Having Blogs "Approved"- Does This Annoy Anyone Else?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This a.m., I saw that I had misspelled "McDonald's" in my blog post from yesterday. Nit-picker that I am, this bothered me and I went into "Edit Post" to change it. When I hit "Publish", I got the message that the blog will have to wait for approval again, and it is now gone from the front page. I'm pretty disappointed about that, because if Adina is at work and having a busy day, it may not be back until tonight. If you're like me, when you publish a blog post, you want people to read it and comment on it, and you look forward to reading the comments. I know some of my East coast friends visit DK early in the day before work and now may not read it until tomorrow. I'm really sorry now that I had to be so anal and correct my little spelling error.

I know Adina made blogs subject to approval because a lot of people were confused about the difference between a blog and a discussion, and were posting blogs when a discussion would have been much better for purposes of getting a lively discussion going. But it seems ridiculous that just for changing one letter in an already published blog, I now have to wait for approval again. Sometimes people also want to update a blog, and this same thing would happen if you do that.

To be honest, I'm even annoyed at having to wait to publish my blog the first time. Sometimes, timing is everything, lol.

I'm not saying I expect Adina to be sitting by her computer ready to approve every blog the minute it's posted. I guess what I'm saying is, if a blog is going to disappear for hours just because you make a minor change to it, I'd rather have some blogs that should have been discussions get posted than have it the way it is now. Am I in the minority?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I know, but on this particular subject, we are on opposite sides. I really, really feel strongly about not eliminating blogs, for the reason that there are times when a story is of emotional importance to the poster, they are sensitive about it, and the sidetracking that sometimes occurs when people have the ability to respond to other people's responses seems very disrespectful and even hurtful at times. There are times when you simply need to share something with others and are not looking for feedback so much as support.
I have seen things like the following: A person starts a discussion because they are distressed about their doodle's behavior issue or illness. Person A responds "My dog had that too, and we used such and such". Person B responds to person A, "A! Where have you been? I've been trying to reach you, we're having a romp next week!" B: "Where? My grandmother is having surgery, but if you email the details, I'll try to make it" And so forth. This may be an exaggeration, but it isn't much of one. If you are the person who started the discussion, it can be upsetting. It sometimes reminds me of when someone would be chatting with their neighbor while I was teaching a class or giving a lecture. Imagine if someone's dog had a tragedy and they wanted to post about it. You'd like to think that in that case, nobody would post anything other than their sympathy, but given that humans are fallible and sometimes thoughtless, I don't trust that to be the case. With a blog, there is less chance of that. So I really think blogs have an important place here.
Some time back, I posted a discussion after Jack's allergy testing. It turned out to be a very significant and informative discussion, not only because I took pains to explain what I had learned so others could benefit, but because we had a DK member who was an MD and had some expertise in the area of immunology, and she contributed a great deal to the discussion. It may be one of the longest and most detailed discussions we've had here. I have given links to that discussion to many people who are trying to understand Atopic Dermatitis testing and treatment procedures. Well, in the middle of that discussion, somebody started a separate conversation about how their neighbor had set fire to their lawn signs endorsing a certain political candidate. (Don't ask) It really upset me, feeling overwhelmed as I was at the time about Jack's diagnosis and results. I can't delete that, and every time someone reads the discussion, there it is in the middle of what is otherwise a fairly serious discussion, and certainly of great importance emotionally to me, and it really really bothers me. Maybe I'm just too sensitive, but I like knowing that if I need to, I can post a blog where that can't happen.
Whoa, sorry to have rambled so much; obviously, I feel strongly about keeping the blog option!

[Adina P]

I have NO intention of getting rid of blogs as an option. I agree they have their place that is important and useful and different than the discussion forum.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I understand what you are saying. I think that particular discussion must have been before my time but I am certainly guilty of sometimes sidetracking in discussions, as you have pointed out. Sometimes it's when we all are just having fun, sometimes not I suppose. I guess I don't tend to post especially personal or emotional issues but rather would do an personal inbox or email thing. That said I can see that for some people blogs have their place. It would be good if educational pieces had their place, too. Free from comment or discussion if need be. I guess you could always set something like that up by cutting and pasting somehow, keeping it on your computer, in Word, and inserting it when appropriate. Maybe such an area could be set up on DK. Kind of like I did with the Danger Group but more like a Marvista medical library.

[Wendy and Eddie]

Well, in the middle of that discussion, somebody started a separate conversation about how their neighbor had set fire to their lawn signs endorsing a certain political candidate.

too bad Ning doesn't off the option to "set" a virtual fire to off topic posts!

[Denise & Hunter!!!]

I totally agree, I wish the blog's posted immediately. I don't like the waiting, I like the instant gratification of getting other's comments - I look so forward to hearing what everyone has to say :-) Like a kid at Christmas! LOL Blog's with discussions would be neat - I am so technically challenged I have trouble with all of it! LOL

[Adina P]

I totally hear you about feeling like a kid at Christmas...and wanting to see responses ASAP!

[Adina P]

Keep in mind that you ARE allowed to "share" in the discussion forum. For example, it would have been perfectly fine if you wanted to write about Jackdoodle's adventures at McDonald's in the forum. The forum is a free-for-all...Blogs are exclusive :-)

And, it's probably a good idea to pre-write up important prose like a blog in Word or other format on your computer first and save it. Because you never know when the computer gremlins will swallow it up and POOF it's gone to outerspace. Doing that will also help with spellcheck, etc.

[F, Calla & Luca]

If we took the time to prewrite this would be a good idea for all lengthy posts. More than once I've navigated away for some reason in the midst of things, most often when photos are involved, and lost something.

[Adina P]

Yup. AND with blogs you have the option to "preview" your writing, review it and submit it when you think it's all how you want it.

[F, Calla & Luca]

True enough!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And I did do that! But I have to admit that I am not a regular patron of McDonald's and didn't know that it wasn't "MacDonald's" until I saw the responses and realized my mistake. It wasn't a typo in this case, it was pure ignorance of pop culture!
(See what I mean about anal? I'm probably the only one who noticed it.)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I didn't : )