I recently read about TEMU becoming one of the most popular apps for buying goods at discount prices, even cheaper than on Alibaba, which is a competitor.
To investigate I downloaded the app and bought five items to win free gifts. Even without the gifts, and the free shipping I received, I did really well and can easily resell the items I bought for a profit; however, I bought one item to use for diagnosing my car functions.
Use my referral code and we’ll both probably be glad you did.
Yep, I may be screwing up again but it won’t be the first or last time, I promise.
In my quest to learn more about how to setup and keep websites fully operational, I have one thing in common with highly successful people: perseverance and a lot of errors, one error that I will write about in this blog.
For a more positive post about highly successful people, this is a good article from LinkedIn. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/1-thing-all-successful-people-have-common-nathanial-bibby/
For those who have some technical knowledge or for those who want to learn a little bit of what I know, when setting up a website, one of the things a person may choose are Permalinks, which are different formats to use for linking associated content. For instance, just showing the domain name and title, or domain name and numbers, etc. as shown below.
| Permalink structure Plain https://straightfromthepen.com/?p=123 Day and name https://straightfromthepen.com/2023/02/22/sample-post/ Month and name https://straightfromthepen.com/2023/02/sample-post/ Numeric https://straightfromthepen.com/archives/123 Post name https://straightfromthepen.com/sample-post/ Custom Structure Customize permalink structure by selecting available tags https://straightfromthepen.com |
When FastComet moved the content for straightfromthepen.com over from WordPress.com, the person or automated system selected a different format than what the majority of the former site used (now https://straightfromthepen.wordpress.com until it ends in March 2023).
Well, when I took over the website while on home confinement in 2018, I did not know a person should not change the Permalink because it screws up the way search engines index the content of the website for easy retrieval. Then later when I noticed that I was experiencing difficulties finding other blogs I knew existed, I couldn’t figure out why. But now I know what the problem was: ME.
I ventured off into an area I should have investigated more. So, when I started checking out the functioning of this new hosting environment on WordPress.org, not .com, I noticed that most of the internal links did not work and gave me an error message.
Then I changed the permalink again, and thought I chose the best one to eliminate most of the problems I’d have to manual correct when discovered, but I have since changed my mind and think I need to try again.
The moral of the story is the old cliché, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.”
So, here I go again after WordPress completes creating my backup in case I don’t like the result of my next experiment I can return to the current format as I type.
It won’t take long before I get it figured out but if you experience a 404 Error message, chances are that the blog is in here somewhere, and may be found by searching the title in the search feature at the top of the page.
Whether I am screwing up again or doing something to eliminate a lot of time needed to correct links will be learned soon.
My Life as a Free Man, Uncategorized, prison life, Quora.com, Recidivism, reentry, returning citizens, Wayne T. Dowdy
In the last few years I have written a lot of content relating to prison life and its effect on people, including myself. My writings help me to share life experiences, good and not-so-good, with others who may be interested in reading a different perspective on a variety of topics.
My objective in most of my writings is to educate others, or to otherwise express views to fuel thought processes. One platform I use is Quora.com, and as can be seen in the following screenshot, a lot of people read what I write. One of my more popular answers related to challenging technology after release. https://www.quora.com/If-you-ve-spent-a-long-time-in-prison-what-technology-did-you-find-hardest-to-adjust-to-when-you-were-released/answer/Wayne-T-Dowdy?
Click the image below to go to my Quora Profile.
The latest contribution is in response to the question, “Do you feel that confinement has changed your personality?“
I will end this blog post with my answer to the question that includes a link to a blog I wrote before my release and an excerpt:
“No Doubt! Decades in prison changed my personality. In prison a person often must behave in a different manner than he or she normally would do, especially when interacting with others.
“In the more dangerous prisons, such as some of which I’ve lived, a person becomes desensitized to external stimuli and learns to do what needs or doesn’t need to be done to survive. Sometimes that may be not responding when seeing an act of violence that the more humane side wants to stop or by getting involved in a situation that he or she doesn’t want to be involved in (participating in a violent confrontation between groups or individuals). Only those who have lived in the insane world of incarceration may understand what that means.
“Some of the behaviors learned to survive may involve violent reactions/responses to a situation that a sane person would simply walk away from, whereas in prison, if a person walks away, he or she may become a target for the predators if viewed as weak or a coward, and then have to deal with more unpleasant situations than wanted, examples too vast to go into for the purpose of this answer.
“For me, one of the ways that prison life changed my personality is how I function in a relationship and interact with others. Even though I may appear to be normal on the surface, on the inside I may feel more restrained to behave the way that I would have before my incarceration where the display of affection is concerned.
“I was released on August 28, 2018, after serving 30-years and 10-days in the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons. Though I have successfully reintegrated because I decided to change my life in 1995 by getting clean and sober, I still cannot let go of the effects of decades in prison.
“In 2015, long before my release, I paid my publisher to create a website for me because I wanted my voice to reach outside the bars, walls, and fences. On my website I posted a blog, Damage and Prison that I will post a link to below. Some of the effects of decades in prison continue this day. The difference is that I refuse to allow my old behaviors and past to control my actions today. I focus on making healthy decisions as I continue my quest for a better life and to help others to know that change is possible.
