Many of us are old enough to remember when one of the 3 television networks (yes, there were only 3 at one point) had technical difficulties and the screen went gray with a sign that said something like, “Please stand by. We are having technical difficulties.” The world has changed; now we have lots of networks or channels, we have the internet, and most of the time, these seem more stable than those old days of broadcasts over the airwaves with “rabbit ears” antennas. But, when the stability we are accustomed to becomes unstable, the complexity of the technologies can become nightmarish. So it is with our blog. Everything runs smoothly for a long time, then it doesn’t. We experienced “technical difficulties” starting a couple months ago. We’re not sure, but it appears that it started with an update to the underlying software. We updated things on our side, but a new problem emerged, then another. As a result, we implemented new software, new “plug-ins,” we’re checking with the hosting company, and re-checking social media connections. Each time we try something new, we wait to see if the “fix” really fixes the problem when the next post happens (and they happen twice a week). Unfortunately, almost every test results in unintended consequences including multiple, repeated posts, of the same content. You may have wondered why you’re seeing these multiple posts – now you know why. We think we’re closing in on a solution, but we are not there. Please stand by. We are having technical difficulties.
I can’t believe we are writing a blog about a blog! Things have gotten so bad with our blog that, after 8 years of bi-weekly posts, I’m close to throwing in the towel. There are lots of things that happen behind the scenes after David and I write our respective parts of each post. One of Magnus’ Research Associates prints the draft of the blog, I proof and edit it, it gets revised, then, when it is in final form, it goes to a magical computer land where it is posted on the Magnus Insights website, sent to our loyal subscribers via email, then posted to LinkedIn, FaceBook and Twitter for all the world to see. Except when it doesn’t! Lately, something is wrong, very wrong indeed, with things in magical computer land. The blog gets posted multiple times, annoying our subscribers (not to mention me) with emails being sent several times in 1 day, including in the middle of the night. I often get complaints from people asking why I am sending the same emailed post over and over. These well intentioned people don’t understand that I have never, ever, emailed or posted to social media any blog, nor will I ever do so. I just write it, give it to someone else, who then gives it to one of our so called computer experts, who then makes things happen in magical computer land. I am being told that our “plug in,” whatever that is, is in need of replacement and, if that ever happens (I’m not holding my breath!), the blog will be posted properly like it used to be for the past 8 years. In the meantime, technical difficulties haunt me twice a week, like gum stuck on the bottom of my new shoes. Here’s hoping things change, and soon!
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