Rear Window Redux - Love Our Lurkers Day 8

Welcome, everyone, to LOL 8 - organised, as ever, by Bonnie at My Bottom Smarts (where you'll also find Bonnie's own LOL post, together with a list of all the participating blogs).

Those of you who've done this before - it's the fourth time that Underling's Humblings has had the pleasure - will know the score by now. For those who haven't, it goes a little like this:

Today's the day when we celebrate our 'lurkers' - the very many visitors who tiptoe through our sites and rarely, if ever, type stuff into the comment box that's tucked away under each post (look, look, there it is - down a bit, down a bit... there you go!)

Now, I really do appreciate every single person who stops by, enjoys the pictures and animations and stories and occasional ramblings, and keeps the hit counter ticking over. But what I really, really love is to hear from you lot - even if it's only to say hello. After all a hit count is just a number, but a comment is a person is a human connection in the vast and sometimes impersonal world of online kinkery.

So whether you're a regular chatterbox here or you've never commented before, it'd be wonderful if you chose today to pop up and say hello. You can say as much or as little as you like, and if you want you can be totally anonymous - no registration required! Tell me a little about yourself, what you do and (grits teeth) don't like about the blog, what your cat's name is, what you had for breakfast.

And while you're thinking what to write, enjoy 'Rear Window Redux' - the revisited and revised version of the nosy neighbour simulator I posted about this time last year. For the traditionalists among you, it now features actual spanking, prolonged but oh-so-tastefully silhouetted nudity and, um, completion of the domestic chores whose neglect got our hero in trouble in the first place.

Happy lurking... and if you feel like de-lurking, don't forget to say hi. It really will make my day. :)

All Lurk/ No Play

It's almost that time of year again when - thanks to the lovely Bonnie at My Bottom Smarts - we celebrate and salute the bystanders, the passers-through, the wallflowers... the 'lurkers'.

Every day hundreds of you brave souls click on that scary big red button - the one that says 'I UNDERSTAND AND I WISH TO CONTINUE' - but most of you are less inspired by the altogether more benign blue one under the comment box marked 'Publish'.

Love Our Lurkers Day - it's on Tuesday 12th November - is your chance to try out that blue button for size and say hello. Actually, whether you're a first-time commenter or an old hand, it'd be lovely to hear from you on that day - and all the other bloggers taking part would welcome your participation too.

If this is all new to you and you want to get a bit of a flavour, feel free to check out Bonnie's post, or my LOL post from last year, or this post from the year before, or this post from the year before that!

What do you mean, I'm just trying to boost my hit count?!

Well, maybe a little... :)

Look forward to seeing you on the 12th.

Rear Window - Love Our Lurkers Day 7

'That's a secret, private world you're looking into out there. People do a lot of things in private they couldn't possibly explain in public.'

That's Detective Doyle from the 1954 Hitchcock classic Rear Window, in which an invalided James Stewart passes the time by obsessively watching his neighbours from the back room of his New York apartment. That we're not repelled by his behaviour is partly down to the actor's everyman charm, but also surely because in him we recognise the voyeur - the 'lurker' - in all of us. Put yourself in Mr Stewart's shoes (or rather in his plaster cast and wheelchair) and you can well understand his temptation. Now add a small plot twist that substitutes a spanked husband for a murdered wife, and try to tell me you wouldn't peep - just a little.

It's fun to watch, and if you can do so unobserved then why not? I have hundreds of visitors pass through here every day, and only a very few of them stop to say hello. Today's the day - organised by the wonderful Bonnie at My Bottom Smarts - when we celebrate that silent majority of people across the world who keep our hit counters ticking over and make the effort of blogging worthwhile. Many, many spanking bloggers will be making special 'Love Our Lurkers' posts and I encourage you to stop by as many as possible.

Thank you all, sincerely, for your visits - whether or not you leave a comment. But if you've ever been looking for an excuse to contribute for the first time, then why not do so right now? I'd love to hear from you! Tell me a little about yourself, say what you like and don't like, ask me stuff - it's all good. Or just pop your head up and say 'hi'.

All you regulars are more than welcome to chip in as well, of course!

By the way, no doubt you're going to find today's animation something of a tease. But by way of incentive, I promise that if enough newbies say hello over the next few days then the light will be staying on in future! :)

The Magnificent Seven

Spanking bloggers are a marvellously supportive bunch, and none more so than the wonderful Bonnie at My Bottom Smarts.

Each year she organises 'Love Our Lurkers' Day, which on Friday 9 November will celebrate its seventh iteration. On that day I (and many, many other spanko bloggers) will make a special post in which we pay tribute to those ninja-like visitors who pass shyly through our portals without going near the Comment button - and encourage them, should they feel inclined, to say hello for the first time. Regular friends are also welcome to chip in, of course!

This will be Underling's Humblings' third LOL Day - to get a flavour of how it works, you can find previous years' posts here and here.

