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The laptop is 1 month and 3 days old today. Who could have done such a thing? What heartless bastard could have broken into a house, probably harassed the cat, and taken an innocent infant laptop who was just sitting there?! The neighbor’s house was also broken into, but the neighbor did not have any bastard children laptops, so no laptop child was stolen from that house. How strange it is, that one house suffers nothing but a broken door and trauma, while the house next door ends up with a broken door, trauma, a traumatized perverted cat, and a missing laptop child.

Victims’ and the Crime profile

This is a real theft people. Sure, you may not believe some things as you may assume it is out of this world, but the laptop was stolen yesterday, and your help is needed.

Reward?: Yes, and this is real. $500 reward through Paypal to anyone who finds or helps Ronald actually find and recover the laptop undamaged.

Where?: Huntsville, Alabama, USA

When?: Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007, between 7 am and 11 am

Type: Apple MacBook Pro, 15″, silver, 2 Gig RAM, 7200 RPM 160GB HD.

Age: Only a month, 3 days old laptop child

Mother: Apple [sold her baby to Ronald on the black market called the Apple store]

Father: Ronald [under investigation by the National Laptops Welfare & Long Battery Life Association [NLWLBLA] for suspicion of buying a laptop child on the black market]

Name or Model # of the victim: A1226

Nickname or Serial number of the victim: W87371FAXAG

Secret lovers: The cat [rumored by angry neighborhood cats. No evidence to confirm or deny this claim]

Instructions for the cops and others to follow

This is a note to all the cops, the community, and anyone who cares about young children, young laptop heartless children to be precise! Imagine the lonely laptop, sitting there without a cover, without a mouse, without the cruel abusive master of an owner who only now realizes the value of the laptop child, and most important of all, without the secret cat lover!

All cops should keep on the lookout for any depressed laptop child that is not turned on. By turned on, I mean turned on screen-wise and not literally, though if you thought I meant literally you are in the same class as the secret cat lover. Anyhow, back to the kidnapping topic! All highway patrol cars are advised to focus on expensive car drivers going empty handed to poor areas and coming back to rich homes in rich areas with a new Apply MacBook Pro. Poor folks can’t afford such a laptop baby, so probably some rich sucker would want to save a thousand on an already expensive product and bring it back to lala land only to discover that the laptop child was kidnapped from Ronald and the lesbian cat.

Non-federal authorities aren’t of help, so hitmen have been hired

So far, non-federal authorities have been uncooperative or unsuccessful in helping the quest to find the missing laptop child. The local rental association has no video, audio or picture record or any recollection of a baby being kidnapped and taken to a car, nor any video or pictures of any people coming in or out of the complex.

Apple, the corporation that not only provides people with laptop children but also can take those laptop childs’ brains away if needed, cannot help either unless and until someone connects the laptop child to the internet and accesses the internet, at which point Apple will terminate [HEAVEN FORBID] the laptop child. Ohhh the horror this world sees! “If I can’t have my laptop child, no one can!” Ronalds’ decision to hire the professional hitman corporation, Apple, is not yet backfiring. Maybe it will be after the fate of the laptop child is sealed and public that we will see heartless child rights organizations going after Ronald for his decision to not allow his laptop child to live if it is not sitting on his lap or next to the cat.

My community aspect of the investigation, and the Iron Claw Assassin

In my research, where I tried to offer help in the neighborhood aspect of the investigation, I found out that I was not welcome anywhere, and that no one wanted to tell me about the missing child. “Why?” I thought. I wondered if everyone was part of this conspiracy. I wondered if everyone knew something but was afraid to tell me. I wondered if everyone knew something but did not want to tell me because they did not like me. Soon, however, I found out why no one wanted to tell me anything about the missing child. “What the hell is a macbook pro?“, “Are you stupid? Why in the world are you looking for a damn apple? Go buy another one from the grocery store you cashless psycho!” and “Who gives a damn about Apple! I have a dell with a D, as in DIE Apple!” were the three sets of answers I got from everyone. It seems no one knows where the damned child laptop is. So much for assuming that the community is of help; it never is. I am wondering if I should do my best to get to the attention-disordered laptop child before the hitmen do.

I am trying my best to locate the stealth Iron Claw Assassin. So far, all my inside agents have reported that they have been unable to locate the Iron Claw Assassin. All of my attempts to locate her have proved futile. That is sad, since the Iron Claw could have pursued the laptop child kidnappers and taken care of them the way The Mad, Mad, Mad Screamer was taken care of, and I am confident that the laptop child would have been recovered safely, albeit a few scratches because of the claw. Claw, holding the laptop child, scratch, pointed, sharp, get it? Better to get back a dented laptop child than no laptop child. Whatever case Iron Claw Assassin is working on, I wish she could finish it soon or just give it up to help us pursue this demonic laptop child that Ronald and the authorities are so obsessed about right now.

I have offered sacrifices to the sea in the form of throwing out trash that was in my car into lakes, rivers and oceans. I have bought nuts for the damned squirrels in Berkeley while avoiding the squirrel who shall not be named [seriously, he cannot be named, nor linked to, but you know how to find out more about him, don't you?], cleaned up after psycho, murdering cats, and even spied on all cats making out with other cats in the community in hopes of finding some laptop children nearby, since rumors say that the missing laptop child had affairs with Ronalds’ cat [more on that below]. So far, I have uncovered nothing, other than the mysterious looks from all cats that probably wonder “Why the hell is he looking at us while we kiss each other? EWWWWWWWW” I hope I can forget everything I am seeing today once, and if, the laptop child is found.

