Thanks for visiting! Take a look around, watch me if you want, enjoy yourself here and try not to get any wangst on you. It can get a little deep around here.
You're more than welcome to leave love on this entry, or hate, or criticism, or various thoughts. Don't be surprised if I don't reply, or if I delete stuff that gets too heavy. This journal not a forum for political debate, nor a soapbox for your ideas - keep that crap for your own journal.
I don't expect everyone to be shiny and happy, so don't censor your thoughts, but flame wars are juvenile and you'll just make me roll my eyes at you if you're just here to be a troll.
So! Have fun!
- Mood:
pleased
Like I need to add anything else to the upcoming busy month, but hey, I’m apparently masochistic at the moment.
Okay, yes…I’m one of those people who has started listening to Christmas music already. I know, I know. But I really love the holidays. Halloween used to be my favorite until I came out of my Goth closet and could dress how I wanted to every day of the year and not care about being seen as a freak (for the record, I was 25), but now Christmas is my favorite.
Thanksgiving, however, was not overlooked. I mean, a foodie like me ignore a holiday that’s all about FOOD? PIE? LOTS AND LOTS OF PIE?! (Not to mention leftover pie!!) And turkey and mashed potatoes and corn and stuffing…. At the moment, I never want to eat again, though I know I’ll make a plate of leftovers in a few hours.
Anyway, what was I writing about? I mean, before my stomach started doing the writing? Oh, yeah! Masochism! I mean, the holiday spirit!
Okay, here’s the deal. It’s not like a contest or anything, because I don’t have the time or energy for that, but I’m making an attempt at initiative and preparedness and updating my holiday card list.
Yes, you heard right. No, I’m not too early. It’s after Thanksgiving (just)! I mean, by the time I get the list done and cards mailed, I’ll be right on time! Theoretically.
If you want to be on my holiday card list, post a comment here (don’t worry, these will be screened!) or e-mail dina [at] dinajames [dot] com with your snail mail addy, and I’ll send you a holiday card.
If you received a card from me last year, you’re still on the list, unless for some reason you annoyed me between the last time I made the list and now (or I’m just a techie prat and somehow deleted you by accident or never put you on it to begin with – which I’ve done). If you received one last year and don’t want one this year for whatever reason, let me know that, too.
If you’re feeling in the holiday spirit yourself, or are one of those people who will torture yourself with guilt and angst if you don’t return the favor, my snail mail addy is:
Dina James
P.O. Box 574
Astoria, OR 97103
USA
I keep this list for subsequent use, but will remind you all yearly to send me any updates. I realize people move about and change names and such, so let me know if your address has changed from the last time I sent you one, if that’s happened!
And just to let people know up front, the card design will once again be drawn by the very talented Becky Hitchin, NOT by me. I, personally, can’t draw anything beyond what I learned to do in my high school art classes, so before you even ask, NO, I did not draw the picture on the card you’ll receive.
I’m setting you all a deadline of December 15 to get me your address. This will (hopefully) give me time to get my act together and send them on time.
And so to work.
-DJ
Originally published at Dina's Lair of Doom. You can comment here or there.
It’s that time of year again.
I have never participated, but encourage others to do so. Now, before you call me a hypocrite, let me explain.
I am a commitmentophobe. Or a Sagittarian, however you want to phrase it. What? To borrow a phrase from Huck Finn, I don’t put a whole lot of stock into astrology, but it really is uncanny sometimes how “accurate” it can be.
If you look at the qualities of a Sadge, it’s pretty much dead-on about me.
Sagittarians don’t like commitment, BUT – once we do commit to something, it’s done. It’s all or nothing.
Hence my ambivalence about joining NaNoWriMo.
It’s not fear of failure or anything like that. I know I can do it.
It’s just that I know myself too well. I have to want to do it, and I’m not sure I want to. I, being a freedom-loving Sadge, don’t like the idea of HAVING TO write/be creative on demand. (Deadlines are different and I love them – they’re like a challenge.) Yet I know that writing daily is what you’re supposed to do as a writer and so NaNoWriMo is an excellent tool – for most other writers. Hence my encouragement to join.
