One of the most frustrating things that I’m trying to set up for SOP is a combined RSS feed (of the new site’s posts, and PIM’s posts). The only vaguely useful method is to use something called Yahoo Pipes. It’s a site where you can take an RSS feed, and using different little modules, process them through various code pieces, and out the other end, have a formatted, new feed. The problem of course, is that you have to understand a lot of specialised code to use it, there isn’t really a guide to tell you how to set things up (well, there is, but because it’s designed for flexibility and diversity, you can’t have a one-guide-fits-all answer), and worst of all, Yahoo is shit.

Or really, their programming is so shit, that the page stops working if you browse to another page (like when using tabs in your browser), or it just doesn’t save. You’ll add one piece of code, and the page will have a heart attack. I’ve learned to refresh often and work in miniscule steps, but even then, getting everything to work is a nightmare.

I’ve succesfully created auto-retweet bots today, only to discover that they don’t work either. (Thank goodness actually, for other people’s ‘how to’ tutorials on these things, because Pipes is, as I say, shit) Well, they work, but they repeat everything twice in each tweet. Of course, it’s not as easy as ‘fix and check’, because everything has to process through Twitter, then the Pipe, then through another RSS feed service, then back to Twitter again. It takes time to update, and so, a lot of time is wasted waiting around to fix things.

In another time-waster, I keep getting contacted by people who want to know about a particular acting agency. I had replied to a Yahoo Answer (hmm, there’s a theme here…) about a year ago, back when I was still doing that whole ‘reply to wannabes when they ask questions’ thing on acting in Australia. Despite not being one myself, I do enjoy helping people learn about the Aussie industry in general - which comes out now through puppetry - but now I find myself being contacted every few weeks or so because of this, somewhat notorious, agency. However, I’m sick of dealing with the questions - those following me through last year’s harrassment debacle will realise why - and I’ve put notices on my contact form, on YA, and on other places where people find my replies.

It seems though, that even bright orange capitalised text isn’t in your face enough to get people to read the obvious wish NOT to contact me about it anymore. It wastes my time, because I actually don’t have any more information than I’ve already provided, as well as being a nuisance and distraction when I want to work; I have to contend with the possibility that it’s really an underhanded method of harassing me further, and further annoys me that people don’t seem to follow the numerous and detailed links already provided (which if they read, would answer all their questions and more). It’s clear people just want reassurance that their - incorrect - instinct to sign with any agency that would take them is not going to get them scammed. That’s great, but could you please read before emailing me about it?

I’ve just spent several hours trying to create a reply/forwarder for my email account so these things get bounced politely - with a nicely-worded, explanatory email, which if I were not toning it down would actually say  off. (I am starting to get nasty about these things. I’m on the actors’ side, but if people actually believe that someone can guarantee paid acting work in the Australian industry, then I’m almost tempted to say you deserve to get got. Even wannabes can’t be that stupid)

But as usual, things don’t work they way you expect them to, and even trying to get the forwarder fixed is a waste of time… Just when you think you make some progress, you head back about 10 steps.

The comparison though, is interesting. I get mightily pissed off when people email me about acting agents. Whereas I don’t mind at all spending a great deal of time posting on puppetry, and replying to people’s queries about that subject. Why then, do I get annoyed about the former issue?

Most likely because it highlights a very important issue: I do get annoyed when people email me about a puppetry subject which I’ve already answered in depth. As much as I try to get Google to index the correct page by leaving ‘this post is also known as…’ messages, or by renaming posts as necessary, the real issue is that people really don’t bother reading the text on the page. Am I the only one in existence who reads everything on a website, as much as possible, before typing off an ambiguously phrased message?

But I find this more annoying because I have taken as many steps as I possibly can to rectify the issue - that is, to update people on this unwillingness to respond - and yet am still receiving inquiries. I no longer answer my phone, but rather screen calls and don’t ring people back if they don’t leave a message; because I no longer wish to deal with harassment over acting agencies. Is it too much to ask that people take a few seconds to read the polite text - that is, let’s face it, not there just to look pretty? And is there any point in being polite when subtle orange text goes over people’s heads?

I have no qualms over answering questions on puppetry, because I invite it. I accept it as a responsibility of creating my website, and of offering those sorts of posts in the first place. If I no longer wish to accept inquiries or feedback, I will simply remove my contact form and close comments. But on acting agents, I no longer wish to respond. And the only thing left for me to do is to delete those inquiries on sight, or to create an auto-response and then delete on sight. Everything else is just a waste of time.