Hello, all.
Oh how the MyT has fallen.
I expect that’s been used already.
I hope you all are well. I am experiencing MyT DTs this morning and happy to have this outlet frequented by MyT graduates to look in and comment on. Thank you for that word of welcome yesterday, Bearsy. Lurking feels somehow sneaky to me in this venue, thus this post. What a shock to find my account closed and so many efforts at poems and memoirs wiped. Gone. O woe. That OldTom was deleted too should cinch the notion that these latest deletions have nothing to do with content of posts, I would think. Otherwise I would be searching for reasons why I should have been X-ed!
Oh well. Tired news to many of you, I’m sure. If anyone is commenting at MyT today, a suggestion that people should document any blogs they don’t want to lose would probably be a community service – transfer blogs to computer files!
I am unable to find the right word for this limerick – if anyone would like to choose a two-syllable noun for the blank space, have at it…
O how the MyT has fallen
Just a spammer’s playground now, my dahlin’.
To whomever’s in charge:
May your ________ grow large;
Your garden be but ragweed pollen.
Love,
Marinaid.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Hello Marinaid & welcome.
Good morning dear Drifter: I think that people are aware of the dangers of arbitrary account deletions for no apparent reason. It’s a mammoth task transferring everything though. I usually save a copy of my posts before publication, if they took more than five minutes for compose. I’m rather taken with Cymbeline philosophy of blogging; travel light with no baggage!
Missing word: pimples? Troubles?
May your nostrils grow large?
Perhaps not. 😕
It’s a very strange place, is MyT. I cannot help but feel that there is malicious intent behind the deletions, possibly from a hacker, but I guess that’s too paranoid of me. Just MyT incompetence, I suppose.
Anyway, MyT’s loss is our gain. Very pleased to have you blogging here, Marinaid.
Thank you, Levant. Nice of you.
Ara- you live, you learn. you forget. I like “pimples”. Maybe “pustules”?
Bearsy, you are the IT authority, but my feeling about this latest rash of deletions is that it’s some sort of random mischief. Maybe the spammer has upped his game? Dunno, but I hope for a reply from Kate or the others. Replies have happened in the past!
I haven’t read many of the blogs here, I’ll start on that now…
Bunions? But I’ll leave it to Araminta and Bearsy to supply the right word.
I’m no poet,
And I know it.
I have a Cymbeline philosophy regarding blogs, but then I write very few. However I do take considerable time and care on my comments and I am more than a little aggrieved that they are just deleted by the flick of whatever they do when they remove blogs and bloggers.
As I’ve said elsewhere, who else have they deleted that we know nothing about? Ike, Sipu, OldTom and you…
Hi Boa…I have been intrigued by Cymbeline’s feeling about ‘floating about the internet while she’s asleep’ due to published blogs online. Yes, there may be more. I would suspect that Henry Cave Devine went, too, because of the abruptness that comments disappeared while we were in the process of ‘talking’ about his post. Furthermore, I’m experiencing a glitch that disallows my commenting with a new ‘marinaid2’ account, so I give up. 🙂
Marinaid,
This is your home as much as it is anyone elses to do as you please. Lurk, blog and comment as you see fit.
Bearsy,
I honestly don’t buy the hacker theory, if it were malicious there would be some far more juicy deletions than picking on the innocents.
I am convinced this is the only end product you can expect if you hire your staff from the MacDonalds reject bin.
Yes, I guess you’re right, Furry Ears, but I have trouble believing that people can be that incompetent. I have such faith in the capabilities of my fellow humans – I suppose I should become more cynical. 😉
Marinaid, Welcome. 🙂
Bearsy,
Like I said, the DT only want to pay the peanuts even most monkeys would not get out of bed for. 🙂
As for the _________ word. I suggest in light of the spamming menace it should be “Inbox”. That works on many levels. 😉
Thanks Ferret and Paul…And Huzzah! a reply from Kate. The thrust of the reply:
“I have asked the lead moderator to investigate what happened last night. A few regular bloggers have been in touch reporting a similar problem.”
“Inbox” is a winner.
Looking promising, Marinaid. 🙂
Hi Marinaid,
Here is the exchange of correspondence between Ms Day and me.
——
Hello,
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. A number of regular bloggers reported a similar situation last night so I have asked the lead moderator to investigate.
I will be in touch again as soon as I know more.
Kind regards,
Kate
On 9 February 2010 06:39, Sipu wrote:
Dear Ms Day
Please would you be so kind as to tell me why my account on MyT was deleted. I recently asked if the Telegraph was seeking to close down MyT and you assured me that it was not. Subsequently I appeared as ‘Featured Blogger’ for a couple of weeks. Now, suddenly and without any warning whatsoever, I have learned that my account has been deleted. And I have discovered that I am not alone; Marinaid and Ike, being two others to have had their IDs unceremoniously obliterated. I admit that in my dealings with the people who run the site I have had to lower the bar of contempt to a mere 3 feet above the ground, but in this regard you have managed to pass below it with a yard to spare.
