***! ! ! WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG POSTS WITH THIS IMPORTANT RANT COMING TO YOU LIVE FROM THE DARK RECESSES OF PATTY L. FLETCHER’S MUSE A PLACE WHERE EVEN SHE FEARS TO TREAD! ! !***

Good early morning campbellsworld visitors.

Once again, insomnia has struck and I’m awake in the wee hours of the night or morning if you prefer, and my brain is mulling over something that has bugged me for a while.

So, as is my way, I’ve decided to speak on it.

For quite some time now, each morning, I’ve noted that I was getting rapid fire like notifications from WordPress and they showed that someone was liking every post I’d posted for a 24 hour period.

At first, I thought the notifications were just coming in all at once due to some fluke with the app, but after a while of paying close attention, I saw that these rapid fire notifications were only coming from one person.

Soon, I began to suspect the person was simply going through post titles and hitting the like button on every one without reading them, so I decided to conduct a little experiment to find out.

Day before yesterday while reading blog posts from a fellow blogger, who is also a client of mine, I wanted to see if I could reblog from their blog while using my phone, but when I saw the finished product of my investigation, I realized that nothing but the title of that post was visible.

I started to delete it but then inspiration struck. I decided that to leave the post up would be a great way to find out if what I suspected about my rapid fire liker was true or not.

Sure enough, the next morning, once again, “Bling! Bling! Bling!” came the rapid fire like notifications one right after another, quite literally 2 seconds apart, and just as I thought would be the case, they’d liked the post which showed nothing but a title.

OK. Let me stop here and say that I appreciate persons who read my work. I am grateful when after they’ve read they like the post to let me know they did, and I especially enjoy it when folks take the time to make a comment on what I’ve posted, thus letting me know what they think about something they’ve read, even if they write to say they didn’t care for it all that much, it’s still nice to get the feedback, because while I write, or share posts from fellow bloggers for my own personal enjoyment, I also blog for others, so having the feedback lets me know what readers like and what they don’t.

Likes are a good source of feedback too, but only when they’re given because a follower actually read the post and they’re hitting that like button because they enjoyed it, or didn’t enjoy it, and they wish to let me know they have read it.

But.

When someone simply goes through posts, liking absolutely every one of them without reading anything more than the title, I personally find that insulting. I spend a lot of time, energy, and effort on my blog, and I’m working hard to improve on it with every post.

To me, though I’m sure they think they’re helping me by providing a like for a post, what they’re doing is giving me false feedback, and also by not taking the time to read it they’re in a sense, unintentional though it may be, insulting my effort.

Let me add, that I in no way expect someone to read everything I post.

First, no one is going to be interested in every post I put onto my blog, especially since I post such a variety of content.

Second, no one could possibly have time to read everything I post, because I post a lot of stuff.

Between my client’s work, fellow blogger’s posts which I find interesting enough to share, and my own work, my blog is quite active. In fact, I had a follower complain once that my blog was too active, and to that, I first said thanks for the complement, and then I directed them to info which would help them set things up so they would get posts in their browser feed and not their email and I also showed them how to unsubscribe if they wished.

What I’m trying to say here and am probably not doing a great job at is that, while I appreciate what the blogger is trying to do I really wish they wouldn’t.

I’d rather have someone react to what they really read, than to have someone going through titles, hitting the like button like a baby in a candy store grabbing everything from the shelves without so much as an idea of what it is.

I’ve talked with fellow bloggers who feel the same as do I, but they expressed a fear of writing about it because they were worried they’d drive off their true readers.

Personally I doubt that will happen. I think/hope people will understand that I’m not trying to seem ungrateful for the attention, but rather that I’m trying to say that rapid fire liking is not true attention and is really unwelcome.

Once on the bus, after I told another passenger what I thought of their unseemly behavior, when the passenger was gone the driver said, “Patty, can you ride around with me the rest of the day?”

When I asked, “Why?” The driver said, “Because you say all the stuff the rest of us wish we could say.”

I understood the driver to mean that I could say things he couldn’t get by with because of his job, but here, in the blogosphere, we ought to be able to politely write about such things as these without being frightened of ruining our careers. So, I’m creeping out on a wavering limb in the hope that it will hold my weight. Speaking my mind, which I am want to do from time to time, hoping, really hoping that the person who is doing this rapid fire liking will somehow, by a miracle actually read this post, understand what it is I’m trying to say and act accordingly.

I won’t go on and on pounding the drum about this issue as I’ve seen others doing about followers who like posts without ever commenting, because quite frankly the one lesson I finally learned is that if you keep pounding a drum, people stop dancing to your rhythm.

So, now my little rant is done, and I return you to regularly scheduled blog posts.

Thanks for reading if you did, and don’t be afraid to pound your own drum in the comments concerning what you think, even if you don’t agree. I’m always happy to hear from readers, even when their opinions differ from mine. I only ask you be polite as I have tried to do.

Happy blogging.

May harmony find you and have a super great Saturday.

Blessid be.