Well, I managed to get myself out of trouble with the WordPress robot overlords for the fake spam gag. So obviously that means it is time to stir up some more trouble.
No… not with the delightful people who run our little blog world. I will never do anything to make them angry again. Not after they sent me to my room without any supper for three days. But I do have an idea for a fun thing to do if any of you are bored.
It is called ‘highjacking’.
If you have never heard of this, or had it happen to you, here is what it is; You go to the comment section of a blog you follow and read through all the comments… (Note: you should already be doing that, because comments are where the magic happens)… Now look for a clever comment made by someone you know. I guess it doesn’t have to be someone you know, you could make a new friend. Now just respond to one of the comments that catches your eye.
If you are lucky, that person will respond back to you. If you are very lucky, that person is either unemployed and bored, or home sick for a week. So now you just keep responding to their responses. Remember to be clever so the comments keep flowing back and forth.
Now before you get all upset and think that I am once again trying to get you into trouble, calm down. Nobody cares if you do this on their blog. It just makes their stats go up. I have had it happen to me numerous times. Some of my posts have 300 comments on them. Sometimes I join in, and sometimes I just watch it unfold. But the secret of this game is to just keep going even if the person whose blog you are doing it on doesn’t notice. Keep the comments flying for days if you have time. Trust me, this is fun and completely harmless. In fact, you should go and read some of the comment streams on some of my posts that have an exceptionally large number of comments. Because my commenters are the best in the known universe.
So why did I start this post off by talking about getting into trouble again?
Because I typed the word ‘highjack’ onto my computer.
So I have been flagged by the NSA… (National Security Agency) and the CIA. Their robots are right now trying to determine if I am a national security threat.
I guess I am tired of messing with WordPress. I have decided to play with the big boys now.
P. S.
If you don’t hear from me for more than three days, send a cake with a file in it to Guantanamo Bay or one of those black sites where we hold prisoners that nobody is supposed to know about.
Pouring My Art Out 
You DO like to play with fire, don’t you!
Only when it’s cold outside…
😎
It’s a great game…I had an idea about having arguments on other people’s blogs; not with the blogger, but with someone you know about something unconnected to the post subject, you join the comment section in the middle of the argument…takes more planning though.
Go back and read the early post I did where I used like 6 computers in a college class room and took a different personality on each then joined a chat room and acted like a hive mind. That was awesome.
I remember that post! I certainly should’ve commented on it and said what a brilliant idea it was! I’m just trying to build up enough blogs to attempt something…ultimately pointless I guess…
How many blogs do you need?
Six seems to be the magic number.
Now I feel like I am missing something.
If you build it, it will come.
You are quite cryptic tonight.
Time is against me! I don’t plan this stuff…and I’ve just had an idea about how to combat people who ‘like’ one’s post without actually reading it…there’ll be a preemptive apology to the people who do actually read my stuff…
Just make sure this is happening in a place I can find.
It’ll be on the seed blog, I promise.
You are making me a little nervous.
Me too…but you’re not brave if you’re not scared.
That’s what I said… right before they shut me down for 4 days.
But you’re back…I’ll just set up another blog!
I thought of that during my exodus. But how would I find all these people again?
I agree that it would be much harder for you, being that you have so many more followers…me, not so much.
I have never looked at your stats. But if you have 6 blogs, and I only know about a couple of them, and I don’t know if the others I know about are still active, you do sort of lead an illusive, clandestine mystery existence.
I only have four at the moment; this one, the sacha one, the PMAO audio blog one, and the Shangri-La one…and I have a lot of fake followers.
…and technically I don’t exist………
Are you still doing anything on the audio blog??? Because that was the funniest thing ever.
No, I keep getting ideas when you post stuff that I could do, but I’m usually too late to make an impact. I’d definitely like to do something else though.
We need to collaborate on something crazy.
That we do…thinking caps at the ready…
My pointy head is already shaped like one. So I am good to go.
Excellent…shout me when you’ve thought of something…I know you don’t plan ahead with your posts, but if you do have any ideas that are floating around, let me know and I’ll see if anything grabs me.
