Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Who Knew?

I have to sit back and say, "What a week". It's only Wednesday and I feel like I've been in a whirlwind.

This came in the mail.

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I'm not quite sure if it is targeted to me personally, or to me as the daughter (and daughter-in-law) of elderly women. When I was young I believed that life would get easier and less complicated. That's not the case at all. We are the sandwich generation, attempting to launch our children and caring for our elderly parents. The problems get further complicated by the fact that siblings must agree on decisions made on behalf of the parents. We haven't had to make any of those decisions yet but I can imagine trouble brewing. Good gravy, it's complicated!!!

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I'd like to talk about an incident that I briefly mentioned in our Monday Morning Staff Meeting. I've been a bad blogger, a very bad blogger. I broke one of my cardinal rules invoving comments. Very early in my blogging experience it became apparent to me that I needed to read a blog for awhile, to get the lay of the land and a sense of the personality of the writer before I started leaving comments.

It's not a problem with some people because they're authentic. Heidi, the Milk Man's Wife is one such person. She's funny, open and friendly. It didn't take long before I knew it would be OK to joke around and she wouldn't be offended. I also knew that I could drive up to Wisconsin and camp in her yard! And that's just what I plan to do next spring. We're going to the Norski Nook to eat pie, She's the kind of person who would help a friend find her grandfather's old one room schoolhouse.

While leap blogging this week I decided to hop off my normal lily pads and jump over to some more serious blogs in the land-o-academia. I left a comment in response to the characterization of a group of people, suggesting that we don't fall neatly into categories. WHOA! Response was a terrible swift sword in which I (and one other woman) were deemed to be

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I'm a TROLL. Who knew? It's news to me because I was raised to be MIDWESTERN NICE. My transformation was painless. Someone must have put a pod in my bedroom one night! I've been blogging, reading blogs and commenting on blogs for over 4-1/2 years and this is my first foray into Trollhood.

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I believe that the universe compensates for negartive experiences. Sure enough, yesterday something really nice happened to me.

Occasionally during the day I check Sitemeter to see who's reading and where they're from. I'm always stunned when I discover someone reading from Russia, Tokyo or Indonesia. It's just amazing that we can be sharing on a global scale.

Then I check the referring sites. Most people are clicking through a blogroll to my site. I'm always mindful of those who generously list me on their site Thank you!!! People can also click through on your comment.

Yesterday I noticed there were several visitors who had followed a link from Pioneer Woman's blog I was curious because she doesn't have a blogroll that I know of, and I haven't commented on her site recently. So I jumped over there to see what was going on.

She had a wonderful post thanking her readers for nominating her for the 2009 Bloggies. She invited everyone to vote in all categories and asked people to provide a link to their favorites sites....you know, personal favorites who are little known in the blogosphere. Now, here's the thing, when you have 5,000,000 - that's FIVE MILLION - page views per month, you're going to get 6,000 comments. 11,011 comments!!! That's 28 pages of comments, posted by regular people like you and me, providing a link to all kinds of really cool blogs. It would probably take a year to visit them all but I might give it a try.

Some are known to me, such as Post Secret and Deep Fried Kudzu. Others are cool finds, like Cake Wrecks.

Lo and behold, in comment #5976, Johanna mentions my name. Thanks so much Johanna, I really appreciate the positive feedback. Your one act of kindness nixed any negativity that I experienced earlier.

In my book this one good experience far eclipses my new negative status. Anyway, if I'm going to be a troll, I'm not going to be just ANY STINKING TROLL. I'm going to be the Queen of the Trolls.

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Mazaltov, y'all.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Sorry you got the troll label.. we all know you are a super sweet & cool lady...(I did have a kind of troll on my blog this week...)
Now I have to cruise over & check out pioneer woman...

Patricia said...

Good Morning ! Keep checking on Pioneer Womans site, because I also left your blogspot name on her list of comments.! I was further down though, you may have to scroll down near the end - But I did too !!

Doreen Frost said...

Something good always comes from something bad they say and just remember karma....that always gets those nasty folks!!!!!

You are definitely NOT a troll..you are very sweet.....apparently this person is very small minded!!!!

Have a great day!
Doreen

Anonymous said...

You a troll?

That is just so laughable.

Your are a sweetheart.

Anonymous said...

Yes, always strive for the position with the prettiest crown. Now, Queen of Trolls... get busy building that bridge you should be living under... hahahahahaha

You? A Troll? now that's a stretch!

Di
The Blue Ridge Gal

Significant Snail said...

Well, if you're a troll then I guess the rest of us trolls are in good company!

Thing is, it's usually the trolls that are busy calling the rest of us trolls...

Vee said...

That's the spirit, Suzanne...er Troll Queen! Really, some people can not take differing opinions. When feeling that way, said folks should shut down their comments the way I do. =)

Wow! A hit from Pioneer Woman? That's very cool!!

Suzanne said...

Tressa - I'm sure you've been mentioned over at the Pioneer Woman. You are one of the funniest (and most gorgeous) women I know. Look at that hair. I swear you ALWAYS have a good hair day.