Sipu
Marinaid, I hope you get everything restored. If not, here’s a link to some of it for your grandchildren.
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:uq1mui_WFG0J:my.telegraph.co.uk/marinaid/blog/cat/general+marinaid+blog+cat+general&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk
Fingers crossed, Bilby. It’s not being unable to comment on MyT as much as the idea of some of those blogs lost forever. I’m not a writer, memoirs and poetry don’t come easily and inspiration doesn’t repeat itself! 🙂
Sipu…That’s exactly word for word what I received from Kate. I wonder how many of those she sent out and how many of the deletees didn’t bother to inquire.
What I sent her:
Hello Kate,
Yesterday my MyT account was deleted along with quite a number of others, i.e., OldTom, Sipu, Ike, etc. ; these are not posters who are the least bit contentious or controversial and we feel sure that it must be some sort of malfunction, if not malicious mischief. What is of most concern to me is the worry that my blogs of the past years included poetry and some memoirs of my life that are not documented anywhere else. I am quite worried about the possibility that these are irretrievable. I set up a second account with no problem, in order to inquire on the site about the deleted account, but was unable to comment using that account (Marinaid2) because a word code message popped up every time I attempted to post a message which had the effect of deleting that message.(!)
It would be a great relief to know whether or not my past blogs are irretrievable. If I could have access to them I would copy them to my computer files. There are a few amongst them that are very important to me and to my family.
Thank you for your help, I look forward to your reply.
Joan Ellis
aka Marinaid
Marinaid, you are more polite than I am.
If Kate Day has answered you personally, I reckon you’ll get something done. I’ve been in touch with her on several occasions and got good results.
Sheona!!! Problem solved, I’ll copy from that link. Thank you so much. As a matter of fact, a poem I didn’t want to lose was “Granddaughter’s Verse”…although I don’t have any grandchildren as yet. 🙂 Thanks! Amazing.
Boa, she’s helped me out in the past, too. I once had to report a joker who was parodying my account (when I finally learned of it) and there was a swift response. Hopefully, all who were wiped last night will be reinstated.
Not being personal to any here, in general.
I have a real problem with this obsession about ‘archives’on MyT. A somewhat over polite term for a pack of drivel.
The vast majority of the writing is just regurgitated rubbish turned out on a whim.
I would have thought that had any written anything of worth they would have saved it elsewhere. I find the whole thing totally self delusional.
Should people need posterity they would be better off planting a few decent trees which would have a far greater chance of survival than their bon mots.
The world is drowning in mediocrity and worse.
Sipu, I wasn’t really angry as I figured I wasn’t singled out for content but, rather, caught in a malfunction of some sort. Dismayed, rather. I had been dissing Fox News and did wonder for a moment if Rupert Murdoch had something to do with it. ;o)
I would really like to have an explanation for the foul-up, wouldn’t you?, and hope Kate includes that in her next communique.
Christina, I would label most of my blogs since 2008 ‘drivel’, if you will, but there were a few exceptions to that. One being my memory of meeting the orangutan. I would like to pass that along to my son’s family.
You, of course, can view this however you like.
I was not particularly angry either. My frustration was caused by the total lack of competence shown by the administrators of the site. Honestly, they are about as useless and unresponsive as the Labour Government. In fact it is behaviour that is typical of Britain in general. Nobody seems to give a sh*t about anything these days. It is so damned arrogant.
I have to say that prefacing that particular comment here with “nothing personal” seems a tad disingenuous, Christina. ;^)
If not “arrogant”, at least lame as hell, Sipu.
Christina
I love your 1:21 pm comment. Others may not, but I do. Vintage Tina! 😆
As you know, Boadicea and I have never kept our blogs – we delete them when we think they’ve reached their “use by” date, usually 2 or 3 days. But some are precious to some, and some are more sentimental than you or I.
No offence, Marinaid. I understand how important some are to you, and I respect the position you find yourself in, but Tina’s practical, or pragmatic, way of looking at things appeals greatly. 🙂
Marinaid, I used the word arrogant to reflect the contempt they appear to hold for the lesser mortals who blog on MyT. They ignored numerous complaints, requests and suggestions. I am sure that if either of the proprietors had a presence there, they would take much more care in running things.
Marinaid, glad you’re pleased. Here is a link to the “recipe”.
http://sciencebod.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-retrieve-at-least-part-of.html
If the hyperlink is not live, just cut and paste into address bar.
Of course it’s live Sheona, this isn’t MyT, you know! 😉
No offence taken, Bearsy, and I have no problem with Christina’s bluntness as I’m sure I’ve demonstrated over time. However, I think the “nothing personal” was disingenuous. That’s my view of it. No bigee.
Sheona, I owe you, thanks.
Hmmm. I’m trying to understand the psyche. Regarding deleting. I almost never delete anything. Sounds like trying to erase the memory from the head, to me.