Rumors about affairs between the cat and the laptop child

I did find out through my contacts that there were some illegal affairs between the cat and the laptop child. Even though I was looking for evidence for such claims, deep inside me I remembered the cat when I had met it last month, and I realized that the cat did exhibit such lovely affections to every object inside Ronalds’ house, including me when I was there. However, think of the laptop child: you wouldn’t want your desktop or laptop child to suffer the same trauma, so why ignore this tragedy where a young pro-beastiality laptop child got kidnapped? Sure, you are against animal cruelty, but come on, this laptop was less than a month. So what if a month old laptop baby likes to feel touchy-touchy with a cat? Blame the grown up cat for seducing and having affairs with a child. As you can see from the image to the right, there are some public pictures of the cat trying to get close to the child laptop sexually. Heck, blame the photographer, Ronald, for taking such pictures and not stopping the cat and the laptop from feeling close in that manner!

Me, personally, I have no problem with the cat as I think it does not realize that many humans do not like such contacts with laptops. However, the issue here is the kidnapping of the laptop child, and not the pedophile cat or its master of a roommate Ronald who focused only on what the laptop could provide in terms of productivity and not on the relationship aspect of the laptops’ life. Let’s get the laptop child back now and let’s stalk the pedophile cat and yell at Ronald for being so careless later! Ronald is sad now, so let’s make sure he knows we are there for him! Hmmm ok wait, scratch that: I have to play an online game after this. Ok, Ronald is sad now, so let’s make sure he knows that YOU are there for him, and that I will be there for him soon hopefully. All this neighborhood investigation has bored me to death, so I need some time off. 6 minutes of total investigation takes a lot of effort people!

Community feels strong bias and discrimination by the police

Many community members have told me that they feel the law enforcement authorities are giving way too much attention to this even simply because it was an Apple laptop child that was stolen. “My damn’ Windows 95 laptop of 8 years was stolen last week and no one is investigating that“, a father of 2 new laptop children told me. Some other people pointed out the fact that most Windows laptops are dark in color, while the Apple laptops are usually white or silver in color. All local law enforcement authorities are denying that any racism is involved, citing that most law officers use computers running windows XP, that officers of many different colors from orange to blue to white to green to yellow to black to violet to red and more, are involved in the investigation. Furthermore, a short survey by me revealed that many officers do not know what a MacBook is, let alone know that Apple creates silver MacBook Pros; therefore, officers cannot discriminate against non-Apple laptop owners’ cases since they don’t even know what is missing. Ronald had to show them the laptop box, pictured above, to show the police officers the picture of the poor laptop child that was missing.

Those close to me want the laptop child to stay missing

My desktop and laptops are happy, though. They are laughing and saying “HAHA damn retarded over-hyped apple products! Doing the same exact thing that other products can do. Only thing they are definitely better at that is life-shattering is to get stolen and kidnapped.” Ignore my jealous desktop and laptop, please, and be well! They do not know what glamor is, since they grew up in a hard working family of computers which focused on bread and not gold, and thus they exist to help the poor and those in need instead of being like you, oh dear Apple MacBook Pro laptop child, where you focus mainly on those with fat wallets. You have a higher purpose in life but my laptop and desktops don’t, so please ignore their evil laughs and bad prayers, and instead be safe! When you get back you can laugh back at them!

What if you find any lonely laptop child?

So please, if you see a lonely baby laptop anywhere, see someone talking about selling a baby called “Apple MacBook Pro” or a see a child that has a 15″ screen sitting by the road somewhere, go and talk to the laptop child! See what is going on. Maybe it’s the laptop child Ronald lost! Maybe it is someone elses’ child! Who knows. If the laptop child does not belong to anyone, ask the police. Ask the local hospital. Ask the local tech shops and electronic stores. If no one knows the history of the laptop child you find, do one thing please: sell the laptop child.

Sell it on Amazon, on ebay, on craigslist, anywhere you wish. Since you tried and couldn’t find the laptop childs’ original home, you might as well make some money.

Take action, or make money!

So please, go get your holy books ready to pray for Ronalds’ laptop child, go get your jacket or t-shirt on to go look for the laptop, take out your own desktop and laptop child to search for the missing child laptop. And in the end get your Craigslist, ebay, and Amazon seller accounts ready. For if you do find a laptop child and cannot find where the laptop child came from, you can help find it a new home if you do not want to use it or do not want to get caught, and earn some money along the way too.

$500 reward for finding the laptop

This is also the part which you have to take the most seriously. Ronald is offering a $500 reward to anyone who can recover or find his laptop so Ronald can get his laptop back, undamaged. Ronald will pay you via Paypal.

Look for any Apple laptop child with the model number A1226 and serial number W87371FAXAG.

This is hoping that the laptop child is able to sleep tonight without any problems! My thoughts and wishes and my heart is with you, though my desktop and laptop are still praying that you die a horrible, anti-Microsoft death. Let us see what happens.

If you have any information about this Satan laptop child or would like to help with this ongoing investigation, please e-mail me or contribute below. Thank you!

