I owe someone named Debra an apology.
Earlier today, Debra commented here. She referred to a comment I had made at Scalzi's journal about the pronunciation of English words. I attempted to e-mail Debra back to clarify my position on the pronunciation of the letter 'a,' but when I clicked send, it told me there was no AOL member with that screen name. I tried again, thinking I had copied and pasted the screen name incorrectly, with the same result. I tired clicking on the link to the screen name, and sending mail that way with the same result. No AOL member with that name.
I quickly came to the conclusion that somebody had created a screen name for the express purpose of commenting in my journal, and then immediately deleted the screen name afterwards. I've seen it done before, but usually for nasty comments, and this one did not fall into that category. I couldn't figure out why they would have gone to those lengths to leave such an innocuous comment here. I deleted the comment, with the rationale that I only accept comments from real people.
It wasn't until much later someone pointed out to me that AIM users can comment on AOL journals, and that AIM screen names do not have e-mail associated with them. D'oh! I knew that. I have regular readers who are not AOL members and use AIM to comment. Somehow, I completely overlooked that fact when reading Debra's comment. Can you say paranoid?
So, to Debra, if you ever drop in here again and notice that your comment is gone, I am sorry. I am a stupid head. Please forgive me.
9 comments:
It's an easy mistake to make! I drew a similar erroneous conclusion myself when confronted with my first nasty comment many months ago. I didn't delete the comment, but I did rant at length about it in Musings. I assumed it was someone using a free AOL disc, hitting people with comments, and going away again. But now I realize that it may not have been that at all. - Karen
Well, just to let you know, I'm totally pissed because I still haven't found a link to your photo's. I don't even want to see them now. You and Penny can keep them to yourselves. :p
Lahoma :)
Very cool Paul. Very cool indeed! Penny
Paul, no apology accepted as none is needed. I used to have an AOL account, but have switched to another ISP due to finances, however, since AOL/AIM/Netscape now offer journals that are accessible and creatable without an AOL account, I went back to establishing and using an AOL/AIM/Netscape driven journal space rather than blogger. Hope that sentence makes sense...anyway, usually, I do provide the link to my journal, to avoid the exact problem you encounter. So it appears that I owe you an apology for leading you on a wild goose chase, that was SO not my intention. Anyway, here it is....grins, debra
" I am a stupid head."
Paul, those of us who know you, already are well aware of this fact, but it's good to see you're warning the rest of the world! LOL!
You know what they say when you assume... you make an ass out of u and me. But you know what every one makes a silly mistake every now and then... and that is OK. You are not a stupid head. : )
http://journals.aol.com/trickeytricky/CountryMyKindaLivin
Very responsible Paul. Debra is cool and would not take offense so lightly. Am glad to note that I was not the only one momentarily perplexed when I could not respond to a commentator (is that the right way to describe someone who comments in a blog? hmmmm) in my journal. "What do you mean user does not exist!?" Guess AOL took aim at me that time. Alas... but I figured it out. Will return to see if you decide to do this weekend's assignment.
Here's my attempt. Most excellent weekend to you. Michael
http://journals.aol.com/madmanadhd/ConfessionsofaMadmanInsightsinto/entries/1201
To make a mistake is human, to actually admit it and post public apology, now that is divine.
And just so you know, I've gone through the same damn problem, we probably all have. No biggie.
Rebecca
Catching up (and I know I owe you a VERY belated entry)...2 quick things: the minute I read this, I just knew it was my pal Debra...LMAO...thai AIM thing is a mess, but I am sure glad to have her back with us. Also, you are kind of a stupidhead (mwah!), and lastly, I can't BELIEVE SCalzi has 187(at this reading) responses to that entry. Sheesh!
xoxoxo,
Andi
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