Category: blogs

Comments

I’m not sure why some folks think they can’t disagree with me on my blog. I guess many carry over the failed experiences from other sites. Either way, I’ve had a few instances lately about whether a person felt comfortable leaving comments here so I feel compelled to speak up. One person even stopped me on the street to tell me their opinion after expressing a fear of posting on my blog.

I welcome comments, even if you disagree with me. My expectations are simple. Agree, disagree, or not care and comment as long as you are respectful. We can argue till we are both blue in the face. And we can do so w/o resorting to personal attacks.

For the most part, it is rarely a problem. I am not a news/media site and yes my rules are non-negotiable, but they are simple, fair, and most importantly, applied equally. I can count on one hand the number of non-spam comments I’ve deleted over the years. The only exception would be the crazie fundies who randomly descend with threats and condemnation. I’ve actually taken to forwarding death threats, however harmless in reality, to PD. [1]You’d be surprised how many of these idiots send emails thru their work accounts or work servers. LOL The rest of the haters’ comments are deleted outright from the queue.
And truthfully, if they expressed an opinion w/o vitriol and name-calling, even their comments would get thru. Sadly, that is so rarely the case.

Lord knows, I am opinionated. And if you hope to change my mind on a subject, you need to back it up with facts and/or reason, not name-calling, faux indignation, etc. Unlike a certain blogger we know, I don’t cultivate the appearance of support here by selectively managing the comments that come thru. I encourage different pov’s as I can learn from them.

I’ve always gotten more emails than comments in relation to posts on my blog. I have friends who are private and just like to discuss their opinions with me behind the scenes. I also have “lurkers”, guys who read but never or rarely comment, who will email me from time to time as well. In all of these emails, I’ve never had one be rude or disrespectful. If you can do it in private, no reason you can’t do it publicly either.

So, if you’re in doubt about whether you should make a comment, now ya know. 🙂

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↑1 You’d be surprised how many of these idiots send emails thru their work accounts or work servers. LOL

Users

I accidentally deleted a whole slew of registered users today by mistake! If you notice your user account is gone, just recreate it. Apologies.

To allow social log-ins to work, I have to allow the anyone can register in the settings. Of course, the bad guys try to use this to create more spam for my blog. I get on average about 30-50 fake accounts every week. I usually let them build up and then mass delete them. Today I wasn’t paying attention and deleted a page of users from the wrong user group. Oops!

None of the private user accounts were affected so those of you in that group should be fine. Speaking of, I get a lot of questions about the private parts of my blog. Yes, I have a private section. Yes, it deals mostly with adult content. I’ll also be adding soon some of the fictional short stories I’ve written. I keep them private to avoid poaching.

My blog is and will remain public but there are restricted parts and even parts that are solely for me. There are certain things the general public, including my co-workers, just don’t need to know about me. [1]I’m sure they’d tell you I’m probably already too open with them at work. lol  No, it is not about porn. While I do sometimes post slightly NSFW pics, I rarely post anything graphic, sorry. Yes, that is why I usually post a quick blurb about “are you logged in?”  No, I don’t charge for access.

That said, I do require something specific. You must take it upon yourself to email me personally and introduce yourself. [2]Click the email icon lower right of page  A face pic is always welcome and gets higher consideration but not required. I like having a feel for my readers and your introduction gets filed with your user account. I don’t require anything overly specific but the more open and honest you are the more likely I am to grant access. Yes, I realize it’s the honor system and you could be disingenuous, but that has never been the point. I do run your attached IP thru a couple filters to verify it is not spoofed or on black-lists. Once I approve you, I’ll notify you directly. From then on, as long as you are logged in, you can see private posts.

I usually approve users en-masse, regardless of access. This means you may not get a response from me right away. I simply do not have the time to do each request individually as they come in. I ask that you please be patient. Back to my original topic, all the deletions today were public subscribers. Again, apologies for the hassle. If you were one of the unlucky few and want to receive email updates, you’ll have to go thru the short but tedious process of re-registering.

