I’ve just renewed the domain for this blog. Even though I haven’t updated properly with anything in ages - I just couldn’t bear to let it go.
Three years ago I started this blog because I was planning on a move to London. I was nervous, but excited. I worried about my job, driving, where I would live – everything. A year and two weeks later it had finally come to fruition, and I touched down in shitty Terminal 4 ready to start a new life. Today, I’m here, and life is good.
I should make a better effort in writing everything down (the stuff that doesn’t have to do with food, for example), but it’s tough. FPN emerged into more social media/PR by default of me preparing a job and country change, but the aim of the blog was always supposed to be ‘American in London’ crazy times. So, here’s a few things I’ve done that I’ve been proud of in the last year:
- Went bouldering (this weekend, actually) at The Castle in Finsbury Park. My muscles feel like they’ve been put
through an organ grinder - Travelled to Turkey, France and Romania (and going to Spain at the end of the month!)
- Got a promotion
- Discovered Percy Pigs, and finally got a taste for salt and vinegar on chips
- Went to Wimbledon
- Failed at ice skating
- Managed to spend a majority of my summer weekends outside
- Sat next to two out of three Harry Potter for two separate meals (Rupert Grint at V Festival, Emma Watson at my birthday dinner
- Was introduced to the wonders of Spaced (how in the world has that show not been shown on BBC America? American friends, you’d love it) and have subsequently watched the series twice in a row
- Joined Cycle Hire, and am now cycling the streets of London on a mobilised Barclay’s advert
You can see why I haven’t updated the blog in a while. Thanks to everyone who hasn’t unsubscribed. I’ll update sporadically, I’m sure. Not ready to give up on this baby yet!
4 February, 2010
Blog comments for linkbuilding
Posted by Melanie Seasons under Blogging, Rants, Spam | Tags: blog comment debate, Should you turn off blog comments? Blog comment spam, Spam, Turning off blog comments |[6] Comments
There’s a debate going on about whether or not to turn comments off on a blog. While I don’t believe a blog is truly a blog without comments, I’ve actually been thinking about turning the comments off on here – at least for posts older than two months. It’s not because anyone’s being too mean on here, which was the reason Engadget recently shut comments down. It’s because the whole point of a blog is two-way communication, and with the exception of my newer posts, that is not happening. Instead, I’m getting crafty selfish spam that I have to take time out of my day to deal with.
Spam has evolved to the point where it’s difficult to tell if anyone is actually reading this. I receive, on average, about 10 comments a week on random posts from the last two and half years telling me how ‘brilliant’ my writing is, or how they’re ‘really happy they’ve come across the site’ and how they’re ‘instantly hooked and have immediately subscribed’. There are never any spam pr0n-esque links in the body of the comments, but instead links to the most ridiculous off-topic sites. Rugby? Panama Travel? You name it, they’re supposedly reading my blog. Flattered as I might be that I’m reaching such an eclectic audience, their motives are disingenuous, and it pissed me off.
Linkbuilding is an increasingly popular business. Getting more ‘influential’ links to your website means Google thinks you’re more important and theoretically raises your Page Rank. Everyone’s doing it too – SEO people, PRs (yep, like me, but sooo not in this way), media agencies, digital agencies and of course your random Harvard Law blogs who are ‘always ‘researching online for articles that can help me get further ahead’. The latter example being a comment I received this morning on a post called ‘Klassin’ it Up in the Blogosphere’, which was all about the most offensive things I found on the Internet that week in September of 2007 (including a BBC story about a man who peed on a dying woman and deemed it You Tube-appropriate). I would love to see how that story will help them in their career. Really. I’m all ears.
So, yes, I think I will turn off comments on all posts older than 60 days. Sorted.
**Photo from WORD: The official blog of Read Magazine.