Judefa

I was wondering if you recognise this problem and could help me out.

Since last week:

— Much of the time I can’t access pages in the Tumblr network, especially my personal dashboard page
— Pix are not opening on some Flickr pages
— The problem affects both my desktop and laptop at home, regardless of op system or browser
— I have tried uninstalling/disablling FF add-ons including Greasemonkey, and toolbars such as SU and Facebook. It made no difference

— I have unplugged, reconnected, reset and even reinstalled software on the modem, and also done the same with an older modem I still have and occasionally use. None of this made any difference to the problem

— with or w/o router plugged in as well for wifi makes no difference
— I have no trouble accessing those same sites at work and they are very fast - so the problem obviously has to do with my connection or modem





When I lost connection to the net one day last week the ISP support guy went through all the usual drills w/o resolving it and suggested trying a different ethernet cable. I did however get it back up by reinstalling the modem software.

Does the internet cable problem make sense to you in light of all that (it’s something I haven’t tried), or does something else suggest itself?

More details on what happens at Tumblr:
— I can usually get public pages up but it is always slow and sometimes the pix don’t load, especially on sites I haven’t seen for a while
— I can’t even reach the dashboard (used for posting and reading feeds) much of the time; but now and then access is normal and very fast

On Flickr:
Thumbnails and small pix are inclined to come up while large pix won’t download — but it varies from site to site, and few are problem-free

~ ~ ~

OK, I have total faith in you, dear reader, so now I’ll sit back and wait for your suggestions as to how to fix it or alternatively where else to go for my eye candy :=(
Tks, guys!

Since so many of us, Stumblers and Tumblers, these days find ourselves trying to juggle a range of social networks, I thought I’d write a summary of what I use most, and what appeals about each one. I’ve included Google Reader as well, as it is central to prioritising what lobs in.

In order of time spent:




Facebook, because of

1 discussions — someone posts a comment, question or link to their wall and their friends chime in quickly and easily with responses
2 news from sources you trust — via friends and pages you subscribe to
3 it’s fast!

but … the sheer quantity of material lobbing in encourages a lot of skimming and not much real reading

Still, I have become totally addicted, and sometimes spend hours just reading back links posted to people’s pages.



Google Reader, because

1 It’s the fastest way to read from a lot of blogs, news sources and any site with RSS options
2 You can click links on any item in your list to go to the source that supplied it (a blog, news site or whatever)
3 You can view what has lobbed in list or detailed form (the latter presents the full item, with pictures)
4 There are options to arrange subscriptions in folders, by topic etc; I depend on them

but reading from an aggregator creates personal distance, since you may be following a lot of friends’ postings but seldom showing up as a visitor to them






Flickr, because of

1 The ability to create personal galleries from others’ photos has given a new appeal to me
2 The search engine is excellent, with a range of options for context searching within names, groups, locations etc
3 I subscribe to dozens of group pools which feature photos by theme, and find a lot of good photographers that way

but you need to know how to sift through the garbage in Flickr to get to the goods



Tumblr

1 It has a huge range of free template designs, and new ones are always being added
2 It is the best choice for visual blogging, as posting is easy and the display can be very impressive
3 There is no sense of policing and yet it is also virtually spam-free

but … there is no interaction and the only feedback you get is that someone “liked” your post or reblogged it







Stumbleupon

1 It’s the fastest method of sharing websites with friends
2 It’s easy to keep in touch with SU friends via toolbar messages
3 Good tagging allows you to find your bookmarked sites and pages again

but any effort put into personal blogs (a word now not even used by SU officially) is unrewarding as SU stopped notifying us of new reviews or comments on our postings.
And SU Mk 4 encourages people to simply thumb sites up rather than stop and examine them, and God forbid, review them.
The latest revamp was unfathomably stupid unless they simply want to collect data and/or work with the money-for-clicks crowd and generate revenue there.







Delicious

1 A sophisticated tool for managing and finding bookmarked sites
2 Its search engine allows fine-tuning in context, date periods, networks etc if you’re using it as a general database.
3 It simply does its job, does it well, and is used mostly without ulterior motives, so you get quality links

but it is strictly a utility, and a social network only in the sense that you can access others’ bookmarks.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

With apologies to those who continue to despise Facebook, friends I visit less frequently though I may still read (thanks to RSS) and people who are sick of the pics I post on here these days.

I’m taking a Macbook to New Zealand soon. It’s only a few months old.
Question is will I be able to connect to wifi there in the same way as in Australia, in homes and “hot spots”?
Anyone know if there are any complications?

I didn’t find an exact fit to replace Stumbleupon when I wandered away a few months ago, but Tumblr was (and still is) beguiling.
However I’ve become quite lethargic about it in recent weeks and days. I just feel any effort applied here is wasted, as people value an attractive pic way out of proportion to everything else.

People just take and compile here, w/o digesting anything. All they’re saying, in fact, (with some notable exceptions) is: “I like this”. Almost nothing is developed, explained or elaborated upon.

This of course will be put down to its demographic, and the fact that most Tumblrs are so young they’re still working out what they like and wanting to put it all out in front of them.

But when I … no I won’t say that. I will just say that I know damn well I had a questioning mind as a teenager. An annoyingly pernickety questioning mind, and I devoured books.

Sadly, the internet, social networks and an overabundance of stimuli and trivial information can only really lead where it has — to an epidemic of ADHD and disengagement.

~

Anyway, I have became hungry for words again, and less dissipation.

Facebook has been opening a new world — how could it not, with such a massive membership and millions of groups and public pages? There is much to explore there … although the rhythms are peculiar for me as an antipodean, and sometimes I feel out of sync.
EG, I wanted to “play” 12-13 hours ago but no-one else seemed to be around; no-one followed up anything I said and I might as well have been in an empty room.

The same was true earlier tonight (my time), when I was ready and waiting … only a trickle came into my feed; not enough to stay interested. Then I came back about an hour ago and found a torrent of new items, more than I can keep up with — so I’m thinking either this is peak hour right now, or there was a logjam in the traffic flow earlier.

When I was in SU’s thrall it was like working two jobs — demanding, but good intellectual exercise with good friendships made along the way.
I was kept on my toes and it felt less ephemeral than either Tumblr or Facebook. I do still miss it … but a network is only as good as its active membership, and SU’s declined seriously during the course of 2009.
Now it is rare to find anyone writing a useful review of a website, though I still hit that (blandly renamed) “info” button when visiting an unfamiliar site in the hope of getting some insights.
It very rarely delivers.

michaelcairns:

anampersand:

Hi, if you are coming to this site via Internet Explorer 6, you might not be getting the best experience possible.

Honestly, I can’t even begin to think about what your entire experience on the internet must be like? (…probably like riding a bike on the highway while cars blow by you on their way to Costco to get gallons of mayonnaise and 60-inch plasma TV’s).

How will you ever be able to use this website?????? You wont. You’re an asshole and your browser is an asshole.

So look, I’m going to be honest: I kind of hate you.

BUT we c-a-n make this work.

Here is what I am going to need you to do: fire up your Toshiba ShitBook© that weighs about 45 pounds, wipe the Cheeto dust off the screen, download Safari, delete Internet Explorer from your computer, punch yourself in the face, and get me a pulled pork sandwich.

— Tyler Thompson, Squarespace Creative Director