Bearsy, I am not sentimental about my own blogs. If I have written something deeply profound I will store it locally. So far my store is empty. However, as a rule I do not delete my posts because I believe it useful to refer to them occasionally. By the same token I wish others would keep their blogs. Unless there is a specific reason to delete them, such as having said something libelous, incorrect or profane, for example, I think it is a mistake to delete them. Cymbeline makes me furious the way she deletes her blogs in the middle of discussions. Once others have contributed their thoughts, I am inclined to feel that ownership is several. But that is just my point of view.
I agree with you Levent, since we all expend varying amounts of time and effort into writing them and commenting, I think it shows a rather cavalier attitude to our endeavours. If it’s one own choice, then fair enough.
Agree with you, Sipu, see my last comment but you echo my thoughts precisely.
No probs, Sipu, we all have our own points of view. Nothing to get excited about.
Thanks, Marinaid.
Shouldn’t all good antipodean bears be in bed now? My belt and braces approach to the link was because it didn’t go live when I first typed my comment.
Hello Marinaid
I doubt if I’d care less about my blog history being deleted, I could probably recreate all of it if I felt like it.
What does piss me off is the sheer incompetence of the administrators, the absolute shambles of the platform and of course the ‘relationships’ which we build with other members treated as nothing more than a chance meeting.
I have probably contacted Kate no more than 5 times during the last 2 years or so, I have always received a considered reply and found her more than helpful.
I stated (on here) from the outset that there had to be some sort of ‘error’ with last nights deletions, I’m sure that sanity will eventually prevail.
Sheona – Yes! We keep saying we’re going to bed and then someone posts an interesting comment …
I was only teasing, please don’t take offence. I wouldn’t sleep! 😥
Well, it’s 9 a.m. here and I must stop chatting online and get on with this day. I’ve got paper and tools laid out intended to finally fulfill a promise made to a long-time cyberacquaintance. He is a remarkable wordsmith and wit and has been a treat with his contributions to an invent-a-word game elsewhere. Rather than limit to a word + definition, he’s expanded into encyclopedic inventions that make great tales. I’ve promised to illustrate one for him. Here’s an example; enjoy:
—-
Lovender: an aromatic plant bred by Joshua Weaver, head gardener at Storkings Castle, the country seat of Lord De Twitters, a rather inferior poet and ne’er-do-well. The libertine dreamed of easing his seductions by pharmacological means, reasoning that, could a scent be somehow conjured up combining both an exquisite aroma and a subtle, aphrodisiac molecule, then life for him would become considerably easier. To this end he commissioned his head gardener to breed such a plant as would produce this scent.
Poor Joshua, whose experience in plant-breeding would have sufficed to fill the back of a small postcard, was apprehensive, but, in his characteristically stalwart fashion, had built a largish greenhouse-cum-laboratory in the castle grounds and began crossing large numbers of aromatic plant genera in the hope of achieving the ideal end product. After five years the results were not encouraging, although several substances handy for pest-extermination came to light. The Earl was becoming noticeably tetchy and more than a touch impatient and Joshua, his rather comfortable future at stake, resolved to seek expert advice from a certain Dr Jeckyl, a physician of impeccable reputation, but one whose finances had rather mysteriously taken a recent turn for the worse, and who was a well-known dabbler in experimental pharmacology.
The two set about their task with enthusiasm, the doctor being able to introduce Master Weaver to whole new plant phyla with interesting physiological properties, and, after a mere couple of years, it seemed that breakthrough was achieved. It was their practice to meet up at the end of the day and compare notes, also to test any new plant product produced during their labours. The last compound tested was from a plant derived from the union of common lavender (Munstead variety) and the Venus fly-trap, a most tricky and arduous mating. The two met in the laboratory one summer evening to test the perfume, and it seems were finally successful in their efforts. It is hard to be certain, as all lab notes for that meeting were destroyed and both parties would blush and refuse to speak further whenever questions were asked about the results.
In great excitement Joshua sought out his lordship to apprise him of the success of the venture, leaving him with a small flask of the compound, named by its inventors “lovender” and departing with the promise of a pension should the material deliver as promised. The Earl, as it happened, had invited a small party from the committee of the local Women’s Institute to take tea with him and to discuss the forthcoming village fête and, wishing to test the effects of the elixir, he determined to use as guinea-pig a certain Mrs Wallis, the Widow of the local candle-factor and a lady of voluptuous appearance (and, it was rumoured temperament, Mr Wallis having departed this vale of tears with a huge grin on his face and a massive heart-attack). The genteel formalities, which dragged for His Lordship most cruelly, were eventually satisfactorily terminated and the ladies of the Institute sent on their ways, all, that is, save Mrs Wallis, whom the Earl persuaded to remain on the pretext of further discussion concerning the iced-cake stall. De Twitters prepared his seduction carefully.