Excerpt from Damage and Prison by Wayne T. Dowdy
“Upon release, I will have to undo decades of damage done by the prison experience: suppressing healthy emotions and needs. I must learn to be normal, whatever that may be in an imperfect world filled with broken toys, damaged from life experiences.
[I continue to work on behaving as I normally would do as a free citizen, if not for the damage caused by the extensive incarceration. I still struggle when it comes to relationships. I am a decent, loving, kind, and gentle human being, who doesn’t have to pretend to be bullet proof.]
“I sent out the following message to a friend who posted it on social media for me. A lot of people liked it so I will share:
“Hell, I’d be happy to watch some fish swim around in an aquarium. I am looking forward to going to the Georgia Aquarium to see some really big fish! So much in life people take for granted until it’s gone. One day soon I will be reentering the human race. Then I will be able to interact with each of you like a normal person. Have a great day! Wayne’
“[Georgia Aquarium: I walked by the Georgia Aquarium en route to a job fair at the City of Refuge, but have not been to watch the fish swim. I will go soon now that I’m working and can afford to buy the tickets. Everything is expensive!
“Update 08/02/2020: I did visit the Georgia Aquarium with loved ones and enjoyed the experience but was shocked by the entry-cost and food prices.]
“The above indicates the desensitization of prisoners. For over 28-1/2 years, my physical contact with other humans and mammals has been severely restricted. That is definitely true on an intimate level about lovers and sexual intercourse! During this sentence, I have resisted romantic-relationships. I’ve only been involved in three since 1988, and only one of those included physical contact (hugs and kisses on a visit).”
Technically speaking, I moved on and now have a lot of work to do because of the moving process, the same as if I physically moved from one house to another.
Moved On from WordPress.com because of various reasons. Moved faster than anticipated, too. My plan was to post this blog before I moved the website so that all of my followers would know in advance, but I first moved the domain name to Google Domains and that screwed up the website.
As I type, I am not sure about what came with the migration or what I left behind. Time will tell.
I sought the assistance of the superb hosting service I use, FastComet.com, to migrate straightfromthepen.com from WordPress.com to WordPress.org on my behalf. The Plan I pay for included that service.
Though I ran into technical issues because the process with a less-experienced Technical Support member than what I needed, we did get the job done, but if I had not had working knowledge of the migration processes and experimented with exporting sections of my massive website, I would not have known that the person was incorrect about how I needed to go about getting the massive website moved.
My cost for the hosting package at FastComet.com, where I can have multiple websites, only costs a little more than what I paid for the Premium package on WordPress.com that severely restricted what I could do on that hosting service, unless I wanted to pay $25 per month for the Business Plan. Not me, I moved on to a better place and hope I brought my followers with me. Since this has only been live a few hours, the search engines haven’t found me on this new location.
For those not familiar with the more technical aspects of the functioning of websites, there is a substantial difference in WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
StraightfromthePen.com was hosted by WordPress.com, which means that it provided the server (like a large warehouse with a massive distribution network) that I used to park my Domain on (website address); e.g., straightfromthepen.com.
I’ve been using WordPress.com for several years and am not satisfied with the way it works due to its management. StraightfromthePen.com is my oldest site, and then a few years ago I started WonderfulThingsDone-2 using WordPress.com.
I paid ninety-six dollars per year for the WordPress premium, plus $19 for the domain name I moved over to WordPress. Moving the domain name to WordPress.com ended up costing me more than what I previously paid for wonderfulhingsdone.net (WonderfulThingsDone-2) and straightfromthepen.com.
On WonderfulThingsDone.com, which is a WordPress.org website, I have more control and responsibilities for building and maintaining the site, but I got tired of WordPress.com squeezing me for more money, so … I moved on and won’t go back!
Follow me on Quora.com for answers to many questions about Life Inside and Out.
I am posting this link to Quora to help Ms. Begum K. find another participant for her interview of returning citizens. I’ve already been through the process with her and it was painless, not extremely sensitive questions or anything to fear, so if you or someone you know has been incarcerated and are now free, she does need a volunteer.
Here is a link to my post on Quora where I shared her request: https://www.quora.com/profile/Wayne-T-Dowdy/Im-sharing-this-post-in-hopes-of-it-reaching-the-right-person-who-will-help-this-young-lady-with-her-project-I-done-th
Check out my other blogs about Quora to see if you may want to become a contributor or just go there to search for answers.
Re-reading the quote below made me think of those in Turkey and Syria who are suffering from the recent earthquake that devastated their lives and the lives of many others around the world.
My Heart Goes Out to Everyone Suffering.
“Enjoy the special day celebrating life as a living, breathing, human being. No matter how screwed up things may seem, know that there are millions of others who’d love to trade places and to have your problems. That is something I have to remind myself of when disgruntled because the world isn’t working according to Wayne.”
The above quote came from a previous post that rooted in a blog that I sent to my publisher in 2018 to post for me while I was still inside the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons. #Happy Valentine’s Day | STRAIGHT FROM THE PEN.
Well, the world won’t work according to Wayne. That’s okay, because even though things don’t turn out as I prefer on some days, at least I continue to do the right thing and have succeeded at doing many good things throughout my life.
I also feel blessed for having people in my life who love and care for me and who are willing to help me to accomplish some of my goals. And for that I remain grateful and thank my Higher Power, whom I chose to call God, for blessing me with another day to celebrate.
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More Technical difficulties for the WordPress Press This. This is what it was supposed to Press instead of a blank post.