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I am trying to bring the debate back to the common points, since debating about two different things is going to go in circles. So I will try to include all points in this response, including all of your concerns too. Please let me know if I miss anything, if am confusing the issue more than necessary by going into too much detail or after some point that can be ignored, since I want to make sure you and George do not feel offended in any manner, since my original post wasn’t directed at you or the art of using contact forms but at Tommy from MyBiggestComplaint and the supposed approach taken to contact me, and the real approach that did happen.

You asked for proof that more than 2 people got the e-mail, right? That is a good and valid question. Instead of me offering any answer, the Admins responded here, saying that they sent e-mails to 4-5 people and using copy-pasted templates:

My Assumption of my MyBiggestComplaint Complaint about MyBiggestComplaint

Does that suffice? I also replied there, addressing the admin since he/she explained what they did. It seems they did e-mail me and about 4 other authors, with the same e-mail, though with good intentions. Again, the point is not that someone contacted me through my contact form and I am going to annihiliate the universe; the point I was making is the “perception.” My entire post talks about views, assumptions, perceptions, and doubts in various forms. Please tell me something: is that not a nice or logical way to point out what one things is a bad thing, by assuming only, doubting your own self, and doubting different assumptions too, and making sure there is ample room for anyone to come and criticize myself also? And all in public? Isn’t that the only proper way to criticize a tactic one does not appreciate? Or should I simply post “Tommy spammed me. MyBiggestComplaint.com are spammers. Boycott the spammers!”? I hope not, since I’m not good at pointing out fingers without any doubts or ways for someone to disagree with me, if I was to communicate an idea. Communicate is the key here, and not dictatorship. Even dictators communicate more than forcing things and not allowing any critics.

Ronald is aiming for a fair discussion

Also, regarding Ronald, the poor chap is only doing his job, making sure that one of his authors does not get criticized in disguise unethically, and the anonymous factors give one an advantage over the other. Wouldn’t you do something similar to what Ronald is trying to do? Imagine: he was aiming to ask for the real identity for someone criticizing someone else on his site, which is fine even if it is not revealed. Did you know that Ronald, when I told him about this post, was the one who said “Make sure you have all your facts and assumptions straight.” I apologize personally if you feel offended; Ronald is running a very nice site and concept here, trying to make his authors more popular and succeed instead of himself. I feel bad for anyone going after him or anyone else on this site, no matter how right I may be, because of my post. He has policies, and so do admins at MyBiggestComplaint; my comment there had names included, “Tommy from MyBiggestComplaint”, and the name was removed by the MyBiggestComplaint admin because it was against the policy. That is 100% awesome, since policies exist to do some use hopefully for both the site and the readers, and I appreciate it completely too, specially since my complaint involves several assumptions and that I may be wrong on some levels [read below to please find out that I was right on all levels, and that the spam assumption is not valid anymore because the admin over at MyBiggestComplaint says that they had good intentions, which is nice. Thanks admin!] Ronald responded to Goerge’s comment already, so hopefully Goerge and Ronald should be happy with each other now [I hope], and if not, George can ask more.

Also, I am SO glad that Ronald found the above comment in the spam. Sure, it’s critical in the eyes of many, but it raises an important point: how does Bes go about assuming something like this, and when approached, how do others and Bes defend their assumptions or agree that some of their assumptions may be wrong? I have already pointed in my original post that I may be wrong, and in my above comment too, and in this very comment, I am assuming 100% that at least one of my assumption fears has been quelled because the admin from MyBiggestComplaint said that he/she/they did e-mail different authors the same e-mail, but they had good intentions. I love good intentions, and I like it. Ronald has good intentions too, and I like that too. I hope you and George like it too.

I complemented MyBiggestComplaint on purpose for one main reason: I assumed something negative about them. Is it bad to complement someone you are pointing out in a complaint?

Thanks for reading my complaint over at mybiggestcomplaint.com . Did you read the last part of my comment above? I clearly stated that I was happy that my complaint was posted; the screenshot was posted in case my complaint wasn’t approved. That screenshot gives MyBiggestComplaint more advantage, as I show that even though I am doubting something, something else is clearly a very good thing. Why would you consider it “calling out” someone when the admins themselves don’t think it was calling out someone? I wasn’t thinking of that. I actually congratulated the admins in my comment above, saying that they did approve my complaint and that such services rock that allow complaints of their own service. I have a character where if I see something positive or something doubtful in my own assumption, I will point it out. I don’t like criticizing someone completely if I can avoid it. Is it a bad thing to ever talk about doubts or good intentions about someone when questioning the motives of something or that someone? It seems that even if I doubt myself or appreciate something about MyBiggestComplaint, some people think that what I am and was arguing originally should never be argued; am I being expected to be 100% critical and not doubtful at all. Should I be criticizing MyBiggestComplaints on all levels and everything possible, since it seems that doing or saying anything nice is taken out of proportion without any doubt, even though my own initial post sends a lot of doubt to anyone who reads it because I start the post itself by saying clearly that I am questioning a lot of things and that I may be wrong. I like questioning things before assuming; that is why my entire assumptions are based on questions. Like I said before, questions are better than assumptions.

