I’ve started a discussion on the 2009 Bloggies and related Blog Awards over on Lightening’s Blogworld. I hope you’ll come on over and contribute your thoughts to the discussion.
I’m closing comments on this post so that all discussion can be kept in the one place.
Please pop over and add your thoughts.
We’re doing a lot of coming and going at the moment so I thought I’d trawl the archives for a few posts you might have missed.
Here are 10 of my most read posts:
Reducing the Grocery Budget : Budgets
Reducing the Grocery Budget - Fruit and
Reducing the Grocery Budget - Part One
Reducing the Grocery Budget - Meat
Cleaning Doesn’t Need to Cost the Earth
What Does A Nervous Breakdown Feel Like?
And here are some of my least read posts. If you’re feeling sorry for them, feel free to click through and make them feel loved. Some of them are older posts that you might have missed.
Mother Hubbards Cupboard Has Now Been Restocked
I hope you find something of interest amongst these past posts. I should be back on deck in a couple of days. Look forward to catching up with you all then! 
I know many of you are already familiar with the lovely Tiff from Three Ring Circus and the sadness of the plight her poor little Ivy has had to struggle with so far in her life. If you do, you’re probably like me and desperately wish there was something you could do.
Well, now there is. I’m a bit behind on my blog reading so have only just read about this petition to emplore the powers that be to reconsider their decision NOT to allocate Ivy the much needed drugs to help her condition.
I love that blogging gives us a voice. That it empowers us and gives us the ability to spread a message far and wide.
Please consider reading and signing this petition (if you haven’t already) and blog about it so that we can spread the word as far as possible.
You can read what other bloggers have had to say about this issue:
Sleepless Nights (Veronica has written a lovely post and set up the petition - thanks for giving us all the opportunity to stand up for Ivy Veronica)
Picklebums (who has some interesting links to the situation)
Sarcastic Mom (a beautiful Haiku dedicated to Ivy)
Republishing Veronica’s original article to help spread the word:
As an interesting aside to this issue, I have just come across some new and wonderful blogs as a result of being united to help with this cause. I’ve been working on culling my reader and now I’ve just added more new blogs. LOL.
If you blog about this, please let me know as I’d love to link to your post here. Let’s unleash “blogger power” and show the government what we’re really made of.
Don’t forget to sign the petition here. We’re up to 190 signatures and the number is growing rapidly. How wonderful would it be to reach 1000 by the weekend?
Image via Wikipedia
You may (or may not) have noticed a widget appear in my sidebar recently titled “friendfeed”. Inside that widget, you can keep up with all sorts of things that I am up to on the web. It will show you my latest posts (from my various blogs) as well as Twitter and other updates around the web.
If you’re interesting in stalking me (in a nice way of course), it’s one way you can keep up to date with how I’ve been avoiding housework keeping busy online.
As part of my housekeeping post recently, I made mention of partial RSS feeds for feedreaders. For those of you not familiar with feedreaders, I’ve published a post on Lightening’s Blogworld that gives a very basic introduction to what they are and why they save you time: Using a Feedreader Can Save You Time.
Image via WikipediaThere are a couple of small “housekeeping” matters I wanted to fill you in on. It seems easier to simply put together a post detailing the bits and pieces I really want to say. Apologies for the “boring” nature of this post. Some days the “boring” stuff just needs to be said.
Some of you will have come across a message when you try to post a comment which indicates you’ve used a word from my spam filter in your comment which may result in it going to moderation.
Unfortunately, spammers don’t limit themselves to nonsense or objectional words in their spam comments and so some regular words are also in there.
If you click on the button “yes, post my comment”, it will go through. INCLUDING the word my filter has picked up.
If your comment doesn’t appear (and it’s not your first comment - 1st comments ALWAYS go to comment moderation) you can use the contact form listed in the tabs in my header to let me know.
I apologise for the inconvenience but this seems to be the least intrusive way of dealing with spam right now.
There is a temptation to set your blog to partial RSS feeds in an attempt to force readers to click through to your blog. Some people do this for advertising dollars (or cents), some to help their statistics and some because they think people will comment more if they are forced to visit their site.
I don’t want to rant and rave about this one because what you choose to do is your choice. It’s your blog.
Here’s my problem. Some blogs I really like choose to only publish partial feeds. And I just don’t have the time to click through to every blog that I read. So when it comes to making hard choices about which blogs I will and won’t read, those with partial feeds are the first to go.
Publishing a full feed might reduce your visitor statistics in the short term but it will increase your loyal readership in the long term.
Like I said, it’s your choice whether or not you publish a full or partial feed. And it’s my choice how I choose to spend my time. Sadly, those who only publish partial feeds are the blogs that tend to get culled from my reader when I need to cut back on how many blogs I read.
My blogroll is a combination of blogs I enjoy reading and my way of thanking readers of this blog. I read a LOT of blogs and try to, at the very least, occasionally visit the blogs of those who comment here.
I do apologise that there are not enough hours in my day to regularly read the blog of every single one of my readers but I do try to do what I can as time allows.