It needs to be something that takes people by surprise. Something weird. Something that somehow combines two blogs together. I think you were on to something with that crazy garden idea, but it was hard to keep people engaged for that long. But it should somehow allow people to contribute to it so they feel they are a part of it.
That’s a big idea…I think the garden one was a bit too subtle and tame; it needs to be bigger and in your facier…or at least cooler.
But fast… just a day or two. I gotta go to bed. I will catch you on the flip side.
I don’t to look anymore I just follow you funny thing I didn’t get into any trouble why is that?
I grateful to have met you!
Well it’s nice yo have you here. Thanks.
Out of the frying pan….
I don’t know what comes over me.
I just thought you were living the dream. You know, what’s life without a little risk? That. I hope you learned a valuable lesson from all this. A lesson that you could write down and sell seminars about, and books on tape also. You could call it “I Know What I Did This Summer”. Or “Steve”.
I could make money teaching people to not be idiots.
You could
Would they listen?
They listened to you before
I must have missed that.
As you know, i do this all the time but i had no idea that it’s called highjacking…lol i’m the reason your comments are so high aren’t i?! lol
Now you typed that word and the government is sending the drones!
uh oh
Small ones… the size of bees.
oh crap i forget what we were talking about?
drones…
who?
just forget it.
forget what?
I forget.
Is your book a Hitchhiker’s parody?
It is sort of like that… but as the books continue there is a lot more adventure. It is sort of hard to explain. But mostly I just make fun of the things humans take so seriously, while trying to balance the least likely hero of all times with some really weird situations and a lot of strange alien technology. It is sort of Dr. Who meets… a bunch of other things.
I didn’t think it was but I also didn’t know how to explain it. But the restaurant at the end of the universe and the character being named Arthur. I knew it was tied somehow.
The thing is, the main character of my book is me… but me from another dimension sort of like this one… and that is my actual name… so…
I guess that was just a coincidence then.
Plus Arthur is a funny name. If you go back and watch Monty Python, you will find that almost every time they needed a character in a skit, they used that name.
They sure did.
And who does have their multiplication tables memorized? I am good at math but terrible at counting. I can do calculus, but long division eludes me.
I am all art side of the brain. I do all kinds of art, but I have no real life skills.
I play music, do photography, charcoal pictures, solve rubicks cubes, stand up comedy, and a million other things. I guess mix it up pretty well between which half of my brain is working.
That must be nice.
Do you have any tips for someone just starting out?
Just starting out what?
My blog
Oh… well… I don’t know if I am a good person to ask. But I am getting good results being crazy. A lot of people just focus on one thing. But if you just scroll through a few months of my posts really quickly, you will see that I never do the same thing for more than a while. I am just putting my whole life up here. Every crazy thought, art, pictures, whatever.
I wanted my blog to be broad so I could cover everything I am interested in, but I am finding it hard to engage people in comments, and feedback.
Okay, here is the secret. Answer every comment you get. And go to lots of other blogs. Pick some topics in the reader and just scroll down. When you see something interesting, leave clever comments. Be a little weird. Just enough to stand out in the crowd, not enough to scare people.
Gotcha. How long have you been doing this?
A little over a year.
Do you make money doing it?
No. I am making a few bucks selling my book, but not very much.
Have you tried advertising?
I might work up to that. I am focusing on ways to market the book, and maybe sell some of my other writing. The blog is just for fun.
Gotcha. I bought your book. After I read it I will write up a review and point them your way.
That is so awesome. Thanks. I hope you like it. I should almost have enough to pay off my editor and start getting the second book ready.
Cool man. If you ever want to swap posts or anything else like that let me know. I like bringing other people’s voices onto my blog.
Okay… I gotta crash. I went to the pub and drank some Boddingtons. I am sleepy.
Alright. I am about out as well. I will let you know when I finish the book.
awesome-sausage-squeezings!
I am going kinda crazy looking at this from all the different angles.
Welcome to my life…
And it isn’t. Since my interests are so varied it seems like I am never getting anywhere. I do a lot of things better than most but I will never master one.
I hear you. Make that work for you here.
It is good to see that you are still alive. I looked around to try and find a way to contact them, but I didn’t see any.
It has all resolved itself, but thanks for thinking of me.