Also, no matter what is said now, it doesn’t matter how things at handled now, since like I said I love services which do not censor people, whether on their own or because of fear of being criticized; I took the screenshot clearly also to show george that I was using the site and not just criticizing it, thus putting myself in a position deliberately in public to show “Hey, Bes is using the site and complaining? Whaaa?” so that I can show how serious I am about my assumptions and about me doubting my own assumptions.

My initial post is about the way I was bulk e-mailed and how I still see it as spam. It has been over 24 hours, and no reply from Tommy. That is ok; it seems you and george are doing a good job at responding, and the admin and another commentor over at the site have also done a good job at responding. I am not sure why you would be feeling berated or patronized [again, that is sincerely not my intention] when I am only talking about Tommy’s way of contacting me.

Someone responding nicely now has nothing to do with what happened earlier. They are 2 separate issues.

Also, this is very important: The admins can respond to me nicely on their site now, and I like that. Does that change most my post? No. What does responding to my post online now have to do with bulk e-mailing me before to get me to the site? The admins can donate $1 billion to orphanages today, and that will still not change the fact that I was bulk e-mailed; the tactic used to lure me in or make that site more popular was and is the point of my original post and my comment. Does that make sense? See the point I am trying to make? No matter what is being done, the issue still stands. However, the admins have clearly admitted that they did the above. So everything stands other than the “Spam labeling.” From the admin’s reactions, it seems that they did all of what I said in the post except spam. So, everything is correct except spamming, since spam is debatable, and they say their intention was good, which is nice. I am glad I left a lot of room for doubting some or all of my own assumptions; isn’t that good?

Initial assumptions based on the fact of bulk e-mailing, and their validity

I like the admin’s comment, and so far, it seems my following assumptions are valid [I'll add or remove if I remember something more]:

1. I was contacted via bulk e-mail, or as the commentor on the site said, in an e-mail sent to more than one person, someone contacted me using templates advertising a service. That is fine; like I said, I am using the service on purpose to show a point. I appreciate being contacted directly to try a product or a service.
2. I was lured to the site assuming I was the only one contacted. Eh, I wasn’t. This is transparency, but the admin has responded now, which is very nice.
3. My e-mails were never answered, but admin has answered me personally via the comment and via e-mail [yes, he/she responded to me after I filed the complaint], which is very nice too!

Also, I am not patronizing you but answering; I hope George didn’t get patronized or offended by an answer or my answer, and I hope you don’t either.

Basic summary: I questioned something, assumed that I was being bulk e-mailed and spammed, lured away from another person running the same idea, however, I also posted clearly and directly about my assumptions probably being doubtful and wrong, about me probably taking some things out of proportion, me appreciating any nice thing on MyBiggestComplaint, and me clearly acknowledging that admins are explaining stuff, etc [I will add more here if I can remember].

Isn’t that an awesome way to analyze critically and with open doubt and counter-claims in theory, which is what I was doing?

Ok, I hope that is clear enough. Now, if I can be excused again, I must go eat! Please let me know what you think, and also feel free to say anything here.

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Things can go wrong with a blog during the day. Earlier today, Simonne from All Tips and Tricks e-mailed me saying Bes and I spelled “Reader Appreciation” as “Reader Appreciton”. I felt extremely embarrassed and e-mailed Bes to please fix it since I didn’t have access to my blog at work. And the site has been live for over two months.

Other times, when I have made plugin releases, the comments come flooding in (especially bug reports) and I can’t do anything about it since I am at work. I rush to get home after work and the gym, but by then I am so tired, the energy to perform any band-aids or blogging is just nil.

The efforts made in blogging aren’t always justified, especially since I have a day job that already pays the bills. So I must ask myself, what is my gauge of success? I find that the success in the offline world is a little different than that of the online world.

Success in the Online World

Perceived success in the online world typically has to do with three things:

• The amount of traffic and subscribers.
• The amount of revenue earned.
• The amount of influence.

If you don’t have traffic, money, and influence, is your blog really successful? Is the success I mention the recipe for the mythical A-Lister?

Success in the Offline World

Some would perceive success in the offline world as:

• How many people you control.
• How much money you control.
• How much influence a person has.

Some of the most successful people are politicians, simply because they command huge armies and huge budgets.

Is the Offline Success and Online Success Practical?

Some would call their blog a success after reaching a hundred feed subscribers. Some would call their offline life a success after being married and owning a house. I have come to question what I consider a success, both in the offline and online world.

In the online world, am I successful because I have reached a certain feed count? Am I successful because one of my blogs is making some money? Or am I successful because I enjoy what I do and people are benefiting from what I write?

In the offline world, am I successful because I have reached my education goals? Am I successful because I have a good job? Or is there something more?

The Online and Offline Collision

There seems to be a crossroad where there’s a point where you might have to choose which world to achieve that success in. Is it possible to achieve success in both the online and offline world simultaneously? Is that what the mythical A-Lister has accomplished? Or does one have to choose at some point?

Conclusion

The weekend is coming up. I’m looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading.

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The Interview

Ronald Huereca, HOST: Thank you Bes and Chester for both agreeing to meet me on Skype. I wanted to get you both on here to get both your sides of what happened. I’ll start with you Bes. Could you please describe what happened?

Bes Zain, Defendant who almost ran over Chester the Squirrel: I was driving along and I saw a nut on the road. All of a sudden a squirrel jumps out on the road and I slam on my brakes to avoid killing the squirrel. Luckily I was able to swerve my car and miss him, but my car incurred some damage as a result of the sudden stop.

