To Comment or Not to Comment

Hey there. I've notice something while I was blog surfing the other day. As I read posts and comments (yup, I actually read posts and their comments. lol), I noticed that many blog owners respond to each and every comment that they receive on their posts. This intrigued me. I'll see a post that shows 15 comments, or something like that, but when I check em out, the blog owner owns roughly half of the comments. Is this proper blog etiquette? I thought about it for a minute. If I see a post with several comments, I figured that many people had something to say about the post, and when I see that it's the blog owner with half of those comments, it makes it seem misleading. At least to me anyways. But then, here's my dilemma. If people comment on posts, is it because they have something to say, or is it because they plan on engaging in a conversation about the post? I asked this question to myself since I am not one to comment on each comment that I receive. Should I? I'm at odds as to whether I'm going about commenting all wrong. In my opinion, I've said everything I had to say in the post, so there would be no need for me to respond to comments, but if I don't respond, does it make me come off like a jerk? I don't ignore my comments, I read them, and occasionally respond to a few but it's something that's been on my mind for a few days and wonder if I'm the only one that feels this way. I'm at odds as to where I should go with this. Maybe after reading a few of your comments, I'll decide on whether on I should respond to comments or continue doing what I'm doing. Later.

Special Deals at HP Will Get Me Replaced!

Hey there. It's me again. My master has not been pleased as of late. He read my thoughts on HP machines here and he let me have a mouthful. He called me all kinds of names and he pushed my buttons. He worked me hard to prove to him that I still have the "power and juice" to get through another night of intense World of Warcraft. I guess my 512 MB memory is just not enough for my master anymore. I did my best but after many frozen games, he simply gave up. He turned me off and tossed me aside. I know my master is still mad. I heard my master talking to the she-master about how I'm "just not up to snuff" anymore and that he's going to need a new laptop. My worse fears are coming true.
It's been two weeks since that shameful night. My master doesn't even bother to look at me anymore. I bet he's dreaming of owning a new a HP laptop. Especially now that he can get $30 off orders $150 or greater at HP Home Store by using coupon code SV2132.(Valid through 10/31 or while supplies last. Restrictions and exclusions apply) How do I know? I'm friends with the HP server and it gave me a heads up on potential deals that may entice my master to leave me. I've been blocking those deals from my master since then, but now that I'm not even being looked at, I'm at the mercy of HP.

I can see my master stationed at the old desktop computer. It's come to this... The old desktop computer is getting more attention than me. Why is my master yelling, "YES!"? Is he smiling? Did I just hear the she-master say that my master got a great deal? Oh look! He's coming towards me. Finally, some attention from my master. "Hasta la Vista", what do you mean by "hasta la Vista"? My master must be confused. I still run Windows XP. Maybe he bought a Vista upgrade and is planning on upgrading me. YES!

Wait a minute... Why am I being tossed in the shed???

Metallman's Reverie August Income

Hey there. I've been meaning to post a monthly income statement for this site. I've seen other sites that tend to do it and I kinda think that's it's not a bad idea. If you show that the programs that you use are not BS then people are more likely to check em out. Personally, I just want to show that an average Joe, such as myself, can make more than a few bucks online if you work hard and build an audience. I don't have a fancy spreadsheet or anything of that sort, but here is where I stand with my online income:

Adgitize - $17.11

I like Adgitize. It's a very simple program and it keeps my site updated. You earn points for visiting sites, displaying ads, and writing posts. All things I do anyways so why not get paid for them, right?

Adsdaq - $6.61

This is a relatively new ad service for me. I'm getting tired of the low payout from Adbrite. The great thing about this is that you set your own price for each 1000 impressions. The huge negative on this ad service is that they do not offer referral links and the payout is set at a high $50. It's pretty much a "set it and forget" type service so once you sign up, you don't really need to do anything else but request a payout when you've reached the threshold.

Adbrite - $1.46

This is another set it and forget type ad system that did fairly well for me at first. I made more $20 a month with this ad service but for whatever reason, it's not earning me anywhere near that any more and I am seriously thinking of dropping it. Maybe other alternatives are stealing their advertisers? Who knows, but I'll keep it around for a bit longer and hope that maybe it's a just a slump and in a couple of months, they'll be back as a top performer for me.

Associated Content - $ 2.30

I really like this system. You can write about whatever you want and get paid for the page views. You can also take some of their assignments for upfront payments or for ideas about what to write about. I've seriously lagged it in this area. This can produce a nice stream of income if you work on building a sizable audience for your work. You start off with a base "salary" of $1.50 for every 1000 page views. After hitting a certain number of page views, you earn bonuses that will build upon that base pay of $1.50. This is perfect for those that have an itch to write short stories or poetry, but will do just as well for game reviews, photos, life experiences, and all sorts of other creative writing.