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↑1 I’m sure they’d tell you I’m probably already too open with them at work. lol
↑2 Click the email icon lower right of page

Year 9

I survived NYE at work. Lord what a mess. Thankfully, I didn’t get mandatoried this year. I hedged my bets a bit by already having worked some OT but as luck would have it, I was far enough up the food chain to avoid it. The crazy started early, died off for a bit and then was getting heavy again by the time I left.

Well, here we are at year 9 of le blog. Man, what a ride. lol I already touched on my goals for the new year so no need to rehash it. The gym is already crazy with the influx of newbies. Everyone is making resolutions and plans for the new year. On some level I appreciate the fact that every NYE seems to bring a since of renewal and new beginnings. On the other hand, why does it have to be that way? Why can’t we focus on the things we don’t want or like in our lives and work to improve them anytime? The world may never know. lol

Anyway, I admit to getting the “new” bug. I’m looking forward to the new year. I’m super motivated in the gym again. I’m still working on digging myself out of the financial hole I’m in and and all around optimistic. Cooper is doing well and will continue to be the superstar that he is. As always, he brings me so much joy, it simply beyond words to explain. Work is work, nothing new there. Oh I didn’t get selected for the sup’s position. I’m oddly not disappointed. Considering I was so on the fence about it, I guess it’s a sign it wasn’t meant to be just yet.

In my personal life, things are calm. I’m not dating anyone but I did finally [1]after 9 years meet up with a long time crush. We actually met thru my blog. I’m not expecting anything other than a chance to get to know him. If something develops, great. If not, I’m sure we’ll still be friends.

The blog is, as ever, a work in progress. Who knows what I’ll come up with this year. Every time I think I’m done learning about myself a new life lesson comes along. Hopefully, that will continue. Lord knows I’ll keep blathering on. I’ve been receiving a lot of requests for more of the adult info. I’ll do what I can. It’s not that I don’t like sharing but it often seems so contrived when I talk about it as if I’m bragging. I’m not above bragging but that really isn’t why I share. In the meantime, you’ll have to be content with my regular ramblings and Jimbo and I picking on his royal bitchiness, brettcajun.

So, here’s to a prosperous and good year to you all!

References

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↑1 after 9 years

After

Well the big festival / mess that is Christmas is over. Now we can all turn our gaze to the coming new year.

A special thank you to everyone who sent me cards this year. I easily got more cards than I sent. And while I don’t send my cards expecting one in return, it was so very sweet getting all the nice cards. Hell, I didn’t even know some of you had my mailing address. [1]Stalkers! lol  I probably say this every year but it really meant a lot to me. It was just me and Cooper this year and I was afraid I’d end feeling lonely. I didn’t at all. I’ve actually been in great spirits the whole time. Nonetheless, it was still very comforting having so many of my friends and readers reach out to me. You guys are awesome.

On  a side rant, several of my friends don’t get why I spend so much time on cards vs the actual holiday. Well, the holiday itself has become an over-hyped consumer event for one. I also don’t celebrate “christian” faith so I honestly don’t get much from the day itself. Doing my cards is more fun. It’s a big process for me. I often will buy 5-10 different packs of cards at a time. [2]Even though, I chose to use up all my leftovers this year. If you got the same one twice, apologies.  As I go thru each person on the list, I reflect on how I know the person. For my blog readers, I use this time to purge all my blog emails for the year. But before I do, I pull up my comment emails and sort by users so I can review all their feedback. It makes me feel closer to the person. Of course, the wax seals are a blast. It’s probably one of the few old traditions I embrace. There may come a day when we no longer send snail mail but until then, I’ll keep doing it.

As I move into year 9 of the blog, I’m so very grateful for all the advice, feedback, support, comments, and even differences of opinion you all have given me. This blog represents an important chronicle of my growth. It not only covers my life over the last 8 years but also my life in general and my growth into manhood. I honestly don’t think I’d be the person I am now w/o having done this blog. It has helped me (and others I’m told) in so many ways I’ve lost count.

