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Reidentification of My Followers

I have been remiss in posting new blogs of late because the massive revision work and republishing efforts involved with my first two novels, along with the commensurate completion of my latest creation, have all but chewed up the allowable time I had available. In the meantime, through all of that, my daughter, Stephanie, suggested I write a children’s book for my grandsons, Joshua and Daniel. I had begun writing the first part of that manuscript in spurts, but stopped when I ran out of ideas for the continuation of the story line. Now that Joshua has agreed to help with some ideas of his own, I can finish and publish it so that it can be included, along with the others mentioned above, and become available online.

I have republished my first 2 amazing novels: FATE STALKS A HERO I: RESURGENCE and the sequel, FATE STALKS A HERO II:THE FIJI FULCRUM. My third novel, THE SAGA OF HERACLES PENOIT, which is even more fascinating, was just published along with the first two and is now available on AMAZON. I will be giving excerpts on these works in upcoming blogs to show you the reader exciting details about the contents.

My hope is that my current followers, and those new to my website, will do more than just seek information from SJKeyChronicles.com and engage themselves with my novels as well. They can start off by taking advantage of Amazon’s LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK feature and not only leave a comment on this website, but also on my sales page on Amazon in the review section for my novels.

Addressing The Topic At Hand

With that being said, I am seeking an updated profile on my followers and still can’t get a fix on what they like or really want to read about. As I said before in similar blogs, all comments indicate that they are appreciative of what I have to say, but don’t offer any specifics or suggestions. If I don’t know what issues they are facing, I can’t really help!

When I first started my blog, I decided to write about all the experiences in my life. From life adventures, budgeting money, buying and fixing up a home on the cheap to living on a rural homestead. I have talked about cooking meals I like, surviving disasters, spiritual inclinations, and the ongoing process of building my website. My literary endeavors now incorporate many of these lifestyle ventures, as well as those of my more interesting acquaintances, into the characteristics of the protagonists and supporting cast members of the novels I have created.

To date, I have had well over 40,000 commentaries from readers and have approved over 21,000 of them. As I stated in COMMENTARY DILEMMA:PART I, and COMMENTARY DILEMMA:PART II, my readers, give very little feedback in the way of arguments, disagreements, or experiences they have had with similar endeavors. I do get specific inquiries from some bloggers looking for tips on starting or running their own website, but most of those questions are already answered in my blogs.

My New Spam Checker Plugin

One thing that bothers me and I find frustrating to deal with is the numerous readers who cut and paste the same comments over and over on each blog they read. They obviously have no incentive to write an original comment or give blog specific feedback.

When I had my original spam checker/blocker plugin, Akismet, I was dealing with a program that I found virtually useless in blocking spam content. I not only got endless cut and paste commentaries coming through, but also endless globs of full page spam junk that I had to manually deal with and move to the trash bin.

For a fix, I recently dumped that Akismet program and installed WORDPRESS’ new plugin called WORDPRESS ZERO SPAM. It worked so well that I reduced my commentary feeds from 70 or 80 per day to one or two that contained original comments from new followers.

Unfortunately, I wound up having several days at a time lapse with no spam or those repetitive comments coming through. On top of that, my plugin settings were blocking legitimate comments as well, and that bothered me even more. So I figured an adjustment was needed in the settings function of my spam program.

What I Am Still Looking For, Seriously

What I did is review said settings on the ZERO SPAM plugin and found out I could adjust the filter called “Stop Forum Spam Confidence Minimum” that blocks unwanted comments or spam from getting through. Since the default number was set at 20%, I first reset it at 50%, but that maneuver allowed the cut and paste commentaries in again as well as some of that gruesome spam. Now I have it at 47%, and this reduced the spam to almost zero, but some of the repetitive comments are still coming through. So, I manually delete them before allowing the comments I like to be posted. This way my new readership members won’t think my regular followers are brain dead.

In light of those issues, I will say that I am always open to controversy. This means that if you don’t like something I have said, tell me. But also tell me why. If you have a better way of handling a problem, a unique idea on how money can be saved, or something else altogether, tell me and I may use your comment in a future blog if it is well thought out and presented properly.

My primary focus is helping people understand all the experiences I have gone through so they can apply that knowledge towards their own efforts while being amused in the process to help fight off the inherent boredom of any topics being discussed. To keep things interesting, I need help from my followers, as well as my first time visitors. I want their applicable input and will respond accordingly.

If you disagree with a particular blog, tell me so, but also tell me why. You want a private reply? Give me a real email address so I can respond and not get the dreaded “Failure To Send” notice back.

Please have valid suggestions on how I can improve my website, then tell me. If you say that you are experiencing problems loading my site on Explorer, I may check it out, but I would rather have you offer a solution instead. That way others who have the same concerns can take advantage of the answers given and help themselves in the process.

Tips For Commentaries

Here are my suggestions for leaving a better comment:

• Identify the particular item in a blog that captures your interest.
• Tell me what you like or don’t like about that specific item.
• Make a suggestion for a blog that you want to see.
• Don’t be afraid to speak your mind.
• Make legitimate website improvement suggestions.
• Offer to write a guest blog in exchange for one of mine.
• Write legible comments and avoid numerous grammatical errors.
• Don’t cut and paste generic replies. 
• Avoid poorly written comments so I don’t reject their content and dump them in the website trash bin.
• Use Google Translate if you need a clear statement translated into English. I’m not multilingual.
• Please don’t use profanity or it will not get approved.
• Lewd or porn-style commentaries will also get axed.
• Don’t promote your own website in the actual comment.
• Don’t send SPAM and force me to delete it.

Conclusion

I will continue my search for readership engagement and interactive input. I like controversy and interesting feedback. If I am boring you, tell me. I may find it hard to be consistent with interesting topic matter and need a kick in the pants to ramp it up a bit.

You are the reader in control. If I have no one following me, I am writing to myself. If you let me know what you want and comment accordingly, you can help me write a meaningful article and all the readers can benefit as well.

 

I am requesting that my readers click on the links provided and download a sample read of each book and give a review on Amazon. You will have free access to the first four chapters of each book. My hope is that you will like the story lines enough to obtain either an eBook version or a paperback copy that you can put on your bookshelf as a masterpiece when you are done. FATE STALKS A HERO I: RESURGENCE, FATE STALKS A HERO II:THE FIJI FULCRUM, and THE SAGA OF HERACLES PENOIT. I will be giving excerpts on these works in upcoming blogs to familiarize you the reader with exciting details about the contents of each one. Thank you!

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