I just wanted to pen a note that I’ve been meaning to pen for quite a while.
Without using an actual pen, of course.
Here’s what’s on my mind: We’ve had a dramatic growth in the number of comments that folks are leaving since JA.O started, and I think that’s just great. I enjoy reading folks’ comments, watching discussions underway, etc., just as much as everyone else. In fact, in some ways moreso since the comments tell me that I’m connecting with people–that I’m writing stuff that they find interesting enough to comment on. I’m always really pleased to see it when a post gets a large number of comments, and kinda disappointed when it gets only one or two (or none). But on balance, the comboxes on JA.O have become a very active place, with many recent posts having 100-200 comments or more.
Wow! Thanks, guys!
The amount of com traffic (to borrow a Star Trek term; or is it B5?) is so great at this point that I am unable to keep up with it. Since my blog is a side project that is not part of work, I can only blog in the evenings (or during lunch or on break), which is why you see me commenting so infrequently during the day. When I get home in the evenings, though, I have to focus on writing the posts for the next day (otherwise folks’ll have nothing new to read). Consequently, I can’t spend a lot of time reading the comboxes. I try to skim them, but I can’t do much more than that.
Now here’s why I mention this: I sometimes see folks asking me questions in the comboxes or making requests or things like that. I feel bad that there are probably many people who are asking questions or making requests that I never see.
So I have my own request to make: If anyone has a question or suggestion that they want to make sure that I see, I’d ask that it be e-mailed to me.
I read and appreciate all of the e-mail I get, though–as I’ve
noted–I unfortunately do not have time to reply to it all and I can’t
promise that I’ll do a blog post based on any particular e-mail. Time
constraints prohibit that, but I really do want to be able to know
about and give attention to the questions and suggestions people have.
Of course, you can put the same question or request in the combox, too, as long as it’s on topic. I often see people posting questions for me in the combox when then another reader (or readers) helpfully answer before I even stumble across the place, so the other readers are a great resource for trying to get questions answered also. Just the other day one gentleman asked for a list of good sources to turn to when trying to get official answers to questions, and I thought that the ones the other comboxers came up with were excellent. In fact, the ones I saw being recommended were the same ones I would have recommended myself, which made me really proud of what intelligent readers I have.
So thanks, and have a great day!