What do you think of Web Rings? Do they serve the purpose intended?

In my humble opinion, most don't. I subscribe to a few of those mysterious rings. The purpose is to find the sites I am most interested in, and of course to get people to find my sites. I surf the rings in hopes of finding an interesting subject. I then study, read, learn, or enjoy a few laughs.

But alas! Lately, all I get is page after page of "My Web Rings"

I grow tired of trying to find the right link to go to their home pages. What is their site about? I don't have a clue, and some won't tell you. Apparently, their site only contains web rings to get you to the next site, that only contains more web rings. In the words of one of my grandsons, Whaz up with that?

Some sites I have visited through a ring have only one page, without a link available to go anywhere except to some sales pitch. Nothing is on the page except ads. What it has to do with this web ring, I can't figure out. Their web ring has also disappeared, so I can’t even escape that way. It’s like going down a dark alley and finding a brick wall at the end, with no way out. I find it very frustrating.

Still, I like webrings. I have to admit I seem to be addicted to the Internet. I also am suspicious of my reasons for searching for new web rings. Am I also becoming addicted to these?

My latest new webring admits my addiction to the Internet. I will probably find one that admits my addiction to the rings, as well. I also have the need to surf these rings, giving the sites on my rings plenty of hits! Do they visit me? I leave a note when I visit, telling them I was there, but few leave me a reciprocal note. In other words, I don’t know if the rings help. Oh, I may get a few visits, a few passers by, but do they like it? Do they return? I will never know. My pages won’t appeal to everyone, of course, we are all different. What can I do about it? Join more rings.

I believe the reason some of us join so many rings, is the need to get their work ‘out there’, hoping to get their work seen. Some people actually have millions of rings. Pages and pages of those little boxes, trying to interest a visitor in some way, or in some genre, to please come and see what they are doing! Web pages are the closest some of us will ever be to ‘being published’, so readers are very important.

What do you search for on the Internet? Pages like yours, of course. Things that interest you. New ideas. When you find a site you like, you check its list of web rings, hoping to find one you had missed, that will suit your page, then you join. Is that obsession? Friend, that is obsession.

HIT COUNTERS

Hit Counters. Do you use them? Do you trust their numbers? Do they ever quit working for a few days, and then mysteriously start again? Oh, yeah. I have some that take a weekend off about once a month, usually it’s a long weekend.

I become quite agitated, and check again and again to see if they are working. I replaced one of them last night, and another is on probation. Of course, the rest began to work again this morning. I guess the strike is over for a while. I won’t negotiate, if they won’t work, they are gone, just like real life. My numbers never add up though. According to my account page, I see I received 90 hits yesterday. My counters don’t show that many. It gets depressing.

DO YOU ALWAYS SIGN THE GUEST BOOK?

Another thing, when I was just a surfer, I didn’t realize the importance of leaving a message on the guest book. Now that I know, I try to always sign their book. Very few leave a message on mine, except for those "See the Teen Babes" sites. How in the world of the web did they find my ‘family friendly’, ‘child safe’ site? Of course I delete those, hoping no one saw them.

It could be that my visitors are like I used to be. They just don’t realize that it is important to the site owner. But Web Ringers should know. Web Ringers are a community. If one site does well, don’t they all benefit? In the words of Martha Stewart, “It’s a good thing.” If the people who sign my guest book leave their website URL, I always visit, and thank them. It is called ‘being considerate’. I always enjoy their pages. Especially if they say they enjoyed mine.

SPELL CHECK - EDIT

One of the worst things I see in print, are misspelled words, and words used incorrectly. It really upsets me. I don’t know why; oh, of course I do. I think if people really wanted to be read, they would learn to write.

If a page is put up on the World Wide Web, you would assume someone was proud of the content, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t you think they would be sure all the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed? Nothing puts me off as quickly as seeing misused or misspelled words. I leave the site. If they didn’t care enough to edit it, then I don’t care enough to read it. Now, I am not speaking of ‘professional’ sites only, personal home pages can look as professional, with a little care.

Use, but don’t depend on spell check! For one thing, you may have the word spelled correctly, for example, there or their? your or you’re? Both are spelled correctly, but they are used differently. The definition is not the same! There are plenty of books on the subject, everyone should have some.

Typos happen, check and edit! Everyone makes mistakes, so don’t be offended when someone points yours out to you. I can search my work all day, and still miss an obvious blunder. You may need to leave it for a day, and then come back. Work on something else for a while. That’s why you need an editor. New readers see things you miss, if you are lucky enough to have several readers, they will probably find most of the problems. Never think you won't have format, grammar, punctuation, spelling, or just plain content errors. Everyone will, and does.

My main problems are punctuation and format. I may write an article on one program, then copy and paste it into another program. When I do, I lose the original format, so my spaces are all off. Just take a look at this piece, first single spaces, then double spaces. I try to catch them all, but after a while, I too, become spacey, so I quit. I am confident that someone will catch them and tell me.

A few months ago, I wouldn’t have thought about telling anyone about an error. Now I do, if I feel they are proud of their work. I read a poem on a page I’d found. The page was very well done, and I could tell she was serious. But, there was a misspelled word. It stood up and screamed at everyone who happened onto her page. I felt empathy, as I too, have misspelled a word or two in my day, so I e-mailed her. She was thankful I had let her know, and she corrected it, which proved to me that I had done the right thing. She was serious about her work. Sometimes, you are so close, you just can’t see.

This may seem as if I've left the subject of web rings, but I haven't. If you want return viewers, the page must be enjoyable to read. Editing is important.

Harriet is an author on a site for Creative Writing ( http://www.Writing.Com/ ) Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/storytime

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