Ronald Huereca: And it is my understanding that you are currently suing Chester for damages?

Bes Zain: My lawyer has advised me that I am unable to comment on pending litigation.

Ronald Huereca: Understood. Chester, what happened on your end?

Chester the Squirrel, almost crushed by Bes Zain’s car: Let’s just make something clear Ronald. Bes was clearly driving recklessly down the road aiming for a nut, as he admitted himself. I had just happened to be gathering food…

Bes Zain: I’m sorry? Gathering food? You were in the middle of the road.

Chester: As I was saying before Bes interrupted… I was gathering food and then I heard the heavy sound of a car engine racing towards me.

Ronald Huereca: Bes, do you want to comment on that? Chester has filed a lawsuit for negligence and now he’s accusing you of reckless driving.

Bes Zain: Chester clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I was driving at a reasonable speed…

Chester: So reasonable that you ruined your brakes trying to stop?

Bes Zain: … a reasonable speed when some squirrel with a death wish just hops right in front of traffic…

Chester: Hops right in front of traffic? I’m not suicidal. I was gathering…

Bes Zain: Look I’m not the one…

(CROSSTALK)

Bes Zain: … not the one who was acting idiotic and running in the middle of the road for a nut.

Ronald Huereca: So Chester, you are also suffering from post traumatic stress from the event?

Chester: Yes. I now have a phobia of climbing trees and entering public roadways. I can no longer function properly as a citizen and am currently going to a therapist twice a week. I can no longer work and am taking medication for depression.

Ronald Huereca: Bes, did you know Chester was going through such pain?

(unintelligible)

Chester: My lawyer and I agreed that suing for damages was in the best interest of my behalf as well as all the other squirrels out there that are in constant danger in public from figures such as Mr. Zain.

Bes Zain: Look. I wasn’t trying to run you over. I was trying to crush the nut. You jumped into the middle of the ro…

Chester: I was getting food!

Bes Zain: … road like an imbecile…

Ronald Huereca: I have an audio clip from Mr. Zain’s lawyer who made a few comments regarding the lawsuit filed by Chester.

(Begin audio clip)

Voice of Bes Zain’s Lawyer: Mr. Chester’s case is clearly without merit. My client, Mr. Zain, was driving normally on a public roadway when Mr. Chester illegally began crossing into the roadway to gather food. My hope is that the judge will throw the complaint out since any reasonable person would conclude that gathering food on a public roadway not only endangers that person, but endangers the lives and property of others.

(End audio clip)

Ronald Huereca: Any response to the audio clip played Chester?

Chester: I am simply appalled. A reasonable person would conclude that gathering food endangers myself and others? Since when? I never had a problem gathering food in the middle of the street until Bes came along.

Ronald Huereca: Bes, if there was one thing you could change about this whole situation, what would it be?

Bes Zain: I wouldn’t have braked.

Ronald Huereca: Last word Mr. Chester.

Chester: I find Bes Zain to be highly arrogant, reckless, and without remorse. I will be glad when the judge rules in my favor.

Ronald Huereca: Thank you Mr. Zain and Mr. Chester for agreeing to this interview. Until next time.

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I have been blogging for more than 6 years in different forms, so there are a few things I enjoy about blogging. So far, the money factor is not one of the top 5 things I enjoy about blogging, so I am happy to actually write what I want instead of writing something I do not want in order to earn money.

5 things I enjoy about blogging

Following is a list of 5 things I enjoy about blogging:

1. I meet other people.

   This is one of the best things, if not the best, that I enjoy about blogging. I meet many other people through my site. I have realized that blogging is an amazing way to develop real friendships, as it is really not that hard to convert an online friendship into an offline friendship. All we need is the will to experiment with different things to see which elements will result in better friendship bonds, as Ronald recently explained in his post “Discover Your Readers Through Goodwill.” The same concept applies to business relationships.

2. I find out what my own thoughts really mean.

   Many times I will start writing a post, thinking I am going to write something specific, and as I write, I realize that there were many things on my mind that I never paid much attention to. As I write an article, those other things come to light, and sometimes I will write about things in great details, even when I wanted to write about something in general. This is good, as I learn more about my own thoughts as I lay them down for practical use.

3. I find out more about the validity of my reasoning through blogging.

   As I write and edit my own writing on topics I otherwise rarely think about, I change my own opinion on a lot of things. I find out where my logic and reasoning works perfectly, and where I need to find out alternative ideas in order to come up with the answer.

4. I learn through comments.

   My blog is a lecture and a discussion board heading in two directions: I am telling you something through my writing and discussing it with you by allowing comments on this site. At the same time, you are telling me something through your comments and discussing it with me by taking the time to actually let me know about your views on certain topics. The guest blogging initiative should help me give you more power on this site.

5. I learn about other people through their blogs and comments.

   The same way you can find out more about people through what they say, you can gradually find out more about people through what they write. This is a really important point in my view, as I can slowly find out what people really think and what they really are through their writing, even if they try to portray a character that is different than what they really are.

Those are 5 of the many other things I enjoy about blogging. Is there anything on the list that you also consider enjoyable? Do you have any comments or suggestions on anything in the list, or on this meme? Please let me know.