Rather unfortunately he had completely forgotten his original instruction to Joshua, not remembering that he had asked for a perfume to achieve his dastardly aims, and had somehow convinced himself that the material should be administered orally. With this in mind he pressed upon the lady a small glass of sweet sherry, into which he had introduced a couple of drops of the magical liquid. After remarking how delicious the libation smelt Mrs Wallis downed it in one.
The butler was drawn to the master’s study by horrific screams and, on bursting through the door, was appalled to see his master, or what little remained of him, in process of being engulfed, feet first, by a large plantlike being, waving poisoned tentacles and wearing a crinoline, bustle and whalebone corset in the latest style. An overpowering smell of lavender was in evidence. At this point the tweeny entered, and, strangely, both witnesses later found themselves unable, or unwilling, to account for the quarter-hour that elapsed before they summoned Joshua.
On spying his master by now almost totally eaten Joshua, with the presence of mind for which he was justly famous, rushed back to the klaboratory, returning with a large canister containing the result of an earlier experiment, one he had discovered was a most deadly and efficient herbicide.
The gardener, the butler and the tweeny (Margaret) found themselves in a room containing the remnents of a human corpse, a pile of rather drab vegetation and a deal of blood. Fortunately, by now, the lavender smell had dissipated. All three realised that the police would have been unwilling to accept the true state of affairs as an explanation for his Lordship’s demise and so concocted a mor eplausible story. Rather fortuitously the Earl had been in the habit, during his time in India as vice-Viceroy, of collecting specimens of the local fauna, and the castle was blessed with a rather well-endowed zoo. Using another of his previous plant-products Joshua rapidly anaesthetised the tiger which was the pride of De Twitter’s collection, and the three of them dragged its inert form into the earl’s study and bolted the door, after leaving. Joshua meantime transported the rather sad remains of Mrs Wallis to the compost heap, uttering a quiet apology as he forked her into the general mixture. The Tweeny was sent post haste to summon the Peelers who arrived to discover a rather dazed tiger sitting amid blood-soaked human remains, identifiable as the earl only by his monocle and rather adventurous moustache.
Foryunately for Joshua the earl had already made arrangements for his pension and had also, rather generously, bequeathed him the laboratory and sufficient funds to run it.
On searching the lab shelves later, the gardener discovered that a large supply of another of the plant products was missing, and could only assume that the Doctor had taken it. Rather unfortunately, it had been mislabelled as “Virility Enhancer”. Its true effects had not yet been tested, but were to be later revealed in a rather spectacular way, a matter of which Joshua, who went on to become a famous chemicals manufacturer, and Baron de Weaver, remained totally unaware for the rest of his life.
love
Bearsy, could send some bed-time honey for you and Boadicea. Does that help bears sleep?
A thoroughly enjoyable romp, Marinaid; I have no doubt that your illustrations will be equally entertaining. 😀
A nice, bijou blogette, Marinaid. I haven’t been here before, but MyT is really going to the dogs – you, Old Tom and Sipu all deleted, for what?
I complained to Kate, but I don’t suppose anything will come of it.
PS. Make me an author, please, Bearsy.
I do not do dis-ingenuity!
I was not being personal Marinaid, I rarely read you, on a personal level your writing does not appeal to me.
It was my general opinion to a general bitch from MyTers, simple as that.
I also consider that most modern novels are drivel, most magazine articles and newspaper items too so I wouldn’t worry about it.
I don’t read them either!
I consider that one of the modern world’s biggest problems along with too many people is too many words!
If most of us spent the time and effort doing useful things in the world that we devote to the self aggrandising play of blogging, the place would be a far better place.
So I’m off to practice what I preach! (In the garden, growing things to give away!)
By the way, I have just found out that I too have been removed from MyT, which, considering I have not been around for days is quite amusing, for what one might ask, not contributing?
I have been busy for two weeks arranging club visits for the next year to events and places for the Garden Club!
Their loss, not mine. f**k them!
Oh, well Christina, how strange, and what possible cause could they have? You will not be worried about your archive though, which is a blessing!
Marinaid, good evening and a belated welcome. Good stuff from you already, in my opinion. I think you should make the lovender tale a blog in its own right (remembering to use the ‘Read More’ facility to avoid upsetting Ferret, of course).
With the news that CO has also been deleted, it seems clear to me that this is all some sort of major glitch on MyT. I hope that they fix it and you get your blogs back.
CO, good evening to you as well. Don’t agree with you on this one, I’m afraid. It’s not so much the losing of my blogs if I happen to be the next to be vapourised. Most of them were done in Word and I have them saved elsewhere, in any case. It’s the comments that other bloggers made, not only on my efforts but on all the others.
I used to enjoy wading back through the archives and seeing what we were all blogging about a year ago. Less easy now and fairly pointless pre June 2007, because they have stripped the comments away from all the blogs before that date. Not that clever after that date either, because so many accounts have been deleted and the comments of the deleted bloggers have been zapped, leaving most threads completely incomprehensible.
