A Letter To My Readers - Saturday, July 9, 2011

Whenever a blogger has technical difficulties with their blog, I have no idea if it's politcally correct or not to let their readers know; but, being the fairly outspoken individual that I am, I believe in having the cards totally up on the table at all times. With that being said, since the 1st week of May, I have been having major technical problems with Luctor Et Emergo but didnt realize just how bad these problems were until a dear friend brought them to my attention earlier this morning. Point blank, I currently have no way of knowing who's reading my blog and who's not because my readership numbers are no longer being recorded accurately. Is this concern vanity on my part? Hell no, when you're a writer and you have a certain audience you are trying to reach, you actually need to make 100% certain that you are doing your best to reach that particular audience at all times. Without that, it's sorta like flying solo without a co-pilot and dont let any writer out there fool you - the relationship we share with our reading audience is not only essential to us writers, but it's damn near crucial.

In addition to the aformentioned problem, when people read my blog and then click on "Like" on the main blogsite, www.hivspice.posterous.com, not only is that NOT showing up after they do so, but when they go to repost my blog entries, nothing is happening with that either. Nada. Zilch.

Now I've already written to Posterous.com, TWICE and they keep telling me "Well, as long as your blog is posting to YOUR homepage, there is no problem." Well, Posterous.com is totally full of shit because not only is there a problem but there's more than one problem. At first I thought it was my lack of total computer savy-ness but nothing could be further from the truth. It has nothing to do with me period. It's Posterous.com that has the problem and I am literally so sick-n-tired of their bullshit, as well as the many folks who tell me that Posterous.com is the most wonderful blogsite in the world. Oh really? If that were the case, then why the fuck isnt your blog listed here too then? I mean, damn, this Posterous crap is getting beyond absurd, I mean it.

How do I solve all of this? I dunno but I'm working on it. But one thing I do know for sure is this - my days of promoting Posterous.com are over. Finis. And for those of you out there who are considering beginning your own blogs, please, do yourselves a favor, DO NOT come to Posterous.com because the stress and frustration of this website CONSTANTLY, and literally, breaking down, is not worth it. It's just not worth it, especially for folks like me who have what can be considered a medium to good-sized blog. For the folks who have daily readership in the thousands, it's notta issue, but for little guys like myself, these kinds of technical problems can spell out the death-knells for many-a blog.

I'm so majorly hocked off at Posterous.com right now. I love to write, love it with all my heart; but, there are some nights when I get home from work so goddamn tired, to the point where my eyelids feel like they are singeing the hell outta themselves, but I still go ahead and re-proof my entries and get them published before my bedtime, only to find out that Posterous.com isnt doing their part of the job when all is said-n-done. That really rubs my rhubarb the wrong way. Maybe it's kinda redundant for me to even be writing this to my readers right now cause thanks to Posterous, it's not like y'all are gonna see it, ya know? One more suggestion before I close this piece and bring it in for a landing.

If you're gonna starta blog, try to do your blog on a website that shares the same theme as your blog. Take this blog, Luctor Et Emergo, as an example. Even though I am an Hiv'er who writes about Hiv & AIDS on a regular basis, this blog is not exclusive to those subjects only. I also write about a wide range of subjects, including my own personal experiences, but regardless, what I shoulda done is gone over to several or more of the Hiv'er/AIDS websites and see which ones woulda been interested in carrying my blog. Oops, that's right, I almost forgot, I already tried that. NOT ONE of them would carry Luctor Et Emergo because of my anonymity. Can you friggin believe it? Yep, it's okay for ghost-writers to exist but apparently not when they are Hiv+. Eh, face it folks, it has nothing to do with my abilities as a writer, or my technical skills on computers, I basically have some of the most shittiest luck at times.

You know what's gonna be the funny, ironic part about all of this? If a simple explanation to it all shows up. But, after 2 months I still refuse to hold my breath on that one. Thanks for listening and as always, thanks for reading - at least to those of you this is actually getting through to...lol.

Posted via email from Luctor Et Emergo