I'M GETTING A BIT CROSS NOW!

Dear crafty peeps, welcome to my crafty nook! In an attempt to encourage crafters to comment/start a dialogue on my blog I changed my settings a while back allowing anonymous comments to be submitted to my posts, while still being subject to moderation. However I think it's only fair that people respect the fact that this is a blog about crafting and limit their comments to craft related subjects. I received this email today and initially I was going to allow it on my "Card For Alex" post even though it isn't a craft question but one about blogging. I remember all too well the struggle to get any views for my blog and even now almost a year after setting it up, I'm not exactly inundated with followers or views (it means I treasure every since one!) so I was quite happy to allow this email and reply with some handy hints and tips (main one being buy Blogging For Dummies book). This is the email I received:-

 ' Hi! I know this is somewhat off-topic but I needed to ask.
Does building a well-established website like yours take a 
lot of work? I am brand new to operating a blog 
but I do write in my journal daily. I'd like to start a blog so I will 
be able to share my personal experience and thoughts online.
Please let me know if you have any kind of suggestions or tips for brand new aspiring blog owners.
Appreciate it!'

On the surface innocuous as they come, however when I clicked on the link included (I chose to not copy and paste that part), it comes up with the header for a thermal hotel what ever that is in the address bar but no actual website. As most of you know I'm a complete novice when it comes to the ins and outs of computers and the internet but I'm assuming there's something dodgy about this link although it didn't trigger my anti virus/malware etc. If this was a genuine question then can the anonymous poster please get in contact again but leave a email address (don't worry I won't post your private details) and I will be happy to answer any blog questions to the best of my ability. However if I continue to get anonymous comments that link to non crafting sites (I can't tell you how many emails I've translated only to discover they are about electro plating!) I WILL BE DELETING THE ANONYMOUS COMMENTS OPTION FROM MY BLOG! This isn't something I particularly want to do as I want it to be easy for people to leave comments and let's face it not everyone has a blogger/Google account (or whatever) to log in with, though they are very easy to obtain as you just have to have a valid email address and fill in a simple form. But if I continue to get what is basically spam (apologies to anyone who posts anonymously but isn't spamming) then I'll have no option but to remove it as it's quite a chore checking every email to make sure it's a genuine question or comment.

I hope this has made things a bit clearer for my readers, I love to read the comments left but it isn't helpful to have non craft or blog related items added to the comments. I'm working on a couple of things at the moment and I'll be adding a post tomorrow featuring the card I've made for my lovely friend Adam. So until next time - keep crafting!

Love and crafty hugs,

Sarah xxx

P.S. OMG someone is REALLY taking the piss now - look what got left on this post asking anonymous posters not to leave SPAM!!!

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