If you ever decide to do a blog here, I would appreciate a reprise of the time you teetered down the Falls Road in high heels and, I seem to remember, furs (might be an embellishment of my own imagining) at the height of the Troubles hectoring the natives in cut glass English at maximum volume. Can’t remember why.
Don’t forget, by the way, you’ve always got Cleone if you want to reactivate your MyT account. I see that she’s still on my Network there.
Ah, well said John, I had forgotten about Cleone 🙂
How amusing! So had I!
JM please check your network and see what my name is supposed to be!
It will be the same password .
Yes, the fur coat was integral to the Falls Rd. incident, retrospectively rather entertaining.
God rot the bloody Irish, need a stiletto heel firmly embedded in the back of their necks!
Seeing I never revisit archives of myself or anyone else I forget what I have recounted and what I haven’t! You are right Araminta, I don’t give a damn!
JM To be honest, I have blocked so much of the past because of the boy, it needs others to sometimes unblock it as you just have that incident.
I also have Cleone the bulldog on my network, Christina.
No I don’t actually; had a clear-out the other day.
CO
gertanddaisy is the name that comes up when I click on Properties.
Bring Cleone on, pretty please? MyT needs her clarity of thought and expression, in my opinion.
Welcome, Bravo … I just noticed your arrival. 🙂
Whoops!
Sorry, Bravo. I missed your entrance as well. Welcome.
JM is there any more to the name that you have than cleone?
What happens when you click on it and go to her page?
I can remeber fooling around with it but never used it and didn’t bother to store it elsewhere!
Hi bravo!
G’day Bravo, Welcome to DNMT, great to see you here.
Sorry you had to wait – you are now an author.
Yes, welcome Bravo and good to see you here.
Tina: re Cleone, a cousin, I believe: here she is:
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/gertanddaisy
Tina (hope you don’t mind but but we have, in my opinion, interacted with each other enough by now – please call me John?).
On your (Cleonie’s) page, you have two comments.
‘On Christina Osborne’s post Its all Araminta’s fault again!
I must go, will return in the nonce!
No, not with the ponce!
On Christina Osborne’s post Its all Araminta’s fault again!
Joe, more of the Ariadne, Persephone, Ione mould and definitely most refined. I’m sure you will be amused.’
Nothing else remains. Except, of course, Cleone’s quote – ‘Who are these ghastly people?’ Works for me.
Is gertanddaisy not working for you?
Oh hell and damnation, I just knew it my fault, YET AGAIN !!!! Sob.
Sorry, ahem: so what are you trying to suggest here John? HOW DARE YOU IMPLICATE ME IN THIS PLOT?
Was that better?
Bravo, Bravo! Welcome to DNMyT!
Bravo! Hello! I read the Dear Kate discussion on MyT yesterday and thank you for your comments on behalf of the dispossessed. You are a hero. I am raising my coffee cup to you and when next you are in Manhattan, I will brew you a cup personally. And a hug for Sabina and her outrage. No further word from Kate, however.
Christina, you too?! Welcome to the club.
As for your protest – I was going to point out that you could have saved nasty unnecessary words by stopping after your first sentence…but wasn’t sure if you’d laugh at that. 🙂
Fingers crossed for today Marinaid.
Ms Day should be able to trace exactly what happened at the stroke of a key. It is hardly rocket science when you have an administrator login.
I still believe she is an ex brummie bricklayer called Trevor, and has bluffed her way into the job using the transgender discrimination vote. 😉
Hello John Mackie! Thanks for that greeting. “Lovender” is one of many such invent-a-word tales drawn from that game and that just scratches the surface of this man’s spectrum. I had lured him to MyT in the past but he found the format too annoying, I’m sorry to say.
:^D, Ferret. If I receive another email, you’ll hear it here first. Meanwhile, the MyT DTs are past the critical point.
Hee Hee,
I still make an appearance on MyT. Good as this place is, it’s not the same.
I am sure the campaign to have you and the other innocents reinstated will be a success.
You’re right Ferret, it’s not the same, and all of us still pop up on MyT.
If enough people moved across it might, just might, become the same. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t consider that there was the faintest chance of that happening, but if the mods keep deleting accounts at random, the spam continues and the software starts falling over in yet another area …
Who knows? We’ll wait and see. 🙂
O Furry ears, I find a certain mix of idiots currently infesting MyT too irritating for now. This site is refreshing.
Hugh,
I cannot argue with that. The infestation is tiresome but I do my best to ignore them because of theh good stuff. I could make a list but we all know how that ends up. :o)
Bearsy,
If the rumours are true about MyT being allowed to atrophy into obscurity, one of two things will happen.
This site will become the new home of MyT.
or (and I suspect this will be the case)
The MyT community will actually get together for once and drag the DT staff to task. The Graduain and the Indie would have a bit of a poke at their rival and Ms Day would be found out as the fraud she is and be shown the door (still not sure if it is the gents or ladies door 🙂 )
I honestly believe the average MyT blogger, myself included is too beligerant to let the sons of Shane get away with treating us like guano.