I'll look forward to seeing you on the day!

Oh, this picture is an oldie - although now in super-large, super-sharp png format. The post it originally belonged to got deleted somehow in a (thankfully rare) moment of Undy ineptitude, and since it's one of my favourites drawings I thought it would be a shame not to have it somewhere on the site. Sincere apologies to anyone who'd added comments to that original post!

Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are! Love Our Lurkers Day 6

So, here we are on LOL Day 6!

As per my last post, today's the day when we say a big hello to our lovely lurkers. That's those of you skulking around the dark corners of the site - and this site has darker corners than most - and eyeing the Post Comment button as though it might jump up and bite you :).

I promise it won't, and nor will I if you choose today to stand up and say, 'My name is Peter/ Annabel/ Fluffy/ EvilMistressOfPain, and I'm a spankoholic! And I like your art/ hate your art/ think you should post more often/ think if you ever post again it'll be too soon.'

Seriously, I do very much appreciate everyone who visits the site, whether vocal or not. It's just that my very favourite thing about this blogging lark is feeling a part of this wonderful international kinky community. And it's hearing from people like you that does that for me, and for every other blogger in the spanko world.

Now, if you're running Flash in your browser you'll notice that I've installed a little lurker bait specially for today. All I ask is that, after you've clicked on that enticing keyhole, you also come back and click on that scary comment button and say hi. Whether you're a regular or this is your first time, it would honestly make my day. :)

Here's Lurking At You, Kid!

Lurking.

Kind of a sinister word, isn't it? It's what robbers and murderers and cave dwelling monsters do. It's what danger does.

It's also the term used for dipping in and out of websites without actually waving your virtual arms in the air and yelling 'Coo-ee! I'm here!' Now, I think there should be a different, less creepy word for this - just plain browsing, for example - but hey, I didn't write the Dictionary of Online Activity.

So 'lurking' it is, and Thursday 10th November (just next week!) is 'Love Our Lurkers' day. This annual event, now in its 6th year and organised by the redoubtable Bonnie, is the spank-blog community's way of celebrating the silent majority of people who waft in and out of our sites while giving the Post Comment button a wide berth - and encouraging them to go ahead, click on it and say a quick hello.

So on Thursday I and lots of other bloggers will be making our special LOL posts, and I hope as many of you as possible - both the regular commenters and the shy types - will stop by and leave a message. We would love to hear from you, and you can be as anonymous as you like - no need for an account to post here.

This will be Underling's Humblings' second LOL year, by the way. Here's last year's post to give you a feel for it.

Finally, apologies to Bad-Penny for using her comment from last year as my post title. It was too good to pass up.

See you on Thursday! :)

Love Our Lurkers Day 5

Today is LOL day!

Organised by Bonnie at My Bottom Smarts, it's an opportunity to honour our 'lurkers' - the many visitors who tiptoe in and out of our sites unannounced - and at the same time to encourage them to be a bit less, well, lurkery. :)

I really do appreciate all the visits I get here. It's great to think that hundreds of people pass through every day from all over the world. But best of all is opening up my blog and finding a comment or two, or a new follower - it's the difference between having a pretty girl smile at you on the bus, and having her sit down next to you and say hello.

So whether you're a long term visitor or this is your first time, I'd love it if you took the opportunity to speak up by adding a comment to this post.
A blog is nothing without an audience, so tell me what you like and don't like, and help shape the future of the site - or just say hiya, and let me know you're out there!

You can be as anonymous as you like - you don't need an account to contribute here - but please do sign off with a first name/ nickname/ pseudonym so that I can send a hello right back atcha. Of course all my regular contributors are also encouraged to join in the fun.

Thank you, and welcome! :)

Lurkers, Feel The Love!

Many of you will already be familiar with My Bottom Smarts, one of those spanking blogs that seem to act as hubs for the entire community. Bonnie, who runs MBS, hosts a huge blogroll and is a tireless promoter of other people's sites. She also provides regular features like her Spanko Brunch, a weekly virtual gathering of bloggers and visitors where a given topic is thrown open for discussion.

Bonnie's piece de resistance, however, is the organising of the 'Love Our Lurkers' day, in its 5th iteration this year and thus known as 'LOL V'. LOL is dedicated to the huge silent majority of people who regularly visit spanking-themed blogs, but rarely (if ever) leave a comment or otherwise make themselves known. We'd love not only to thank our lurkers, but also to 'meet' as many of you as possible, by having you comment on or become followers of our blogs on or around LOL day - it's Thursday October 21st. All participating bloggers will make a special post on that day inviting lurkers to introduce themselves - and Bonnie will link to those posts.

So please don't be shy - drop in and say hello next week, and meanwhile check out Bonnie's post for more details.

Since this is Underling's Humblings first year, this is as new to me as it will be to many of you. Should be fun!