Having that accountability works for a lot of writers. It works for me too, with other things – like going to the gym. I’ll perfectly happily stay in bed and sleep late, but if I know one of my friends will be disappointed or let down if I cancel our gym date, I’ll suck it up, leave my warm nest and go.
This does not mean, however, that I will go happily, or that I will go sans complaint.
But that’s neither here nor there. This is about NaNoWriMo.
I did kind of a little, personal, unofficial NonNaNoWriMo last year, where I attempted to write daily. Yeah, that so didn’t work. It worked for about a week.
Don’t ask me how this differs from crunch time on a deadline. It just does. I never claimed I was in any way sane.
However, this year I’m tempted to try the Official NaNoWriMo. Just to see. Just to say I’ve done it. I know several people who are doing it, but everyone knows that I’m not a joiner.
Maybe that’s got to do with being a commitmentophobe, but really I just think it’s got to do with me being an anti-social loner. I don’t “join” things. I work alone, thanks. If “everyone is doing it”, then I want no part of it. I’ll wait until everyone else is doing something else before I wander over and take a look at what they were so fascinated with.
But there’s also the hypocrite/”practice what you preach” aspect. Can I justifiably encourage writers of all levels – beginners, n00bs, semi-pros, professionals, wannabes and wish-they-hads – to do something that I, myself, am not doing/haven’t done?
Again, hence the ambivalence. Here it is, three days until the start of NaNoWriMo, and I’m still undecided about joining. I’ve got myself about 70% convinced that I should do it.
Go on, Dina…give it a shot.
70% is much better than last year, in which I didn’t think twice about NOT joining. I’d made up my mind that I wasn’t going to do it, and didn’t. At least, not officially.
This year…well…*straddles the fence*.
I work really well under pressure. That’s not the issue. Like I said, I’m not worried about being able to do it/make with the words.
I’m just not sure if I want to do it. For some reason, it’s all right if I want to do something. Then it’s my idea, and therefore cool, not something I’m only doing because “everyone else is doing it”.
What? It makes a warped kind of sense to me, and that’s all that matters.
So there! /maturity
Now here’s the part where I’ll pretend to let you all decide my participation (actually, it’s because I can’t seem to make up my own mind about it, and therefore will put the responsibility of the decision onto someone else – avoidance of duty FTW!):
In the form of a comment with one of the answers below, give me a yay or nay.
Should Dina subject herself to NaNoWriMo this year?
A) Absolutely! I want to watch her suffer! No way she can do it!
B) Give it a go! It’s a brilliant writing exercise and after all, you’ll get something out of it even if you don’t make it to the end.
C) Go on, you little hypocrite. Join up and row with the rest of us.
D) Don’t kid yourself. You’ve worked hard the last month anyway and did nearly 40k in a week alone! You deserve a break!
E) You’re considering this why? It’s so not you! Forget about it!
F) You’ve got work to do. Join NaNoWriMo and get to it, slacker!
I appreciate your input.
Oh, and if YOU are a past or present participant (alliteration, FTW!) in NaNoWriMo, let’s hear from you. If I do join, I’ll want to know what it’s like. I’m an inherent researcher by nature (another Sadge trait) and I’ve already gotten past the “how to” and “what’s involved” part.
Now I want to know how it feels/what it’s like to participate, not the mechanics of it.
Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
DJ
P.S. For those participating this year, read these awesome words of encouragement from Neil Gaiman.
Originally published at Dina's Lair of Doom. You can comment here or there.
Days since I’ve Twittered: 3
Weeks since I’ve blogged: 3
Days since I’ve vlogged: 30
Methinks I detect a pattern there.
( Read the rest of this entry » )Originally published at Dina's Lair of Doom. You can comment here or there.
Welcome!
If I’ve done this right (with the awesome guidance and extreme handholding of my webmistress! Thank you, Elegaer!), you should see this post under “blog” on my shiny new website, AND mirrored to my LJ. If that’s not working, we’ll work on it, but either way, you’re here!
I know I’ve been really busy. Lots of things have been happening here. Family visiting, cat being at death’s door, more family coming to visit…you get the idea. I haven’t had a whole lot of time (or haven’t made a whole lot of time, if you want to get picky about it) to write/update blog/Twitter. This is not to say that I have not been productive, or that I don’t have Things Of Awesome to share with you.
