appear older perhaps because I have more traditional values (and a heck of a lot more common sense) than my younger peers.

Secondly, I have several other blogs besides this one, and I can say that perhaps two out of the dozen I manage are emotional outlets. This blog is where I rant, and I have another where I share my personal life (to a degree)… the other 10+ blogs are informational or political blogs. I did not see these types of blogs addressed in the study.

Thirdly, I wonder of the study is accurate when they opine that MySpace blogs are much like all the other blogs out there. I have found this to be exactly the opposite.
I have seen my share of “emotional outlet” blogs, but I don’t see a great deal of them. I’ve seen a few MySpace blogs, and I seriously doubt MySpace blogs are a great deal like other blogs.

I’ve been blogging, on and off, for almost ten years now. Blogs that are emotional outlets are in the majority, but my experience has shown that they are not THE majority. I have seen a large share of informative blogs, political blogs, blogs as a creative outlet (such as, showcasing Etsy wares), and for activist causes (tree-huggers, etc). I believe of all the blogs, most are political or informative. Mine are more entertainment/informative. Just as Patricia said, “senior bloggers use a negative style in a humorous way to foster an image of a curmudgeon.” True. It’s all about having fun. :D

Finally, I think older people have more to complain about. They’ve been around longer, and the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Sure, sure, you can say that about ANY generation, but this age in which we live is going downhill fast. Not only do we have the eternal forces of slavery, tyranny, propaganda, and apathy, but it’s broadcast around the world in “real time” over and over and over again. And technology, while convenient, exacerbates the angst with the means to control the masses by Big Brother. No wonder we’re negative, perhaps more negative than any other era in time, ever. ?? All the while, the younger populace is consumed with the latest gadget, promo keychains, iPhone app, or whatever, not caring about anything except their own microscopic personal world!

That’s my two cents, from the non-senior Crabby Blogging Lady.

Once again, I’d like to remind my readers that the Crabby Blogging Lady is a humor blog. Yes, I discuss serious topics, and yes, my conversations can be quite caustic at times. But it’s all in HUMOR. Black humor, weird humor, whatever. If you can’t laugh or don’t want to read goofy ranting, then what the heck are you doing here at CRABBY Blogging Lady blog?!

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Of course, there are some who don’t find anything I say funny; that’s either because I’m not being funny, or because they have no sense of humor. usually it’s the latter… but nonetheless, this is my ranting blog, I try to present my rants in an entertaining way (kind of like Ann Coulter, but uglier). If you’re looking for feel-good crap, go take a multivitamin or something. You aren’t gonna find much here. And I am a non-discriminator of zingers– politics left and right, kooky religion and atheism, man and women, kids and adults, Bush and Obama…. all fall under my discussion or complaint. Like YOU (unless you are perfect, and I will bet my money that you’re not), I rant also! I rant about DIFFERENT things than some people, and that is what seems to be their main beef; they get offended because I am not upset about what THEY are upset about. Go figure…

Well, here’s a funny picture, OK? Does this help make you smile? Or do you view it as cruelty to cats or picking on felines, and are going to sic PETA on me now?

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I’d like to say THANKS to those people who have huge funny bones, who have taken time to leave comments and even smirk a little. You guys outweigh the dissenters, but it’s really weird how supporters can be rather quiet folk, while the dissenting, irate minority is as loud as a jet engine.

Have a nice day, folks.

Muauahahahahaha!!! I’m winning the fight against spam!! Yessss! Victory, glorious victory!

I’ve discovered the glorious wonders of spam-fighting software! Yeehaw!

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For months, I’ve ranted about how spammers were essentially destroying my blogs, not to mention my sensibilities– the filth in some of that spam makes my hair stand up. If you don’t have a WordPress blog, you have NO IDEA the filth that comes in spam form. This isn’t the standard “best way to lose belly fat” stuff, this is real horrid junk. What IS IT with WordPress blogs that gets it?! I never had such a time with spam with my Blogger blogs. Yick.

So anyway, I was spending a lot of time deleting spam. So a friend suggested Ban and Bad Behavior on top of Akismet, and it’s working! Hurray!

However, I’ve also heard reports that some people are not getting through to my blog, and are sometimesnot able to leave comments. For some reason, the software thinks you are a spammer. I don’t know how to fix this yet; I’ll look into it.

But spam is LOSING!! Haha!!