No problem. So I was looking at your book. Is it a parody of Hitchhikers’s Guide.
Sorry, I was answering that while you were asking again. The silliness is sort of similar to that, but while it may be a tribute to that, is isn’t a direct parody.
That’s cool though. I enjoyed those books. I will have to check yours out. I have a couple book ideas in mind, but I always have too many projects going on as it is. Also I have never really been big into writing. I was more of a math person until I started blogging.
I don’t even have my multiplication tables memorized… sigh…
don’t puff his head up too much, he’ll get into trouble again! lol If you need tips for starting out maybe I have ideas?
She might have ideas… but I seriously doubt it… HA!
oh i have ideas
Good ones?
always
Oh come now…
where are we going?
Now you are just being obstreperous.
ob what?
Look it up. It never hurst to learn a new word.
no it never hurst
It might hurt your brain, but that’s it.
um you hurt my brain..lol
Because I make you think.
moi think?
Now you are just going around in circles.
moi?
weird… I see another comment above this one from you, but it wont open… what did you do?
i don’t know what i did? nothing different
Are they still messing with me? Teaching me a lesson?
i don’t know, i usually just hit reply by the persons name and then reply. in you’re one conversation on there I wasn’t able to reply, there was no reply
It is all a mystery.
it’s a conspiracy mawahaha
It could be.
😉
Definitely what do you have for me?
Yeah… hook him up. Or he could just read my new post and learn everything there is to know about blogging.
Haha nice
We gotta fight over every scrap of attention around here.
That’s for sure. Hey you…hey…hey…Look what I can write.
umm… I assumed that meant you wanted me to pop over and look at a post you did… which I did… mostly out of shock at your outrageous shamelessness which impressed even me… but I just saw a movie about a prank… and one about drunk people falling down… so I am at a loss as to what exactly I am supposed to be looking at.
Or did you just mean that as an example of how we are all begging for attention, in which case you have already beaten the master.
Just showing how we are all begging for attention like when we were kids. Mom…mom…mmoooommmmm….lookwhat I can do.
See… I figured it out, but not before I opened my mouth and fell right in. Once again, I am too clever for my own good.
Me too
I guess it could be worse.
Too stupid for the good of anybody
Exactly.
ha! what questions do you have?
No… don’t listen to her… she is a crazy person… and a slow reader and an even slower typer. All she has is free time. Wait for Elroy.
look who’s talking
Bad movie… bad comment… ha!
How to engage readers, how to make money advertising, should I switch to wordpress.org, and just about any pointer you could give me from your experiences woud be much appreciated.
You might as well answer here… I might want to know some of that stuff.
Oops i answered your last response before i saw this one…engaging readers is a matter of following and responding to as many blogs as you can
.com is fine more universal
it looks like you have a good following, are you’re stats good?
You need the following and good stats to make money and making money takes time. I can tell you some of the things i’m connected too on my other website that will in time generate an income
Tell us more…
i didn’t even realize we were still chatting on your blog..lol i’ve tried to tell you a few things PMAO but you didn’t seem interested..
I just get frustrated… I really am not that smart, and I suck at computers…
so do i, i can help you figure it out
That is really cool of you. We really are friends, aren’t we?
yes we are. 🙂
yay
yay!
ha
do you have an email, and i can send you some $ generating ideas and tips
it would also be good to have an “About” page on your site with an email contact. It’s always the first place I go. I know many others do too.
I want that email… maybe you could make money telling us how to make money.
it’s a great way to actually!
How much do I owe you?
mawahahaha!
Great thanks!
I think I sent you an email with my email.
Cool. Prepare to get spammed. Jk 🙂
very funny
Can you delete my comment with my email?
I think so.
Oh my email is tellsafe@hotmail.com
My blog is very different from yours. So if you could check it out and give me advice that i can apply to mine I would appreciate it.
You seem to cover a wide range of topics. Lots of pictures. Good commentary. It is just going to take time to filter out to people.
Yeah it is going good so far, but I know I have a lot to learn. So I am trying to find people who have been through these issues already, so I can see what worked for them.
We are all just finding our way… stumbling in the dark. What works for one person doesn’t always work again.
Can you send me your email also? I have other things I would like to discuss not in comment form.
