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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind, don't matter, and those who matter, don't mind. ~Dr. Seuss
Girls just wanna have fun ~ Cyndi Lauper
Make some fun, happy time ~ Alex Ovechkin

Friday, December 30, 2011

Thank You, Love Caps Girl

Feeling grateful; so some shout outs of thanks…

First and foremost: a huge thank you to everyone who has ever clicked a link to this blog. Even though inspiration is sometimes lacking on my part; every reader, follower and comment is truly appreciated.

Secondly, some very nice people who have taken the time to link this little blog and send huge numbers of hits: all the folks at @JapersRink and @TedLeonsis. Just the fact that you took the time to read and decided a post was worthy of a link brings heartfelt gratitude.

Thirdly: all the fellow bloggers who have listed me on their blog rolls, most especially the Washington Capitals and Monumental Sports. I blush every time I see my blog listed on your sites. (Really)

I started this blog over two years ago, with no grand scheme other than to bitch and moan and sometimes share a few laughs along the way. From this, I have been able to further my own hockey education and hopefully further a few reader’s hockey educations as well. So, speaking of educating, I’d like to thank some experts who have helped educate me with their insight and by answering some sometimes stupid questions: @VogsCaps, @JohnKeeley, @ODPllc, @EdFrankovic, @CapsExaminer, @emcerlain , @pckhdsthghts , and @TedStarkey. Even though I’ve only met a few of you in real life, I owe you all at least one beer for sharing your wealth of knowledge with me.

I’d also like to thank some of my partners in crime: Leslie (@hockeymomva), for co-blogging on Scarlet Caps and fun shenanigans at brunch along with Liz (@DCSportsChick); and my fellow gchat snarkers: Dana (@YoCalleJo, who also shares Caps tickets cuz she’s just awesome that way), Katelyn (@dorcov), Stephy (@carrotbazooka), Julie (@dimickj), and Beta (@itsabeta), it’s always fun to be around these ladies.

Finally, thank you to everyone who follows and interacts with me on Twitter. I’ve said it before; I have the best Tweeps! Yes, I tend to get a little sappy at the end of the year, so thank you for indulging me, putting up with my blondness and shenanigans, and making 2011 such a great year. I love you all.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

The Annual Caps JibJab Christmas Card

Cause we all need a little cheering up after a loss:



Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

The Art of the RT

Time for another Social Media rant. And it’s about the one thing that puts most Twitter users’ teeth on edge, the “retweet” (or “RT” for those in the know). I briefly covered this in a previous Social Media post, but I guess nobody paid attention to it or forgot.

Some of this rant will be directed to my tweet stream as a Washington Capitals fan in particular, but I’m sure it can apply to every Twitter user, as the majority of Tweeps usually follow a certain topic/theme/interest. So, let the ranting begin.

Dear Tweeps,

Please use RT’s with care. It is not necessary to RT everything tweeted by the @washcaps account. They are followed by almost 70,000 people, so you can be pretty much guaranteed that everyone who follows you has already seen the news they just tweeted. The same can be said of any tweets or blogs posted by @TedLeonsis (who may only have 20,000+ followers, but that’s enough to ensure that most fans are already seeing the original). Maybe you think you are providing a service to your followers by doing this? Yes, that is so very nice of you. But you aren’t paying attention, are you? I just told you, I can pretty much guarantee that all of your followers have already seen the news. So, as nice as that seems; in truth, it is very annoying to those of us that follow both you and the team. We follow you for your own personal musings, not to see the same information regurgitated over and over and over.

Which brings me to bloggers and media type Twitter users. I know it’s tough to compete. Some of you make your living by being actual sports journalists, and that’s why we follow you; for actual sports news. Bloggers, your job is to put your own spin on that sports news. But how many times have we seen the same thing tweeted by both? Too many. You might as well just RT them, but then you'd piss people off then too. We are on to you; you really want to be professional journalists, don’t you? Well, until such time as you get hired by an actual media outlet and make the big bucks, please stop posing. Put your own spin on your tweets, we’d rather see you than some clone of someone else. That is why we follow you after all. And, this seems to be a good place to thank all of the bloggers who do this correctly; you make me want to click your links.

And speaking of following, let’s talk about #FF’s while we are at it. A lot of Twitter users like to give shout outs to Tweeps by giving them an #FF every Friday. People who receive these are usually very honored to receive the recommendation, as they should be. But by RTing that #FF recommendation verbatim to your entire follower base makes you come off as either lazy or egotistical. Let me remind you, when you RT a #FF recommendation to your tweet stream, you are sending it to people who already follow you! Yes, it’s possible that someone in the original #FF tweet doesn’t follow you, but those people already saw the recommendation for you when they were @’d in the first place! The correct response to a #FF directed towards you is a simple thank you.

Which brings me to people who ask for RT’s. How many times have you seen people either tweet a blog post, some silly or inane idea/comment or announce it’s their birthday and ask someone else for a RT? Yes, fortunately for them, some people they ask will oblige them. But in essence, what you are doing when you ask for the RT is begging for attention and validation. I feel kind of sorry for people who do this, how sad their meaningless little lives must be. (That is snark, people; don’t get your panties in a wad.) On the flip side, if you have a certain piece of information that you think would be beneficial to have RT’d for the greater good, such as a charity or cause, go right ahead and ask for the RT. This circumstance seems appropriate, and I hope that the celebrity who gets these requests consider actually following through with a RT. Now, that’s the way to use your powers for good!

So, like the earlier thank you to bloggers, I’d like to say thank you to all my Tweeps who do the RT the right way. You make it a pleasure to follow you all. To those of you who can’t seem to be Social Media savvy, you may have already been unfollowed for the sake of irritation alone, but you probably have no idea why. As for me, I expect to be unfollowed in 5….4….3….2….


Authors Note: Minutes after posting this with no linking to Twitter or Facebook because it really is just a personal rant, I was sorta retweeted by the @CapsBlogsRT. Yes, I am kind of embarrassed right now.