Ken Boddie

7 years ago · 4 min. reading time · ~10 ·

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Fellow Bees, We Have a Traffic Problem!

Fellow Bees, We Have a Traffic Problem!

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Two things I love to do are speak and write!  Forget the speaking on social media, however, as my squeaky, whining, far-from-dulcet vocal tones, complete with composite (or is it distilled) Scots-Kiwi-Aussie accent, will not be entertaining you by 'Live buzz' any time soon.  My public speaking is reserved for the teaching environment where I have total control over who throws what at me.  So, focusing then on my writing activities on beBee, these, as for most active bees, follow two distinct and interactive formats, which feed off each other, and comprise the following:

  • my buzzes and honey-making (short form and long form articles); and 
  • my reading then commenting on all too few of the ever increasing numbers of posts out there.
Personally I find the two activities are closely linked, as the latter (interaction with other bees through comments on their posts) often sews the seeds of a story or two and can give me incentive for developing initial comments into future posts.

But this isn't about me. I am writing about all of us, and how we all read, write and interact.

The former activity, the writing of posts, is a totally proactive one.  It is like one-way traffic in an orderly back street, where writers (lets call ourselves drivers) are totally in charge of the stop-go signs and traffic lights, and where parking is free without a warden in sight.  Although the one-way streets of short and long form post writing are not where the traffic problems are found, we must be aware that our driving activities, even when moving in an orderly one way flow, are often necessarily tempered by our experience out on the highway of life, where the traffic flows in multiple directions and in less than an orderly fashion. 

Back in the early days of the beBee road network, our reading and commenting activities (second bullet point above) used to be akin to a roadside check, when a vehicle could be slowed down or stopped, its driver and contents examined, given a quick wax and polish, or oil and lubrication, or even the occasional tyre pressure check, and then sent on its way with minimal disruption to traffic flow.  Alternatively, think of this reading and commenting as being typically how we interact with other drivers at junctions, roundabouts and merging lanes, where we give way, anticipate each other's movements and generally move forward politely avoiding bingles and costly fender benders, learning a things or two as we go, about the road rules and how the other driver's vehicle compares to ours.  Everyone is polite and friendly and gains much experience from the various interactions.

But, as beBee has matured and more newBees are coming onboard, interaction is becoming more like trying to hail a cab on a Los Angeles freeway in peak hour. This essentially reactive activity, is now becoming much more demanding than previously, since, once a worthy 'cab' is missed, due to other activities which necessarily take us away from the traffic, and into buildings or parks, it is often near impossible to find our cab of choice again, as it races down the wall (let's call this Wall Street) which each of us peruses on opening beBee, and disappears into oblivion.  In earlier days when the beBee traffic was less busy, if we missed a cab, we previously just ambled down to the next junction or so, and when we were ready, hailed the same vehicle which was generally circulating in the same block.

There is, of course, the occasional chance that said missed cab has parked at a well frequented hive cafe, where the driver stops to refresh with other cabbies of similar affinity, but many of us may not know which of these roadside hives are being frequented on any particular day a cab is required, and cabbies of course are not adverse to dropping in on a  variety of roadside hives, which numbers are also increasing exponentially. On any one trip, as we well know, all cabs are limited to only three roadside hive cafes.

Now what about the impressive Rolls Royce, Mercedes, Lamborghini or Porch which frequents the beBee road network a few times a week, handing out jars of honey and other digestive goodies.  These are the vehicles which we make a point of always flagging down when we see them, as we have become addicted to their honey handouts, and their shiny paintwork and glistening chrome lifts our mood and makes our day, as we give then the occasional wax and polish, tyre pressure check or oil and lubrication, by way of our comments, likes and shares, helping them on their way.  Unfortunately the traffic is becoming so heavy that we are now regularly missing these vintage road users and they too often disappear down Wall Street all too quickly. 

There is, of course, the late night emailed news program, beBee Producer, which provides an occasional window for us to savour a late night jar of vintage vehicle honey, we would otherwise have missed.  News coverage is limited, however, as in the case of TV networks, to what can be provided in between other regular programming, and beBe Producer is no different.  So now many of our cabs and vintage vehicles are passing down Wall Street un-hailed and/or unnoticed and I, for one, am missing quite a few jars of honey from my favourite vintage cars of choice and am missing many opportunities either to wax and polish or to oil and lube. I could, of course, spend more time at the side of the road with my waxing cloth, but have my own driving to do, honey to hand out, and time to spend on other essentials, away from the road network.

