King Solomon's Lodge

Some of you may have noticed that I used to have a little banner on my blog that said this Blog could be found listed at King Solomon's Lodge.

I became aware of this service and asked to be listed as I do a lot of posts on Freemasonry. But as you will notice that is not the entire focus of this blog. It says in the banner that this is an "eclectic mix" (1: selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles
2: composed of elements drawn from various sources;) And that is what is is. I never meant for it to be exclusively Masonic.

But I figured "Why not?" and asked to be listed on the blog aggregate.

Then a couple of days later I got a note from the administrator of the blog. He said:

Hi! I'm XXXXXX-- yes, the guy who runs KingSolomonsLodge.org. It has been good to have you listed for a couple days now, and I'm looking forward to reading more from you in the future. I do have a request that you may be able to help with: I notice that you blog a lot on a variety of subjects, which is good, but if you could start using a single label/tag such as "Masonic" on all the posts that appertain to Freemasonry, it would allow me to include only those posts in the aggregation and filter out the others. You can also feel free to tag anything with the "Masonic" label that you feel may be of interest to the Brethren, even if it isn't strictly on topic. By having participating bloggers do this it will help keep the list less cluttered, and will help you get less "thumbs down" votes on posts (which I am sure are happening only because they are off-topic, not because they aren't good posts.

Well you know I wasn't even aware that there was a "thumbs down" voting going on with this thing. So I agreed to do so and put Masonic in the tag line from then on. Then I got to thinking about it and wrote and asked to have it removed from his listing. He wrote back and asked why.

I told him:

To be very honest it is the voting. I see no need to have anonymous people give me a plus or a minus on my blog entries. My blog is not strictly a Masonic blog. It says right at the top it is an eclectic mix, I write a great deal about Masonic topics but that is not nor will it ever be the entire focus of my blog. If people disagree with me they have a perfect right do do so in the comments section or by writing me an e-mail. Most people tell me they appreciate my blog.

Frankly I see no need to have people VOTE on my blog entries. If you can't tell someone in person how you feel it is just cowardly to do it in this manner. Rest assured I will be posting about this to let people know why I took down the little logo. It is fine for other people if they wish to subject themselves to this but not for me. Perhaps I am too thin skinned or perhaps I have too much self respect to put myself in a position to have people give me a "+" or a" -." So I am opting out and by the way I give your voting a big." -" . Thanks but no thanks.

Anybody can write to me at Jaycoles@gmail.com and comment on anything I have written. My disclaimer says:

Disclaimer
... Please discard contents in an environmentally sound way. If you found any contents. Anything and everything on these pages may be the figment of a deranged personality. See your shrink now for details. Even the last part of this disclaimer was stolen. I don’t care and you shouldn't either. The Blog is written for enjoyment and if you don’t enjoy it – so what. I do.

That is what this is all about - my enjoyment. I don't need to have people who don't know me, aren't interested in knowing me, or could care less about me, VOTE on my blog entries. My grandmother used to say that people could either "like it or lump it." She didn't care. It bothered me to have people vote so I asked to be taken off the list. Evidently I am the first one to do so. I give his process a big "thumbs down" but the service is still a good one if you want to find Masonic Blogs. I subscribe to enough of them that I really don't need the service. they were coming up twice on my Google Reader and it was annoying. So that is my rant. I'll label it Masonic just in case. But it is really a rant. I know some folks who like me to do that every once in awhile. ARTYAL, Answer your e-mail - Remember to tell folks you love them and catch a big hug, jcs (Addendum: I have been deleted. - It feels good.)