Here’s to year 9 being a good one! My number chart says this is supposed to be a good year for me. I don’t put a lot of stock in it but here’s hoping it’s right! I could certainly use a good year. So from the bottom of my heart, I offer you all a huge thank you. Cooper and I wish you a very prosperous and happy year ahead!

~ Moby

References

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↑1 Stalkers! lol
↑2 Even though, I chose to use up all my leftovers this year. If you got the same one twice, apologies.

Stats

So I had a post all done up about my blog stats since the move and it has mysteriously Emotes face surprisedisappeared. For the life of me I can’t find it now. I thought maybe I might have published it and forgotten but not there either. Ironically, since I originally pulled the stats they have changed a bit so I’m just gonna start over. :p

First, you all know I’ve been happier than a pig in slop with my new hosting provider. I’ve also been on the warpath lately commenting on social & news sites. This has brought some interesting visitors to my modest home on the web. Quite a few have been from rather “religious” sites and let me tell you, some of God’s gentle people have absolutely filthy mouths on them. Seriously, one guy, not realizing the filter was kicking in, posted 9 times hoping it would hit my blog. lol [1]Silly boy, all new comments get held for moderation  Another guy apparently thought I was black and kept using the N & F words together. lol  So as a reminder dear readers, you are welcome to post comments here, even if we disagree on subjects. That said, you may not make personal attacks on me, my blog, my readers, etc. Such behavior well get you banned lickety-split. [2]If you notice some of my recent posts have been on adult subjects. Ain’t I a stinker?

Anyway, in other news. There is a big upset on referrals. Kelly from Rambling Along has taken over the top spot of referrals to my blog. hehehe. Number 2 & 3 added together still falls short. I don’t know what he’s been doing but keep it up! lol And speaking of #2, a newcomer [3]well to me. Nik the Greek snuck in out of nowhere to claim the number 2 spot. Welcome Nik and thank your readers for me for bouncing over so often. Large Tony fell to third and brettcajun fell all the way to 6th place. Even Jimbo beat him. Tsk tsk Brett, you’re slipping in your old age. hehehe

In related info, I decided to add my blogroll back to my blog. Considering the list is a fraction the size it used to be, it is easier to manage now. Plus, these guys are sending readers my way, I feel it’s only fair to return the favor. So if you visit my page directly, you should already see the blogroll.

References

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↑1 Silly boy, all new comments get held for moderation
↑2 If you notice some of my recent posts have been on adult subjects. Ain’t I a stinker?
↑3 well to me.

Meet

I finally got a chance to meet Jimbo the other day! He was one of the few remaining bloggers I had yet to meet. I can scratch another one off my list. hehehe

He was here on a trip to LA and we met up in SOMA for a drink. We met up at the Holy Cow bar, which I’d never set foot in till that moment. He looked just like his pictures and was exactly what I expected. I guess you can say he does a good job of conveying his essense thru his blog. We hung out, chatted about his most recent move, and how short brettcajun was compared to the rest of the world. We then danced while Jimbo admired several of the woofy bearded guys in attendance. There was an awkward moment between myself and the who shall not be named. He promptly and smartly avoided me like the plague, as well he should.

Being a work night, I couldn’t stay out too late. I had to cut the evening short and head home to the Cooper. I left Jimbo in the comfortable hands of several of his friends. He left the following day so we didn’t get much time to hang out, sadly. Regardless, it was great to finally meet him. I hope his new life in Portland gives him plenty of blog fodder.

Settling

Ok, I’m officially in my new hosting space. Apparently, I setup my account a bit wrong so they had to move everything around internally. I must say, while there were a few unexpected delays, the customer support team has been great. I opted for 1 month of managed shared hosting, which is a fancy way of saying I paid them to help me.  It comes with 24/7 tech support by phone, chat, email, and/or online.

