Wednesday, January 6, 2016

A Blogger Question

Occasionally I get questions in comments that I would like to answer, but I am always unsure of how to go about doing that.

If the person who asked the question has an email listed on their profile, I will go there and send a personal email answer.  Sometimes there is no email listed on the profile. 

This happened yesterday. One person wanted to know about my pottery collection. I think I have posted about it before but I don't remember, and this person is a new blog follower. How do I answer her?

That gets me to my real question. Some of you who have Blogspot blogs have a "reply" option.  How do you get that? When you use it, does the reply get sent as an email or does the person who commented have to look back at the comments later? 

And for those of you who do ask questions, do you expect, or look for, an answer? 

I guess the easiest way for me to deal with this would be to request that bloggers link an email address in their profile. Then I could answer directly.

Now, about that pottery collection question. Here is the answer. I collect American pottery mostly from the 1940's through the 1960's, and mostly in matte white or gloss white.

About 75 pieces are McCoy. Another 35 are Shawnee. Others are Hager, Bauer, Hull, Caliente or California, with some "unknowns". 
 This cabinet has a collection of swans and another of ducks and other miscellaneous small pieces. There are a couple of Van Briggle pieces here too. 
 A few pieces come from family. Most I have purchased over the years from antique shops, antique shows, and on line. I buy what I like that doesn't cost too much.

 One shelf is devoted to Puebloan pottery that we collected on a trip to New Mexico. We visited many pueblos and bought pieces from the artists in their homes. It was a wonderful experience. 

The taller pot in the back, right corner is a family piece that was picked up in the 1940's by an aunt of Tom's.  It is Hopi.  We didn't get to the Hopi pueblo, so we bought a little companion piece for it in a gallery in Tucson. We went in October, after the tourist season, and everything was reduced in price 50%. 
I have more pieces of pottery scattered around the house. And I do use some of them, especially in the summer for arranging flowers from our garden. 

I have had many hours of fun hunting in shops for them. I can remember where I bought many of them, and I do have a written record of most of them - when and where I purchased them, how much I paid, and what the value was as listed in the identification and price guides I have. 

24 comments:

  1. You have an amazing and unique pottery collection!! Thanks for sharing it.

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  2. I forgot to mention that if I ask a question I usually check back to see if it has been answered.

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  3. I supply my email so if I have a question it can be answered. I rarely, if ever, go back to check a blog post I've already read. Sometimes, though, I will, just to see what other people have said. If you use that "reply" it only shows up in the post, there is no way to contact someone (I don't think) if they don't supply their email in their profile. Correct me if I'm wrong, blogosphere. :-)

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  4. Quite the pottery collection! The 'reply' option shows up by default for me, and if there's a question i usually just use that. If it's more personal or calls for a longer answer, i'll look for an email. If i think it would be of interest to others, i might answer it in the next day's post. I do sometimes remember to go back and check for an answer if i've asked a question, but not often.

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  5. I remember setting up the reply to comments, but I have no memory of how I did that.
    Sometimes I check back to a post I have read but usually I am doing all I can to keep up with the current posts.
    That is a great pottery collection. Mike was an antique collector so I am aware of that particular fever but I never caught it.

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  6. First time I have seen your pottery collection. What a collection! You have some beautiful pieces.

    I like to reply to all comments left on my blog post, when there is enough time. I've wondered though if anyone checks back to read my replies. Maybe I am wasting time when I could be reading and commenting on other's posts. If I have asked someone a question then I will look back to see if there was a reply. Glad you have asked this question.

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  7. Oh my, that's quite a collection you have there. I can see why the Santa collection needed to be tucked away until it's season. I know very little about replying to comments but I noticed on 'Molly's Folks' yesterday that it appears Jean responded to my comment by adding a comment herself, the same as any other comment.

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  8. Hi Linda!
    If we click 'Design' button, then 'Settings' button and, at last, 'Posts and Comments' button, we'll see 'Comment Location' option. If we choose 'Embedded' option and save our settings, 'Reply' should appear after each comment. It worked for me.
    Happy New Year to you!