Does any of the above ring any bells, or sound any horns? 

Are you frustrated when you miss a 'Lamborghini' or 'Porch' which you would normally always 'wash and wax'?

Are you finding it hard to 'hail a regular cab' and spending longer between trips?  

I would love to hear how you ensure you never miss a 'cab' or a 'vintage car' from one of your favourite bees.

...................<<..................>>...................

When not researching the weird or the wonderful, the comical or the cultured, the sinful or the serious, I chase my creative side, the results of which can be seen as selected photographs of my travels on my website at:

http://ken-boddie.squarespace.com

The author of the above, Ken Boddie, besides being a sometime poet and occasional writer, is an enthusiastic photographer, rarely leisure-travelling without his Canon, and loves to interact with other like-minded people with diverse interests.

Ken's three day work week (part time commitment) as a consulting engineer allows him to follow his photography interests, and to plan trips to an ever increasing list of countries and places of scenic beauty and cultural diversity.




#Lamborghini #Wall Street #Traffic Problem #Porch #Fellow Bees
Comments

Ken Boddie

6 years ago #47

#77
Gees, Pak Paul. Not sure which is worse in Jakarta, the vibration from all that traffic or the rumblings from that recent earthquake. Pity you don’t have dairy cows in Indo, or you could all be enjoying milk shakes by now. 🤣

Paul Walters

6 years ago #46

Ken Boddie Yup. See , I missed this one due to increased traffic, bit like a drive through Jakarta right now

Randall Burns

7 years ago #45

#75
Thanks Ken, checking out Dean's post now. I will be posting a few more kitchen related articles although not really "foodie" oriented, Thanks for the welcome, I am enjoying beBee so far...

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #44

#74
Thanks for reviving this oldy, Randall. It's probably even more relevant now than it was back in September. Must be a bit overwhelming for a newBee at the moment, as there are so many diverse writers out there now, compared to when I and a few others jumped on board soon after the hives grew wheels, just over a year ago. You may find it useful to take on board a few of the tips set out by Dean Owen for managing your own version of Wall Street at this link: https://www.bebee.com/producer/@dean-owen/enhance-your-bebee-experience I enjoyed your Zen Bomber buzz, by the way. Not many professional 'foodies' writing from inside the kitchen, but plenty amateurs sharing recipes. Hope you find your feet on beBee, as writers who let us see openly some of themselves, and who are willing to share their character without the memes and condescending advice, are getting harder to find.

Randall Burns

7 years ago #43

Great analogy Ken, yes the traffic is heavy and not only do I feel like I'm missing a lot, but I also feel that my input is lost in the "vastness", (although I'm a Newbee and still familiarizing myself with the site, but really enjoying it.) Can't offer any solutions at the moment but if I have an epiphany I will let you know You're a photographer eh? Check these out when you have some time; http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.com/profile/171370/ http://photoclub.canadiangeographic.ca/profile/4174931

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #42

#72
This problem should be fixed, Aleta, when the long promised 'Sting' arrives. This should allow us to be informed when our favourite bees publish but we've been waiting a long time. I received a reply on this today which indicated that things are delayed Meanwhile I live in hope that I won't miss too many great posts.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #41

#70
Sounds like you get the 'two way street', Laura. Some many of us bees thrive on tasting each other's honey. 'Country roads' can take you places you never imagined and then again, occasionally, "to the place you belong".

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #40

#63
You're on my tag list, Lada, but you're the prime example, from what you say, of how a favourite bee producer subscription system would work to best effect. Just like you, many of us have to spend time away from beBee and would love to be able to come back and readily access a list of what our favourite bees have produced in the meanwhile. If this is the intention of the promised 'sting' then hit me with your best shot. I'll carry an EpiPen rather than have my favourite Porsche go by unwaxed. 🐝

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #39

#62
My problem, Deb, is that I don't like to miss a good party by waiting to be invited. I need a tool that allows me to crash. Reading between the lines of things to come, it sound like there may soon be a useful sting in this 'tale'?