I don’t really want to do that in a comment.
Email me from mine in your comments
I have no idea how to do that.
oh… you mean get your email there… I got that.
I enjoy your blog so I nominated you for an award
http://wp.me/p3BmFK-tB
I feel bad about this, but I don’t really do the award thing. I am honored. But I have a feeling that WordPress started these awards just to keep us busy. They are like chain letters. And I don’t have a place on my blog to put all the awards I got. And I can never figure out who to give them to. And I can never think of five or seven or ten things about myself that I haven’t already blogged about. But I do thank you.
It’s all good man, but I just got a ton of traffic and comments out it. They are kinda stupid fake awards, but I just made a bunch of people look at my blog that probably wouldn’t have otherwise.
You are learning the tricks already. Soon I will be asking you for advice.
You should just make an extra page to put them all on, and we can start passing them back and forth. Easy promoting.
You may be on to something there.
Seriously. We can just make up awards and send them to all sorts of blogs and they will happily come to your site and post a comment and hit a like button.
Just bear in mind that there are millions of bloggers. Some are new and some have been here a long time. So some people are more impressed by the awards than other people are.
Delete these messages so we can keep this between ourselves.
It doesn’t work that way. You need to take your chances. I deleted the email, because that is personal property. But I can’t go back and clean up after every crazy idea you have. I have too many of my own floating around out there.
Ok. I know some people won’t care, but you wouldn’t have gotten them to view it anyways. I just heard of these things today, but they have the potential to be really effective. They like it cause they can put something on their site that validates them and you might get a follower out of it. That’s why I tried to pick out specific things that I liked about each post. It engages them.
What things are we talking about exactly? I answer a few thousand comments a day, and do stuff on other blogs, and comment on other blogs. I already forgot exactly what our big plan was… sorry.
Awards
Right… fake ones. Nobody is going to go through all the comments on my post just to see what we are up to. I have actually done fake awards for people in Photoshop. The thing about this idea is that it is like crying wolf. It might work for a few hours, but nobody would get too excited about it. Awards don’t really increase your readership. There are so many floating around. It is really just a way that one blogger can give a nod to another. But not many people think they need to rush over to see the other blog. You would do better to just comment on as many blogs as possible being as clever as you can. Also, reblogging people’s posts is good, but you should ask first.
I do that too but I have ideas for funnier awards and I think that making them more personal could achieve the desired effect. Plus I was only going to do one every once and a while. They work well with my blog because of the way it is set up.
It could be fun.
And they are all fake ones aren’t they
Good point.
I was wondering about re blogging. I have never asked permission and I wasn’t sure if I should
People don’t usually mind. It is free exposure to new people.
And I was thinking like a participation ribbon just for giving it a shot. So we’re already not taking it seriously. This works better for funny blogs but who knows.
I am trying to come up with some sort of crazy audience participation scheme with another guy. Maybe we will include you. It isn’t easy to come up with something new. This is like trying to figure out what movie will be a hit, or a book, or what video will go viral.
I have a couple that have been working pretty good. Look at my page that says spread the love and a post that says make me a famous meme
You have a lot of good stuff. You will be kicking my butt before long. Because you don’t make people read a lot. I think maybe people don’t have to click your individual posts to read anything, and that might cut down on your hit numbers. But that unicorn guy… freaky… and I have read that conversation between the Navy ship and the lighthouse… funny… You have everything a blog could want.
Yeah I have thought of that. So I try to put a little taster on the front page so they want to click and read more, but it is evolving everyday. I do have some longer more in depth posts mixed in there, but they don’t do as well as hot chics with tatoos. So whatever. I like it becaus it is a way for me to organize my brain and life for that matter. I do have to dumb it down for the masses. I am in school finishing multiple degrees, and would love to talk more sociology or politics, but that isn’t wjhat the average person enjoys though.
Never talk down to the masses. They can sense it. I don’t have that problem. I dropped out of high school. Ha!
Some of the greatest minds in history never finished high school.
Yeah, but a lot of the not so great minds didn’t either. Of course, I’m sure Bush and Cheney went to college, so…
Exactly, and you wrote a book. That is an item on my bucket list that I haven’t even been close to checking off. I live in Las Vegas. Nevada has the worst education system in the nation. I strive for knowledge on my own time, and that is what has helped me more than school ever did.