First Thing of Awesome: This website! Isn’t is cool? It’s still under minor construction, mind you. I have things I may add later, and some tidying to do yet, but it’s mostly here. I don’t have a “feedback”-type thing yet, but feel free to comment here and give me suggestions/bug reports/helpful criticism (the operative word there being “helpful” – “I don’t like it” isn’t “helpful”. Tell me WHY you don’t like it). You can also e-mail “webmistress at dinajames dot com” with techie things and she’ll understand you a lot better than I do. I will say that this site was created in Firefox, and is best viewed with it and the latest version of Internet Explorer. See how techie that is? Now, if you’re using a browser other than one of those and see funky things (especially Mac users, since we don’t really know of anyone with a Mac that we can have preview the site), let the webmistress know, or comment here, so we can see what’s what! Thanks for the help in advance, everyone! It’s appreciated!
Having said that, let’s move on to Thing of Awesome Two:
For those who don’t want to clicky the linky:
1/2 oz Frangelico® hazelnut liqueur
1/2 oz Stoli® Vanil vodka
“Frost the rim of an old-fashioned glass with sugar and lemon. Add the vanilla vodka and Frangelico hazelnut liqueur; stir together. Lick the sugar rim, shoot the mixture, and bite a piece of lemon.”
Oh. My. Holy. Wow. I’m a writer, and can’t think of the words to describe this Thing of Awesome. You wouldn’t think lemon, sugar, and hazelnut would taste like chocolate cake, but really, it does! I was wary at first. One of our new local restaurants had a drink called “The Devil’s Chocolate Cake” on their drink menu, and – being a writer with a very large demon living in my head – I couldn’t resist. This one was a little different to the above, as the lemons themselves had sugar on them, and you licked the sugar, took a drink, then bit the lemon slice, but still. Again, I have no words for this Thing of Awesome. If you’re of legal drinking age and like chocolate cake, I’d ask for one of these from your favorite bartender next time you’re out and in a shooter mood.
I know this is a short entry, but I really don’t have much more to share. Though I have been busy, and productive, I haven’t been doing much that anyone else would find of interest. Giving subcutaneous fluids to a cat with bad kidneys, while interesting, isn’t really something to blog much about. She’s doing 100% better, by the way. Recheck in a month to see just how well her treatments and meds are working.
Oh, word from editor on the full manuscript (novel length) of “All Wounds” – it is officially out on submission, so here’s hoping! That’s all for now! More later!
Cheers,
DJ
Originally published at Dina's Lair of Doom. You can comment here or there.
Have fun! Enjoy!
- Mood:
sleepy - Music:Breaking Benjamin - So Cold
Almost there!
I've been getting lovely notes from a lot of people asking if "All Wounds" is going to become a novel or series of novels.
The answer to that is...well...theoretically hopefully yes, it will be. There is a completed manuscript with my editor, and official word at the moment is: "we are just tinkering it and making it perfect before the whole thing goes out on submission. It's definitely going out!"
So, there is more...it's just a question of "when"! Hopefully "when" and not "if".
I do want to take a moment to thank those people who've taken time to comment on my journal or send me an e-mail telling me how much they enjoy my work. Readers like you truly keep me writing, and I genuinely appreciate your support.
I am, to both confirm and quell rumors, working on a second novel set in the Stranger Things world, but at the moment it's for my own indulgence and not anything "official". I'm also back hard at work on the first of the Key To Hell Chronicles, which is again for my own indulgence and nothing "official".
The next "official" thing I can announce is that my short story, "Deliver Us From Evil" is coming out September 22, in the anthology The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2 or, as it's called in the UK, Love Bites:
US Cover
UK CoverThe story introduces Marcos, a very sexy guy who has been a bit naughty (which is just the way we like 'em, right?). I hope you'll enjoy reading him as much as I enjoyed writing him!
That's all I have for now! More as it develops!
-DJ
- Mood:
productive - Music:Bon Jovi - Never Say Goodbye
Just kidding.
If you're here, you probably want to know about #dietgame on Twitter. Well, you've come to the right place.