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  9. Beautiful collection, so many memories. I usually come back to read later comments on other people's blog but then I don't follow as many as some do. I found out I had the email function on my blog when someone emailed me. I like it but I didn't do it on purpose and can't tell you how it got there but I see others know ;-).

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  10. One blogger said if you go the Settings tab and then select Comment location and in the drop down select embedded. Mine currently is selected as full page. I do not see how this would add the Reply link, but may it would??

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  11. I just did that and it does add two links at the bottom...one is reply and the other is delete!

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  12. First, I love your pottery collection. If one is going to collect something, it's always nice that they know a lot about what they're collecting. Good job of explaining!
    Now about comments: that has always been of interest to me also - there is a REPLY thing after each comment on my blog, but I would have to remember to go back and check each comment on every post to actually see any replies. That is very hard to do! WordPress has an option that notifies by email when a comment has been made on ANY blog you follow. That works better for me. However, I've had my blog on blogspot for a very long time and don't really want to change. :(

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  13. You really made me think about comments. I rely to all comments made the first day. My comments come through gmail or facebook. I do give an email address and I get a few emails. I've always wondered how many people know I reply. Are my replies sent to people. Now I know I haven't answered your questions. It's so long ago that I set up the blog I couldn't remember. I had to look for my profile!!! I'll be watching for answers.

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  14. Oh, wow! Such beautiful pieces! Being a collector can be such fun! I no longer collect. Anything. My home has been sold and my belongings reduced to fit into a 5'x5' storage unit. (Kind of sad, in a way, to think of 60 years of living so drastically reduced). I live in my sparsely furnished summer home now, in which I collect nothing because it is in Canada, and I don't want to have tons of stuff to transport back to the states when I finally sell and come home. So no I am an admirer. And I'm okay with that! XO

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  15. It's fun to see more of your pottery collection. I think of you and my friend Loree every time I come across it in stores. I spotted a coupe of extremely cheaply priced pieces at a thrift store recently and, as a former antique dealer, it was very difficult not to buy them just because money could be made reselling them.

    You question about how to enable the reply function has been answered very well. If I ask a specific question on a blog like what product you've found best for X, I would hope for an answer and often go back and read answers to comments on other blogs when going there to read new posts. Because I read an article about blogging a few years ago that said answering comments made one's blog seem more like a conversation, and because my garden blogging guru always answers, I answered every single comment for a long time. Now, I answer any questions and try to leave a reply to most comments but sometimes there's less time available and I'd rather spend more time catching up with my garden blogging friends on their blogs.

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  16. You do have the most awesome collections I've ever seen, Linda! Wow!

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  17. I confess that we collected Blue Ridge/Southern Potteries for years. Goodness that was a lot of stuff. I only have three sets left and have swtched my enthusiasms to Russel Wright's Iroquois. I sure do like your collections and do wonder how you keep them dusted.

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  18. Your collection is amazing. I love it. I have just a few pieces of McCoy. I would love to have some Van Briggle, but it is so expensive these days. To think that I grew up playing on a hearth and fireplace that was Van Briggle boggles my mind. The fireplace was in my grandmother's home. There are only a handful of them. The person who bought her house in the 80s after she died got the house for a song. He tore out the fireplace, sold it for a fortune, and remodeled the house with some of the money. He then made a fortune on the house too.

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    1. Oh, Sally, I would have loved to have seen that fireplace! I bought one of my pieces of Van Briggle at the factory on one of our trips to Colorado and Colorado Springs. The other is a family piece.

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  19. What a lovely collection! I especially like the soft yellow/pink pieces with flowers:)

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  20. Thanks for showing your collection! Great. Sad part is that they are no longer worth what we paid for them as this generation does not appreciate them or want what they consider clutter.

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  21. When I ask questions on a blog I don't always expect an answer. I figure if someone has time they will reply to the comment and I will check back when I have time. There have been times I will ask a question of someone that I have been reading a while and they will answer on one of my posts. Rather informal.

    I do love your collection, especially the orange varieties.

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