That is the secret. I never stopped learning, reading, getting interested in stuff.
Me either. I am always reading a book. Whenever I have downtime I am looking up stuff on my phone. I must say the smart phone has done so much for my education. Anytime I want to know something I look it up instantly before I forget about it. Not enough people use the tools readily available to them. When I got a smart phone I was able to start working towards becoming fluent in Spanish, learning piano, and studying to take the LSAT all with free apps on my phone. That’s amazing.
You can’t underestimate good old reading.
I don’t talk down to them. I enjoy the stuff I write that appeals to them as well. My post about Jonathan Swift got a few hits, and one pic of a hot chic gets hundreds. The post about Jonathan swift took a lot more time and energy to write. Hot chic was up in a minute. So it is just a matter of what is more effective.
So I need more hot chicks…
This blog is actually based on two simple ideas. One is to get high enough numbers to impress a publishing house. But mostly, because I am all art-side-of-the-brain, it is so future generations of my progeny can have a place to go see where their weirdness comes from. And it is also a nice place to store funny pictures, and scans of my art, and songs, and my tikis and all that other stuff back there. A lot of my stuff I wrote way back when I was young.
That’s awesome. I am a sell out. 🙂 At least with this blog. I set this up to make me money, and a lot of research and prep. went into it. I want to get it to the point where I can hire my friends and family to basically be a creative think tank. I have some big plans for it if everything works out. I think that is the only job that wouldn’t feel like a job for me.
If you start to make money, be careful you give credit to all the pictures you use.
Do you know the inns and out of copyright laws and appropriate content?
Not at all.
Me either. That stuff is so confusing to me. I have been in touch with people who are experts to help me get my site ready for when we start selling products and add space. I was just hoping that for now I am too small time for anyone to care.
That’s what I am hoping too. But you know adds tend to turn some people off. And you have to be pretty big to make it worth while.
Yeah. I think when people are blogging memoirs then adds can be off putting, but I am trying to make mine more like a website and less like a blog. I have tried to keep it impersonal since the beginning. Also I am only going to put products on there that I think my viewers would actually want. Take a look at thisiswhyimbroke.com they just gather cool products to sell and that is there whole blog, but they sell jet packs and tron motorcycles
You are much more organized about this than I am. I don’t really plan things.
I am just tired of working for others and I feel like I am smart enough to not have to. Then this fell into my lap. My skill set is all over the place and
this is a way where they all actually come in handy. I like to create, and 12 hours of work at my house doesn’t seem like work at all when I am doing this. I have ideas for books, movies, tv shows, and I still do stand up as another career path I want to take. I can do all of this through the blog. more so once i get bigger. My marketing background in school is helping so much. I have some crazy ideas for promotion I know will work. The spread the love was a charity I wanted to start and I am going to get that going through the website. I usually am not this focused but I think this is what I should do.
I have a similar range of interests, but I am more psychotic and less organized. And have no real life skills. I just do every kind of art there is.
That is why I like the joining forces idea. We can help each other where we are weak.
Another good point.
Next thing I am moving to is videos. How to and funny skits. That was a huge reason I started blogging is to make videos to promote my comedy.
That is a good idea.
Also, I am bad at those link things and… wait… a rubics cube got you laid? What the heck? Look out, there is a shark behind you.
i’ll give it my best. do you have any specific issues? You’re blog looks amazing!
I guess I am looking to turn my blog into a career. Do you have any advice in that area?
that’s what i’m working on too you have my other responses by now..
sigh
sigh to you too
I sigh with my little eye.
something that’s nosey?
Something must be.
If you want info. on money making idea’s I can send you what i send your buddy
That would be awesome. I just met the guy yesterday.
oh really? lol emailing you
I may have to read it tomorrow… I just found out Jessica is coming over soon… unexpectedly… long story I will have to fill you in on next week.
I hope everything is okay!
No… it’s awesome… I am just busy sort of… it is all good, but I will tell everybody soon.
good grandpa?
