Well, ‘revoltingly’ is probably pretty strong for gentle, kind people. For hard-nosed, no-nonsense people living in the ‘real world’, though .. Keep in mind Pollyanna is a signal of change to a kinder, gentler way of life. This means that the existing ways of doing business and living are threatened, a ’small death’ of the current way of life. For those with hope, with memories of happier times this is challenging. For those focused on current affairs, this can appear to be a disaster to be avoided.

I think of the perception of a Pollyanna as an acid test, a way of measuring the amount of joy (in particular) in one’s dreams. ‘Revolting’ would be a worst-case example.

Enjoy!

‘Pollyanna’ is a euphemism for a person that is revoltingly sweet and cheerful in a sour environment.

I never thought of Pollyanna as “revoltingly” sweet, but more “unfailingly” sweet. No matter what the situation, she always found a positive spin on things.

The title of this post is actually quite poetic.

Many people remember the Disney version of Pollyanna with a precocious Hayley Mills, or the delightful book. Many more people understand that ‘Pollyanna’ is a euphemism for a person that is revoltingly sweet and cheerful in a sour environment. The implication is both that the Pollyanna is obnoxious to the environment, and that sweetness will overcome the sour environment.

‘Just call me Pollyanna’ is a bit hopeful. Taking on the label of Pollyanna both acknowledges a sour environment, and suggests a ’sweet’ opposition to the current (sour) environment. The phrase ‘call me’ implies there is doubt that the ’sweetness’ will indeed prevail, as it would for a real Pollyanna.

The title of this post draws on the hopes of good behavior overcoming bad behavior, on the clarity of children’s stories, and on the suggestion that there might be a suggested change that would help people looking for sweetness in a sour environment.

The title of this post both attracted people hopeful for a nicer way to interact with people, and subtly filters out people that are offended at a nicer way to pursue business. People looking for a mechanical answer to solve problems won’t be as interested in a post relating to people and interactions. That means most of the traffic drawn by the title of this post are more likely to interact at a personal level. We will be more likely to find a cheerful welcome, and respond with feeling.

But then, maybe I just read too much into the title.

On the other hand… a great title can be just as compelling as dishing poo… just look at the popularity of this post!

(He he, only kidding. )

“Let’s not turn into jerks just to drive traffic. It’s not worth it in the end.”
I absolutely agree with this. I’ve read several times about adding controversy to your blog to gain traffic or more comments but personally I’d rather try to gain traffic with helpful posts or interesting website finds to share. Probably not very exciting I know, but I find controversy for the sake of it to be pretty disingenuous.

Comments add value to your posts, search engines look at them as updates to that particular page. Artificially creating this kind of situation isn’t something I agree with, or participate in, but I can understand the reasoning behind doing so.

Have a nice weekend!

@Craig- I’d definitely prefer to be the average person. I really feel sorry for people who seem to enjoy cultivating anger and controversy. I wish they knew how much nicer their life would be if they would just come over from the dark side!

A successful blog or other communication should be ‘remarkable’. That is, have something specific to say that is not common, mundane, everyday stuff just restated in an inoffensive manner. The successful communication should contain a strongly held insight or explanation with potential value if applied by others, that is, to be useful. Such a blog may well generate responses expressing doubt, anger, or even hate,

But the presence of hateful responses does *not* mean that your blog has value.

The value is in having new insight, that is explain applying principals in new ways. The value is that some of the readers gain value from visiting your site.

The presence of hate in response to a blog has nothing to do with whether anyone gained any value. There are ever so many ways of attracting a hate filled response, and most don’t have value.