I think I’m gonna be happier with them. I’m still discovering more and more how shitty 1and1 was in so many ways. I have direct access to chron jobs, apache, mysql [1]To be fair, 1and1 did give me mysql access, email filtering, IP blocking, etc. For basicaly a dollar more a month, I have so much more control over my domain and how it functions now. Some of these items are not for novices but it’s nice knowing I can use it, if and when I need it. I’ll definitely be using the chron jobs now.

In other news, I’m gonna attempt to import my old blog data into this one so I can do away with the duplicate setups. I figured since I’m moving all this stuff around, I might as well go for broke! lol I’m gonna try an XML import to avoid conflicting issues with API keys, blah blah blah. You shouldn’t notice anything significant. Well, if something goes horribly wrong you might see the domain go blank while I fix it again. lol

Another post coming today so sorry in advance for doube emails. I turned off subscribers so as to avoid bombarding everyone with emails.

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↑1 To be fair, 1and1 did give me mysql access

Pings v2.0

As I settle into my new digs, you should begin to notice “likes” from Facebook showing up in the comments section. Imagine my surprise when they suddenly started showing up! I’m discovering several of my plug-in errors were caused by not by poor coding skills but my old host, 1and1.com. [1]Needless to say, I do NOT recommend anyone EVER using them. I can’t tell you how happy I am to be on a new host. If I’d know it would be this easy, I would have dumped 1and1 ages ago.

If anyone is interested, I’m now on lunarpages. My only beef so far is their tech support is only avail 24 hours by email. They do tech support by phone 7a to 7p. Not the end of the world but in this day and age you’d think it would be ubiquitous. Anyway, I’m now going back over a few of my old plug-ins to see if the original errors have been fixed.

In related news, I have like 10 or so posts backed up. lol It’s funny when I was holding off on posting due to the move, I wanted to blog about everything. heeheee Instead of dumping them on you all at once, I’ve scheduled them out every other day. Some I’ve already had to edit for relevance.

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↑1 Needless to say, I do NOT recommend anyone EVER using them.

Celebrity

I totally forgot to mention over the week of my vacation and Castro St Fair, I ran into uber-blogger joe.my.god. He was here with some friends for a week long trip. I was eating at Firewood in the hood one night and look up. There he was sitting down at the table next to me. It took a moment for him to recognize me, but he did. [1]I was flattered he remembered. lol  We met right after I moved to SF before his move to NY. It was mostly in passing but over the years we chatted a bit via blogs, email, etc. He reached out to me once during the whole Bent Collective fake blogger scandal that rocked the blogosphere. Anyway, I’ve been reading his blog since before he went more mainstream and still do to this day. He covers mostly gay-related news these days and has had some pretty impressive rewards for all his hard work.

He asked if I was blogging at the time which I found very amusing. lol We exchanged pleasantries for a bit before I left him alone. It was obvious he was trying to enjoy some down time so I didn’t feel the need to invade his space. It reminded me how far blogging has come since it first hit the scene. Blogging and I go together like beans and rice so it’s no surprise I took to it. It got me to thinking about a lot of my favorite blogs that have come and gone over the years. There are only a few left. brettcajun is still around, ever the braggart and all around drama whore. Jimbo, who recently moved away from DC, is also still at it. homer is still going strong. Large Tony is on his 3rd blog as well. DurbanBud stopped blogging a while a go but only just recently finally killed off his blog. Vic, having a kid to raise, killed off his. This boy Elroy dumped his shortly after moving to SF. The list goes on and on. Many succumbed to the allure of Facebook, others just got tired of it and stopped.

Anyway, it was nice to see Joe and I congratulated him on his long years of hard work. He is still one of my daily reads and I get a huge chunk of my daily gay-related news from his blog. Now if I could just get him to have his web guy fix my broken link on his blogroll?! lolol

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↑1 I was flattered he remembered. lol