This Is Me--2024 A to Z Theme

My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2024 the theme is a personal retrospective that I call "I Coulda Been" which is in reference to my job and career arc over my lifetime. I'll be looking at all sorts of occupations that I have done or could have done. Maybe you've done some of these too!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Blog Boggled: In a Buggy and Not Even Amish

It's beginning to be a bit too much!

       That's my first ambiguous statement of the day.  Won't even tell you what I'm talking about.  I'll let you figure it out if you want.   Or if you'd rather, tell me what that statement means to you.  You might want to use it as a writing prompt.  But enough of this and on with today's topic.

Bloggy things that bug me:

1.  When people don't date their posts  --  I have rarely seen this and I'm not sure how they do it, but every once in a while I'll find a blog with posts that are undated.  I guess I can usually find the date in the comments, but if it turns out the post is old its often pointless to comment because there is a possibility that no one will see my comment.  This is a minor nuisance, but it wastes my time.

2.    Maybe there is an easy solution to this one that somebody can help me with, but is there a way to filter out or flag blogs I am not interested in.  I don't have a super memory and sometimes I find myself going back to look at blogs that I've already decided are a waste of my time and I don't want to keep looking at them.  If I could just find a way to mark them or something like that I wouldn't have to waste my time.  Most of my blog gripes could be fixed for me if I could do this.

        I don't want to knock anybody's interests.  There are blogs that some people love that I don't care to visit repeatedly just because something has drawn me back to it and I forget that I've already decided I don't like this blog.   To show that I think I'm being fair, I will use the example of Craft Blogs.  Now there are some that I visit because of the writing.  Sig's Beadedbears Nonsense and Complete Waste of Time  (with a title like that how could I resist) is often a blog about bead craft, which is something I don't do.  But Sig doesn't always write about beading and sometimes writes what are to me some very interesting stories.  I like to check all her posts to see what she's talking about.  Even the bead topics she can make pretty entertaining and if she gets too beady then I just move on.  I do think Sig is an excellent writer.

           On the other hand I do not care to learn to crochet, or build dollhouses, or a myriad of other things that don't interest me.  I am not criticizing any of those who have things for which they are passionate and they do deserve to have the blogs they love.  However, I would like to save some of my time for the things that I am really interested in and not return to the blogs that don't interest me.

 3.   Super shmancy stuff that takes too long to download.  Some of these sites are beautiful, but sometimes they also lack substance.  I am sure that some in the blogosphere want to see all sorts of technology and gimmickry and I too am amazed.  But it's not what I'm looking for.  Maybe if I had faster DSL, or whatever, or a faster computer then it wouldn't bug me as much.  However, when I have to wait a few extra seconds and then there is nothing of real substance to read then I feel like I've wasted my time.

 4.   People with too many blogs.  I know I may be stepping on some toes here.  Some of the bloggers I regularly follow may have more than one blog.  In some of these cases, I understand the multiple blogs and it's reasonable.  I too have thought about having more than one--perhaps putting my Bible study material on a totally separate site and I may still do this eventually.

         What really bugs me is when I find a blogger who is new to me and I go to their profile and there's maybe 5 or 10 or more blogs that they have.  Usually I just turn around and leave, unless one of the titles looks especially interesting.  Here's what I've often been finding:  Many of the blogs have no posts yet and the blogger is just taking up a title for who knows what reason.  Sometimes the blogs are just duplicated under different titles--maybe this is an AdSense issue, or I don't know why they would do this.  Sometimes they are just multiple picture blogs, or the life of my dog blog, or some private issue or something that should have remained private.   Maybe some of you can help me with this--why multiple blogs (and I'm talking more than 2 or 3)? 

           So there you have it--a few of my rants.  If anyone can give me some advice it would be appreciated.  How do you hadle some of these issues?  Have any of these bugged you too?

       And not to be all sour grapes, I want to acknowledge some fine posts about blogging that I've found recently.  They have given me interesting ideas and advice and actually addressed some blogging buggy things that I've been thinking about addressing but they did it instead.  So check them out:


Elena Johnson How to Build Your Blog  --- She gives some outstanding advice about building up a following and making your blog better.  This is only one of her posts on the topic so for blogging info check out her other posts as well.  Of course, judging from all the comments she's gotten most of you have already been there and left a comment.  If you haven't then go-- you must!

How to make a blogger happy by Amanda is also worth a look.

Elena Johnson About Leaving  Comments   -- did I already mention Elena?   Well I'll say it again.


Pam reported Blogs of Substance at Pam's Perspectives   New blog by Pam called Words of Wisdom  This looks like something that might have substance to bloggers like me and you.  I need to check this out a bit more, but I guess they are try to catalogue blogs that have something worth reading.  This might be right up my alley.  Go over there and see if they are doing something that interests you.  Maybe you can promote your own blog of substance there as well.

            Hope I didn't upset anyone.    I'm just here tossing it out to you--feel free to toss it back my way if you like.  And by the way if you were wondering about the Amish connection in the title, that's just me capitalizing on the popularity of the genre of Amish stories out there.  I'll do anything to get a reader.  I just hope I don't waste anybody's time.