Evidently, the dispossessed have been reinstated sans archive. I’ve sent another emaid to Kate and the mod squad to ask for an explanation as to how that happened. If she replies, I’ll post here.
I’ve just noticed that this site offers notification of comments by email. Good show.
What?! That’s appalling, Marinaid. So, archives are irretrievable, permanently deleted? Not good enough.
Hi Bilby…I’ve just looked at the big Gorilla face you posted. Yikes.
In the email to the Kate squad I included the link to archive that Sheona offered, suggesting that the archive did indeed still exist somewhere in cyberland. We’ll see. I appreciate your sympathetic commisseration…we shall see. I hope they reappear, but am managing to live with the tragedy. :^)
Ah, that’s what “yikes” meant.:)
I hope, by careful positioning, I have spared you the yellow smiley.
Fingers crossed re the archive.
I am sending an email daily to the Kate squad asking if my past posts can be retrieved and for a reply to emails. On Monday, if there is still no reply, I’ll begin blogging about the theft.
Good Luck Marinaid,
They have us all over a barrel on the theft thing. There is a passage in the T&C about ownership of blogs on MyT. Basically they can sell us all down the swannee to erseholes like One Shite and there is cack all we can do about it.
T&C Quote:
At any time without notice and in our absolute discretion, we may permanently or temporarily terminate, suspend or deny your access to the Site. At any time without notice and in our absolute discretion, we may remove or edit any Content on the Site. To the fullest extent permitted by law, in both cases none of TMG, its directors, employees or other representatives have any liability to you whatsoever for any loss or damage arising from such removal or editing or any restriction or hindrance to your use of the Site, email services or password.
7. Submission of Materials
If you submit materials to us, you agree:
(1) to grant us a royalty free, worldwide, perpetual license to use, copy, distribute, publish, republish, store, archive, syndicate, sub-license, transmit, adapt, edit, create derivative works from, perform, exercise publicity and copyright rights in relation to such material (including any ideas, concepts or formats) in any manner and in any format and/or media;
(2) to any moral rights in the material submitted;
(3) that we may disclose your identity to any third party making any claim or assertion of any kind in relation to your material; and
(4) that we may monitor your use of the Site and any communications made via the Site.
8(
Hiya Furry. Yes, I don’t expect to make a legal case but just employ the term. Nor do I expect results, really. I’m asking them to explain so that I can stop hoping to get my posts back. How much work is it for them to reply…sheesh.
Marinaid,
Great innit. (sarc.)
I weathered many annoyances on MyT because I thoroughly enjoyed the banter and community. But lately this utter disdain and abandonment by the owners of the site disgusts me.
You’re not alone, Ferret.
Trying to temper my own annoyance – and, really, dismay – about losing the posts, I remind myself that it’s not a playground I was paying for. I am kicking myself for not having predicted such a loss and copied those posts that I cared about.
This spin-off site is perfect for the community-oriented exchange, isn’t it. But not for the larger political debate, I think. One reason I am motivated to comment at MyT is rebuttal re US affairs. There was a lot of crap being posted on that subject and I have to confess that it was patriotism at heart. As opposed to pratriotism, I hope.
FYI for the greater good, folks…you heard it here first, a Def Not MyT exclusive: I’ve recieved two replies, one from Kate, on the subject of the wipes. I don’t make a habit of sharing emails, but this seems official enough to be public info and in the interest of all concerned, so I’ll paste Kate’s reply here. Cheers.:
“Hello,
I have investigated what happened and it seems that a moderator made a mistake when trying to remove spam accounts removed some genuine accounts at the same time. Please accept my unreserved apologies for this error.
ONEsite have managed to reactivate these accounts and are trying to retrieve the blogs and comments associated with them. I was waiting to get back to you when I had a clearer idea of how much of this content can be restored. I will chase this up with them this afternoon and let you know.
I would strongly recommend that you save all your work offline ie in a Word document. This is good practice when publishing anything online as, although rare, systems do occasionally fail.
I will be in touch again when I have heard more from ONEsite.
Kind regards,
Kate”
Well Marinaid, I did not get that email, probably because I told Kate that she was a manky old cow. Actually, I did not say that, but it’s how I feel.
“a moderator made a mistake”
If it wasn’t so darn serious it would make a great subject for next months short story competition!
I’m, afraid that “a moderator made a mistake” is frankly just not good enough, I (as I’m sure have others) been constantly offering assistance to the dunderheads, they have accepted my help and fixes without credit (which I don’t mind) but of late they have taken an isolationist view and destroyed what used to be a fantastic platform.
But then I’m just an ignoramus from the third world!
I’ve been saying for over a year now that it’s a shambles, a shambles it appears it will remain:(
Thanks for the update, Marinaid. I agree with Soutie’s comment, except for his penultimate para. ;*)
It is not really good enough, Marinaid. I think that Blog Central has lost control. OneSite seem to be in a complete mess. How disappointing that it should end like this. I wonder why they cannot sort it out.