Background: Today is September 3, and my Wii Fit made bad jokes about how much time had passed since my last workout (27 days ago!) and made the Noise of Disappointment when it did my body test this morning, so, of course, I wrote it a nasty tweet in return, announcing my weight loss goals in an effort to ensure some kind of accountability besides that of the Evil Wii Fit. (That thing is EVIL, I tell you, and not in the good way!) (Run-on sentences, FTW!)
Long story short, #dietgame has been invented. It's like #wordathon for weight loss.
In that regard, here are the "rules".
1) You must have a weight loss goal.
2) You must start as soon as possible/as soon as you find out about this.
3) The end date for #dietgame is December 3, 2009. 12 weeks from today.
4) You must tweet your progress at least once a week (Thursday is good, as it's the day we're going to end December 3). Use the hashtag #dietgame so that the rest of us playing can kick your - um..."offer encouragement".
Other things:
Your weight loss goal does not have to be pounds. It can be inches, body fat percentage, whatever. This is a motivational/accountability exercise/encouragement/ass-kicking group, "sponsored" by yours truly and @Zombie_Joe.
This is a FRIENDLY competition, but those of you who play #wordathon know I have an alter ego in the form of #gunnyjames. This is my R. Lee Ermey-style motivation-by-degradation, and you will get screamed at and told to get your lazy ass on the treadmill if #gunnyjames is in-or-pro-voked.
Like #wordathon, there is no "winner" or "prize". This is about reaching a goal, and that goal can be in pounds lost, percentage lost and percentage of goal reached. Suppose we reach December 3 and the best among those playing #dietgame have only reached 80% of their goal? Well, that person "wins".
Now, this is not a "diet" or "weight loss plan". You do your own thing. Whatever works for you/however you want to lose weight. There are no suggestions, we're not all joining Weight Watchers or going on the South Beach Diet or Atkins or whatever. This, like the way we #wordathon players write, is highly individual. You do whatever works for you. Some of us do a daily thing, some of us push hard a couple days a week, some of us wait until the last minute, whatever. However you want to do it. Up to you. This is a motivational thing/friendly competition, NOT an advice column. Play at your own risk, etc. etc., no one assumes any liability for your weight loss or lack thereof, blah blah blah, etc. etc.
So, you in?
Good. Now put down that donut and go clean out your pantry before I kick your ass.
-DJ
- Mood:
determined - Music:Never You Mind
Ever want to push someone out of a plane? Now you can! My friend Becky is planning on jumping out of a perfectly good airplane for charity. This charity:
http://www.dogsforthedisabled.org/N
All she needs to raise is 395GBP (about $700.00USD give or take a few pennies). Why yes, she is British! (So there's a bit of a conversion rate you need to consider when donating outside the UK).
Here's her donation page: http://www.justgiving.com/beckyhitchin/
This takes a lot more courage to jump out of a plane than I could ever hope to have, and it's for a fantastic cause. If you can help, please do. Much appreciation!
- Mood: amused
- Music:Lonely People - America
Stay tuned!
Cheers,
DJ
- Mood: jubilant
- Music:"All Right Now" by Free
So! Have some fun instead! This is cross-posted to my Facebook notes, so apologies if you see it twice! (Isn't that what social networking is for...? What? I can be social! *shifty eyes*)
What am I babbling about?
Well, those who read this journal know by now that my next short story is out! For those who have forgotten that, it’s in The Eternal Kiss Young Adult anthology, and it’s titled “All Wounds”. It is, quite literally, the beginning of a new series I hope you'll all enjoy. I'm in this anthology with a number of fantastic authors, and, as I've said before, I'm pleased and humbled to be among them.
In celebration, I'll be signing copies at Lucy's Books in Astoria.
Details:
Day: Sunday, August 16th, 2009
Place: Lucy's Books, 348 12th St in Astoria, OR
Time: 3:00pm
From the Lucy's Books website:
Dina James signs copies of the anthology The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire
Sunday August 16th at 3:00
Our own local heroine Dina James is one in a stellar crowd of Young Adult authors, in a collection of short stories for the vampire-obsessed teenager. I know you’re out there, I live with one! Other story contributors include Rachel Caine (Morganville Vampires), Holly Black (Tithe, Valiant), Melissa de la Cruz (Blue Blood), and Cassandra Clare (City of Bones).
