Daily Prompt: Happy Endings

Tell us about something you’ve tried to quit. Did you go cold turkey, or for gradual change? Did it stick?

I rarely try to quit anything because I usually succeed. I even quit stuff that my doctor tells me I should keep. I no longer take my cholesterol tablets because they have side effects. I actually do not take any medicine that does not convince me, that’s me.

The last time I wrote on this prompt, 1st February 2014, I told everyone how I managed to stop smoking and  stopped eating Fisherman’s Friends sweets, so I will not repeat myself, although I am quite good at repeating myself, and so are the daily prompts, which brings me to another addiction I have.

Yes, I seem to be addicted to daily prompts. On 31st December Ben Huberman wrote an interesting piece of blog entitled Three Thoughts on Blogging Resolutions and you could past comments.

Thank you Ben Huberman, at last I could express myself and ask a tricky question. Please bear in mind I have been writing these prompts since at least 2012, although I am not sure when I really began, so let us see what the WordPress Guru has to say. He had a few links built into this blog, one being “Daily Prompt” which did surprise me. Of course there were a few welcoming this new revelation, but unfortunately it was not a new revelation to me and so, being a person of many words and curiosity I ventured to ask Mr. Huberman what the intention was with Daily Prompts when he mentions it in his posting and Mr. Huberman gave me an answer, so thank you Mr. Huberman.

I wrote

“I have been with WordPress for many years, from the time when we were not yet .com and there were few templates to choose from. I have stayed and discovered the daily prompt which I loved. Please note past tense. I was surprised you included this link in your blog. Since at least a year, perhaps a little longer, we have been getting the same old daily prompts . I am still writing, always finding perhaps a different aspect on the subject. Are you eventually going to cancel this service as no-one really seems to be interested in giving us something new to write about? It seem to me (am no IT expert) that daily a button is pressed and we get the old themes in a different order. I am a golden oldie and blog for the fun of it, to enjoy my time. Not only is the daily prompt a push to write, but I have noticed we have formed a group of people that get to know each other, not intensively, but we meet in the daily prompt, a feeling of online friendship perhaps. Please rethink the policy on the daily prompt and bring us something new every day.”

and he answered

“Thanks for your feedback! I know that you and several other veteran Daily Post readers/bloggers haven’t been satisfied with our decision to re-publish our older prompts instead of creating new ones. We don’t have concrete plans to resume original prompts, though I think it’s something we can think about and approach in a variety of ways (for example, back in September all prompts were brand new ones, submitted by bloggers from our community, and it was great to have new topics and new voices thrown into the mix).

With a repertoire of ~800 prompts to cycle through — more than two years’ worth of daily prompts — our sense is that the vast majority of bloggers aren’t bothered or turned off by this decision. And I’m heartened (though not at all surprised) to hear that even when you encounter a prompt you’d tackled before, you and other experienced writers can inject new life into it or find a new angle from which to approach it. Since prompts ultimately fall into a finite number of categories, customizing them to match your own interests is something we’ve always encouraged bloggers to do.”

So fair enough. I answered him that I noticed there were fresh prompts in September and I answered every one of them. I am now a veteran, something special, a golden oldie. The answer is quite clear, there will be no new prompts, we can continue for about 2 years (800 prompts is a lot) and as I will be 72 years old in two years, I will be more than a veteran, but I do not know what the next term is for that, perhaps dinosaur.

For the other veterans amongst us we now know what awaits us. Either stay or go. I will stay for the time being, perhaps they might even give me a medal or at last my long yearned for t-shirt (size XXL please). It is a habit and one that I do not really want to break. There are too many of us that have got to know each other. We are all writing for a purpose I suppose, whether it be likes or glad to see that someone actually reads what you write. I tried now and again to break the habit, but return for more. I seem to be a succour for punishment.  Is it a habit or a pastime? I do not know, but I am still here.

Otherwise I am still in Facebook, although that is only because of my crossposting of my daily prompts. I no longer join in the fun, which is no longer fun. It is now full of recipes of combing pizza dough with the same ingredients in 10 different variations, about 200 videos of dogs and cats, and amounts of silly accidents showing adults and children on slides or otherwise. To be quite honest I often have the feeling that a lot of the Facebook stuff is not real, just made for Facebook. I am now a spectator shaking my head at the stupidity of mankind. Even Mark Zuckerberg is now giving us a weekly diary of the development of his offspring, who probably already has quite a good bank account. And no Mark, I don’t care who you give your millions to, because I will not see a dime (or penny).

Oh, over 1000 words. Sorry I do not like big prompts, they tend to bore so now I will go. And do not forget, keep prompting people, one day in about 2 years we veterans might be getting something new, and then there will be more of us.