Do you count your Christmas Cards? The ones you get as well as the ones you send? Do you notice, as Caddoc and I do, that these two numbers are regularly more or less equal? At our first Christmas together, before the rot set in, we sent almost 80 and had 79 back, though some of these arrived well into the New Year. As our enthusiasm for Christmas and various other pastimes declined, our card list shortened until last year, we sent only 8 and were happy to receive 7 in return and one marked "Deceased." Could there be an important piece of Sociological Research in these observations? I can see it written up in some Learned Society journal. "Trellis,A. BA. and Trellis,C. CA. 'Observations on Long-Term Regressive Flux Equivalences in Annual Quasi-Religious Missive Transactions'" or somesuch academic babble. Much the same theory, I imagine, applies to bloggers, their followers and the comments they get. A blog with 1000 followers will regularly get (say) 80 to 100 comments. Such bloggers presumably spend or waste their time circulating blogland, sticking their names to two or three hundred follower lists thus ensuring that other bloggers will return the favour and everyones' comments lists will satisfactorily grow. The relationship - followers to comments - probably won't be one-to-one as it is with Christmas cards, but I'd bet evens that the ratio is pretty constant. It could turn out to be an important Sociological Coefficient, a reliable indicator of a world-wide-web propensity for mutual sycophancy. I mean, when did you last see a derogatory or even a mildly critical comment? (Oh, THAT'S what this "after blog owner approval' is all about! Silly Me!)
Can't say I've noticed the Christmas card theory but now you mention it, yes, it's probably true! On the blog front however, that's definitely not true in my case. I currently over 1,300 followers and get an average of 20-30 comments per post. At this time of year that reduces considerably!
ReplyDeletePerhaps spam has a lot to answer for.
CJ xx
My late husband read every daily paper every day - one particular paper used to get him really ranting; I asked him why he read it if he disagreed with its views so much - he claimed he used it to raise his heart rate each day - personally if I don't like someones blog I don't read it or comment.
ReplyDeleteAs to Christmas cards, lots of people pretend they are making donations to Charity rather than sending any out - and Facebook has done away with the need for the annual Round Robin!
We still get a few Round Robins, despite the withering scorn heaped on them b y Simon Hoggat in the "Guardian" I really, really do not want to know that your Precious Firstborn has got a Distinction in her Grade 8 xylophone, joined the Bolshoi's Corp de Ballet and passed 24 GCE's with starred A's. Or that Granny now gets help every day to replace her catheter. So what's the difference between a printed Round Robin and a Facebooked one? They're no less insanely tedious for arriving electronically.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you feed your robins on to make them round, Mrs T ?
ReplyDeleteyou make good points about Christmas cards and blogs. Followers are an interesting phenomenon-not quite sure what to make of them, but when I read a blog that consistently amuses/educates etc I do mark it as a favorite so that when that blogger posts again I know it and can go over and read it. Now Facebook? That's one wierd strange animal that could devour one's life. But perhaps it's my age showing?
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas!
Oh Mrs T - I wasn't suggesting FB was better than a Round Robin just that people don't write them anymore because of FB. Now we are bombarded with breath takingly boring updates on a daily basis!
ReplyDeleteDear Ada,
ReplyDeleteYes - that would be an interesting thesis of you and your Dear one! "Christmas Cards and their senders under especial consideration of procrastinators and followers".
The theme of followers is so interesting: on one side of course it is ego-bootlicking (is that the correct word??) to have 3298 followers (and I think I can imagine how to get them) - but then it would be a full-time job to read and write to them :-) What I like is personal attentiveness: when I learned a new word from 'Is the Wizz', "scunnered", and used it on Kevin's blog and tell Is that I used it - then to find a few days later on her blog his affirmation "Yes, Britta has used it!" - that is fun - better than a stamp!
Mrs.T seems to imply that (most) people, their children and their family news are boring beyond belief. This isn't true! It does my old heart good to hear that Auntie D who went to live in the Seychelles 25 years ago had an upper molar filled on 27th.March last, etc . . etc . . ETBLOODYCETERA!! How could the world possibly keep going round if news such as this was not roundly disseminated? Although I do agree with her that if the Round Robiners had to handwrite every copy of their 6xA4 pages, these awesome Christmas letters would never have littered our Christmas doormats. The computer/printer combo has much to answer for.
ReplyDeleteThere's an upside to every downside, however. Whilst they're busy with Round Robin, Twitter and Facebook at least they aren't cloggin' Blogger with awesome poetry.
Verification is "ROXULITY" Now there's an abstract noun to reckon with.
ROXULITY? Awesome poetry? hmmmm...
ReplyDeleteRox Ulity danced in the circus ring
And rode bareback on the horses.
The horses never heard her sing
For they were horses for courses.
They pranced with feathers on their heads
And bells upon their reins.
One day Rox wore the feathers instead –
Now she’ll never be the same.
...........................over to you for the next verse?
(Verification is PILBOLA, if that helps)