Patricia - Oh my gosh!!! Thank you so much. Sorry I didn't find yours also because it was really a challenge to get to the 5,000 mark. I quit after that. But now I'm going over to see your entry also. Thanks!

Doreen - I am a believer in the Karma train. What goes around comes around. And also, this persons reaction was oddly stronger than what you would have thought. I remembered what I learned in therapy, if someone overreacts then there's something else going on. In these cases it's never about what you think it's about.

Chocolatechic - Oh, thank you. I knew I could count on my friends to vouch for my midwestern personality. HA.

Di - A bridge!!! I forgot about the bridge! I will start drawing up plans for something really lovely to counteract the ugliness of the trolldom.

Significant Snail - I think you have hit upon something there!

Vee - It was odd because this person was very educated and normally academia has been trained to look at all sides of a problem. Like I said there was something more going on.

Thanks everyone! I greatly appreciate your friendship.

LIBERTY POST EDITOR said...

Calling anyone a TROLL in Blogland is the rudest word you can use! It's kinda like using the word 'C_NT' in the real world. I hate the word TROLL (almost as much as the word COUGAR. It's also like throwing a shoe for goodness sake.

Anonymous said...

Don't you just love it. An author of a blog invites comments, one writes one but not being a member does so anonymously. They then get labeled a "troll" to then be ignored.

Welcome my friend to the vast empire of the troll world. I myself will never be kept under a bridge only to eat goat.

I love your blog btw.

Anonymous said...

I had a negative reaction to a comment that I made on someone else's blog. I wasn't called a troll but they called me pond scum because I didn't agree with what he said. I thought my comment was just a comment that things could be seen both ways and he called me pond scum. hhhmmmmm go figure :)

Unknown said...

Well, if thats the case, your my FAVORITE troll and welcome on my blog anyday!

Anonymous said...

You get to go to the Norski Nook and you get to go with MMW? I'm so jealous. Their book is really good. I enter the PW contests but am amazed at the volume of comments (and haven't won a thing). You aren't a troll-another name for troll is nissen and they are much kinder.

Jenni said...

Sheesh! It sounds like someone doesn't know what a troll really is. I think I must have posted a comment near Johanna's because I saw that she recommended your blog. I saw quite a few of my favorites in those comments, actually. There is no way I'm going to even attempt to get through all those suggestions, though. I spend too much time on the computer as it is.

Vickie said...

I read your blog nearly every day, and never have you seemed trollish! I've enjoyed reading about your life immensely, Suzanne! Some people just don't like to be disagreed with - they always want to be right and they impose their opinion on everyone else. You're right - what goes around comes around - they'll get theirs...

Texas Gardener said...

Sorry about the troll thingy, that's a drag.

What caught my attention was that someone read the comments on Pioneerwoman and got as far as 5000 to click over to your website. I never read the comments on Pioneerwoman because it would take all day! That is a very nice compliment that was left for you!

C.C. said...

Isn't it amazing how swiftly and decisively you can be "trollified" for politely expressing an opposing point of view? Long live the Queen!

BittersweetPunkin said...

LOL...I got called a troll once in a public forum.....

Well..I do troll from time to time...
HUGS,
Robin

Mary said...

so free speech is not alive in blogdom. But you get my award for the most regal outfit i've seen on a blog. Giggling still here.

Skogkjerring said...

Hey, Trolls are very popular in Norway so I'm sure you'll never have any problems leaving a comment on a Norwegian blog (mine included!!!) :-)

I'm new to the blogging world, it's kinda funny that there is awards and such for something that feels rather personal (like a diary) only it's NOT personal when everyone can read it!!! I'm still trying to figure this all out!!!

Cottage Rose said...

Hey Suzanne; I am sorry to hear that some would call you a Troll. what a awful thing to say. Any one of us who know you knows you are not like that at all. But I must say I love the photo of you... You make a great Queen..... I think you are a great Blog Friend to us all.

Hugs;
Alaura

Anonymous said...

I had a negative reaction to a blog entry and I was told (among other things) that I shouldn't be allowed to breathe air.

Oh well. I needed to pare down my blog list anyhow. It's nice when the universe clearly points your way once in a while.

I guess it's your blog, so you do get to be Queen. Can I be Princess?

Johanna said...

:) Wow!

Well, I thought I'd just place my little comment on Pioneer Woman and that would be that. How you found all that information makes my head spin.

Though these days, that's pretty easy (the head spinning).

I don't even remember how I found you, but when I read you like Josie's Antiques in DeKalb and Geneva, you were totally my kind of girl. :)

I was born in Sycamore and my grandparents lived on Somonauk Street. My family now lives in DeKalb, so I get home every once in awhile. It's fun to read about things in my old neck of the woods!

Glad it made your day. It's well deserved!

Julie H said...

A Troll?? NEVER lol. Not sure how I ended up viewing your blog originally but I have you in my google reader now :)