Three Years Later and Now Without a Face -- jcarolek

It's hard to believe I have been "blogging" for three years. I looked at the left menu on my blog page and was amazed at the list of months, years worth of blogs. It isn't as if I haven't deleted any, either. I've deleted plenty.... Still, I rather like keeping the majority of the entries I have made over the years, because I find it interesting to look back and see what I was thinking about "then."

When I first arrived on the eBay blog scene, I was a fairly seasoned eBayer, but a complete blog novice. I wasn't sure what to write about or how to participate in the "community." Back then, the blogs were still pretty new, but already there were clearly territorial battles being fought and, like most new bloggers, I managed to find myself in the middle of some of them, without a clue of how I'd gotten there. There were cliques and villains, funny guys and nasty guys ("guys" being a non-gender specific term). And there were the scammers and the soap boxers, the supremely political, the supremely religious. There were the "helpful" ones and the "hateful" ones. There were the "stop by and say hi to every blogger" types, and the "I never leave my own post" types.

And ALWAYS, ALWAYS, there was someone who warned that because the blogs were not being used for the purposes intended by eBay, they would soon be shut down.... Bloggers reported other bloggers for infractions, perceived or real, and bloggers who were sanctioned by eBay, who would "sneak" back into the the blogs under another ID to complain about being thrown off.... Battles were waged against "zero ID's" and MANY, MANY posts were written singing the praises of "my one and only ID," and just as many posts extolling the "common sense" of using an ID not associated with one's seller's account when on the blogs. Basically, it was very much the same then as it is today.

Certainly, there have been some changes. In the beginning, avatars were not displayed next to the title of the post on the front page, so I took to including my ID in every title. My theory was that those who wanted to read my "always long" posts, could stop in and do so, and those who really did NOT want to work that hard, could simply pass on mine by, knowing it would be long and boring to them. Today, the avatar is displayed for all to see, making the inclusion of the ID in the title moot...and yet, I have never modified that practice. In an odd twist, I, who was an early adopter of using my real photo as my avatar, am now living with the blogging anonymity of the orange-head avatar next to my titles on the front page. I guess updating my photo a couple of months ago was a big mistake. Orange-head I suppose I am forever destined to be.

Another change that I saw was the introduction of the YouTube videos into the blogs. Suddenly everyone became a DJ, or found it preferable to express themselves through posting a favorite song. Personally, I've never quite figured out how to adequately comment on a blog that simply contains a YouTube video. "Nice song," "One of my favorite's too," "UGH, not this one again!" LOL, no, none of these seemed very meaningful to me, so I mostly pass up the YouTube replication posts. Still, I see they have not lost their popularity, meaning that, clearly, I am in the minority. No problem.

By far my favorite posts to read are the creative ones -- those posts in which the blogger seems to have taken a moment or two to create something real for me to read, or to enjoy. Many here are very creative. But many of those creative souls seem to have moved on to other venues, visiting back here only rarely. Nevertheless...I come here to read and every now and then, every now and then.... I see them...those creative ones.

Three years ago tomorrow I posted the short story, a true story of life with my first husband. That, it seems, is the first post I left for posterity.


"Silly Story - Just for Fun
Posted Aug-20-06 14:39:05 PDT

My first husband once went to borrow a circular saw from our landlord.

He left our trailor and a little while later returned with a look of consternation on his face. -- He was holding a black umbrella.

He said, "I think Frank must be drunk!"

I asked why he thought so and he said," I asked him for a power saw and he hunted around and handed me this umbrella!".

I laughed until I was crying...in my husband's DE accent, his request sounded like "parasol"!


I have no idea why I just thought of that....it happened over 25 years ago!"

And even with such a ridiculous post, I was not "run off" by other bloggers. Most were polite and treated me well. I never had the posts that routinely got hundreds of comments and it never bothered me. I've shared stories of my life, thoughts, frustrations with eBay and more. Lately I have been rediscovering the pond in my back yard... the pond on which the dam breached in September of 2006...the pond which for most of my first three years of blogging was not a pond, but a field. This Spring, the new dam was completed and the water quickly returned...and I have been enjoying every moment I can down there...on the dock, in the boat, with a rod, and a camera....and sharing my "catch" with Blogville. And still, they are polite to me, and humor me with my posts.



Through the years I have seen some pretty "interesting" events on the blogs... blog weddings (between bloggers -- or squirrels and mules -- whatever...), blog "awards" wherein the posting blogger awarded other bloggers "the most" in each of the blogger's defined categories....sort of like the Academy Awards.... in bizzaro world.... I've attended "blog parties", "lived" through the births of blogger's babies, deaths of loved ones, marriages, and divorces...real and fabricated. I've been "confidant" to certain bloggers, and confided in others. I have become online friends with some and met some in person. To a one, I have not been disappointed when I have met these bloggers in person.


I have blogged from my living room, from airports and hotel rooms while on business travel, from California to Florida, passing the time and enjoying the unique quirkiness that IS the eBay blogs. I have posted, remembering fondly the little "cake cookies" I used to eat as a child, only to have a blogger I've never met, offer to send me some of those delicious treats... and she did... all the way from the UK. And I posted a fond memory of the first pair of overalls I ever owned, given to me by my father, and realizing that it had been 20 years or more since I'd owned a pair of these completely comfortable overalls...and for Christmas, a fellow blogger surprised me with SEVERAL pairs!

And the song that keeps ringing in my head when I read back through some of my old posts is, "Still Crazy, After All These Years." I suppose it takes a certain touch of craziness to enjoy the whole "blog thing." Admittedly, I spend far less time here than I once did, but I devote far less time to eBay in general than I once did. Some things have definitely changed on the eBay front and not, in my opinion, for the better. Still, I check in here from time to time and post occasionally, rather than daily which was once my norm. These days, I seem to feel my posts are naked, unless adorned with at least one photo. And I still enjoy "seeing" those who stop by to read and comment. Just a few minutes in a busy, event-filled life... just a moment... or two........


Respectfully, yours... just another orangehead eBay blogger.