Comments on: Blogging Pet Peeves. What are yours?

By: leanne

leanne — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:59:21 +0000

thanks for this post – I’ve actually arrived here via your pinterest etiquette post – but now I’m going to do something about my categories – I don’t quite have hundreds but I will if I keep going !!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 01:40:42 +0000

I feel like many of these are fairly obvious, but the one that drives me the craziest because it seems to be most often forgotten? SEARCH.

In my mind, it’s the equivalent of having a contact page on your business website. Why *wouldn’t* you have it? It only makes sense. Please, put it on there!

By: Sally

Sally — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:00:57 +0000

Okay – YAY, and Thank You for the Gravatar link. I came back to check, and sure enough my picture appears in my previous comment. Thanks so much Darcy!

By: Sally

Sally — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:34:13 +0000

Darcy,
I’ve been reading all your “better blogging” posts, and they are really helpful. I just added a search bar to my blog — and I KNOW BETTER (thanks to helpful ladies like you) than to put music on my blog. At my house, every time I click on a blog and music starts, my inquisitive 13yo says, “Oh, what’s that?” I agree that it is disruptive. Thanks for all your help — HERE, and on Twitter! ~Sally

By: Darcy

Darcy — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 04:54:25 +0000

Well, that wasn’t on my list – but I agree with that for the most part. However 100 parties a week a lot. Wowzers. That’s ambitious. I’ve never heard of anyone doing so many.

Usually, they simply want you to do it in the post – not in the sidebar. Simply let people know where the link is if they’d like to participate as well.

I don’t think anyone expects you to make a long sidebar list – although I suppose I cannot speak for everyone. And if they do want you to include a button in your post, they should provide the code for you to simply paste.

Pasting in a provided code should take no more than 10 seconds.

I do a linky each Tuesday. I don’t require anyone to use the button, although I provide the code for it. I do appreciate when participants let others know how to play along, where to go to participate. After all – the more the merrier!

Thanks for visiting!

By: Gail

Gail — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 04:27:37 +0000

I’d like to address the linking back to a linky party. I’ve just starting to do the parties and they have contributed an unbelievable rise in traffic to my site. I’m trying about 100 parties a week to see which ones work and which don’t. I agree that it is polite to link back but:
1) I can’t put 100 buttons on my posts or my sidebar without my blog looking like a dog’s breakfast.
2) I like to do some kind of drop down menu but for the life of me, I can’t figure out how to do it.
3) In the short time I’ve been doing this, many of the blogs hosting parties suddenly and without any explanation, stop hosting, so I’m supposed to advertise their blog and send my readers there when no party exists? Is this some sort of scheme?
It is a lot of work to link to these parties. I must spend an hour or more each day linking. I just don’t have the time to manage the buttons also. I dropped my blog roll for the same reason. I’d put someone on my roll and they’d stop blogging.
It seems to me that by putting my post on their blog, I’m providing them with a post they don’t have to write. I provide them also with at least one visit – sometimes several more. When blogger makes the button thing easier, I’ll do it. In the meantime if the host removes me because I don’t put her button on my blog, so be it.

By: Kathryn

Kathryn — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 19:34:26 +0000

What a great post! I don’t like the music either. I had it on my blog for a while, and scared myself when I would come to check out my blog. So I took it off. How does one put a search bar in? I’m on Blogger. I also don’t know if I have captchas or if my email is linked to my comments How does one find that out? I also don’t know if I have a partial feed. These are great things for me to check out…maybe this is why I don’t get many visitors Thanks for posting this!

Kathryn

By: Lindsay @ Just My Blog

Lindsay @ Just My Blog — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:18:36 +0000

Amen!! Nothing bugs me more than Captcha or auto-play music! I was so sad for a long time because I could NOT get my feed to show full feed in the readers. It was SO stupid. It literally took me months to figure it out because all of MY settings were for full-feed. Once I finally found someone who could fix it I was ELATED!

By: LaVonne

LaVonne — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:38:58 +0000

I like this list. Many are my same pet peeves. I linked your post to my Monday Morning Favorites. Hope you don’t mind.

http://longwaitforisabella.blogspot.com/2010/07/monday-morning-favorites_26.html

Blessings!