No… they aren’t married… just living in sin… nothing like that. Not exciting, just good. I am just not supposed to talk about it till it’s over, but this all just makes it sound more interesting than it really is.
lol
It isn’t worth getting excited about… not for you. Not that interesting.
yes it is
Well you might think so… when I can tell you… on Tuesday or Wednesday.
okay fil
fil???
F.I.L.
?.?.?.
father in law
Nothing like that.
lol
I don’t think very many of us are actually making a living at this.
And I know very few make a living but I figured since it is all fun for me and on the side I have nothing to lose.
Good point.
Once again my blog is the place where people come to meet, to chat, to form friendships…
a bit of a puffy head?
maybe
lol a bit?
whateverman
I enjoy your blog so I nominated you for an award
http://wp.me/p3BmFK-tB
It’s even funner if you are avoiding work. And you make up a game and rules and then somebody wins at the end and then you all throw a party and someone throws up and ut’s all over. I’m playing “I don’t want to clean the toilets” right now. Anyone want to join me before I give in to the madness?
No… because the toilets need to be cleaned… and we are all responsible citizens… (I win)
What’s a responsible sit or sin anyway?
New game. This one has a whiny dog in it.
You are a rule changer… I am a rule breaker… that is a dangerous combination.
Not really. As long as you stay on your side of the fence, the game can continue. That way the power monger in me can be satiated.
I don’t see the fence… that is the essence of me…
i’m in….i think?
I think I have like five of these going at once now.
lol you asked for it!
I can’t get into trouble doing this, can I?
i don’t think so, i’ve often done this on other sites i get to know a lot of people that way
But they are keeping their eye on me…
i’m sure they are…does WP have an eye?
How did you get them to let you back on?
Once a human reviewed the situation that their robot had flagged, they decided that I was more or less harmless.
what an assumption…lol
Right… hey… I gotta go to bed. I went to the pub with some friends and drank some Boddingtons. I am sleepy.
night
Ha 🙂
Oh no… you two can not get together.
This whole thing is giving me the heebie-jeebies. Yikes.
It is only scary when the little robots inside your computer crawl out of the mouse and up your arm and into your ear..
Well, God speed. Joe, Guap and I were pleading your case on the WP forums, so if we have to, we’ll dispatch our very Delta Force to come and get you from Gitmo.
It is nice to know you have my back… and thanks for the support. And sorry I am such an idiot…
Nope. No apologies required.
I am still walking on thin ice. Doesn’t hurt to be extra nice. That was poetry, I do believe.
Works for me.
I saw that forum…I trust one has been started in the search for timethief’s sense of humour?
Don’t make the robots angry again!!!
One must dangle the bait in order to discover how much they know and what they read…
That bit about them sending the big chill scared me… I use a lot of pictures…
I’m surprised nothing happened about your use of other people’s Cheney pictures and no link to their original sources.
sssshhhh….
…oops…
Low profile.
You’re SUCH a scamp. I’m baking the cake with the file right now. Do you like chocolate and whipped cream?
I am, ironically, quite partial to angel food…
Finally, someone who understands the concept of irony.
I should say so… and I still think my whole fake spam thing was ironic… so…
Okay, I’ll make an angel food cake next. I’ll share the chocolate one with the other blog commenters. There’s enough to go around.
Don’t get me wrong… I like chocolate too…
Admit it, you’re a little happy you got in trouble then got away with it. Blink once for yes.
It is sort of the story of my life… even when I don’t get away with it.
I’ll blink for him. Blink.
You are just winking… not blinking… it is more of a flirty kind of a blink too.
Well no one could see your eyes so I had to do SOMEthing. You were just leaving the guy hanging…
Then how do you know I wasn’t winking up a storm?
Because…by asking you to blonk he was making a rule. You break rules, so you couldn’t help yourself but ignore his plea. I could see the plan was foiled before it began…
He asked me to blonk??? If I new that, I would’ve done it.
A little Happy?! Down right proud…lol
What’s not to be happy about?
your time out?
There it goes. It opened. I thought you sent me a huge movie or something. Time out is over. I am on parole.
ha
yeah, keep it short.
well i am short!
So is your attention span… ha!
yes, it’s PTSD and Epilepsy
Sure, if you want to play that card.
lol
okay… nighty night.
night