checking in

at 04/30/13 5:28AM

so it's time for my yearly post! it's been a pretty busy year for us with a new child, another child reaching the terrible twos, new jobs, and all of the accompanying stress and joy that comes with all of the above. overall it's been a very good year, though!

how was your year, oh pleonast faithful? tell me all about it!

otherwise, have any of you found the strength to overcome the temptation of facebook and the like and returned to the bosom of a private community like pleonast where your data and privacy is taken seriously?

if you are still (or again!) an avid pleonast user, what would you like me to focus on here? i don't want to shake everything up for no reason (nobody needs a new design every year, despite what some websites think :-), but there are clearly parts here or there that i can modernize. what would you like to see here?

i don't want to become yet-another-photo-sharing-site, nor am i interested in implementing a million tiny notifications to alert you every time anyone you've ever known eats dinner, but how can i improve your pleonast experience?

many of you active users are already gold members, but if you are an active user but not a subscriber, what could i do to get you to subscribe? because i'm not selling your data or dependent on advertisements (ads are only shown here to non-subscribers), i don't need to be the next biggest site on the internet to survive, but it DOES cost me time and money to maintain pleonast, and so i'd love it if i could provide enough value to you, the user, that you felt it was worth it to support.

Pleonast is still my favorite. Thank you for keeping it going. I really enjoy the gold features and have for some time.

I'm still at a loss as to how to move my friends names around on the list. That feature stopped a couple of years ago. I loved the new way pleo 3 made it so easy, so I do know what to do, but it just doesn't work for me anymore.

by aleta at 04/30/13 12:29PM
Congratulations on your new addition! I love pleonast. I'll have to think about your questions. Please, no notifications!

by chickadee at 04/30/13 11:23PM
Pleo is still def my favorite. The numbers are smaller but the conversations are just as deep and meaningful.

by whipsmile at 05/01/13 9:39AM
Sounds like a great year. Ours has been rough. My son is looking for another kidney transplant and had open heart surgery last July but things are looking up. I enjoy some of the groups that are here and the support the people on pleo have for one another. Thank you for all you do.....

by friedaj at 05/04/13 3:42PM
Frieda mentioned the groups and reminded me of my one suggestion. I don't know if that is even the right word. I am not sure what you could do, but so many of the groups have died. I used to so look forward to reading "Childrenisms". And the recipe exchange was wonderful. I know there are recipes everywhere, but it is just not the same. "Small world" was another favorite. The only group on my list that ever sees any action anymore is "caretakers". A great group. By the way, my daughter recently started talking to a young man on churchofchristsingles so I was doing my own little background check. I found him on here. He hasn't been on since 2008, but his posts were still here and no red flags. Thanks for your help!

by chickadee at 05/09/13 12:04PM
i love pleo and check it many times a day.
i like everything about the way it works, and am grateful that you give it the time and effort that you do.

by monk at 05/10/13 10:26PM
I like Pleo & don't do FB. Thank you for all you do.

by kamille at 05/20/13 7:39PM

how do you feel...

at 04/30/12 4:43AM

about privacy on the internet?

for those of you who use facebook, i'm not sure if you realize how much control they have over your personal data. even though they grudgingly offer a few privacy controls (if you can figure out what they all mean, and find your way through all of the various option screens), in the end *they* own your data and can with a whim change their privacy policy however they want.

it concerns me to see how much personal and private data so many people post willingly without even thinking about it on the internet.

most of the time if i ask people about it, they say something like "why would anyone care about my stuff? there are soooo many people on the internet". that's true, of course, but it's not so much about why people want to look at your data specifically, it's the simple fact that once your data has been posted, it is literally *impossible* to guarantee that it's completely gone. also, once it becomes a problem it can be difficult or even impossible to correct.

on pleonast i do my best to make it clear what information you post can be seen by whom, and try to keep the options simple and easy to use. i do this because the majority of you active users are subscribers, which directly pays for the site. i have no incentive to share your private information, because you're paying me to protect it.

facebook, however, and any other site you don't directly pay for, has a very strong incentive to share your information with advertisers. the more personal information they can share, the more directly they can target their ads to you.

i think it's perfectly reasonable to use free services as long as you keep very clearly in your mind what you are getting for what you are giving away. if the features provided by a service (like facebook) are worth you giving away some measure of privacy, then by all means use it, but most of all *think about it first*.

if you aren't paying for it, you aren't the customer, you're the product.

