The Way Things Work

We don't get a lot of negative commenting anymore. It is rare for people to engage in snarky behavior with us.

Sometimes though, someone will decide that something that gets written here is aimed at them, or is inappropriate somehow, or is perhaps negative in tone, or even that our whole way of arranging our lives is just wrong. Every now and then, we'll get wind of that kind of chatter in the background. It is, for me at least, an experience that causes me to go, "huh?" This has always been the place where we (but mostly I) write about us and our lives, so I am always a little taken aback when people react to whatever it is that I write here as if it were ABOUT them.

Maybe it is just that I haven't done one of those "Welcome to Our Blog -- Here's How it Works Around Here" posts for a long while. Let me see if I can rectify that situation...

"The Heron Clan," and the predecessor to it -- "The Swan's Heart," are personal weblogs that chronicle our lives and our opinions and our experiences. Both are the product of a directive from Master that I set up and maintain a place to write about my life, and my thinking, and my experiences. We write as a family, but far and away, most of what you read here is me.

I work very hard to write honestly. I endeavor to write from within myself, without undue focus on those of you who look in here. I appreciate those who read and comment, and I do monitor statistics, but I resist the urge to write TO the stats. This place has never been about "readership," and it is my hope that it continues to be a simple chronicle without the drive to pump the numbers up.

If you read here, you are going to get whatever I am thinking about in the moment. There is no guarantee that the things I write will be "polished" or easy to read. If something happens, or I have a fleeting thought, or something piques my interest or curiosity, then you will likely be treated to my ramblings about it. If I find an interesting bit somewhere else, and it gets me thinking, I might put it here. If I get a comment that causes a response in me, I may just take off in whatever direction that takes. No one in our family is a novice to what it is we do, and we do have some strong opinions. We don't make those secret, but we also don't prescribe for others. I'm not inclined to be deliberately provocative, but I don't screen my stuff against the possibility that someone might disagree with me. Disagreement is not discouraged or banned here. We've had those who have questioned, and sometimes openly disagreed with us along the way. I've never felt like those who find this discussion intriguing have to be in accord with everything I write.

I'm actually pretty mellow. Most interactions here are really just fine with me. Say what you think. However, I will not tolerated abuse, nastiness, or disrespect. Be polite -- this feels like my living room. If you behave like an uncouth lout with no manners or proper upbringing, I will likely say so right here in public. Too, if you have something to say, or a question to ask, do that in the open. Here. My comments are completely unmoderated, and we've never deleted any comments except our own (except for the occasional annoying spammer). It's good if you give us some sense of who you are when you comment. The ubiquitous "anonymous" commenter tends to get less notice from us than a person who is identifiable from the "pile." Too, if you are one of those who just loves to take your issues or concerns somewhere else and gossip and snipe, then don't be surprised when we dismiss you and your behavior as juvenile and unworthy of notice.

Oh yeah -- one other pet peeve of mine: write some reasonable approximation of English. I'm not a stickler for spelling, particularly. Too, I tend to write a "stream of consciousness" variety of the language here that I know would make a decent editor scream, so I can allow for all sorts of structural and grammatical variance. And, obviously, if English is not your native language, well, I understand. Really. Just don't get in here and type some mish mash of chat room-ese and expect me to take you seriously. I'm too old to go for all that cell phone style text messaging nonsense, so don't put it on my Blog if you want me to respond well.

Simple enough?

swan