I got the impression from some of the responses to my recent “blogroll call” that some people are reluctant to even contemplate my wanting to put their blog on my blogroll.
Unless you regularly publish objectionable material, I AM happy to include you on my blogroll. My not reading or commenting on your blog is less a reflection on what I think of it and more a reflection on my time limits.
So if you’re reading this and you’re yet to put your hand up to be included on my blogroll, I hope you’ll feel more comfortable doing so now.
My apologies for anyone who has had annoying little boxes (that supposedly are NOT pop ups but are very close to it) appear on their screen. It’s taken me by surprise and I’m in the process of looking into that. I think it’s a new thing BlogHer are trialling. To be honest, they don’t pay me enough to be that annoying. Hopefully I can get it sorted out sooner rather than later.
HELLO???? Are you still awake??? 
Thanks for bearing with me. I hope that’s helped to clarify a few things but if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to say so.
P.S. I KNEW I’d forget something. If you have a blogger blog that uses a pop up window for your comments, I cannot comment right now. Don’t ask me WHY but the pop up window won’t open fully enough for me to comment. I’m REALLY sorry. I have NO IDEA what is going on or WHY this is happening.
Todays post is partly written but my brain is fried and I think it’ll come together better after some sleep (I hope so anyway).
When I spoke about Twitter last week, some of you asked what it was.
Yesterday I wrote and published a basic post about Twitter on Lightening’s Blogworld. If you’d like to know a bit about it, feel free to pop over there and check it out.
I’m thinking of removing the Twitter widget in my sidebar. It doesn’t do what I thought it would do and only shows my very last tweet which won’t always make sense to everyone else. I’m also concerned as to whether it slows down the loading of this page for people.
If you want to follow me on Twitter (and no, it’s not just for bloggers), you can do so here.
For those of you already Tweeting on Twitter, feel free to post your twitter URL in the comments section here so others can follow you too.
Image via WikipediaToday this website is 6 months old.
Which means it’s no longer an itty bitty baby website but a full fledged toddling website. 
At least according to Technorati that is. Who will now start removing links counted as quickly as they are added (okay, well hopefully not QUITE as quickly).
It also means I won’t be visiting Technorati on a daily basis JUST to see if my authority has increased. At least, I don’t THINK I will. I’ve never reached the Technorati 6-month threshold before so this is a new experience for me. My blogger blog hadn’t been on Technorati for 6-months yet when I shifted.
I just checked and my authority has dropped by 4. Which means 4 of you who linked to me when I first moved haven’t linked since!!! I think.
So what are you waiting for? Quick, go and link to me already. Before I have a Technorati meltdown!!!
I’m only kidding. I’m not THAT insecure. Most days.
This post has nothing to do with Technorati (other than it being the reason I’m AWARE this website is now 6-months old) and everything to do with reflecting on the past 6-months.
Was one of those really well thought out ones where I (in a weak moment) sent an email to Snoskred saying something along the lines of “can a total technological noob like me actually manage a self hosted blog?”
I’d been reading her “self hosted” rocks type posts for a while and thinking how it sounded all well and good. For those not technologically-challenged like myself.
Nevertheless, with her help, this website was born (I can so call it a website and not a blog can’t I? Since I have my own dot com and all? Yeah?).
And it surpassed my wildest expectations.
And it caused me to tear my hair out figuring out how to USE it.
Yet now, it’s as familiar as my comfy ugg boots (and no Kelley, I don’t wear them out - I love them too much to subject them to mud and other filthy stuff outside of my own little world here).
I don’t really know exactly how much of this I can attribute to the move to self hosted…
BUT
I had 20 readers via feedburner (that I knew of) when I moved. I now have “IwishIknewhowmany” readers. But it’s a LOT more than 20. Feedburner is being rather temperamental of late but I think my total readers stand at around the 170 mark now (on a good day).
Technorati Authority was just over 50. Is now over 200.
I made it onto the Top 100 Australian Blogs Index.
I made it onto the Top 100 Australian Women Bloggers list.
I wasn’t expecting ANY of that to happen!!!
I’m not mentioning these milestones as a way of “tooting my own horn”. One of the things I do love about blogging is that you don’t get anywhere alone. A blog isn’t just about the blog owner but about the community that gathers at that blog.
Without the help of Snoskred, I would never have made the move to self hosted (well, most likely never anyway).
Without my readers, I wouldn’t have a reason to write.
Without those who take the time to comment, I wouldn’t have such a feeling of connectedness with the outside world. And I wouldn’t have such a great incentive to write and share what I do.
Without other bloggers linking to my blog and people in general spreading the word, I wouldn’t have the readers I have today.
So my heartfelt thanks go out to all of you.
2. Blogroll
3. Reducing the Grocery Budget - Fruit & Vegetables
1. Lightening
2. Lightening Online
3. Square Foot Gardening
4. Things I Love About You
5. Tightwad Gazette
6. Bowling Cake/s
7. Smiley
8. A Journey Of a Thousand Miles
9. Grocery Budget
10. Nervous Breakdown
These are the blogs who have brought me the most traffic in the past 6 months.