I would like to tag 6 people for the “Things I Enjoy About Blogging” meme

For this meme, I would like to tag the following 6 people, listed alphabetically:

1. Lara
2. Miriam
3. Ronald
4. Sidney (Bubs) - Her entry is titled “Squid Meme“
5. Stacee
6. Vivien

Lara, Miriam, Ronald, Sidney, Stacee and Vivien: if you have time, please participate in this meme and list a few things that you either like about blogging or something you do related to blogging, like if you work for a company that deals with blogs and you like a few things about blogs because of your work. I would really appreciate it. Please go ahead, if you would like to participate, by posting about your list and then either linking back to this post or Jonathan’s post, as he tagged me for it first.

Thank you Jonathan!

I would like to thank Jonathan for tagging me for this meme. Jonathan was kind enough to be patient while I took a long time to write this meme post. Thanks Jonathan!

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If on your site you simply pretend to care about what other people think when in reality you do not care, you should avoid asking for opinions all together. Sometimes it is better to not ask for any opinions if you cannot handle them, the way some high profile bloggers disable comments on their sites these days. When should you ask users about their opinion, and when should you avoid asking users for their opinions? One effective way to answer such a question is to find out whether or not you are ready to listen to other people when you ask them for their opinion through polls and comments.

Polls - should you care about the minority voters?

You can have polls on your site to allow people to vote for different things. However, the moment you ask someone to participate in a poll, you yourself enter a world of dilemma where you have to answer two questions; how many people who vote on your polls should you please, and how many people will you end up upsetting along the way?

For example, imagine running a poll on your site that asks your readers if they think it is a good idea to change your current site colors, say green, to orange. Now assume you get the following results from people who vote:

• 50% want the site colors changed to orange
• 49% want the site colors to remain green
• 1% do not care

In this case, you can run to the idea of democracy and say that you have to appeal to the majority of the people. But what should be done about that 49% that does care about the issue? Should you ignore them or simply say “Sorry!” and move on? Do they have to be neglected and penalized simply because they were short of the few necessary votes? It seems unfair that someone should be ignored simply because there were not a lot of other people agreeing with them. Those 49% voters who lost to the majority voted because they respected your choice to listen to their opinion. You should respect each of their vote and act accordingly also, regardless of what you do with their votes.

Even when you do not do something that the minority voters wanted, you should at least acknowledge their vote and offer a good explanation for your decisions. Saying “because majority of the people thought this was a good idea” is not a reason to do something. It is an excuse to hide the fact that you are going along with the idea that will give you the least resistance or criticism. Being opposed by 49% of the people may appear to be a better choice than being opposed by 50% of the people, but you can try to make those 49% unhappy people satisfied in some ways also.

Each and every comment needs proper care and attention

When you allow people to comment on your site, you are asking them to take some time to write out their thoughts, feelings or opinions. That is a huge favor to ask for, and you should respect people for doing you that favor. Making it easy for other people to comment helps people participate more on your site, and that means you have to respect people even more because you make efforts to make sure people are drawn into dedicating time on your site. Respect any participation and try to listen to people who participate. If you get criticized through different types of criticizing comments, learn the “Art of Reacting to Criticizing Comments.” No matter what you do, listen to everything and react accordingly and with respect.

I see more and more blogs and companies everyday that disrespect most user comments by ignoring them. However, these same blogs and companies respond to every comment by high profile bloggers, whether on their own sites or on the high profile blogger’s blog. None of these bloggers and online services treat blog readers equally. They simply jump into the conversation arena when they want to please a high profile blogger. That is in my view a disrespect to everyone else, and I notice it on many low and high profile blogs. Do you notice a similar trend on sites you visit?

Can you ever listen to everyone?

Forget the myth that you should get everyone involved and then after a poll or comment, leave the minority in the dust. Treat everyone the same and with respect, even the people who wanted something that you did not or could not provide in the end. You may not be able to please everyone, but you can try to satisfy and respect everyone. Not being able to respond to every comment or vote is an excuse in my view; if you have time to respond to all the people you consider important, you should also have time to respond to people you may not know or may consider insignificant.

Your blog is your country: run it in ways to make everyone happy while making sure your basic duties are fulfilled. Your basic duties include helping your people, who are your blog readers. When your other basic duties like improving site design get affected when you are trying to appeal to people along the way, stick to things you believe in, and offer explanations to people whose opinions you did not consider in your decisions. When you sincerely explain to someone why you could not please them after you asked for their comment or vote, you are expressing that you are of the opinion that the laws of nature do not allow you to do everything that everyone wants at the same time. People would rather be told why something did not happen instead of being ignored.

Be accommodating asking for opinions

When you ask for opinions, be flexible and creative. Commenting takes time, and so does participating in a poll. Just because you provide commenting and polls for free does not mean you have to neglect the importance of votes and comments you receive. Spending time on your blog is one of the most important favors you can ask people, and when you do, be ready to respect those people regardless of their opinions. There are ways to satisfy people, even when you do things they do not like.

Try not to ask for opinions on things you have already decided on unless you are a flexible person who is willing to change opinions if convinced with good logic. Otherwise, over time, people will start realizing that you simply ask for comments and votes for polls in order to act as if you care, but in reality you simply want to go with the flow and get more traffic.