That’s about all I have for this edition of the Dina James Update Newsletter Thing. I have more coming out later this year, and will have more news then. My website usually has the most current information about my latest/upcoming publications, as does my Livejournal/Twitter.
Speaking of the website, keep an eye on it for changes! The new version should be up sometime in the next week, and I, personally, think it’s going to be awesome.
Thanks for everything, guys. Your support and readership is what keeps me writing!
Cheers,
-DJ
- Mood: excited
- Music:Some random 80s song
Run-on sentences FTW.
See you all soon! If I'm anywhere lately it's usually Twitter ('cause that takes virtually no time at all).
Cheers,
DJ
- Mood: busy
- Music:Too busy
From the world of Stranger Things (at least that's what I'm calling it for now), I welcome Becky, Robin, Syd, Ryan, and Nana. They appear in the short story "All Wounds", available now in the young adult anthology The Eternal Kiss.
If you'd like to join me in welcoming them, that would rock! Your local bookseller will also thank you, as I do in advance.
US/UK Cover
Australian Cover
Loads of great authors in this anthology with me. I'm honored to be among them. Our very own Karen Mahoney
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
kaz_mahoney starts the anthology off with her debut story "Falling to Ash". Other authors include:
Holly Black, Libba Bray, Melissa De La Cruz, Cassandra Clare, Rachel Caine, Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie, Cecil Castellucci, Kelley Armstrong, Maria V. Snyder, Sarah Rees Brennan, and Lili St. Crow.
Booksmugglers has a great post with a mini-review of each story, if you want to check it out.
How can you look at that list and not just boggle at the awesome?
And there's little old Dina tossed in with them.
Yeah, I'm humbled. Just a bit.
Okay, a lot.
I think this calls for sushi. If I'm not dead of the heat by the time the sushi place opens.
I used to live in AZ, and I know hot. This isn't hot. This is a sick joke.
Whoever stole the Coastal climate, plz to be giving it back now, kthxbai!
- Mood: touched
- Music:"Everyone's a Hero" - Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog
THIS IS A RANT. Beneath the cut there is language, controversial topics and stuff that's probably going to piss people off and hurt some feelings. Now, ask me if I care. Guess what? I don't! I know, big surprise there.
It is also quite long, so have some time on your hands.
For those that don't want to click, in this edition of Dina Rants, I'm going to cover self-publishing (if you don't know what this is, don't worry, I'm going to define it for you) and my position on the subject.
PLEASE NOTE: This is not aimed at anyone in particular. My rants build over time, with little things adding one on top of another until a final prod opens the floodgates of rantdom. This isn't personal, nor should it be taken that way by anyone. The final straw for this one was yet another person asking me to recommend their writing to my agent without me having even read their stuff. When I researched this “author”, I found out some interesting things that pushed me over the edge.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ THIS, DON'T. NO ONE IS FORCING YOU.
Keep the flaming down. See my disclaimer. I welcome debate and other opinions, but this is MY journal and I'm entitled to my opinion. That should be noted here.
THIS IS MY OPINION. You don't have to like it or agree with it. I'm not being libelous either, so I don't want to hear about any of that. I'm not saying anything that you can't find elsewhere on the Internet with a two second Google search, so I don't want to hear any legal bullshit either.
Keep the comments clean. I'm going to screen them just in case, and will delete them if they get into the name-calling incoherent variety. If you want to talk/express your own opinion/experience, fine. Keep it sane and reasonable. If the comments are reasonable, I'll unscreen them. If they're not, I may unscreen them anyway for public mockery. I'm evil that way.
Still here? All right, then. Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times and ensure your safety belt is properly and securely fastened. Here we go.
( Cut For Length and Rantage People Might Not Want To Read )
Rant over. You can come out now.
I feel much better. But now I need cake. And a shower, since I've just bathed in the blood of those I cut to ribbons in this rant.
Join us next time in which I intend to discuss in detail those asshats who write to authors/agents/publishing houses that told a person what they didn't want to hear/sent them a rejection, in which the writer casts aspersions and poxes upon houses and all that.
