In the lull after midterms and before finals, I've been attempting to catch up on my blog reading. It's a full-time job, I'm telling you! I'm diligently working on starring the entries in Google Reader that interest me, to prepare for narrowing down my subscriptions. Keeping caught up should be a little easier with not as many blogs to follow. The problem is, I keep finding new ones I like! ;)
Reading so many posts right in a row has me pondering some of the ways that blog writers could make it a little easier on their readers. Here are some things that come to mind:
1.
First of all, I really wish more bloggers would realize is that word verification requirements are annoying! The original purpose of those were so non-human spam-bot computers couldn't post comments, but I'm not sure those even exist anymore. In any case, I don't think the average personal or fashion blog really needs to worry about that, especially when it makes it that much more difficult for readers to comment.
2.
Next are the blogs that have ads in their feed. I understand that most bloggers are trying to monetize their blog in some way, but listing them in your feed is just tacky and makes the post hard to read. Ads in the sidebar are plenty, especially when they're nice, pretty ads for relavent shops and blogs!
3.
Probably the most irritating thing I run across are the blogs that truncate (shorten) their feeds. It makes me wonder if bloggers even realize that some of us are trying to blaze through 700 posts and don't have to time to click through on every single one just to read the endings of each post?
To be perfectly honest, I tend not to click through on anything unless it catches my eye. A truncated post definitely does not catch my eye because they're generally only a couple of lines long and don't tend to have any photos! I think the reason people truncate is that they're trying to steer you to their site so you can see their sidebar ads, however it generally accomplishes the exact opposite, at least in MY reading habits!
Sigh...
Okay, my rant is over. ;) What are YOUR blog pet peeves?
Reading so many posts right in a row has me pondering some of the ways that blog writers could make it a little easier on their readers. Here are some things that come to mind:
First of all, I really wish more bloggers would realize is that word verification requirements are annoying! The original purpose of those were so non-human spam-bot computers couldn't post comments, but I'm not sure those even exist anymore. In any case, I don't think the average personal or fashion blog really needs to worry about that, especially when it makes it that much more difficult for readers to comment.
2.
Next are the blogs that have ads in their feed. I understand that most bloggers are trying to monetize their blog in some way, but listing them in your feed is just tacky and makes the post hard to read. Ads in the sidebar are plenty, especially when they're nice, pretty ads for relavent shops and blogs!
3.
Probably the most irritating thing I run across are the blogs that truncate (shorten) their feeds. It makes me wonder if bloggers even realize that some of us are trying to blaze through 700 posts and don't have to time to click through on every single one just to read the endings of each post?
To be perfectly honest, I tend not to click through on anything unless it catches my eye. A truncated post definitely does not catch my eye because they're generally only a couple of lines long and don't tend to have any photos! I think the reason people truncate is that they're trying to steer you to their site so you can see their sidebar ads, however it generally accomplishes the exact opposite, at least in MY reading habits!
Sigh...
Okay, my rant is over. ;) What are YOUR blog pet peeves?
Oh, I completely agree with the word verification one. So many of my comments have been "eaten" because of multiple errors in the word verification process!
ReplyDeleteI don't really have blog peeves that annoy me more than just disappoint me; I've been a longtime reader of certain blogs that have grown and are now HUGE on accepting sponsors, so most of what they write about now are just feature posts about their advertisers or product reviews. And the change suddenly feels impersonal; it creates a distance between myself and the blogger and why I enjoyed reading their prose to begin with. Feature posts and product reviews are great, but I still want to know and hear from the blogger, you know? I know the act of "blogging" changes for some people over time, but it always makes me a little sad about the feeling of disconnect.
My biggest peeve is with the word verification. I've lost so many comments and after a while I just give up! The other thing that really gets to me is music that starts playing as soon as you open the blog and you have to search high and low to figure out how to turn the damn thing off! Stop it people!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! I follow a blogger who has ads in her feed AND truncates so you can only see the title. ARGH it drives me crazy. She does it so she can increase her page views... but she is about to lose a reader!
ReplyDeleteOh the commenting spambots definitely still exist, and captchas definitely keep them off your comments1!! But I totally agree with all the rest. I actually don't mind small, text ads in feeds, but truncated feeds are THE WORST. I've unsubscribed to a couple blogs like that, but mostly because I was finding that, for one blog in particular, clicking to view each post was not even worth it - I didn't even like half the posts! I liked some, and those were why I subscribed in the first place, but then it got to the point where I was wasting time clicking on so many just to find out I didn't care about them. So I eventually unsubscribed.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest pet peeve with blogs, though, is when a good blogger spends half of his/her blog talking about things they're selling or reviewing (workshops, products,) or other blogs (sponsors or agreements to promote each other). I didn't follow you (not YOU specifically) because I want to hear about other blogs that are paying you to talk about them, I followed you for the art you do or the photographs you take etc! I'm totally cool with blurbs about blogs that you like, but when they become half your blog...that's when I'm out. Same with products, reviews, and workshops etc. I just don't care. It's not personal, it's not art, and it's not something I want to subscribe to.
Yes! Bloggers that over-advertise are quite annoying. I think that's something a lot of us struggle with - how much to promote out sponsors and how much to remain true to why we became bloggers in the first place!
DeleteThat's interesting that you've still noticed spam-bots. I've been blogging for years on this and other sites and never noticed them. Not sure if that's because my readership is always pretty low though - that may make a difference.