Paws for thought

On a frosty morning.

I thought it was time for me to share some thoughts about Blip's metamorphosis and also in regard to the discussion currently under way on Grace's recent blip here about the 'community' that some of us feel strongly about.

I know I'm one of many who have experienced a sense of loss. There's no doubt that the changes to blip have meant it's more complicated and  more arduous to keep up with other journals. For a start,  contributors are now being referred to by their blipnames rather than by their journals. The name of the journal only seem to appear on each person's home page. Then, when we look at our subscribers friends 'following' we see a stream of thumbnails (or a list if you click 'manage') of our followers but ONLY in the order they subscribed. It makes it almost impossible to find people. In the past you could to change your list of subscribers according to alphabetical order of name or of journal (which was useful to me because if I forgot one I would remember the other). The new system means it's now very hard to search for a particular journal. In addition, it was previously possible to put the subscribers'list in chronological order of latest posting. I used this view a lot to pick up people who hadn't blipped for a while. In fact this list for me ended with 3 blippers who are confirmed dead: Amalariam, Chaiselongue and Veraluna. Others have ceased to blip and there's no explanation available, (I know I'm not the only one to have had this experience.) Of course it may be that they have lost interest, drifted away, started or moved to a new website but without this chronology (or the calendars) I'm finding it impossible to keep track not only of who is here but of who isn't.

Currently I'm worried about one blipper in particular: AmandaHugankiss whose journal GSOH I enjoyed for its humour and humanity. Her last blip was on October 31st, since then nothing. There was no warning, no hint that anything was amiss and she had been a regular blipper for several years up to that point. I can't help feeling concerned. She was/is a particularly caring individual, and lived alone apart from her pets.  Early in her blip career she shared the story of her encounter with a vulnerable woman trying to escape from a desperate situation. It led all the way to an immigration tribunal to which Amanda was called to give evidence which led to the woman being granted asylum. (The story starts here.) I just hope that if Amanda is in trouble herself someone else is being as kind and supportive to her as she was to a complete stranger.

It may be that illness or a family crisis has caused the cessation of her journal and I'm hoping that it will return. But it's harder now  to keep tabs on disappearances like this. I did try asking another blipper who seemed to know Amanda personally but she said had moved away from the area where they both lived and had no news.  I don't know what else I can do, maybe nothing. It's not really my business but it's an indication of how people create emotional connections in this strange  community.of incorporeal meeting and touching, and it's the reason why so many of us feel we have lost something valuable along with the old Blip.

(Thank you Grace for setting the ball rolling!)