more ugh.

I really and truly hate offending people. I can hear some snickers from the peanut gallery, but I assure you, it's true. I very rarely, if ever, say or do something intentional to upset somebody. I am just not that kind of person. I do, on occasion, put my foot in my mouth, and spend lots of time regretting it. And there is quite a bit of time between when my stomach is tied up in a knot, and when it it untied.

I am equally bothered when it has been insinuated or suggested that I have done something to offend, but the specific something remains unnamed. For example, let's look at my other blog, The Dayton Kitchen. You won't actually see the post that is the cause of the knot in my stomach, because I removed it. I quoted another blogger's recipe, linked to the site, gave plenty of recognition, then got a comment (hooray?) that said the author was glad I enjoy that recipe, then asked me to please email her. So naturally I did, and smelling that something was up, I asked if I should remove the post. The reply was gracious and kind, recognizing that I am new to this whole blogging thing, and that there are newbie mistakes that the author made, too, and that the author would like to make some gentle suggestions. Great! I will take suggestions. I am normal like that. And that is what I told the author.

But instead of telling me if I should remove the post, or what I should have done, the author told me about a deadline, and that this would have to wait, and that I should not use my email address to contact people about my blog, because it is a business address and not a free, nondescript sort of deal. Which is all fine, I guess. I am not trying to be a complainer here. I said I would receive suggestions. And I would have used a different address to correspond, if I didn't have a pretty good idea who the author was (as far as one can tell with the Internet). I never would have emailed my unhappy reader from a few weeks back with that address, no sir.

So I removed the post, or rather, moved it someplace else, where nobody can see it until I hear from the author again. Just in case.

I am a "fixer" by nature, and I want to rectify the situation first and foremost, and then get my lesson in blogging after that. And I am frustrated because so far, I am unable to do the right thing by this other person. And I just need to get over that and stop feeling like I am about to throw up. This is one of those days I wish I had an appointment with my Nutcracker, so that he would explain why I am such a head case about things that involve right and wrong and being a fixer.