Monday Segued into Tuesday. It’s Now Wednesday Afternoon …

Date: Author: Category: Discipline Exercises, Gardening, Ornamentals, Uncategorized, Writing Tags: , , , , , ,

 … and this must stop.

I’ve joined Robin Coyle’s dissident group, and disabled the email alert buttons for comments on my blogs (I hope!).  Someone very kindly supplied me with an address which I am assured will reach a human behind a computer somewhere at WordPress.  Under the subject “Do you know the extent of the current WordPress fiasco?” (subject lines apparently must be in the form of a question), I advised there were several components to my support request:

  1. I pointed out that as a new blogger, I have a pretty small number of follows.  I went on to explain that I had been away for a few days and had returned to an in-box so full Google had had to requisition 10% of my hard drive to accommodate the emails I had received (there were several hundred, can you believe it”?).  Without elaborating, I explained that I had attempted, over the last two days, to deal with this overwhelming influx of mail, but have been unsuccessful because emails keep streaming in.
  2. Additionally, I advised the ‘spam detector’ seems to have run amuck – with several legitimate comments from followers ending up in the spam can.
  3. Not only that, I said, even comments of mine are ending up in the trash.
  4. And to make matters worse, Comment Notifications on the desktop are becoming increasingly erratic and unreliable, as is the Unanswered Comment Alert on the dashboard.
  5. I noted that for several days the Homepage Reader has been temperamental, to the point that I am no longer able to access “Reader”.
  6. or Ditto “Topic”.

Five hours ago the WordPress computer chirped “Your message is flying through cyberspace to us as you read this. We will get back to you as soon as we can.”  I am now about to break faith with my followers and delete the 316 unopened emails remaining in my inbox, an act of wilful destruction I will continue to perform daily until I hear the current fiasco has been rectified.

I love the camaraderie of our blogosphere, but I don’t need excuses to procrastinate.  Imagine.  Other than to keep myself and The Girls fed, myself and the house clean (well, the house slightly less so), all I’ve done since I came back from my little trip upcountry is try to empty my inbox.  Now, normally I would just leave it, but at the rate of some hundreds of mails arriving daily, I began to freak out about when I eventually opened it.  How much space on my hard drive will Google demand then?  Do I have enough space for this, albeit temporary, annexation of my hard drive by an alien third party?

I’m sorry if all this means I’ll miss out on reading those marvellous,  serendipitous posts that arrive, unheralded and unanticipated  – with luck  I’ll catch up  with most of you through my Blogroll, or the chatter I hear there.  And with luck, WordPress will revert to half a million happy bloggers in the shake of a lamb’s tail.

There is good news though.  The Bougainvillea is in full flower.  What doe you think of that?

A Jar of Bougainvillea

42 thoughts on “Monday Segued into Tuesday. It’s Now Wednesday Afternoon …”

  1. It does show. So I did.

    The bougainvillea is wonderful although my enthusiasm for it waned somewhat after being paid to prune someone’s that had run rather rampant, and the previous gardeners had just dumped the spikey cuttings.

    The email default change is not a glitch. It is a change. How totally stupid. I have spent a merry morning complaining about that the topics page change on the forums as I can no longer even contact a happiness engineer.

    But as you say, there is more to life.

      • Poor you – going away just at the moment when WordPress chose to run amok! There have been many ‘fixit’ blogs running about, including on my own blog. At the start of the mayhem, I was reduced to deleting en masse, but if you go into your dashboard/blogs I follow/comments, you can delete all your follow comment subscriptions with one click. That only works retrospectively, so then, EVERY time you comment, make sure you UNCHECK the follow box at the bottom.
        Good luck and happy deleting.

  2. Bummer about all the emails. I began deleting emails pretty quickly & as I was at my computer, caught up and realized about the unchecking thing pretty quickly as well. Hope yours gets sorted soon.
    & the bouganvillea is lovely 🙂 I only have mine ina pot as well, & half the time it gets swallowed by the ivy. It hasn’t had the chance to run rampant!

    • As Viv said, just my luck I chose that weekend to go away, eh? It feels good to have wiped the slate clean – the frown has gone!
      I always like to keep the Bougainvillea in pots, as a way of controlling it:)

  4. And I thought that I inadvertently did something on my site. What was WordPress thinking?

    Do I just need to uncheck the “follow-up comments” box on your page or is there a central place to do it on mine? I don’t want to eliminate replies (like yours) just the mass comment flow.

    • Unfortunately, you need to do it on EACH blog you comment on. There is no single place to opt out. However, it does appear that when you uncheck the box for one post on a blog, it will default to unchecked for future posts on that blog. But do keep checking, just in case!

      You can disable the “received email notifications of new comments” on your own blog. That will keep your blog from sending mass emails to people who comment and forget to uncheck the email notification blox.

      • Thanks much. Now that I have that in place for myself, I have added the following for my readers (I assume they will have the same problem):

        Please Comment Here. (A tick box will appear. If you do not want to see new comments on this post, uncheck the box: “notify me ….”.)
        Enter your comment here…

        Now, if I can figure out why I no longer receive notices of new followers to my blog (even though the box is checked)……

    • There are several things to do! First seems we have to remind people to unsubscribe to following comments by email. Then, in blogs we follow, we can unsubscribe to comments by email, and then, I think, hold our breath! The next 12 hours will be the test for me!

