The Rantings of a Tortured Mind

Valerie Rayne Rants

Tag Archives: Mashable


by Leave a comment

Finally Catching Up On 1000+ Unread Posts


It’s a seriously daunting task whenever I “forget” to check in on my Google Reader for awhile and then go back and see some of the numbers next to my unread count amounting to large numbers. Like for instance, the 1000+ posts from Mashable that I haven’t read in my Google Reader (though I follow them on Facebook, so catch some of the posts while I’m checking that). And after every time that I spend some time away from the computer, I spend a lot of time catching up on everything… It takes a few days, but once it’s done, I find it rejuvenating and inspiring.

Let’s take a walk through some of the awesome posts I’ve missed in my absence:

  • From my Blogging & Social Media Folder

    The following posts are from some of my favorite blogs about Blogging, Social Media and Tech:

    • It’s Possible To Post To Facebook From The Afterlife
      Author: Justin Lafferty | Source: AllFacebook.com

      This kind of thing has been on mind a lot lately. I don’t want to just die and have nothing ever said to the one’s I really care about. I think being able to do it on Facebook is awesome, because who doesn’t use Facebook? However, I also think that it’s impersonal and a little creepy. I don’t want to go onto Facebook to constantly be reminded of my dead friends…

    • INFOGRAPHIC: Ways to Get More Shares on Facebook
      Author: Justin Lafferty | Source: AllFacebook.com

      I’m always a huge fan of infographics. I’m not sure what it is about them that I love so much, I just know that I really like getting my information in infographic form. This one offers up a couple of ways to get more shares on Facebook including posting at particular times of day and more frequently as well as using your authentic voice and captivating images. Good tips!

    • Why Google Glass Could Be Bad For Your Eyes
      Author: Samantha Murphy | Source: Mashable

      I think, even if Google Glass was bad for my eyes, I’d probably still want a pair…

    • Google Glass May Arrive for Consumers by End of Year
      Author: Emily Price | Source: Mashable

      Say what?!? By the end of the year?!? And really, considering what these things are supposed to be able to do, $1500 isn’t that outrageous. I want it!!

    • 10 Awesome Things That Happened At The Star Trek Reunion
      Author: AshleyRose Sullivan | Source: Mashable

      With all my recent musings about Star Trek, it’s no wonder that this is added to my list. I’ve kind of become really obsessed and have more than once searched the internet for both Brent Spiner (my most favorite character on the show) and Patrick Stewart (because how can you not love Jean-Luc Picard?!?). They all sound like an epic crew!

  • From My Favorites Folder

    The following posts are from bloggers who I can consider to be people I look up to and are typically bloggers that I’ve been following for years:

    • I’m Online
      Author: lunaKM | Source: lunaKM

      One thing that I love about the way that lunaKM writes is how she pulls you into her situation. While you may not be experiencing popularity from your blog, you can understand what she’s going through and how she’s talking about it. I love being pulled into her world!

    • Sex Addiction – Dr Jenn & Dr. Neil Cannon
      Author: Dr. Jenn | Source: Dr. Jenn’s Den

      In this episode of In The Den with Dr. Jenn, there is short discussion about sex addiction and the issues with labeling someone as a sex addict and how to deal with it if you feel you have it. I’ve often been curious about sex addiction and think that I would make a great sex therapist specializing in this matter.

    • The Hubba-Hubba Girl: Evelyn West, double bill
      Author: Gloria | Source: Gloria’s Oversexed Mind

      I absolutely loved the video in this post. It’s cute how she tells you where she got her clothes as she’s taking them off. I don’t where Gloria finds this stuff, but it’s pretty freaking spectacular. I’m sharing tons of her stuff over on the Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous Tumblr blog!