These people, though funny, piss me off, and generally make the rest of the writing world look bad. Then they self-publish, and the cycle starts anew.
*sigh*
-DJ
- Mood:
annoyed - Music:Kodachrome - Paul Simon
Suzanne McLeod (
suzannemcleod) is giving away ARCs of "The Eternal Kiss" (I'm in this one, you know, so, shameless plug here!) and other cool books (including a signed copy of one of her books!) in a contest on her blog! Go enter to win!All you have to do is comment, so, no excuse for being lazy on this one!
I should not type before I've had my tea. Today is dedicated to butt-in-chair, with one small errand to interrupt me. Somehow I think this "one small errand" is going to take up most of the day, but we'll see. Either way, there shall be words!
And tea.
Must have tea.
Cheers!
-DJ
Oh, yeah. Spread the word. This contest runs through Wednesday! I'll borrow Suzanne's words here:
Please help me spread the word about the release of The Cold Kiss of Death and the giveaways with a mention of the giveaway on your blog/livejournal/myspace/facebook/twitte
- Mood: Needs Tea
- Music:Too Early
( Grammar Ranty McRantRant )
- Mood: annoyed
- Music:Madonna - "Borderline" - Pandora Radio
There were so many awesome entries that I couldn't decide the winner, so, in true indiscriminate fashion, I tossed the entries into a hat (also known as the Random Number Generator) and these are the results:
mp3mad! FRONT AND CENTER! You are hereby awarded First Prize, consisting of the very, very gently used copy of the Novelist's Boot Camp: 101 Ways To Take Your Book From Boring To Bestseller by Todd A. Stone AND a brand-new copy of the DVD of Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket.*pins medal on* *shakes hand* Congratulations, soldier! Outstanding!
jrbutcher.blogspot.com! FRONT AND CENTER! You are hereby awarded Second Prize, consisting of a $25.00 gift card to B&N.com.
*pins medal on* *shakes hand* Congratulations, soldier! Well done!
slweippert! FRONT AND CENTER! You are hereby awarded Third Prize, consisting of two word/story-building games that should provide you with inspiration and laughter when you need it most! (At least, that's the hope! They look awesome!)*pins medal on* *shakes hand* Congratulations, soldier! Impressive!
Join me in congratulating these intrepid souls, who fought bravely and served their craft admirably!
Winners, please send your snail mail/delivery address to dina {at} dinajames {dot} com, and I'll get your prizes out this week. There's some other fun stuff I'll include in your prize packages that I hope you'll all enjoy!
Thanks again to all who participated! I hope you had as much fun as I did. Even if you didn't win one of the prizes (I really didn't expect to have three, but there were so many great entries I couldn't just have one prize!), you all wrote awesomely, and you got words down. I know it sounds hokey to say "that makes you a winner anyway", but really, it does. You did it, and you all deserve medals.
Motivation and inspiration are two of the hardest things to find for everyone sometimes, but I think it goes double if you're a writer/creative-type. Writers suffer from writer's block, writer's angst, and writer's apathy, and sometimes motivation and inspiration are very hard to come by. If I can kick your ass...I mean...help inspire your creativity, even just a little bit, don't hesitate to cry at me. I'll be happy to yell at you anytime, because remember...you'll get no sympathy from me. Just a swift kick in the pants.
NOW WHAT ARE YOU STANDING AROUND HERE LOLLYGAGGING FOR? GET YOUR ASS BACK TO YOUR STATION AND WRITE THOSE WORDS! MOVE MOVE MOVE MOVE!
- Mood: pleased
Ima gonna go now. Kthxbai.
-DJ
- Mood: insignificant
- Music:Pandora Radio
( ALL RIGHT YOU MAGGOTS, LISTEN UP! )
SO GET TO WRITING, MAGGOT! MOVE MOVE MOVEMOVEMOVE! DOUBLE-TIME! DOUBLE-TIME! LET'SGOLET'SGO! MY GRANDMA WITH NO HANDS WRITES FASTER THAN YOU!
- Mood: motivational
- Music:The World Between - Angelzoom
One of the things that's a hazard of any social networking thing is that what is used for good can also be used for evil.
