Why you should be glad when Blogger works for me

Blogger is telling me, when I click on the button to see all the blogs I follow, 'You are not currently following anyone'.

Yes, I damn well am. Where are they? Where has Blogger hidden them?

While I was wondering where everyone was and why, it occurred to me that 'following' in this sense is a new use of the word. It can only be recently that 'following' has come to refer to the practice of keeping up with bloggers on the Internet. To 'follow' someone can have the connotation of 'stalking' and is very often linked with the idea of the detective ...

'You are not currently following anyone,' said the head of the private detective agency to his new employee. 'Instead you just sit around drinking coffee. I think you have misunderstood your job description. You are fired.'

'You are not currently following anyone,' said the head of the private detective agency to his employee, 'because all the previous jobs you have done have been complete failures. The pink hat and the stiletto shoes aren't helping you to stay unobserved, for instance. So, for now, we have got you doing the filing.'


'You are not currently following anyone,' said the head of the private detective agency to his employee. 'You think you are, but you're not. You have been stalking your own shadow for an hour now, and the voices you are hearing are all in your head. We have made an appointment for you with a therapist.'

'You are not currently following anyone,' said the head of the private detective agency to his employee, 'but then, none of us in the company is. Blame Billy Graham. Since he converted everyone in the town, no one is unfaithful any more, so the work has dried up. I'm thinking myself of going into producing chastity rings instead.'
Ah. Have just checked, and Blogger has reinstated my list. I bet you're so glad about that. This could have gone on for a while ...

Comments

  1. Lesley23/7/09 14:26

    Yes, I AM glad about that! Writing posts just would not be the same without you lurking outside my window or wherever it is you hide.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Martin Tomes23/7/09 23:15

    Twitter is even worse, if you are following someone there you have the option to defollow them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fran Hill24/7/09 01:52

    Lesley - be afraid, be very afraid.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fran Hill24/7/09 01:54

    Martin - thanks for your comment. This is why I love words. 'That's it, chaps, just stick a de- on the front and it means the opposite.' Great stuff. Do they get a message saying, 'Someone has opted to defollow you?' Can you get counselling for it?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fran Hill24/7/09 01:55

    And, Martin, are you the Martin Tomes I actually know? Your link is de-available to me.

    ReplyDelete

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