23-42 of 42 comments « prev 1 2 3 next »

Pleo still my favorite

by ruthkrumrei at 05/05/12 4:13PM
Pleo is for me! I do not do FB. Lots of good reasons not to bother. By the way ... it was nice seeing you in March and meeting your wife and son. :)

by marmee at 05/06/12 11:44AM
Here's an interesting, and perhaps enlightening, article about privacy and FB.

by ceoltoir at 05/06/12 9:02PM
Thanks for the good insight, Kennon.

by navydoc at 05/10/12 10:44PM
we were just talking about this around our table!!

by rose at 05/11/12 12:43AM
"i have no incentive to share your private information, because you're paying me to protect it."

This speaks volumes about your character as a business owner. I am inclined to think that other social site owners would still sell your information even if they charged you to use their site. To many people, greed has no bounds. So many people think that everyone on the internet is like themselves, honest and caring. It's what you don't see that is dangerous. I have an email that gets over 100 spam emails a day. I often wonder what else these unknown people know about me.

Thanks Kennon, for what you do. I have enjoyed Pleo over the years and have made some good friends. Hopefully it is profitable for you as well as a labor of love.

BTW... I'm also a proud owner of a Pleo T-Shirt! :-) Let me know when you start doing Pleo coffee cups!

by tgatzajr at 05/16/12 9:34AM
i just now noticed that i can resize my comment bar! love it!

by tu_madre at 05/18/12 9:18AM
I've met some incredible people here on Pleonast and will always be grateful for it. Thank you.

by sarahpet at 05/22/12 7:22PM
Well said. Thank you, Kennon, for providing this service for us.

by anne at 05/28/12 5:07PM
Thank you, Thank you, thank you!

by chickadeestill at 11/27/12 4:25AM
Thank you for bringing back our chickadee.

by ceoltoir at 11/27/12 8:30AM
Re slow submission/acceptance of comments: It was so weird. IMMEDIATELY after I posted about it, my comments started being accepted quickly/normally. It was like that for a couple of days and then it was slow again. So I don't know either. It isn't a huge deal for me.

by lori_in_pa at 01/23/13 5:25AM
For the record: That ^^^ one took probably 30 seconds.

by lori_in_pa at 01/23/13 5:26AM
And that one ^^^ went instantly! :)

by lori_in_pa at 01/23/13 5:26AM
weird!

by kennon at 01/23/13 5:29AM
Pleonast is still my favorite. :-) But you do need a "like" button. ;-)

by crystalized at 03/12/13 9:21PM
^Mine, too! :) :) :) ^ Thank you.

by joc at 03/14/13 1:46PM
Hi Kennon ... what's with all these ads popping up in people's posts and comments? ... they are random and actually underlined and linked to a website. Have you noticed this? Or is it something you are having to do to keep pleo going? I don't really like it ... just sayin'.

by marmee at 03/28/13 1:29PM
Hey Kennon, hate to "complain" but I have a very hard time seeing the new font. It's finer, not as bold, doesn't enlarge well. The other old ladies are whining, too, but I might be the blindest :P. Any chance you could revert? Thank you!

by misssonja at 04/01/13 8:19PM

busy year

at 11/29/11 3:22AM

hello everyone!

it's been a busy year for us with our son - he's healthy and is growing like a little weed. he started walking a few weeks ago and now doesn't want to do much of anything else. other than that i've been super busy with work etc, but overall it's been the best year of my life!

