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After the storm there's always sun!

Today my post will be short and sweet, but carries a warning! Those of us who garden on Blotanical (or any other specialist platform for that matter), do so because we love our subject matter. I love gardens, gardening, plants, flowers and trees and am lucky enough to have joined a community set up by Stuart where most of us share those common interests.

I've been saddened to see that some of my fellow bloggers have had problems on their blogs, with stalkers and other strange people, who see blogs as an invitation to home in on the author and leave strange messages, or links to unsavoury sites that have nothing to do with the blog in question.

I too have had this experience recently, with comments and links left on posts that bear no relation to gardening or plants. But I'm NOT going to stand down or be put off by people who get vicarious pleasure from attempting to post inappropriate rubbish on my posts, or give links to sites that have nothing to do with the simple pleasures like gardening that I enjoy.

So, just a couple of words of advice to fellow bloggers - DO enable comment moderation so you can actually delete inappropriate words before others see them and DO check your followers column (if you have one), because sometimes people slip in amongst your genuine friends and you don't realise. You can always block followers, just as you can delete comments.

I'm not going to say more ... but if you're wondering about the choice of pictures today - it's to do with stormy weather and clear skies!

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Comments

  1. joey9 February 2010 at 13:10

    I second your sound advice and, oh my, your photos are delightful on this dreary morning! (We're expecting 6-10 inches of snow today!)

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  2. Anonymous9 February 2010 at 13:29

    Dear Charlotte, How sad it is that it should be necessary to give this timely warning but it is, perhaps, a sign of the times in which we live. Your stressing 'Comment Moderation' is something of which we should all take notice. Although a little extra work, it does mean that one is able to see everything before publication.

    Of course, as you rightly say, one should not be put off.

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  3. Carol9 February 2010 at 13:38

    Beautiful sunrises Charlotte and a perfect analogy! A moments disgust and angst passes quickly when we can delete, block or sadly even go exclusive. There are many wounded, sad and angry people in the world and as bloggers we will get our share of intruders, but as gardeners we are routinely pulling "weeds" and other unwanted species from our gardens. We are vigilant. I have alerted one or two to spam and questionable followers. Your post is a great way to alert our community! Well done! ;>)

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  4. Anonymous9 February 2010 at 13:56

    Your advice is good -- and those photos are just spectacular!

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  5. Chrissie9 February 2010 at 14:27

    It is a shame that someone will often want to spoil the enjoyment of others. I too get spam emails and more recently comments. I like the comparison with weeds :-) perhaps spam should be renamed! Great photos!

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  6. Joanne9 February 2010 at 15:49

    What a shame and thanks for the tip I learnt the hard way about moderating comments and lost a post because of my lack of IT knowledge.

    However I love love your photos and for a split second thought the first was similar to many I took at Martin Mere some months ago then I realised you are still in a different continent still I think.

    So pleased you carry on regardless and must check my followers out again but where to find the time?

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  7. Floridagirl9 February 2010 at 17:43

    Wow! Those photos are phenomenal! You are a very gifted photographer.

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  8. Dirty Girl Gardening9 February 2010 at 19:24

    Thanks for the advise... The photo's are lovely.

    www.dirtygirlgarden.com

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  9. Diana Studer9 February 2010 at 20:31

    I remember one weird follower of yours!

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  10. L. D. 9 February 2010 at 22:53

    Yes, they must, I mean must, do that. I created a new blog and thought it was all covered but each blog you have must have their settings done individually. I have rejected many because of questionable things. I have one that followed me and you can even block that if you want, so they can't be shown as one of your followers. Kind of you to tell people to get things fixed.

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  11. Miranda Bell9 February 2010 at 22:58

    It's a shame that where there is good there is always those who want to ruin other peoples' enjoyment and am totally with you on all that you've written here. Such beautiful sunsets too - another freezing cold night here in Brittany... hope it's warmer where you are - Miranda x

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  12. sweetbay9 February 2010 at 23:22

    Such fiery sky pictures!

    I know of some bloggers who have problems -- at least one quit blogging as a result -- and it strikes me as utterly ridiculous that someone would want to try to spoil something like a garden blog.

    Being a cynic by nature, I don't feel comfortable unless comment moderation is on.

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  13. Unknown9 February 2010 at 23:31

    Good for you! I didn't know about the followers thing, but I'll have to have a look now. Thanks so much for the warning...and the photos!

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  14. Amy10 February 2010 at 00:52

    Good post and I am going to go change my comment form. Beautiful photo!

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  15. Kyna10 February 2010 at 02:08

    Great post! I do strongly dislike an internet 'troll'. (And beautiful pics, btw :) )

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  16. James David10 February 2010 at 02:08

    Its a sad to find that there are people who have bad intentions, being malicious for no apparent reason.

    That is the other side of the cyberworld, where there are good people, gardeners of the earth - There are also evil people - seek to destroy the very beauty gardeners bring them to life.
    I think using the word "weed" is still being kind to them.

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  17. red studio10 February 2010 at 03:31

    Thank you for your advice and beautiful photos. I am sorry that you experienced such comments.

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  18. Pat10 February 2010 at 04:49

    Wonderful dreamy pictures. Thanks.

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  19. FlowerLady Lorraine10 February 2010 at 11:38

    Lovely pictures, great post. It is awful that 'creeps' love to ruin someone's happiness. I also know of one blogger who has closed up her nice blog because of a 'bad' person writing to her. I do have word verification and the blog approval, and do delete things that are no good at all. I did away with the word verification the other day, because I've read some people don't like that. Well, as soon as I did that I started getting spam mail of adult content, so reinstated the word verification option. It's too bad that evil always wants to kill whatever is good and lovely. ~ Thanks for posting this.

    FlowerLady

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  20. gittan10 February 2010 at 13:33

    Great post and I must say that the pictures looks wonderful! Not to mention you header, that picture looks SO BEAUTIFUL! I wish that was my garden / gittan

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  21. Anonymous10 February 2010 at 17:18

    Such beautiful pictures. But that last one just blew me away! How gorgeous it is.

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  22. Janet, The Queen of Seaford11 February 2010 at 02:15

    Lottie, you have said it well. I am tired of seeing the spammy comments. I put word verification on a while back. I am not sure what you mean about the followers. If they follow and do nothing else ----is this an issue? I will have to look at the followers more closely I suppose.
    As always your photos are stupendious!

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  23. RURAL 11 February 2010 at 16:16

    Gorgeous photos, and a very timely post. There are many creeps out there. If you are checking your followers on your blog, make sure to check twitter also.

    I get around 15 spam comments per day, and it is a good thing that I have comment moderation. Unbelievable that some people have all this time to do these bad things.

    Jen

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