An Unexpected Bonus

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I wouldn’t normally post on consecutive days, but I started noticing something a little strange with my blog from early this morning, and thought it worth sharing.

I have Jetpack notifications turned on, and began getting them as soon as I turned on my iPad. They were likes for posts or, more specifically, one post in particular, though others were in the mix too, including yesterday’s. But the one getting all the attention was Some Art, And A Tune, which I posted a couple of weeks ago. You may recall it: I took a walk through the links from a couple of paintings and ended up with a Green Day song. I was at a loss to understand why it had suddenly generated so much interest, as my shelf life is usually no more than a couple of days, apart from the occasional latecomer catching up.

It remained a welcome mystery – after all, likes for posts are always welcome, aren’t they – until I went through my emails. Amongst these I found one from those nice people at WordPress telling me that they had chosen that post to feature in their Freshly Pressed section, of which I had never heard. It turns out that it can be found in the Reader, under the discover heading. Who knew? I rarely use the Reader, so would have missed it if it wasn’t for their email. I have just checked WordPress.com/discover and it is there in all its glory.

I’ve no idea why or how they found the post – maybe it’s a long service award for more than thirteen years of blogging – but it has made for a very nice day. With all that extra attention the post has been rocketed into my all time top ten list, currently standing at #5, though it needs a further six ‘likes’ to move up a place. Fancy helping out, if you haven’t already? But it’s lovely to get that recognition and the attention it has generated, and I hope they choose something of yours at some point too, if they haven’t already. We all have our reasons for blogging, and that kind of feedback is always good to have.

I’m now just left to ponder two questions: why have so many of those extra views come from Kenya, and why does Akismet keep dumping my lovely friend Nancy‘s comments in my spam folder, but no one else’s? Maybe it’s a national holiday in Kenya and they have time on their hands. And maybe Nancy has upset the Happiness Engineers at some point and they are exacting revenge! I think we should be told 🤣

That’s all I wanted to say – just a quick boast and a share of a good day for my blog. Let’s face it, I’m never going to break any records with this, am I? And in my usual style, I’m leaving you with a song. This feels appropriate:

Normal, less self-centred service will be resumed on Sunday.

58 thoughts on “An Unexpected Bonus”

  1. Pingback: Back Under The Covers | Take It Easy

  3. Congratulations Clive. I guess that makes you famous, huh? And since I usually see you only on Jill’s blog not I must begin following you as well even though I am seldom online these days. OH,, and before I forget, that is one terrifically talented group of kids you were playing. I play guitar but was 30 before I learned how to do it. Wanted to learn as a teen but my mom was of the opinion that only country music was played on guitar and country music would cause dementia. If that were true I would now be the most demented old woman in the nursing home. Instead I’m the one who is sane enough to know what is going on in D.C. while so many here still think the Idiot in chief is their savior. Anyway, just wanted to congratulate you but sorry, have now forgotten why. Maybe I am demented after all. Enjoying every minute of it though. Angie

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    • Thank you, Angie. I’m not kidding myself that I’m famous, not letting it go to my head. It was just a very nice surprise, and four days on I’m still getting loads of traffic from it.

      Playing For Change assembled a great cast of kids for that video, didn’t they. If you haven’t seen them before try some others – all are great.

      Good to know you aren’t suffering from the effects of those warnings – mums don’t know everything, do they!

      Thanks for following – I’ll return the compliment 😊

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      • Thank you for that. I really don’t post much these days — living out my twilight years in assisted living with very little freedom for adventure now. But once in a great while I find something to write about hopefully without sounding like a compaining old woman — which of course I am. And enjoying every complaint that hits home for someone. Actually I love jokes, both verbal and practical which is the only way I survived growing up in a family of jokers. The fun never stops. Again, thanks for the follow.

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      • You’re very welcome. I’ve picked up quite a few new followers since Friday but you’re the first I’ve followed back. Looking forward to what you post – you have intrigued me 😊

        Liked by 2 people

  4. Pingback: ♫ Celebrate With Clive! ♫ | Filosofa's Word

  5. I absolutely LOVE this, Clive!!! It even brought a smile to my otherwise frownie face!!! Thank you so much for sharing this one! Oh! And CONGRATULATIONS on getting noticed in WP’s “Discovery”!!! Hopefully you’ll gain a few new full-time followers!

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  7. Thank you for this, Clive. I have one post in particular that continues to gather likes and comments and I had no idea how it was being made visible! I am going to have to check out the Freshly Pressed and Recommended sections more closely!