1. Lightening’s Thoughts Musings & Happenings (my old blog location)
3. Fit Cat Blog
4. His Princess
1. Entrecard
2. Stumbleupon
3. Rocks In My Dryer (giveaways linky)
4. Biblical Womanhood (Frugal Friday linky)
5. Daily Meme (linking to my Smiley Saturday)
Excluding my own sites, these are the top 10 places people have clicked from this site:
2. Dances to the Beet of Her Own Drum
6. Miscmum
7. Ecosilk Bags
8. Home of Slightly Cracked Dreams
10. Magnetoboldtoo
I’ve recently updated my About page and included a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure (maybe ).
The Travelling T-Shirt is making it’s way around the world (well, parts of it anyway), hopefully helping to spread news of my blog.
I’m getting distracted by Twitter and Plurk. Are they “mini blogging”? Too “mini” for me most days - I need more characters to say what I want to say. But when you’re after something a little more “instant” than blogging, they can be useful.
I hope you’ll all stick around a little longer (okay, a LOT longer). Thanks for joining me on my journey thus far.
Guess I should start thinking up some fabulous celebration for the 1st birthday shouldn’t I? It’ll come around fast enough!!!!
A fellow blogger and I were recently discussing Comment Love on blogs. All bloggers (as far as I’m aware) LOVE getting comments on what they’ve written. Why? Because someone has cared enough not only to read but to contribute to the conversation in some way.
In my mind it’s really what blogging is all about. Sharing our thoughts and our journey in life with one another and building a relationship.
So, what do you think of blogs where the blogger doesn’t appear to ever respond to comments? Is that still a blog or a regularly updated website? Would you still leave comments?
I’ve been doing so because it’s just automatic for me to go to a blog (from my bloglines reader) and leave a comment if I have something to say. And you know me, I seem to have something to say with reasonable frequency!
So, the other day I left a comment on The Pioneer Woman asking if she gets time to actually READ the comments she receives. I can understand her not responding too often as she gets hundreds and hundreds of comments per day. But I just wondered if she actually READ them because well, if she’s not reading what I have to say, why am I bothering to say it?
She hasn’t responded either on the blog or personally so I’m thinking just maybe she doesn’t have time to read them all. Not that I blame her.
I just wonder why people keep commenting. Do they want to say something regardless of whether it ever gets read. Do they do so in the hope that another commenter might visit their blog? I’m not sure.
What do you think?
Do you think there is such a thing as too many comments?
Would you ever like your blog to get so big that you couldn’t keep up with the comments?
Would you continue to comment on a blog even if you never got a response from the blog writer? Ever?
Oh and don’t worry. I don’t expect there will EVER come a day when I have too many comments to reply to. So please continue to leave yours. 
And it’s all down to you guys!!!! So I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking time out of your day to read my blog. I feel totally humbled by the fact that people actually want to read what I have to say.
Lightening Online has reached some milestones in the past week or so and I’ve been contemplating whether or not I should share them with you. I don’t want to be seen as bragging but at the same time, this is something for all of us to celebrate. Because this blog wouldn’t have made it to these milestones without the support of YOU, my readers.
Recent Milestones:
* Passed the 100 readers via feedburner mark
* Debuted at #38 in the Top 100 Australian Women Blogs list. It probably sounds funny to debut a #38 out of 100 but up until this month it was only the Top 50.
* Debuted at #79 in the Top 100 Australian Blogs Index. To be honest, that one really has me scratching my head as it wasn’t even on my radar. It was one of those “I wonder if I could ever make it to a list like that” type of lists.
Next milestone I’m aiming for:
* reach 100 authority on Technorati. Nearly there (96) but not quite.
Each of you, as part of my blog community, should celebrate these milestones. Because without you, this blog would really just be me talking to thin air. Please know that I appreciate each and every one of you and REALLY hope you’ll stick around!!! 
P.S. I know I’m behind on a meme or 2 (and an award). I’ve started working on them. HONEST!!! 
Since I moved this blog to self hosted and started using Wordpress, I have to admit, I have been having trouble making good use of my blogger “Lightening’s Blogworld” blog. I like the concept of writing a blog that is related to all things blogging (plus a little bit of other internet) so I’ve decided to make the move to a self hosted Wordpress blog for my blogworld blog.
If you’ve noticed some inactivity surrounding Lightening’s Blogworld of late, that’s because I have been busy trying to set up the new site. I was planning the “launch” to be February 1st but if you’d like to pop over and have a sneak peak you can find it at Lightening’s Blogworld. Please pop over and take the tour, subscribe to the feed and of course, leave me a comment.
You may notice I haven’t imported my old content. I decided to make a fresh start. So it has 1 lonely little post so far. But I’m hoping to add at least 3 posts a week once I get going.
Hope to see you there!!!!
Oh, and it will be “business as usual” around here - of course.