By: Kirsty

Kirsty — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:22:07 +0000

I couldn’t agree more with this list but my biggest pet peeve are captchas! I hate them! And yes especially the ones that pop up after you’ve written your comment but I find that this is what most blogs use! So time consuming and annoying! I hadn’t thought of using a search tab though thanks for that!
Found you via serenity now… Love the blog and the list!

By: darcy @ m3b

darcy @ m3b — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:26:10 +0000

You can subscribe without having a button. Most browsers have the option up in the browser bar. On Safari, for example, you can click RSS.

If you have a feed reader, you don’t have to subscribe from the blogger’s blog. You can simply paste in the URL in the reader and the reader itself will find the feed.

By: darcy @ m3b

darcy @ m3b — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:24:25 +0000

Try a third party feed service. Feedburner is one that comes to mind. Feedblitz is another, although I’m not sure it’s free.

By: DogsMom

DogsMom — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 22:18:22 +0000

I have to say that using just a basic, free WP.com set up, there was no choice about how to subscribe. (become a subscriber)
Then, that being said, I have been told it is possible to do an upgrade, stay free, but I have not learned how to do it and I am sure other new bloggers also do not even know it can be done. People have asked me how they can subscribe, which is good, I know there is interest. It is something I need to learn how to add or make easier.
Right now there is no indication of my followers visible. I wish there was.

So- if the blogger is new, cut them some slack or even offer to help them upgrade.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 20:02:43 +0000

Just installed it — thanks for the tip!

By: DogsMom

DogsMom — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:48:18 +0000

I have to come back and finish reading comments when I have more time.
This discussion is great not only for the post itself but for the comments and followups.

I have my comments set up that you go to moderation for the first time and then if approved, you get published immediately every time after. So far no problems.

What bugs me is when I write a nice comment on someone’s blog, hit submit and it just disappears. I do not know if it went to moderation or is just gone!
I don’t have time to retrace my steps later.
If I asked a question or expect a reply to a comment I will return, but not just to see if it was actually received.

Also – where you have last posts or comment love below this box with the check mark,
mine reads no last post. I contacted Wp about it and they verified my feed. So what else can I do?

By: DogsMom

DogsMom — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:32:54 +0000

I have to go with the new window idea. If the click takes you away from the page you are on, it is more of a hassle to come back.
So if I click a link and am gone before I comment on your page, who’s to blame?

By: Darcy

Darcy — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:53:50 +0000

Captcha is the jumble of hard-to-read letters and numbers that you have to type to prove you’re not a robot. Problem is, I get them wrong as often as I get them right.

By: Darcy

Darcy — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 05:46:27 +0000

Thanks. I’ll try to keep up the interesting posts, but I usually post stupid, mundane stuff. ‘Cept on Tuesdays where this blog rocks. Since, um… I do nothing and the readers post pretty pictures.

By: Faith

Faith — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:43:14 +0000

I agree – I LOVE love love when a blogger replies to my comment directly via email.
I hate it when I, as a blogger, try to reply to someone via email and there’s none anywhere.
But what is the worst is when someone asks a question on my blog but don’t leave any contact information – not even a blogger account. SAY WHAT?!

By: Faith

Faith — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 02:38:43 +0000

I feel like a total idiot for even asking but WHAT IS a “captcha”?

By: patty

patty — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:18:02 +0000

i think you about nailed it.
i agree about the music, but i do have one, just one, blog i read who uses music and i usually love it. she must put a ton of thought into it b/c they always add to her post and never detract. it’s always instrumental (makes reading easier in my mind), and it reflects the image or her words.

By: Darcy

Darcy — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 17:03:09 +0000

I didn’t know about the geographical thing either, but several have mentioned it. It doesn’t bother me, but often people’s photos will help give away roughly where they are. I mean, if they’re wearing shorts in February – they aren’t anywhere near Iowa!

By: Darcy

Darcy — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:58:37 +0000

You’re welcome, Terry.

Puna, I just peeked and your feeds are still partial. Check the theme settings? Is that lifestyle or revolution theme? If so, maybe it has options for “archives” or feed that are only truncated? Not sure on that theme.

By: Darcy

Darcy — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:52:27 +0000

Heather –

You have a full feed. I just checked!

By: Darcy

Darcy — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:50:29 +0000

Another convert!