In the case of Twitter, evil = spammers. Spam followers, to narrow it down. These are people who use their Twitter accounts only to sell their crap, dogma, or other things of possible non-interest, and nothing at all about themselves or anything else that Twitter is meant to be used for.
A lot of these spammer types on Twitter use keywords in tweets in the public timeline in order to "follow" people they think will be interested in their services.
Like chocolate, for instance. I typed the word "chocolate" in a tweet, and was instantly followed by a chocolatier. Multiple words do this. NASCAR, diet, exercise...anything really can be a keyword for Twitter Bots.
Now, there are a few things to be done about this. You can just ignore/block them and go on your merry way, make your account private so your tweets don't show up in the public timeline to be mined via keyword, or just leave them be and let them follow you because you don't care one way or the other who reads what you have to say.
Or, you can annoy Dina, and we should all know what happens when Dina is annoyed, but for those just joining us who may be unaware of Dina's evil nature/Dark Side, lemme 'splain.
I, being evil and bored and slightly annoyed, decided to have a little fun with the spam bots.
I deliberately posted a tweet designed to attract the attention of keyword Twitter Bots.
Just for fun, and to see what would happen.
To make a long story short, another user hashtagged it "botfishing", and lo and behold, we have ourselves a new Twitter sport! #botfishing! (Not to be confused with "phishing", which is also evil. This is for fun, not evil! Well, the fun evil. Not the hurtful evil.)
Hey, they fish for us, right? Why can't we fish for them?
Since #botfishing seems to be catching on, I thought I'd clear up some terms and put down some general guidelines for fun and safe play, just like any other sport.
Rule #1: Decide before you play how you're going to deal with the bots you catch. DO VISIT THEIR PROFILES. DO NOT AUTO-BLOCK. Some of these bots are just regular people using a bit of software. Make sure they're a GENUINE SPAMMER before you block them. Otherwise, it doesn't hurt to let them follow you. You don't have to follow them back, and you can always block them later if they're a problem.
I call this approach "catch and release". If they're a real spammer/you've caught a bot you really think should be looked into/blocked, then block (or "catch") them. Cut off their head (block) and toss them in the boat. You now have Bot Dinner, which is the whole point of #botfishing.
Rule #2: Don't autofollow. This adds to the problem of spammers on Twitter. People who autofollow encourage the spammers.
Rule #3: Be prepared for the consequences. You'll get new followers, but that's not the point of #botfishing. It's just for fun, and no one should get hurt. Who knows? This is the interesting part about fishing - you might catch something good, or you might catch something to throw back. It's up to you.
Rule #4: This is not meant to be hurtful, so don't start a vendetta or anything. Don't message spammers, post their usernames for others to block/mock them (I don't see anything wrong with mentioning what kind of bot you caught in case others catch the same one), etc.
Rule #5: Have a thick skin and a sense of humor. These are imperative. This is supposed to be FUN, remember.
Rule #6: There is no Rule 6. (Points if you get the reference!)
Definition of terms:
"Catch" - a Twitter bot that followed you based on one of your posts designed for the purpose.
"Release" - Letting the bot follow you without blocking them. Blocking a Twitter user means that they'll get suspended eventually if enough people block them, so only block people you feel are abusive/spammers. The "real people" users who just use keywords to find people to follow? Release them unharmed/let them follow you. They're not hurting anyone.
"Keeper" (or "Caught") - A bot you've caught that you've blocked/reported. Follow the user "@spam" and send them a Direct Message if you really, REALLY want a particular user investigated. This is extreme, and should only be used for the most annoying or otherwise jerkwad Twitter people, like those pushing dangerous products or services. Or those who are just plain offensive. Twitter has abuse policies in place for a reason. Why? Because people are abusive, and I don't know about you, but I don't like abuse.
Remember, no one is forcing you to #botfish. If you catch something you don't like, take the appropriate action, but DO let some of your catches live. Remember, some are just real people using annoying software.
However, vengeance *does* suck, and I got tired of spambots.
So there you go! Happy #Botfishing!
- Mood: amused
Profile
- dina_james
- Dina James
- Dina James, The Official Website
Syndicate
