Comments on: Answer Me!

By: Nichole

Nichole — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 17:25:43 +0000

Botched, I have a friend in Prague… but she’s not overweight. I only know skinny Czechs, and not sure how i’d put her in the mail anyway.

N.

By: Conejita

Conejita — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 18:45:49 +0000

"The nice thing is, Nichole at MSN gave me a bunch of cool stuff to give away, if you’ll just answer a few blog-related questions."

Yeah right Fatty. You think were just a bunch of blood thirsty prize mongers dont you? Heres how I imagine the real meeting with Nichole went:

Nichole: Do you think if you asked, your readership would give you some feedback about what they like and dont like about spaces?

Fatty: For FREE???! Are you crazy? They are ruthless, prize demanding mongers. You dont know what Ive had to sacrafice for these people. I gave away all my possesions when we moved and now I have nothing left but my children. Now granted I have four to choose from, but how do I pick?

Nichole: ohh….um …okay. How about some flash dreive and a Tshirt.

Fatty: That should be fine. They like things that are shiny.

By: Unknown

Unknown — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:14:48 +0000

DB, Botched – the real reason I hang out here is I like trying to figure out the completely weird, counter-intuitive operating system level gems that MS has designed into Spaces.MSN. Like the backwards comments "next" feature, which would only make sense if you clicked on comments and were directed to the bottom of the comments section, to the first comment written, so you could read up the page, 1-20, then hit "next" for 21-40, and so forth. I’m trying to remember the old Apple IIe error message that would best describe this weird little navigational trick… Ahh, yes, there it is. "Fatal Logic Error."

By: Sue

Sue — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 14:04:22 +0000

Dan & db to see the "previous" posts, scroll to the top of the comments section (which is what you are reading if you are reading the comments) and (paradoxically) click "next" to see the previous comments.

Botched

P.S. Nicole, I’ll expect a Fat (pun intended) check in the mail for this and multiple other services I’ve rendered on behalf of msn.

By: Pedal It Forward

Pedal It Forward — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 08:31:56 +0000

I like the Most "What’s Your Story" vote — gets me out of my box and into some funny content.

Ads v. Sponsorship — Hate ads, tolerate sponsorship. Yes, I have clicked on the Volvo ads but only because I was researching some new wheels. I will always click/browse/shop/buy on a vendor who shows a modicum of corporate responsibility through sponsorship. Ads are just plain annoying.

I have some favorite sites, including FC. Inspiration comes from all sorts, and I hope to have the sponsorship that FC has someday;-)

Mel
http:/spaces.msn.com/pedalitforward

By: Unknown

Unknown — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 03:10:48 +0000

1. I like reading the comments of other bloggers who get pissed off when FC rigs voting contests with free giveaways.
2. Probike in Bangkok used to be the only decent bike shop in Indochina. They have been "Trekked" and now don’t sell anything else but Trek, Lemond, Klein, Bontrager etc etc. I’m pissed off!
3. I haven’t been back to What’s Your Story since the abovementioned vote rigging episode and have never clicked on a Volvo ad.
4. Yep, real cool.
5. Shameless promotion of stuff the blogger is being given for free makes for good advertising on blogs.
6. I started a blog with photos of weird things I see here on the streets in Hanoi. Not enough time (but no lack of weird things) to maintain it.
7. Yes.
8. I read yours and Jan Ullrich’s http://www.myspace.com-kaiserjan - if anyone visits it turn down your sound first, it comes complete with Wagnerian soundtrack.
9. Both are on my "morning circuit" of internet surfing.

By: Unknown

Unknown — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 12:59:19 +0000

Okay, I’ll be impressed if Nicole answers DB’s question about why some of the earlier comments seem to disappear over time (leaving only a frustratingly intangable vapour trail as to what sparked whole lines of conversation). I’m particularly annoyed over this one as I tend to miss comments from people called dug that make other people laugh globules of spit on to their computer monitors.

By: Daryl

Daryl — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 02:19:09 +0000

This is what I do. Check the daily distraction on pezcyclingnews. See if there is a new training article to read that will help me improve without actually doing anything. Kind of like FC’s diets. Next is Cyclingnews to see latest news and sometimes reading the race in progress but mainly the letters. After that I go to FC’s blog and SOMETIMES get a new entry. Which I then skim and go to the comments to see what the real stars have to say. I know it is going to be a good day if dug, b21, al, mike and the other cast of characters have already entered something. The next step used to be to read the top 5 but not anymore.

I’m an idiot and there probably is a way but what bugs me the most about this is not being able to read all the comments. It seems like I only catch replies to earlier comments that were made.

Contest. That is what makes me click on ads. If I have a chance to win something I will sign up for anything. Love the tour because they have lots of contest and I actually won a couple things last year. What I will do for a free water bottle. I would click on the Volvo ad if they were giving away anything, water bottle, slice of cake, picture of b21 in a Speedo.

Couldn’t wait any longer to win so I got my own Bianchi track bike. Guess I could use KeepYerBike now.

By: Walter

Walter — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 11:23:57 +0000

Lessee here…
- I haven’t been back to "What’s your story" since the week of the "FC ballot stuffing incident". I tried a few other featured blogs, didn’t find any that were as interesting to me as this, and decided that I didn’t really need to find any more things I compulsively check and read — very uncool and closed-minded of me, I know, but I like my family and job just fine, thank you very much.
- Funny you mention the Trek store — I unwittingly stumbled into one (it was called "Jake’s Bikes" or something innocuous) while visiting my brother-in-law over Memorial Day, and was all of a sudden overcome with the urge to count to 7 on my fingers, wear black and yellow (together), and buy black cycling socks. Then I became irrationally afraid that the steerer tube on my bike would break with the next pothole I hit. Needless to say, I got outta there as fast as I could.
- I think I have the same criteria for advertising on blogs as I do anywhere else: ideally, make it relevant to me and the mindset I’m in when I’m on your site (i.e., I may be interested in long-term care insurance, but not while I’m looking to be entertained about cycling). I gotta believe that both Microsoft and Google (am I allowed to use that word here?!) are close to knowing enough about me that relevance isn’t too much to ask. If you can’t meet the relevance criteria, at least make it easy to ignore (none of those obnoxious things that cover what you actually came to the site for), or really entertaining (think Stupor Bowl ads).
- As far as Volvo sponsorship specifically goes, I guess all it made me think was that the reader demographics of the blogosphere or MSN Spaces must be different than I had perceived. I should clarify that we live in an area where it seems the only vehicles available for sale are Volvo wagons, Honda/Toyota minivans, Priuses (Prii?), and 83 flavors of SUVs, so I don’t really feel compelled to find out more about any of the above.

Have fun at the conference! Maybe you could ask for a clip of your most embarrassing moments so you can post it here for your loyal readers…

By: Christina

Christina — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 05:41:52 +0000

FC, you have clout.
Lookit, Nichole from MSN addressed my serious input right here in your comments, indicating they are already leaning towards what I suggested. Now that’s customer service. It’s the only decent customer service experience I’ve had in a long time. Usually it’s, "We are experiencing an unusually high amount of callers at this time. Your. Wait. Time. Is. 93. Minutes. Please press 2 followed by the pound sign to leave a message. We never call back, but press pound when you are finished with your futile blithering."

BUT I come HERE and leave a comment and blammo, MSN responds directly to the customer in a timely manner.

Clout.

-BM