Glad to hear things are well with you!

by meditationis at 11/29/11 4:26AM
Kids are a wonderful gift! Don't waste a moment with them. I'm glad to see life is good for you!

by tgatzajr at 11/29/11 7:08AM
Fantastic news! Thank you for keeping this place going!

by madtomkidd at 11/29/11 8:24AM
thats awesome congrats

by moe at 11/29/11 12:46PM
Nice. Enjoy every moment, the moments fly by and one day your a Grampa and enjoying your childrens children.

by nickkrumrei at 11/29/11 5:58PM
I wish you were on here more often. But if you're spending your time with your wife and that son of yours, we can live without you. I hope you continue to have more best years.

by ceoltoir at 11/30/11 10:41AM
Good to hear!

by jlmanager at 12/03/11 2:02PM
glad you're having a great year! mine has been super busy as well...must be a worldwide phenomenon...

by tu_madre at 12/04/11 8:31AM
Can you give me instructions on how to give a gold membership to someone as a gift? Or can you tell me where to find the answer?

by ceoltoir at 12/07/11 12:09PM
excellent. :-)

by whipsmile at 12/07/11 4:24PM
"the best year of my life."
kool!

by monk at 12/09/11 12:33PM
i'm going to comment just so all of your friends' lists get a little white dot on them.

by kennon at 12/15/11 4:23PM
I had enough white dots already, thanks.

by ceoltoir at 12/15/11 7:22PM
Pleonast is running consistently faster now. Thanks for the improvement.

by ceoltoir at 12/21/11 10:05AM
Happy to hear it! I'm in the BSN program at WKU and have been enjoying my nieces and nephew whenever I am able to get home! Hope everything continues to go well for you!

by sarahpet at 01/18/12 10:55PM
this is a new comment!

by kennon at 04/27/12 9:10AM

pleoback

at 02/09/11 6:20AM

so ... what do you like about pleonast / what do you not like about it?

23-42 of 42 comments « prev 1 2 3 next »

He doesn't post on FB, either... :-)

by marla at 02/17/11 9:32PM
^Smart guy!

by tgatzajr at 02/18/11 8:36PM
i like the fact that i'm the only person on your friends list with a colored name (-:

i wish i had more time to post on pleo like i used to...but life is crazy busy now. the joys of adulthood. i feel like i can give a quick update on facebook...only a sentence or two and feel satisfied with that. with pleonast, i feel like i need to post more meaningful stuff, or just more than a handful of sentences...which is part of the reason why i've slowed down posting on here. but that is purely a psychological thing on my end and has nothing negative to do with pleonast itself.

i love this site. always have. always will.

by tu_madre at 02/25/11 10:04AM
I have a question about editing my friends list. I can no longer move them up or down when I left click and drag. Is anyone else having this problem?

by aleta at 03/16/11 10:58AM
aleta: it seems to be working fine for me, have you tried it in another browser or computer?

by kennon at 03/16/11 11:26AM
I tried it on another computer and it does not work there, either. I also checked with a couple of friends and one said her's is fine; the other said her's is sluggish, unlike the way it used to be. But mine does not budge at all. I see the 4 arrowed cursor but when I place it over the avatars then left click, they will not drag. I noticed this about a week ago, so, yes, I have shut down my computer several times.

by aleta at 03/16/11 3:05PM
I would like Pleo to identify mobile devices and have the option NOT to display any images.

Oh, and I like the "block" button. Some people are just too annoying...

by 71lespaulcustom at 03/29/11 12:41PM
It would be nice if there were a way to let people know when they're linked in another blog.

by ceoltoir at 03/29/11 3:34PM
^ Never mind about that. Aleta just told me how to do it. It's already an option. Nice!!

by ceoltoir at 04/01/11 12:10PM
are there tutorial pages for some of the tricks?.......Sarah now goes investigating....

by sarahpet at 04/12/11 11:33AM
^Hi Sarah, take a look at this. It's a pretty neat trick I stumbled onto. You can set up a Box.net account to display pictures, mp3s, pdfs, etc to a room. It's a great way to add more functionality to Pleo. It might be something your interested in. Here is the link to my post with a demo and instructions. Hope it helps in some way! :-)

by tgatzajr at 04/12/11 9:53PM
Not sure if you will see this, but I would *really* like to be able to export all of my old entries before my gold runs out. Not really using pleo anymore, but I don't want to lose all of my old posts or have to go through and copy/paste all thousand of them or whatever it is.