    • Butt Bongo, the hipster version
      Author: Gloria | Source: Gloria’s Oversexed Mind

      Okay, this one is so good that I’m just reposting the entire video! You all know that I’m a fan of hand-drumming, based on my post This Should Be a Viral Video… IMHO, but this one is so so so so so much better than that! Now I just need to decide if I want to be the drummer or the drum…

I’ll leave it on that note, though there are a couple other really great posts, like this one from Submissive guide about boot-blacking or this one about prostate massage from a contributor to SexIs. There’s just too much good stuff to read! What’s your favorite post and why?


by Leave a comment

Trying Not to Feel At All Defeated…


Sometimes, all my online work seems to be such a waste of time. I hate to be kind of a party pooper here, but I feel like I’m working so hard on all this stuff sometimes for nobody’s benefit but mine. And while that would be fine if my blogging goals were the same as they were a year ago or four years ago, times and goals have changed. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be whining right now.

I’d still be going on about, “I’m writing for me!”, instead of creating social networks in the hopes of making some sort of epic connection with another great adult blogger… Yes, you guessed it, this is 100% about Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous, which I’ve been working so hard at, that I have two little perfect circles on my lap from where my laptop gets really hot when I leave it on for 12 hours straight!!

There are 17 members on the site right now, and only 1 of those members actually participated on the site and that’s because she’s my sister (not an adult blogger) and because I practically begged her! To try to keep member participation up, I decided to create Community Guidelines that made where after 3 months of inactivity, members could have their sites deactivated…

Scary statistic: 65% of members have NOT been active in the last 3 months. So, I sent out notices to those members saying that their accounts were at risk of being terminated. This was mostly for practicality purposes, being that currently I’m using the free version of Spruz, which only allows me to have 50 members.

But then I sort of chickened out. I don’t want to be mean to these potential members, even if they’re not participating. It feels good to be able to say that, including myself, there are 17 members on a social network I maintain. I’m happy that something lured 16 people into joining Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous… Needless to say, I’m reconsidering…

I’ve just been working so much harder than I had ever intended for a website. I’ve been stepping out of my networking comfort levels like crazy, because I really want this site to be something to someone other than me. I’m normally the type of person who won’t go out of my way to talk to people in real life, let alone get up the nerve to speak out online.

I’ve been doing so much of what some of my blogging idols tell you to do (ie., Problogger and Mashable), and it all seems to fall short. I’ve been commenting on people’s blogs (though I’m peeved that I can’t figure out how to comment on Ask Dan and Jennifer, because some of their stuff just grinds on my nerves), I’ve been posting other people’s links on Twitter and even mentioning people more and more (on the Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous Twitter). I’ve been seeking out new blogs like a mad man and mostly, I’ve been crazy hard at work on content for Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous.

And no one seems to be participating. I got one mention on Twitter from the blogger of a blog that I tweeted out, and that was really exciting and I went off about it for awhile. But I wouldn’t say it’s participation… Here’s the tweet:

http://twitter.com/#!/LearningDD/status/98984709773733888

I’ve been adding stuff to the Facebook Fan page at least once a day, and none of the 4 fans have commented, I’ve had a couple of votes on questions after I posted them on my personal wall, but no new “likes” in months and not very much commenting or sharing, outside of me.

While I have had 3 members join Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous in the last month, I was disappointed today when I discovered that the bounce rate on the site is at about 85%, which isn’t good and definitely doesn’t meet my goals. Oh, now you want to know what my goals are? Well, that’s a little bit harder to explain, because I’m still trying to define what’s realistic…

I read a few blogs about blogging. Mostly from bloggers who do not need to work outside of the home, because they make enough money just blogging. Normally bloggers who have views on their blogs that are 10 times what I have on any of my blogs. A lot of them who promote their stuff and people eat it up like it’s steak, potatoes and gravy! I’m unsure if those types of things are even possible for adult bloggers, unless they do porn on the side…

So far I know that:

  • I want to have an average of 10 visitors each day, 2 of those being returning visitors
  • I want the average time on the site to be at least 10 minutes
  • I’d like a bounce rate under 50%
  • I’d like people to visit an average of 3 pages when they visit
  • I’d like 3 members, outside of my sister, to be truly active on the site
  • I’d like all the members to change their profile photos
  • I’d like to get some interaction going on both Facebook and Twitter
  • I’d like to make at least one connection with one other blogger that I find to be meaningful in some way…
Now, I need to figure out what it is exactly that I’m not doing right to be able to achieve these goals and that’s being so hard for me. When I’m getting no real response to all the hard work that I’m doing, it’s very hard to get motivated enough to go and add discussions to a speechless forum, or create a group that nobody will join, or write a blog post that no one cares enough about to share or comment on or visit more than once..
Don’t worry though, this is just a rant and I’m still working. I’ve come to realize that this kind of thing is a struggle for every blogger, just more so for some than others. It’s a hump and I’ll get over it eventually. It’s not like I’ve been doing all these things for a SUPER long time, so I’ll give it some more time. Just cross your fingers for me that it gets better…
Love,
Just another struggling blogger
Related articles


by 1 Comment

Checked Off The List…


Today was an incredibly productive day online! I have had a things-I-need-to-get-done-online list percolating for a few days and I’ve had a really hard time concentrating on the stuff. After 12 hours in front of my computer (can’t believe it’s been that long… I just noticed…), give or take a few minutes here or there, I have checked off the biggest things on my list and ended up getting even more than that done!

So all of my work today was Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous-related. First thing I had to work on was the minor design renovations to the site. I had started this a few days ago and then gave up on it for a bit and then re-started yesterday and left it unfinished until today. Finally, I got it done! I even did a few extra things that I hadn’t planned on…

  1. I changed the Navigation menu to now include drop-down menus to more in-depth content. Some of these links take you to internal site pages (on Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous), and some of these links take you to external pages such as the new blog or the Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous Facebook Fan Page.
  2. I changed up the header. Not only did I make the actual header smaller, but I added an 18+ warning below the navigation menu. It’s a pretty cool little picture:

    Adult

    Slowly getting better with my default Paint program. One day I'll get an actual graphics program...

  3. I added new stuff to the sidebars of almost every single page. You can now donate directly to Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous, unlocking access codes for the new blog and check out who is online.
So after all that, which took way longer that I expected it to take, I hopped on over to the new blog. Originally I had done this up on Blogger, but became unsatisfied with the labels option, so I switched it over to WordPress, so that I could get Categories and Tags. Seriously got so much done here, considering just yesterday it was a blank canvas.
  • I created every page and every category. Now you can learn more about the blog, check out all of the features, answer questions we have for you or ask your own, learn about subscribing to Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous and the forums and much much more!!!
  • On this blog, we have a Members Only section, which offers exclusive content and insider updates, but only for people who have an access code. So first I created a page explaining all the ways in which you can get an access code, which includes:
Which takes me to the last thing, that I spent a large chunk of time on, creating newsletter related stuff. Using my MailChimp account, which Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous Donations go towards upgrading as well, I made templates for donors who request access codes, and templates for the Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous Newsletter, which also gives out access codes. That probably sounds a lot more complicated than it is, but what do you expect, I’m all happy I accomplished so much.
I’ve also spent some time customizing the @LBAnonymous Twitter account, creating a YouTube account for Lifestyle Bloggers Anonymous, creating a few different Google Moderator Series and checked out a couple posts on Mashable, because that’s how much of a nerd I am!
Over the next week, I have to:
Now it’s just a matter of getting all my offline stuff done on top of all that, because I’ve been completely sucking at that. If anything, that list has now gotten exceptionally longer. Tomorrow is the day that I plan to deal with all that!
So what have you been getting done online and off?


by Leave a comment

You’re Gonna Miss Me…


So, I finally got around to reading my Google Reader, which I hadn’t done in a few days. I’ve got to stop waiting so long for two reasons. One because then they pile up like crazy. Today, I had 498 unread items waiting for me and only got through 200 of them before my internet froze up. Second, because I miss some really great things!

Mashable, one of the many blogs I follow, posted a really great video that I’d love to share with you, because not only do I love that the girl is using a plastic cup as her drum, this girl has a truly amazing voice. And just below that you can hear the original of the song.

I just seriously think this song is so pretty. I’m really glad that I got to hear it. Now here is the actual version by Lulu and the Lampshades.

Which version do you like better? I personally prefer the cover more than the original, mainly because you can hear the lyrics better and the cup is done more cleanly. It’s just a really pretty song. Super thumbs up to Lulu and the Lampshades!