  6. Good for you, Mere.

    I can only imagine the sort of smartly articulated responses WordPress much be receiving, flowing in by the thousands of querulous bloggers. I was one of the lucky ones, having read a post early on from a fellow blogger; Rich (brain snorts) walked us through the “unchecking” of that obscure little box at the bottom of the comment area. It’s a shame, you know, because it impedes people from wanting to engage and leave comments, lest their inboxes expand like that of a tummy, post-Thanksigivng meal. Or worse, they receive follow-up comments for the rest of their lives!

    Hopefully this all gets sorted out, but until then, the bougainvillea is gorgeous!

    Happy Thursday to you. Happy Wednesday to me. 9:43. a.m.

    :0)

    • I think I was Mrs. Grumpy when I answered your comment, Cara. It’s a much better Thursday, and I’m now feeling that in the end, all the kerfuffle was beneficial. The agony of that inbox taught me several valuable lessons. Now, that sounds more like Ma’s Pollyanna, doesn’t it?
      2.36pm Thursday

      • The Grumpies happen to the best of us, especially those with large personalities. One minute we’re full or mirth and amicability, and the next minute a storm cloud has parked just over our heads. I’ve always told my husband, “I don’t do the middle.” For me, it’s one extreme or the other.
        I’ll take you as Mrs. G or Ma’s Pollyanna.
        10:21 a.m. 🙂

  7. the bougainvillea looks great…love it and need some tips on how to grow it. As for the fiasco, I’m terribly sorry to hear about this and know nothing to illuminate or help except to say that u must be a very popular blogger besides being immensely dextrous, hope wp responds faast!

    • Simply deleting all the outstanding mail did the trick – I’m myself again and can look forward to blogging in peace – I think:)
      Now, while I remember it, you said the link to vote for your portfolio was working? Looking back on last night it’s possible that, boggle eyed form my email marathons I could easily have botched it! On the other hand, we were having lots of bandwidth fluctuations, late into the night. I’ll try again. I do so hope we can get enough votes to get you there Shabnam!

      • hey what about the bougainvillea tip, I want to grow a creeper that throngs off the ceiling in my tiny balcony! I do hope this e mail fiasco ends, do u know what is causing this influx by now? And hey thanks you guys at to are few but I’m happy to receive goodwill! I’m having a problem with the dudes out there who seem to also be facing some “glitches”, too much traffic they said to me!

  8. Love the bougainvillea! We do tend to take it for granted around here 🙂
    The answer to the problem of “new comment” notification is to remove the ‘follow comments’ option below the comment form (by going to settings – discussion and unchecking that option) If EVERYONE did this, there would be no box to uncheck when we post comments. Clearing your comment subscriptions is just a temporary solution.

    • Fingers crossed, I think I’ve stopped the flow! Anyway, I’m feeling a lot better after my vent, and actually doing a mass deletion – (well, several really, because you can only delete one page of entries at at time). Re the Bougainvillea, I think that’s because it’s almost always there, always flowering, the background to our streetscapes. Putting it in this ginormous pot has domesticated it – made a pet of it – and as such demands much attention (and admiration).

  9. I’ve experienced so many tech-related issues since starting my blog. I often wish there was a hotline (i.e. actual people) to call with questions. Would be so much easier and less time-consuming than always having to research every issue online!

    • Now listen to you – and you just a young’n – sounding like us pre-computer luddites who’re always wanting our hands held when it comes to our dealing with the machines, or their applications You’ve sorted them all out, I hope, because if not, there is an email address for support. How’s that young rascal today? Mine are feeling the heat, fast asleep with their tummies exposed, feet in the air. You wouldn’t credit the damage they did around here just a year ago. Oops – did I inadvertently let on that you can expect the destruction to continue for a year or so (at least)? 🙂

    • Kate, I’m not quite sure which link you took. Did it help? What a nightmare. I’m feeling refreshed however, after mass deletions and a clear inbox this morning. What a relief:)

      • Yikes…
        so was this all because of the little tick box that automatically is turned on by WP now? If so I am in trouble since I have been trying to clear out my in box all night and responding to blogs, comments and likes :O

        • I think it was the comments fiasco that tipped the scales, but there were 700 emails in my inbox and until I switched off everything to do with comments and emails, I could just never clear the box … Have you been reading what to do?

          • I have only been reading what happened/to do from your posts. I am confused by the whole thing (forgive me I am tired and I can’t wrap my head around it). I always have the tick box checked otherwise I would forget to who and what I said, so I want to be sure I get back to everyone. I notice my in box is filling up faster than I can sometimes keep up. Someone on a blog said they use a separate email just for their blogs and I think that is what I am going to do to help with this potential issue!

  12. Thanks for this post, I think I’ve taken the appropriate remedial action – and thanks too for adding my little blog to your home page list,much appreciated! When I’ve worked out what to do I will return the compliment as it is a great way to be introduced to new writings.

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