"I would have run back to Blogger as fast as I could, where I'd been for the previous six months with nary a comment or hit to my name, tail between my legs, and continued to toil in anonymity.

To all of you who now are feeling woefully inadequate and downtrodden, I ask one question:  Why do you care? 

Are you here to slobberingly court the approval of a few erudite professionals whom you'll never please, even on your best days?  Are you willing to go in directions that are uncomfortable for you or go against your nature just because someone said he or she would never continue reading something that didn't hook them with the first sentence?  Are you now paranoid about putting that first word down or clicking "publish" because you think someone is going to sneer at you or that you don't measure up?

Maybe instead of getting upset, you should remember why you're here.

This is Open Salon.  It is not the New Yorker.  It is not Vanity Fair.  It is not Paris Match...

I love Open Salon because every day I find something that surprises or delights me, something that makes me laugh or that brings a tear to my eye, or something that makes me look at the world a little differently.   It may not be prose.  It may be a poem or a cartoon or a photograph or even a video or a link. I just never know.

Some of the most interesting or eye-opening things I've read have been the insightful comments made on different posts. 

Sometimes I'll read something I consider "so-so" but then I read a little further and a sentence will jump out at me and I'll think, "Wow, I wish I could have written that."  I'll read things I disagree with but am grateful nonetheless for that person's point of view.  And every now and then I'll stumble on something that no one commented on or rated and it's just so good I want to cry.  And I'll wonder if that person was afraid to ever post again because of it.

Not everyone here is looking for an agent or a book deal.  In the same way that an awful lot of people paint or take pictures or sculpt with no illusions they're ever going to be featured at a gallery opening, I assume most people are here for the joy of creative expression and for the wonderful interaction and support of their peers."

And I had come here so I could read typical Americans writing about typical American issues in a typically American fashion.

So why then did I suggest the Cover change a bit?

Simply because they say they had no money. They said spam was clogging the place and they had to have people work for free. They said pages did not load the way they should. 

I could see that Google did not pick up OS posts on searches easily. I could see that I missed postings of people that were not on my list if I came in three days late. I could see the Topics widget does not work very well because people TAG inappropriately. 

I read a plenty outside of here, for work mostly. But I never leave my house for various reasons these days. OS is the only place I come to for human contact and for reading for pleasure. 

I have grown to love this place and some of the people here I feel closer to, than some of the people I associate with in my real life. Thanks to the way lifestyle changed since we entered the computer age, most of my real life friends that live abroad or got married out of country I lost touch with. I dislike socializing with colleagues or nosey neighbours.

It is nicer here. 

So, I tried telling people - in my way, hey, please stop complaining, read Douglas Moran's post about what you have going for you despite all your problems. Who does not have problems in the world? 

If there are problems on OS - well, then let us get up and do something about it or let the people that want to do something about it, do it. 

I also pointed out ways OS was degenerating into a sad site, where people abuse, people leave because they feel threatened or violated. 

I do not want OS to turn characterless international. Why, there are plenty of websites like that. But yes, it would be great to have posts neatly arranged on the Cover under Sections, as it is at the Salon page. Also, it should help garner more traffic if we can have topics of General interest on Cover - like the American School system, LGBT Rights, American Food or American Fad or Animals or Smoking or Libyan Intervention etc.

The local fare can be featured on one of the sidebars. Most read can become a wideget on the top with the Topics Editor's choice etc. What is the point of having the same stuff on both "Cover "and the sidebar, anyway? 

Instead of complaining about falling standards in writing, maybe we should go read the irregular stuff and not just posts by people we have on our lists or by people we think we understand. What is the fun in only being with people that are like me???? Why then, I would rather stay home and be with the family!!! Easier to do, no? 

That is all I had to say on my last two posts - and Tink, I really truly loved the party you guys gave me the other night. I  rose in the East and I would in the end set in the West and I know I would die alone and probably in a hospital, and might need hospice and I would be happy if they organize a send off in that manner, for me, when my time comes - familiar faces around me laughing and talking and chatting and having fun in a good way, the sound of their voices easing me gently into the other life...while I doze off peacefully - soaking in conversation about gardening -

For life is seasonal, readers, rants and posts come and go, friends I hope  can remain constant ...