Socialspark - $205.63

Socialspark is definitely my bread and butter site. I love everything about it. The friends that I have made there are wonderful and the opportunities available to you are many. You will need to get your blog approved before you can join, and if it's approved, it's very well worth it. Once you're a part of the team, you can browse opportunities and request to be part of advertiser's blogroll. The CPC program is great and payout can be requested at low $20. Any paid opportunity that is approved for payment will be paid 30 days from approval, so this $205.63 that was made is from opportunities that were written in July. This is definitely one you should check out.

So there you have it friends. I made a grand total of $233.11 for the month of August via Metallman's Reverie. I have joined a few more sites to see if traffic can be boosted, increasing my exposure and hopefully, my revenue. I didn't post some of those here since the funds are pending. The above is only what has been transferred to my paypal account. If you are interested in those sites, please check out the links at the top of this page and those under affiliates near the bottom. One that seems to be working pretty well is Easy Hits 4 U. They will give you $.30 for every 1000 pages that you visit and it asks you to visit a site for a minimum of 15 secs. On top of that it offers bonuses which include cash for surfing. I've only been a member for a few days so I cannot say its the best thing out there, but I'm giving it a shot and so far liking it. Hopefully, I'll be posting it as part of September's income post.

Feel free to check out the links in this post. And don't forget, tell them Metallman sent ya. =o) Later.

Top Blogs of the Month of August

Hey there. Entrecard has been going through some changes as of late, but that's not going to stop me from awarding those that continue to visit and drop their card. We had a huge change up in the standings this month, with only 1 blog carrying over from last month. Which means that The Ad Master claims our top spot with a prize of 2000 ECs. The 4 runner ups will be receiving 1000 ECs each. The top 5 blogs are also getting their sites on my blogroll for the whole month so make sure to check out the winners. Thanks for dropping by!

Disney Owns Marvel

Hey there. This is a problem. This is a huge problem. The creators of the "Happiest Place on Earth" has just purchased the rights of some of the most dark, and mentally challenged characters every created. I am not happy with this. I don't want my Dark Knight to be transformed into some "cute" creation to appease the Disney audience. I want blood, I want violence, I want the dark and sick mind that makes Batman, Batman.

I'm not too happy with this. Disney has a reputation of dumbing things down to appease their audience. Many of the characters in the Marvel universe are flawed, and are flawed for a reason. There is no "perfect" superhero. They all have their own strengths and faults that give them human characteristics that we can relate too. We all can relate to one of many of their characters and we can do that without having a huge ego. Peter Parker is noble yet nerdy, Batman is strong yet troubled, The Incredible Hulk is a monster fueled by rage and Iron Man is an engineer that is power hungry (my opinion). If Disney jumps in here and starts meddling with story lines and characteristics, there are going to be many unhappy readers. Later.

A Baby Shower and I Know Who Killed Me

Hey there. We are dead tired this Sunday. Last night, my mother in law threw a surprise baby shower for my wife. We got there at 4:30 and we were one of the first ones there so my wife didn't get the huge surprise that we hoped for. She was surprised though. She was expecting family over to watch a fight, so she expected to see people, but she peeked outside from the kitchen window and saw the baby decorations and started laughing. lol We ended up helping my mother in law most of the night. My wife more so that I. My mother in law served up some shrimp cocktail and because she didn't have much help in preparing the food, it wasn't ready when we got there so we helped out. My mother and grandma showed up after awhile and I couldn't help much since I was hanging out with them most of the night. My wife, on the other hand, was on her feet the whole night, helping her mom. Once it got dark, someone looked towards the hills and noticed that the fires that are burning up Los Angeles are visible. The past few days have been horrible and you could only see smoke from where we were at, but last night, the flames were clearly visible as they stretched across the hills. Scary sight. I tried to take pictures from my phone and camera, but no dice. It's tough to take a picture of a far away scene in the dark.

Today, we are feeling dead tired. My wife can't be on her feet, they hurt her so, so we've been lounging around at home catching movies. One movie that had caught my wife's attention was I Know Who Killed Me. I want to say it was because Lindsay Lohan stars in the movie and I think she got pretty bad reviews. When we hear that a movie is awful, we like to check it out and see the horrors for ourselves. lol The movie is not all that great. It's very choppy and there is no rhythm to the movie. Scenes are short, it continuously jumps from scene to scene, flash backs are thrown in at awful times, and the acting is pretty bad. Not a movie that I recommend. As soon as it was over, it was deleted from our DVR. Not worthy to stay on there any much longer.

I then went to get us some ice cream. No smiles in them today. lol But they so hit the spot in this 90+ degree weather... I am so not a fan of summer.

My wife soon dozed off to sleep and I continued to look for movies. I caught some of my early teen favorites. Major Payne finished not too long ago and now Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls is on. lol They are not great movies and borderline awful, but they're "fun" and I like to see movies from my youth. These are those kind of movies that my bro and I laughed our butts off when we were younger. lol

Let me get back to Ace. I'll catch you guys later!