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #38

#61
Thanks, Kev, but the only Yogi I've heard of eats from other people's picnic hampers in the woods. As for stalking, this is a pursuit with which I have some familiarity. I once spent part of my late summer vacation, when I was a student, as a pony-man gillie, taking the odd red deer carcass down from the Scottish hillsides, strapped on the back of a pony, after deerstalker had lead some outrageously well-to-do overseas guest to an easy shooting target. Sounds barbaric now, but it was considered (and probably still is) a necessary way to keep the deer numbers to a manageable level while bringing some income into the estate. That, of course, is round about the time when I saw my first haggis. https://www.bebee.com/producer/@ken-boddie/true-tales-of-haggis-and-bagpipes

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #37

#60
Consider it done, Nick

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #36

#61
exactly Kevin Pashuk :) ..great features are coming !!! https://www.bebee.com/producer/@javierbebee/what-is-coming-next

Lada 🏡 Prkic

7 years ago #35

It took me a while to comment on your post Ken Boddie. I previously clicked on "relevant" after I've read the buzz. I like very much your cab metaphor. I just want to say that I don't always have time to write a comment. Sometimes I read a buzz on my mobile which is not suitable for writing long comments. I usually browse and comment on a laptop at home in the evening. Regarding your topic, I reconciled with the fact that I'll probably miss many favourite bee's buzzes. I have a habit to scroll through the Producer page and try to find interesting buzzes or look at bee's profile at beBee Producer. But because I am not regular on beBee due to the other priorities, many of these posts are being missed. Given the increasing amount of long-form posts it’s difficult to keep track of who has wrote what. Perhaps, after all, tagging people isn’t bad idea although many bees don’t like it. I use this method only a couple of times but the people who I tagged didn’t respond which is very disappointing. Ken, I don’t mind being tagged so I would like to be informed on each post.

Kevin Pashuk

7 years ago #34

A great metaphor Mr. Boddie. It reminded me of that quote by Yogi Berra about a certain restaurant “Nobody ever goes there anymore — it's too crowded.” beBee is growing, and with it comes the growing pains. As Javier beBee pointed out, new features are coming to help us stay current with our favourite bees. I do stalk you on occasion just to be certain I don't miss any good Dad Jokes.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #33

#48
Thanks again, Javier beBee, for taking time out of your busy day to update us on your future intentions. Your comments, as always, are like an angler's well constructed lure, and serve their purpose well, in drawing me in, hook, line and sinker. 👍

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #32

#54
Thanks, Franci, for this useful insight into how you use beBee to your advantage. 👍

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #31

#53
I think you will find, Charles, that you can search a bee's long posts (rather than all his/her contributions) by looking at his/her profile in Producer rather than on the Buzzes tab. As for your comments on hive usage, I am reasonably conversant with this aspect of beBee, thanks. You misinterpreted my use of the cab/cafe metaphor (on of the pitfalls of my using analogies instead of straight talk). I was talking about looking for favourite bees' buzzes and not about somewhere to park my own buzz. The point I was attempting to make was that producers have a variety of hives (cafés) they may choose and often 'park their cabs' in different hives. It follows that when we try searching in what we may think is their 'usual' hive, rather than scrolling down the wall, we may still miss the buzz. I do appreciate, however, your comments on this matter and your attempt to assist me in my quest for solutions to improve our traffic management. 👍

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #30

#50
Thanks, Deb, for your kind words, and for revealing how you personally use the beBee system to your advantage. 👍