Hi Marinaid: you may want to look at this thread :
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/claire-b-2/blog/2010/02/12/maybe_its_just_me_(again…)
My link leads to a whoops, but at the time of typing the post is still there on Claire’s page.
Hello one and all; Marinaid…good ta see ya. Poor show from MyT staff, I agree. And if like many of us, you’ve got treasured/personal stuff stored in there, then it’s really annoying. I’ve followed OSO’s advice and made back up copies in word of the short stories I want to keep.
But Christina; yes, vintage pragmatism there too… Maybe I do take myself too seriously with this blogging/writing malarky, and if some MYT dalek zaps me, so be it. Or, as a very wise man (Voltaire) once put it, after spending years ruminating on the Nature of the Universe; ‘il faut cultiver son jardin.’ 😉
Ara; ahoy! Good to see you on the dingy (as opposed to Mother Ship!) – signed, Watery Tart 😉
Hi all. Another missive from MyT, FYI. I think MyT contributors should know about this error and Kate said she would be informing MyT in a post when the facts had been sorted. I’ve sent a reply to her asking for details about how such a mistake could happen, whether it was MyT or ONEsite, etc., and whether it was random or an automatic response to violation reports. I am going to talk with an IT pro that I know to ascertain whether or not the copy exists somewhere in cyberspace to make sure that ONEsite isn’t just blowing this off by saying that they can’t retrieve the stuff. When I asked Kate if she would mind if I shared her email with others, she assured me that she intends to inform MyT in a post about these account deletions errors when the details had been sorted. I urged her to do so in my most recent reply. So I will not post about this at MyT unless she does not, but in the meantime will share it here.
“Further to my email earlier today, I have heard back from ONEsite about your lost content. Unfortunately, they are unable to restore your blogs, comments and pictures.
Some of your blogs and pictures have been captured in the Google cache here: http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:4sFwBV6veT8J:my.telegraph.co.uk/marinaid+my.telegraph.co.uk/marinaid&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
There is also some content in this archive:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080701012648/http://my.telegraph.co.uk/marinaid
I appreciate that this is far from ideal but I hope it will help you salvage at least some of your work.
Please accept my apologies once again for this error and feel free to contact me if there is anything else I can do to help.
Kind regards,
I wonder.
They restored the whole of my account when it was deleted. I had no blogs, but several years of comments. However, they restored me within half an hour of the deletion.
I think Bravo was deleted for a lot longer. Hopefully he will let you know how much of his account was restored.
Very much as I expected Marinaid.
Re my comment on Claire’s post, I thought I’d mention it. I was informed that any disclosure of information from said Moderators would result in instant suspension of my account so I didn’t! I was rather surprised though.
I can’t be bothered with MyT any more. The Telegraph had a great thing there (potentially) but they blew it.
This is what I got:
‘Hello,
I have now heard back from our moderators and from ONEsite, the third party that hosts My Telegraph. It appears that in trying to deal with a deluge of spam on the site a moderator deleted three genuine accounts by mistake. Please accept my apologies for this error. The moderation team have been briefed about the need for extreme care when deleting accounts.
ONEsite have been able to restore your account but unfortunately they are unable to retrieve your blogs and comments. There is a partial record of your content in the Google cache and also in another online archive – here:
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:yGUaUqtRpKcJ:my.telegraph.co.uk/sipu/go/comments/view%3Fpg%3D2+my.telegraph.co.uk/sipu&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
http://web.archive.org/web/20080803194302/http://my.telegraph.co.uk/sipu
I appreciate that this is extremely frustrating for you and can only apologies for our mistake.
Please let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with.
All the best,
Kate
———-
I replied with a comment to the effect that ‘Let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with.’ was somewhat farcical given that she had not helped me in the slightest. The links show the headers, but the comments do not exist within the blogs themselves. Wretched woman.
Hi, you two.
Boa, my comments are returned…some, at least – I haven’t checked the extent as I’m not interested in preserving comments so much. It’s primarily all the creative writing I was inspired to do early on that bugs me. It’s like losing a personal journal. You live, you learn. Some of the stuff was reposted on a smaller forum and I’m in the process of finding and copying it.
Ara, suspension, really?!! Good heavens. I told Kate I was sharing the emails on another, small forum. How could they possibly object to that, considering?
Anyway, I find I’m losing interest in blogging online as result of this – which may be a good thing. :^)
Well, I asked the same question, more out of courtesy than anything else, I was not expecting anything other than a “yes”. I have no idea why I am being “gagged”.
Hi Jazz, Sipu.
Jazz, MyT devolved, didn’t it. I watched that happen at the Independent’s Argument forum site, too. It seems to me that it is testament to how the least common denominator prevails. Several small spin-off sites emerged, as this one has, begun by regulars to accomodate contributors that had got to ‘know’ each other over time, leaving the current events agenda behind in favor of personal chatting and fun. It’s an interesting phenomena, imo.