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  8. Congratulations, Clive! 🎉 That’s quite an honour, to be featured in Freshly Pressed, given the millions of blogs on WP.com. And funny you should mention Nancy getting stuck in your spam folder. On my site, her comments always need to be moderated, even though she has visited many times. 🤔 I contacted Akismet about it, but they couldn’t resolve it, so it’s still happening. Sorry, Nancy!

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  10. I had already liked that post, so can’t boost your figures, unfortunately. When I started blogging in 2012, being ‘Freshly Pressed’ was a big deal indeed, as it usually greatly increased views and followers and delighted bloggers would announce it on their blogs. Over the last 10 years or so, I haven’t heard it mentioned at all. So well done, Clive!

    Kenya is not one of the usual suspects for AI Bots doing Blog-Scraping, so that suggests the views are all genuine, perhaps passed around on a Facebook post or similar.

    Best wishes, Pete.

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    • Kind of you to take a look, Pete. It has kept accumulating and is now up to #3 on my all time list. I’d never even heard of Freshly Pressed so it came as a nice surprise. I don’t think many will become regular readers though!

      Only one view from Kenya today so I think you’re right. Just a massive bot presence from the US instead!

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  12. Congrats! Bask in the sun. 🙂
    And it does seem weird how a regular commenter ends up in spam but it has happened to me with regular readers of mine and I ended up in spam before too of my friend’s blog who I regularly comment on. Its an unsolved mystery. 🙃🙂

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  13. A few months back, WordPress sent me a notice saying they were “recommending” one of my posts. I had never seen that message before, and I didn’t think it really meant anything at the time. Oddly, I have been receiving likes on that same post each day since. I don’t know what that is about because I’ve never received a recommended notification to another blogger’s specific post before.

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  14. I am honestly delighted for you! My problems have been a couple of weeks so far….good job I am willing to attack things from different angles!
    As for Sam he hasn’t done Cliff Richard .. if he has he’s kept it very quiet!
    He’s very fond of Four non Blonds .. as am I

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    • That’s so kind of you, thank you.

      You’ve done well to work your way around them.

      I can visualise Sam leaping around to Congratulations! Nice cover of FNB 👍

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  16. Congratulations Clive … I have known about it for years but never been picked. As for our Sis Nancy going into the spam dungeon… It’s a mystery… And only the happiness engineers know the answers and they are not telling us.
    They are also not telling me why I am having so much trouble getting on to anyone’s phone posts to like or comment from my email… I have found some workarounds or I would be out I the cold.
    Anyway once more congratulations 👏🎉👏🎉!

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    • Thank you, Willow. As I said in the post I’d never heard of this before but it was nice of them. Spam is a mystery to me too! I hope your issues sort themselves out quickly.

      Thank you for the video. A new one for me and I rather liked it. At least it wasn’t Sam doing a Cliff Richard cover (I bet he has!) 🤣

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  18. Congrats on the FreshlyPressed, Clive! I tried a few times to grab their attention…about 12 years ago…then gave up. I think because my articles might be too blunt and, uh, “eccentric,” shall we say. Anyway, I hope your readership continues to grow, and those readers aren’t all Kenyan and Nigerian robots!

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    • Thanks, Pete. I didn’t even know it existed so it came as a very pleasant surprise! Fingers crossed on the readers, but somehow I doubt I’ll ever see most of them again 🤣

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  19. It’s only me going to spam? I don’t know if I should be insulted or honored! 😂 Sorry, Clive; I know how frustrating spam can be.

    A few weeks ago, I was also chosen for WP’s Freshly Pressed section. It was something I was unfamiliar with and didn’t know I’ve been selected until after the fact. It was great fun hearing from a lot of new people. It’s great for exposure, which makes me wonder if any of those new readers are still following me.

    Enjoy your time in the spotlight and good luck with that spam snafu! ☺️

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    • Only you, and this one was no exception! I’ve no idea why it is happening, but I know that Christine has the same problem with my comments on her blog. I think they just do it to see if we are paying attention!

      It’s nice to be featured there, isn’t it. Today’s viewing figures are through the roof, though not all have ‘liked’ the post. Today’s new follower count: 2!

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      • Is Akismet aware of what’s going on? When I had people going into spam, Akismet contacted me saying it was an error on their part (obviously); they had “misinterpreted” what I had written and marked it as spam. That’s probably what’s happening with you. If you haven’t already done so, it would be good to get Akismet involved.

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