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #29

#47
#49 Hi Michael. I remember you from my days on the Dark Side (LI) and hence am aware that you have been around the social media traps for some time. I therefore would not deign to offer you advice on best practice here, just as I wouldn't attempt to tell my granny (if I still had one) how to suck eggs. Instead, I offer a summary of how I work the beBee system and, "if the cap fits", then pick whichever style suits you, or not. 🎩 🎓 Personally, I tend to ignore the 'relevants' and 'views' on the basis that a 'tick and flick' does not necessarily indicate that the reader has given my post his/her full attention, or even completely read it to the finish. I gauge the 'success' or otherwise of my posts by the comments I receive, particularly from those fellow bees with whom I have built up some degree of fellowship. Again this is only my personal practice, but I tend to spend more time either 'courting' newBees (or at least new to me) and "shooting the shit" (pardon my French) with those bees I know fairly well (after much on line chat, jokes and repartee) than I do actually writing posts (long or short). This approach has worked well for me and I treat my favourite bees as I would any friends (virtual or otherwise). Thus I see my activities on beBee as analogous to a two way street. Furthermore, I find the most rewarding comments are often those that involve a number of us interacting on the same post (mine or theirs) and carrying onto subsequent or parallel posts. I hope this explains, Michael, why I occasionally get frustrated when I miss a post from one of my favourite bees and why I wrote this subject post, not to knock the system, but to exchange with fellow bees how they handle the system and how we may improve it. So far I am encouraged by many of the comments submitted, and have taken on board a few suggestions. I hope you may find some of the above useful, Michael.

Michael D. Davis

7 years ago #28

As a follow up to my previous long comment this well written and commented on article has had over 1000 views but only 25 people have deemed it worthy of being "Relevant". It appears to me that I could use a better understanding of how to use the Relevant button. Maybe I'm using it in the wrong way. If I appreciate what someone has shared I hit the "R" button as a way of saying "thank you" and as an encouragement to the producer to continue doing so. This isn't a vanity thing I'm writing about. It's just a way for an author to get a feel for the direction his or her creative contributions might wish to take on the beBee transportation infastructure. Maybe a better explanation of the use and usefulness of the "Relevance" button might be helpful in my case. Maybe I'm missing something here.

Javier Cámara-Rica 🐝🇪🇸

7 years ago #27

#28
Ken Boddie a lot of improvements are coming in the next release..... I have nothing more to add... we know how to do it and we are working on improvements everytime. Thanks a lot

Michael D. Davis

7 years ago #26

Ken, Thank you for this wonderful analogy. I've found myself beecoming, (intentionally misspelled by the way), concerned as well. I'll add my voice to the growing din of slight uneasyness at the seeming difficulty at being able to connect with more people in the hives I've personally created and those I have joined. I can certainly understand how a NewBee could become overwhelmed or confused at where to begin. There is an ever growing network of hives and only a finite amount of time that one can practically spend engaged, whether producing honey, creating buzz or in some way contributing to beBee. My overall concern and question is this; As beBee continues to grow what effect will it have on a person's ability to connect and stay connected with other bees in a meaningful way? A bee in the beBee warehouse full of honey jars is akin to a kid in a huge candy store. So many smells, flavors and delightful sights to behold! They end up running from jar to jar, peering in, taking a taste, but with so many jars to enjoy it can bee overwhelming and time consuming. At this point, as a producer, I have no way of knowing who deems the honey I personally spend time churning out to be worthy of a taste unless they should decided to bee kind and click on the relevance button. I honestly don't see that happening as often as I would have hoped, which makes me wonder if my honey production is worth the time and effort I am putting into it. Thoughts or comments anyone?

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #25

#38
Don't forget to also spend time with your family and non-virtual friends, Aurorasa! 😟

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #24

#40
The taxi pic was taken in 2014, Nick, but I can't say I'm any expert on cab age in Hong Kong. Every trip i've taken to HK I've moved around using the MTR (metro), which is fast and efficient, and the occasional ferry, bus or tram.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #23

#36
DLE from T&T, you are undoubtedly the mistress of tags. We could (and should) all learn from you. Please don't forget to tag me on your next long post or blog. By the way, I haven't seen any coffees coming my way lately, Boss?

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #22

#25
Ken, the way I reach an author's library archive page is to 1) go to your home page by clicking on the house icon. 2) click on the "Producer" tab. 3) Click on the "Bees" tab. 4) scroll down until you find the author you are looking for, and click on that box. You will then be on the author's page, which should show you a "follow" button, but also an invitation to follow that authors "blog" by email. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a search function that would eliminate the scrolling part, which can be tedious. But you perhaps one of beBee's Ambassadors can provide more accurate instruction and a better method, as they are much more schooled in these matters and generally able to help better than we ordinary worker bees. Cheers on a Staturday evening (here)!