Sipu, thanks. So there were only three of us? How about Christina, was that the same sort of error?
Ara, you are “gagged”? You don’t mean you’re not able to comment, do you, but just being threated if you do? “Gagged” is a term I’ve seen used to mean banned from a site but still able to log in and read.
I think it’s all about ‘who you allow to join’. I speak here with some authority as one who has been slung off quite a few sites, unjustifiably in my opinion – but then I would say that…wouldn’t I?
But seriously MyT should have been very much more rigorous about who they allowed to join. If they had done that then moderation would have been far more easy.
I live in fear of Brendano joining. Gosh maybe he already has?
Boadicea, Marinaid, it took a couple of weeks to get my account back up – + a lot of support from everybody. It all came back, but, I think there was a difference because my account was suspended, not deleted…
I still maintain that there is a large amount of auto deleting going on from the software. It is set to recognise certain words and phrases and self censors what ‘it’, the software deems to be unsuitable.
As to the rest of the site it is just either laziness or indifference, both I suspect. Not exactly a good advertisement for the future when we consume ‘printed’ media via an iPad tablet with bought content.
I don’t know Jazz. I support the idea of an open forum, rather than private, and appreciate dissent. Dissent is what motivates me to post, very often, and stimulates discussion. But I’ve seen trolls and idiots ruin forums just to indulge themselves, while loudly crying “freedom of speech”. To be fair, I don’t put Brendano in that category, but point taken!
And there is a Lord of the Flies thing that goes on in forums, too, I’ve noticed. I’ve personally defined B’s role within that metaphor.
MyT should have instituted e-mail validation – like WordPress and many other sites do. That filters out a load of rubbish for starters. It’s not rocket science; the first blog site I designed and coded 7 or 8 years ago for our extended family had e-mail validation.
OMG
I like dissent too, although it gets me into trouble from time to time. But dissent for it’s own sake soon becomes boring.
Can you expand on what you mean by the ‘Lord of the Flies thing’?
Hi Bravo. I enjoyed reading your “My Avatar” story…but I guess I should comment there, rather than here. Yes, I think the difference between ‘suspended’ and ‘deleted’ is the problem here.
OMG – I was in the middle of dissing FOX NEWs and Sarah Palin when I began to disappear…and those critical comments have not returned. I blame Rupert Murdoch.
‘fraid not 😉
No, I am able to post and comment, Marinaid but just not anything to do with a recent matters regarding the “friends” facility, on MyT. Hence my less than informative comment when asked about it by Rosie.
marinaid
blame the ghost in the machine.
OMG
That’s ok.
Jazz, maybe you intended to address your last to me, re the ‘Lord of the Flies’ thing. Yes, I’ll expand – but later on as I’m not cogent enough at the mo. More coffee is needed.
Bearsy, can “email validation” be explained easily? I don’t know what that is.
I think Delphi Forums does it best. But maybe that’s because it’s the format I first became familiar with.
marinaid
Yes the question was for you…watch out for that caffeine overload, more than 30mg is bad for you and 100mg is toxic andI think there’s about 20mg in an average cup of tea or coffee
Is there any truth in the rumour that Sarah Palin is doing a guest appearance on ICE ROAD TRUCKERS (Ch 5 Tuesday nites). I understand she was going to ‘share a cab’ with Hugh ‘the polarbear’ Rowland.
Lordy, I can’t see me counting milligrams. What does that translate to in terms of “cups”? ;^)
My sentiments about Sarah are, and shall remain up to the point she is running for high office, ‘poor Sarah’.
Very simply Marinaid.
When you registered with WordPress, they sent you an e-mail. Inside that e-mail was something (a “validation code”) that you were told to click on. When you did, you were taken to a web page which completed the registration process.
By doing that, WordPress knew that the e-mail address you had supplied was both real and belonged to you. If it hadn’t belonged to you, or not been real, you wouldn’t have received it, and the registration would never have been completed.
Ara, the only possible explanation I can see for threatening you with suspension is the COA rule. cover our ass. It’s to everyone’s best interests for technical problems to be explained honestly to all on the site. It would certainly stop all the countless blogs of complaint and speculation which seem contagious and not the most edifying of reading material on MyT, imo.
Oho, Bearsy. Yes, why don’t they do that?! sheesh.
marinaid
Re. “…why don’t they do that?!…”
Because they’re as dim as Toch H Lamp
That should have been a ‘..a Toc H Lamp….
Jazz, I, myself, am a tad brighter for having just had a look at Wiki’s page on “Toch H”.
Damn!!
That wiki takes the fun out of everything. I’d hoped to get OMG reminiscing.
On the caffeine front I’ve been talking rubbish, my excuse is that it is a long time since I researched it.
Have a look at this link
http://www.nmhct.nhs.uk/Pharmacy/caffeine.htm