Sunday, August 31, 2008

revelation and apology

Last week I was reading this post (about responding to comments) by one of my favorite "seasoned" bloggers, and felt my heart drop into the pit of my stomach. I realized that for the the entire summer...maybe longer... I've been sending responses to your fantastic comments out into a big black hole. NOOOO! Several months ago, a dear friend showed me how to receive my comments on maya*made through e-mail. Up until then, I had to scroll through past posts by hand to see if there were any missed comments. So silly and so time consuming...yup, I'm a little embarrassed to admit how clueless I am. You see, I'm not very technically savvy and as much as I've learned since March...there are still some huge gaps. Well, it gets worse! I have received comments from my Typepad friends directly regarding my comments on their blogs, and I just assumed that I could do the same through Blogger. I didn't think twice about the"noreply" addresses following your names, and just assumed it was a google privacy tool and that my follow-up e-mails were safely landing in your mailboxes. Nope. I'm heartsick! I have spent hours reaching out to so many of you...letting you know intimately and personally how much I appreciate your feedback, questions and involvement in my blog. I intentionally wrote directly to you (rather than in the comment section), so that you'd know me just a little deeper and understand that we were friends! What void did all of that love fall into? Maybe it went out to the universe and you've felt it somehow anyway, because here you still are... even though you are unaware of my unreceived letters. It's less about time lost, and all about appreciation inadvertently gone astray. So what to do? First off, I hope you're getting the picture about how I feel about you, my wonderful community of readers, and know how grateful I am for each time you pause in your busy day to check in on me and share your supportive thoughts and comments. And all of you lurkers, I love you too! So this post is my sincere apology for any doubts that you may have had about my total appreciation for you...you all know who you are. I also hope this post serves to inform any other bloggers of this Google/Blogger glitch. From this day on, please look for my responses to any questions in the comment section of maya*made, unless you have enabled your profile on Blogger to receive e-mails (for directions click here). Phew! Good to get that off my chest... breathe...

Moving forward, I have some fun stuff planned for this week! Pin It

17 comments:

  1. Oh, Maya, I'm so sorry that happened! You should feel better knowing that so much of *you* comes through in this blog already, so we are all brightened by just reading your blog and getting inspired by your myriad projects. I'm glad that you are undeterred from putting out all your good stuff for us to see!!

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  2. I feel the same as Patricia. One can tell how open, thankful, kind and humble you are just from reading your blog. Although it is always special to receive a personal response to a comment it isn't an expectation of your readers. I can't wait to see what exciting things you have up your sleeve. Happy September .

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  3. oh nooooo don't you hate that? i am So not technically minded. i just like what i do , and the links and codes and permissions, ugh my head spins. i am sue all felt your personal love though. xo kristin

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  4. Oh Maya...

    Don't beat yourself up over it. I really do think that we can all only do the best we can & after all the bulk majority of us do this for love so hopefully people do feel that by visiting our pages.

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  5. Oh I'm so sorry that happened to you! I've been through my own share of obstacles with my blog too. Wordpress' default is to not allow comments at all...I had no idea for weeks, and just thought that no one visited my blog. Then my MOM visited, tried to comment, and called me when she was unable to. Ugh. As soon as I fixed that, I started getting comments and it was bliss! I didn't know about the google/blogger thing. I'll have to check out my account now...

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  6. Ok..to be completely honest. I had sent you many posts through the weeks. I was enamored by your style,voice, photos. I never heard a word back (didn't bother me) 0 ...then after awhile I slowly moved away(guess we all want another heart beat on the other end)...wasn't as interested (even though you would show up on my blog roll with a new message, I never really got to reading them) There were other more talkative blogs I was driven to. I actually was gonna remove you...because I felt like I had not read your posts in a while...and I had other blogs to add, who I converse with.


    Something about the title of this post was compelling.

    I am glad I checked it...

    Just keeping it real. Sorry.

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  7. Wow! Thanks for your quick responses! I poured it all out, and then we popped in a movie so that I wouldn't hover at the screen. Thanks for you sweet wishes and thoughts. Feeling better already! I really feel so lucky to have this wonderful new community and just ached thinking that you might not know. I'm sure glad you enjoy your visits, though because I can't stop now, I'm having way too much fun...and my "savvy-ness" is increasing!

    Linda, Thanks for being real...that's all I would ask of anyone. Unfortunately, I did respond to some of your comments in July when you were stopping by a lot...but out into the void they went. So here is where I begin :)

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  8. Hmmm, I'm not sure if it applies to me as I'm a wordpress gal not a blogger/googlite. But I know we've emailed a bit, but I can't recall if they were through comments on your blog or mine!

    I know I like to reply directly to comments as I feel it's more personal and as I don't have much time to revisit all the blogs I comment on, I don't expect others to either. So a direct email should be effective, however, I know sometimes my replies end up in spam filters and people don't know I'm replying. I guess it's hard to reach out on the 'net after all.

    For what it's worth, in this long rambling comment, I think you're a warm, approacable individual with a grand heart and a sweet personality. I'm glad to have met you.

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  9. I think Blogger needs to get up-to-date and allow all of us using their service to reply to comments, just like the Typepad users do. It frustrates me as well not to be able to reply directly to those who comment on my blog.

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  10. Maya, I am catching up with your blog later (we've been terribly ill at home, getting better slowly though...).
    I tagged you! If you want, you can play along.
    Here's the post:
    http://juliealvarez.blogspot.com/2008/08/me-etiquetaron-ive-been-tagged.html

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  11. I'm a relatively new reader, so I wouldn't be counted as one of those you're talking about, but I just wanted to say that I too am a little bit flumoxed by, not just the technology, but also the etiquette of responding to blog comments. Plus, I found myself getting easily overwhelmed with the comments. Sometimes I get emails from other bloggers and wonder when it is appropriate to respond on their blog, or in my own comments or with an email to their in boxes.

    I've had my blog for years, but have only been getting comments on it since about March. There is a lot to learn and to keep up with.

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  12. Maya you have my utter sympathy, and know that you aren't alone in your techie ignorance. Also I think your love and appreciation just shined through anyway. I didn't even know about comments until I started my own blog - duh!! I would read blogs and couldn't figure out how people were saying things to the blogger. And I've been trying to get a better flickr badge on my blog, and can't for the life of me figure it out.....

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  13. Thanks again for all of your kindness. I know there are bigger tragedies in the world then losing some letters...I try to have some sense of perspective...but it felt important to share so your loving responses have made today so pleasant.
    smoothpebble: not sure what you have in mind for your flikr badge...I like the one you have currently. I don't know if there are that many choices (remember who you're listening to...computer genius, here), but if you click on my rotating mosaic badge, where it says create your own, it takes you directly to the page with several different templates. Might be old news to you, but maybe someone can use that info!
    :) maya

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  14. Oh nooooooooo!
    What a bummer!
    Ah well, live & learn I guess...Xxx

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  15. Wow! I never noticed that! And I never expect a reply to a comment. If I have something I want replied to, I try to find a way to email the blogger. :) I'm just sorry for all those hours you spent writing emails that are floating out in cyberspace somewhere.

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  16. Maya, I found your blog a few days ago (Early Dec '08) and I started at your first post and have been working my way up. I am really enjoying reading your posts and the creativity you inspire. I also love to craft. I linked your blog to mine, and mentioned you in my most recent post (Wonderful Day). I'm a SAHM of identical twin girls. I look foward to more reading!
    -Amanda
    txtwins.blogspot.com

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  17. Thank you for the great tip about responding to comments. I too had no idea about this blogger thing. I immediately went to my profile and chose to show my e-mail address.

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