Welcome to cyber-soapbox@nz

Welcome to cyber-soapbox@nz. This blog exists as two blogs: I began blogging in 2004, but have had a long break from blogging. I've been trying to resurrect the old blog (in the sense of making it "alive" again, so that I can write and post more blogs. However, I've not succeeded in doing so. So I am creating a link to the other blog, which shares the same blog name, but has a different URL. If you want to navigate to that site, you can click here on http://cyber-soapbox.blogspot.com/ Once there, you'll find another blog you can go to called cyber-pulpit, http://cyber-pulpit.blogspot.com/

There is one catch. Because these blogs now exist more or less in "archive" form, and I have been unable to get their "dashboards" working (that is, access the place where I can edit them, create links, etc.), once you navigate there, you will not be able to get back here - although, I suppose you can always type in the URL again: and some of you may be cyber "clever-clogs" who know of other ways. I may be able to figure out a system one day: the Blogger help system is a bit of a "limbo" land. I may blog about that experience one day.

This seems like shameless self-promotion. As I explain on my other blog site, I began this for my own sake - to provide a forum where I could put some of the "internal monologue" down on paper, or into cyberspace. If you choose to read it, go ahead.

Getting Plaxo-ed and in your Facebook

Something over a year ago, as I turned 60, I got "plaxo-ed" (that's right: not plastered, plaxo-ed). A colleague sent me an invite to become his friend on Plaxo. That's an upmarket social networking site: professionals, business people, and such like, it seems. For interacting with your "real-world friends" is how it markets itself.

Anyway, I hesitated. "Should I ask my colleague what this is all about?", I thought. No, that seemed churlish. "He's my colleague after all: I'll be his friend". I clicked the link, and then I found that I needed to create my own Plaxo account in order to accept his offer. So I did - Plaxo assured me it was all up to me who I linked with and so on.

Almost immediately I got an invite from another friend. So I linked with him, as well. A few days later I happened to mention to my colleague that I'd had an invite to join Plaxo from him. He muttered something about his address book that I didn't quite understand. I sent a message to my other Plaxo friend, who replied something along the lines of "goodness me, I haven't looked at that for ages". Is Plaxo as intentional in its operations as I was led to believe? Never mind: I exist there virtually happy, or happily virtual, and occasionally remember to visit my site and update myself.

Then, an organisation I belong to decided to have a discussion via Facebook. I thought I would add my "two cents", and yes, you guessed it, I now have my own Facebook...I have quickly garnered quite a few friends.

Yes, I know, I'm a sad-sack, and signed up for unsocial reasons: so I have stumbled into this social networking thing - and I probably seem a bit like a "square peg" in cyberspace. Lest I still seem churlish and truculent, if you are one of my friends on Plaxo or Facebook, be assured I am happy to be linked up, but you'll probably find me a bit short of the cyber small-talk. However, if you "poke" me, I'll stir - if I know I'm being poked!