If you care about only what majority of the people or high profile bloggers think, you should not ask everyone to comment or vote on your site in the first place. If you do ask for everyone to comment or vote with such a mentality, try having a header on your site that says “Comments and votes allowed only from people I care about, or people who make a lot of money!”

[update 1 - 11:34 am PST - 03-08-07] Edited one sentence for clarity and validity as per Stacee’s suggestion and my response below[/update]

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The main reason I blog is because I want to make a difference with my blog. Following are 5 of the many reasons that make up the major elements that make me blog, or at least help me be satisfied with my blog, like one of the points mentioned in Ronald’s list. I will list the basic points here and explain them in future posts.

1. Voice opinions that people may usually not focus on.
2. Communicate with people.

   I can communicate through blogs and meet new people in ways that were not easily possible in my offline life. I try to communicate with people and learn better communication along the way, and I also try to pass on my understanding of communication onto others so we can all realize how communication can be affected by different elements.

3. Try to help people realize how trends and stereotypes about things from both the offline and the online world may keep us from looking at situations from different perspectives.

   This ranges from topics that talk not only about the majority discriminating against the minority but also the majority being discriminated by the minority, how sometimes being treated like a cash flow instead of a human being may be good, and also things like ethics of commenting.

4. Show people that if I can blog to achieve success in different ways without forgetting about people that I met along the way, anyone and everyone else can.

   These days many blogs respect commentors only to get more traffic. I want to change that mentality, and I also want that mentality changed in our offline lives.

5. Make other lives better while making my life better also.

   Blogging allows me to convey things I have learned through hardships, mistakes, and what I view today as wrong decisions, with others.

For this meme, I would like to tag anyone who wishes to be tagged. Please list the 5 reasons you blog and let me know, and I will link to you. Thank you.

Thank you Ronald for tagging me. I really appreciate it. Thank you everyone, including Ronald, for reading this. I really appreciate you taking the time to read some of the reasons I blog. I will soon post separate posts explaining each of these points in detail.

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Successful people do not copy others

Successful people do not copy others, nor do they mimic the efforts of their role models. A dedicated person should already have an idea of what they want and how they want it in order to be able to learn from the mistakes and advice of others. That is where the role models come in: their mistakes and advices can help you in your blogging efforts. The very concept of a role model is there so you can learn things in order to help you with what you have already set your mind on doing. A role model is not supposed to dictate what you should do.

There is no “next” big thing

Many people who look up to other people for everything without trying something creative and unique on their own depend on others to lead the whole way. These people unfortunately believe in the widespread myth that they can be the next “something“, where that “something” is usually considered to be something like ProBlogger, CopyBlogger, IBM, Microsoft, Tupperware, Nokia, Clint Eastwood, Al Pacino and many other entities which are considered icons by different groups of people for different reasons. The reality is that there will never be a “next” anything in this world.

Anything effective and successful is always unique. You cannot be the next-anything; you have to be you in order to develop your own icon and model that others can look up to. You can be successful in things you want to do, but if you want to copy someone in order to have the same success, you should start analyzing the nature of your goals. Chances are your goals will be similar to the goals of your role models since you initially copied their efforts with the hopes of achieving similar success.

I try to learn from many other people

Try to learn from the mistakes and success of others and apply such knowledge to your own plans and strategies. Be your own “next” thing if you absolutely cannot let go of the “next-something” myth. Mimicking and following others will only result in you looking to others for guidance for everything and forever. I do my best everyday to do something that I feel is my own work instead of doing something simply because someone successful is doing it. I do not automatically respect a site simply because a million other people respect that site. I observe sites for my own analysis and if I feel someone is sharing a thing that I can learn from, I appreciate that person and I apply the new knowledge to my own life and online efforts.

Take John Chow as an example for something I think I did that I did not need to do. These days, I somehow feel that choosing the “dot Com” as part of a new name for my site may have been influenced a bit because of John Chow [your fault John], whose site name is “JOHN CHOW DOT COM.” Thus I have been thinking lately of stripping that last part since “The Reasoner” name will suit me better. If I can realize that something was influenced by someone else when it doesn’t go along with what is good for me and my site, I think such realization is golden and I should address the situation and learn to avoid doing things without specific reasons, no matter how small they are.

I myself try to learn from many different people like Copyblogger, John Chow and Darren Rowse who runs Problogger. I also learn from almost every site in my links section, including Valerie, SP, Ronalfy, Daniel, Vera, Nicole, Sawai and many others. Help others and learn from them also. Apply small tips and help you observe from other bloggers you look up to in order to make your own blogging efforts better.

Learn from others to be successful in your efforts

Observe your role models for tips and advice you can apply to the blogging efforts you are already focusing on your own. That is the only way to succeed. Everything and everyone that has made a difference in this world, both online and offline, either has their own unique character and entity since the beginning, or they learnt to have a unique character and entity along the way by learning from others and their own efforts. Try to follow that principle as your role model and you will achieve a lot.

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You may already know who Ronald is. In January I participated in the Peeve Week that Ronald started and managed. I would like to thank Ronald for hosting this contest. Ronald also supported me and my site in the WTLC Blog Essay Competition, even though he had entered the competition with his own post titled “Things you should avoid blogging about“, which gained the most traffic in the entire competition.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks again to you for supporting me all this time. Without your support, I may have probably lost a lot of interest in this site and my writing. Now I have to figure out how to spend the prizes from both contests. I am also wondering about the possibility of running a competition myself on this site. I will think about it some more.

