I owe a lot of people a very big apology

To all of you who filled out my Bookworm Room contact form and never heard from me — I am so sorry. I had a major hole in my thinking and entirely missed your messages.

Embarrassment ApologyOkay — I am so embarrassed about my stupidity. All I can do is apologize here. Here’s how I have grievously sinned against more of you than I can count:

I know that there’s a “contact Bookworm” tab on my blog. It was set up a long time ago, and I kind of forgot about it. If I thought about it, it was that it simply gave an email address to contact me. If I’d actually checked it out and seen the contact form, I would have assumed that the contacts automatically routed to my email.

Oh, boy, was I wrong! While I was updating my WordPress today, I started poking around at dashboard buttons I’ve always ignored. One of them was labeled “feedback,” which I’d always assumed, without bothering to verify, contained messages from WordPress that were of more interest to my webmaster than to me. It was only today, for the first time, that I clicked on that link and found, to my absolute horror, that all the messages from people who filled out my “contact” form were hiding behind that “feedback” link. Nothing got forwarded. It all just sat there.

I’m going to start now sending out apologies to every single person who filled out the form and who never heard back from me. This will take a long time because the “feedback” page doesn’t include any easy way to reply to people. I’ll have to block and copy each email address into my email account.

This post is my public apology. I am so very sorry I ignored you. There is no excuse for my failure to do so. I was thoughtless and lazy.

In the future, if you want to contact me, please send me a direct email. And about that email….

For years, my email address has been Bookwormroom *at* gmail.com. However, I’m disgusted by what Google has been doing. It was one thing to know it was a Leftist company and to suspect that it might have been gaming the system. It’s another thing entirely to know that it’s using its almost complete monopoly over searches to “re-educate” people’s thoughts and subvert an election. Since my “free” gmail address is ad supported, giving revenue to Google’s monopoly, I’m looking for a new email provider.

My current choice for a new email address is ProtonMail, which is a highly secured, non-commercial email system. I’ve set up an account there — Bookwormroom *at* protonmail.com — and am seeing how I like it. I currently have a free account, which means I get only “150 emails per day” (and I don’t know if that means I can send 150 emails, receive a 150 emails, or send and receive only 150 emails). If I like Proton mail, I’ll look into getting a paid account for both Bookworm Room and my real me address.

For now, you can email me at either address — the Proton or the Gmail address. I’ll keep people posted about whether I elect to go with Proton email, select another email provider, or stay with the gmail account.

The ugly reality is that, while I hate Google the company, I love Google’s products. Whether it’s emails, maps, photo management, Google Docs, or more, they’re brilliantly designed interfaces and information providers. Still, you can’t fight a war — and this is war — without some sacrifice, right?