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #21

#27
Also, I appear to have missed a few of your poems, Franci. Woulld love you to tag me also.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #20

#30
Thanks for the crystal clear explanation, Pam. Really helpful advice and straight to the point! 👍

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #19

#23
Emails work well for me, Paul, and many others I know. I, for one, would certainly not be averse to receiving system emails by default when my authors of choice have uploaded a long post. In my case I would only really have about 10 or 12 Porches to wax.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #18

#17
I missed your point about Donna-Luisa Eversley, Pam, when I first read your comment. Yes, she is very good at tagging and good on her.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #17

#14
Thanks, Claire. I'll tag you as requested and perhaps you can do the same to me. I occasionally stumble across some of your interesting posts on building materials and styles, second time round, and wonder how many others I've missed.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #16

#9
Thanks Paul Walters?

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #15

#17
Thanks, Pam. I'll add you to the tag list also.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #14

#19
Sounds good to me, Phil. Just one thing, for myself and the others not conversant with the less obvious details of beBee, where so I find "an author's library archive page"?

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #13

#11
I'll make sure and add you to the tag list, Franci.

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #12

#21
I understand that. Indeed, I actually at this point have 25K unread emails in my inbox. Yeah, I know, why don't I just clear them out? That's what my wife keeps asking, too. Anyway, what I am saying is if the system is set up to generate an email notice, I cannot believe it isn't relatively simply to change that over to sending a message to a user's messaging inbox. And if that could be done, at the user's option, all of the complaints about missing posts in the feed would immediately evaporate. And you could subscribe in that way only to those authors whom you choose, and moreover without publicly slighting or insulting anyone. It would be a user-only option, private and hidden from view. Eh, Javier beBee?

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #11

#18
And P.S., Paul, if so, couldn't one keep an email file for posts to read, move these notices, when they are of future interest, to such a file, for follow up and reading at any time later? Eh?

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #10

#18
Paul, am I missing something, but isn't there a feature by which you can go to an author's library archive page and click "Follow this blog by email"? And doesn't that send an email notice to you with a link, whenever the author publishes a new long-form post?

Phil Friedman

7 years ago #9

An interesting metaphor, Ken Boddie, the underlying import of which, I predict will be missed by most. The answer, hiwever, lies in the hive structure with active management of topic and genre filtered hives in addition to anything goes hives, plus user managed feed by implementation of muting and blocking noisey content. Also by judicious, not indiscrinatelynfollowing those authors whose content you want to read. The tools for hailing the cabs you want to board are there (or soon will bee) ; it's just that very few are presently using them. Tsgging, BTW, is not a long-term solution; just a bandaid. Cheers!

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #8

#8
Ken Boddie Thanks Ken - and please do tag me as well.

Paul Walters

7 years ago #7

Ken Boddie and a few more. We begin to read each others stuff. There is so much good stuff on this site but there is a LOT of it and hence we miss some pieces that could have made a difference. Also by my estimation the life of a buzz is anywhere between 48 and 72 hours

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #6

#5
great 💡 Gert. I don't often like to do this on my posts as it appears like desperation but others seem to do it successfully. There again if someone specifically asks to be tagged that that would be a win win. So how about you make a point of tagging me on your posts?

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #5

#4
I've thought about setting up a hive, Paul, like you say for later reading but you need to catch the Porsche on its way down Wall St before you can hive it aside

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #4

#3
believe it or not, Dean, the only taxi pics I could find were in Honkers. No fooling you. Nathan Rd is certainly no Wall St.

Gert Scholtz

7 years ago #3

Ken Boddie Maybe one way not to miss out is to ask the writers you like to tag you on their posts. Not ideal for many but maybe something for you? I think the upcoming search function will also help solve the traffic problem. A problem I am having as well and turning me into a jaywalker - just too many good posts out there.

Dean Owen

7 years ago #2

Not a big fan of metaphors but I loved this one to bits. The early days were fun. I kind of miss the two Cat bees. It certainly is getting harder, especially since I only use a mental bookmark to come back to an article the following day when I have time. I think the "super-search" function that is being developed will help a lot. Meanwhile, I'll continue to slide on the HK taxis polished seats.

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #1

#1
Thanks for the feedback, Paul. One way, of course to make sure we are catching a Porche coming down Wall Street is to look at the bee's profile on a regular basis, but then we don't want to be labelled as stalkers, do we?

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