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This is a randomly chosen list, so if you can think of any other tool or piece of technology that you think is not living up to its promised standard, please let me know or share it here via your comment.

1. Faster cars

   This is one thing many people love to have. However, it does more harm than good at this time. Newer cars all boast faster speeds and lower 0-60mph time frames. While having cars with capable speeds of 160 mph or more is nice, here is a question that many do not answer directly: why have such high speeds when the maximum speed allowed for most cars anywhere in many countries is only 75 mph? Having higher speeds in newer cars is actually making some people get into more accidents. Why not focus on making more room in the car, giving out more gas mileage and building an engine that needs less oil change, repairs, and other things?

2. Automated customer support systems

   This is something majority of the companies are rushing after. Calling customer support these days usually results in listening to a computer voice that usually claims it is “happy to help you.” Many times these automated support systems are so poorly planned that customers end up getting frustrated. Hearing a robotic voice say “Please enter your account number. Without it, we will not be able to assist you” is not good when you are calling to find out your account number. When properly used for the benefit of the customer, automated support systems can be a life saver, instead of simply being money savers for companies who do not want to hire additional support staff.

3. Watches with fancy features

   While watches are considered by many to dictate define first impressions, wearing a watch that has a host of dozen extra features that you do not use somehow shows to many people that you simply want to impress people through your watch and not your personality. Imagine the new features in watches today: cameras, tv, thermometers, blood pressure readers and more. While such features are nice for specific purposes and for paving ways for future advancements, they do not aid in finding out the current time. How about we add fancy features to watches that serve a target audience only, like swimmers who need to know the water depth? That way, we can all look at the time and be done with it in a second while those who need the extra features get them.

That is my list of 3 things that I think should be kept simple and made more efficient instead of making them fancier. Please let me know what you think, or if you have a list of your own. Thank you.

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Racial discrimination

Theoretically on the web, there should not be any form of discrimination. In reality however, there is. We use the same racial terminology to describe people on the web that we do in person. On sites like MySpace and Facebook, I see many people sticking around and joining groups that promote their culture only by degrading other cultures. The potential of the web is being wasted in creating more separation than what the web is actually capable of: bringing everyone closer than never before. Similarly, we ask people about their ethnic race and background culture even when it comes to things like creating some e-mail account or joining certain blogging networks. We need to realize the situations where such information is beneficial to everyone, and we also need to realize the situations where such information is not relevant.

It is easy to get a chance to appreciate others online for what they do for themselves and for what they do for others. Even when we see pictures of millions of people on their own sites, we do not rush to conclusions based on their biological appearance. Instead, we associate the writing with the picture and that association creates a completely new perspective in our minds. Such interaction with others on the web will help us phase out any stereotypes we have related to different people online.

Gender discrimination

One of the other obvious forms of discrimination today is against females. In real life, many people get surprised when a female accomplishes great things in a male dominated world. We still get surprised and show anger at the very thought of a woman running a country, regardless of her political affiliation. Similary, in the corporate world we still throw tantrums in real life and online when a female runs a big corporation, creating extra fuss simply because of her gender. We have a way to get over this on the web but many choose not to.

The same way there are stereotypes against people of a specific gender in the world of shopping, stereotypical discrimination exists on the web also. Many people will still only link to sites of the same gender, because they “don’t trust” the opposite gender. I wonder if they follow this same rule when it comes to their parents, siblings and children? While everyone is entitled to their opinion, we have more chances to look at sites without wondering about the identification differences that the societies in the world have created. The online world allows everyone to have equal opportunities, regardless of their gender. Let us make use of these opportunities to at least remove discrimination from our own mentality.

Conclusion: The web allows us to progress against discrimination

While discrimination usually amounts to promoting a certain biological trait over another, sometimes promoting such traits effectively as a reactionary countermeasure helps people be aware of discrimination. Blogging sites focusing solely on a certain gender can be an example of this. While they all may be considered promoting a certain gender over the other, some of them actually take the right step when it comes to raising more awareness about something that has been suppressed for centuries: realization that everyone is equal regardless of their gender. Similarly, there are many sites which promote blogs by a certain country or a certain ethnic group. Joining these groups is fine as long as you do not put any other country or ethnic group below your own. You do not own rights to a certain group of people, and therefore you certainly not own rights to degrade any group of people.

I look forward to the day when people would feel comfortable doing things both in real life and on the web regardless of their gender or race. I also look forward to the day when different people will do different things together while still getting together with people of similar traits if they wish. I hope this is done in an effective manner so that everyone is treated equally, and that sticking close to people of different races and both genders makes us realize that we are all equal. One day people will hopefully tell each other “Back then they used to treat people of different races and gender differently.” I hope I see that day in my lifetime.

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Following are the 5 topics that the Peeve Week is offering posts for the week of January 15th, 2007:

1. Monday - Discrimination
2. Tuesday - Cellphones
3. Wednesday - Techology and gadgets
4. Thursday - Retail
5. Friday - Money

I will try to participate in the different topics available here. Also, I entered my article “Importance of transparency in blogging” into the WTLC Blogging Essay Competiton. Please go ahead and read the entry and rate it depending on whether you like it or not. I would really appreciate it.

Thank you.

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