by sharon at 06/03/11 12:32PM
thanks for all the work you do. :-)

by whipsmile at 07/18/11 6:05AM
Ditto that!

by meditationis at 07/18/11 11:19AM
A while back I changed my email (didn't realize it was outdated) and then started getting alerts on comments when I watched my own posts. Now I'm not getting those anymore. Do I need to change something?

by sharon at 09/11/11 2:08PM
A better notification system is really all I would care about, and I think most people. Notifications is definitely what keeps most people coming back to a social network.

by tlb9596 at 10/03/11 11:48PM
the other website told me that it's your birthday so i'll wish you a happy birthday here (-:

by tu_madre at 10/07/11 12:45PM
^I don't ever go to the "other website" but I'm glad to know it's your birthday. Have a happy!

by ceoltoir at 10/07/11 12:58PM
Happy Birthday Kennon! Thanks for doing what you do!

by heatheronthehill at 10/07/11 1:46PM
Did you ever figure out what made the export pdf so small? Let me know if you're able to get it back to a regular size. Thanks!!

by sharon at 11/21/11 1:21PM

aaaaand...

at 06/26/10 4:21PM

the dream is over. very exciting last match, and despite team usa's stubbornness, they couldn't keep up with the ghanaians physically in extra time and had to resort to senseless long balls. but it's still great to see how much we're improving, and i hope that this will spur us on to even greater things for 2014. and at least this wasn't a 0-0 snoozer decided on penalty kicks - the USMNT kept it really exciting until the very last.

and now i'll join the rest of this country and follow the excitement of team deutschland, who despite some shakiness are still incredibly fun to watch.

did you watch the game today? if so, where, and with whom?

I was at work, but I had the site up through out the entire match for the up to date scoring.
Disappointed to be sure.
Still debating on whom to root now.

by whipsmile at 06/26/10 4:30PM
Yes, at home, with my dogs. (So tempted to reply: "Colonel Mustard in the conservatory with the candlestick." But, I resisted. See?) I'm not into soccer but I was hoping for a win anyway.

by meditationis at 06/26/10 7:04PM
Yup, watched pretty much the entire competition so far - US games and all others. The US certainly impressed and made me proud as a supporter. It was nice to hear people talk about proper football for once throughout the country. People who I would have never expected to even know that the World Cup was going on were talking about the team and even some of the players by name. It's definitely encouraging for the sport in this country and shines some light on 2014.

Unfortunately though, I'm going to have to cheer against your Germans tomorrow as I'm hopping on the England train from here on out... I definitely love the way the Germans have been playing (particularly this up-and-coming Özil fella! I'd like to see him come to my boys in the red half of Manchester!), but tomorrow it'll be all about the Three Lions for me! C'mon England! For the Queen! ^_^

by gokulives at 06/26/10 10:00PM
yeah, i watched it at big woodrows with brad.

by cmvermont at 06/26/10 11:33PM
Well.... that didn't work out so well for me, did it? =P
Great game from ze Germans! My goodness, they just tore England a new one. Youchie!

by gokulives at 06/27/10 5:45PM
First full match I've been able to watch. We saw the second half of RSA vs. Mex while in Memphis, but we haven't been near a cable outlet or a TV when other games were on. I LOVED watching our guys play and was so hopeful, but they didn't follow through on a lot of good opportunities. So, overall disappointing. OTOH, it was fantastic to see men's football on ABC on a Saturday afternoon!

by madtomkidd at 06/28/10 6:37AM
Hah! I watched it on Spanish-language TV, and turned it off after regulation play, thinking it had ended in a tie - I didn't realize that they played to a definite win in the finals!

by trx at 06/29/10 9:09AM
Happy birthday P3!

by AlanL at 07/05/10 8:43AM
Congratulations to you and Chris!! :)

by kendralulu at 10/12/10 10:50AM
congratulations!

by ladyinwaiting at 10/15/10 12:05PM

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how do you feel...

busy year

pleoback

aaaaand...

kennon

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