26 comments:

  1. I just un-follow any blogs I decide are not my thing.

    And it is tough when the blogger has many blogs. Which one do I follow if they are following me?

    LOL - I just have one blog. It's all I can do to keep up with one, too!

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  2. Wow it's too bad you have your moderation on -else I could slam you. ONLY KIDDING.

    Not too many things bother me about other blogs except if it's "loaded" and takes too long to load, but that may be my speed.

    I don't mind if people have add'l blogs. I just don't read them if it doesn't interest me. I don't know how bloggers take care of 5 blogs. I am struggling with two. But I needed two.

    Good points. We all have pet peeves for sure.

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  3. Can I do I love it and Go jump in a lake at the same time?:)

    Just kidding, I love your rants. And your title and that had too much thingy..it must be about what's in the news.

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  4. Hello Lee , If people have more than one blog I usually just read one that I find interesting. I can't somehow see you doing crochet though I don't suppose you'd be the first man lol.

    I have never come across a comment without a date as yet so don't know the answer to that one.

    What I do get annoyed at is recieving a comment only to find it is a post I posted 15 months previous. Why should anyone do that????????
    I found your gripes as you put it very interesting and will watch out for some of the things you mentioned.

    Have a good week
    Yvonne.

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  5. One way to avoid blogs you don't want to go to is to create a list of blogs you follow and only go to those. Occasionally you can spend a bit of time going to other blogs and adding them to the list, if you like them. (I should add here that that's not what I do, but it should work.)

    I don't know how people maintain multiple blogs. I can barely keep up with my one and guest-posting on other blogs.

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  6. Thanks for mentioning WOW in your post. We are brand new, but our goal is to help people find blogs with great content.

    I don't think there is a way to mark a blog so that you know you've already decided it isn't for you. That would be a good feature.

    As for multiple blogs... I have four listed on my profile page. My personal blog (my main blog), the blog I write for my job, WOW (the new one) and one other that I am a contributor to. I can see where this might be off putting for some people. Not sure how to solve that problem. It might be nice if there was a way to designate the "main" blog in the profile page. I'm sure no one is interested in my work blog.

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  7. Hello! I am the other half of Words of Wisdom and I really appreciate the shout out.

    You have hit so many hot buttons for me in your 'rant.' Regarding wanting to stop going back to blogs you no longer are interested in....how are you following them? Through Google Reader? By subscribing? If it's through Reader you can remove them from your list. If you are subscribing, reply to an email they sent you with REMOVE ME in the subject line.

    Those other blogs you highlighted have some great ideas on how to fine-tune a blog.

    I am one of those people who have several blogs but each one serves a distinctly different purpose. One is for my real estate business, one is for a charity I run, one is my personal blog, and, of course, WOW is the new one you talked about.

    Thanks again for coming by WOW...hope to see you around a lot!

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  8. I'm still new to the blogging community so there aren't many pet peeves I have yet. I can't imagine having more than one blog - how in the heck do people find the time? I guess the thing that irritates me the most is when bloggers go on for too long about a particular topic. My favorite blogs are the ones which are to the point and well written, while still maintaining brevity.

    That being said, I really enjoyed this post! Thanks for blogging, Lee.

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  9. That's hilarious about the Amish in the title! Thanks, I needed a good laugh this morning.

    I think the minor irritations with blogging are things that I can overlook, if the post is from a writing friend, and the content is interesting enough.

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  10. The date thing also bothers me. Like Helen suggested, I generally visit only the blogs on my blogroll. I find new blogs I like through links on these blogs or the comments. My list however is growing too long so I don’t always get the chance to visit as often as I’d like .

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  11. Hey! Who told me to jump in a lake? Must have been Ocean Girl. That's so cool-- nobody ever checks those little boxes on my site, but today they did.

    After looking at the comments I may have not made some of my gripes clear enough, but I just didn't want to get into too compicated and lengthy explanations. But I will address each comment individually in a short while.

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  12. Lee--Good link list. Elana is one of my favs too; consistently good stuff.

    Thanks for stopping by my place and for becoming a follower. I appreciate it.

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  13. I'm kinda like Helen. I have a Word.doc I pull up with urls on it. I have a list of blogs I like to visit each day, blogs with authors who post every day and make it worth the click, a secondary list for blogs I'll visit once or twice a week, cuz those authors, while interesting, don't post all the time, and a third list of blogs that I only rarely visit for a special interest topic. And it's easy to delete a blog from my lists that way. If I notice a blogger I visit often and comment on regularly doesn not reciprocate, unless the blog is so outstanding I'm really compelled to read it, I'll take that one off my top list and put it down on one of the lower priority lists.

    Works for me.

    The Old Silly

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  14. Thanks for the links! I agree when there are too many blogs. Sometimes it's hard to know which ones are writing-related.

    Looking forward to reading more of your posts!

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  15. How do you even do a post without a date? If I figure it out, I won't adjust that setting, Arlee.

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  16. Hey there, Friend!
    Enjoyed your blog on blogs and what you like and don't like. I have a list of blogs I read, and only read those unless a new reader leaves a post, and then I track it back to their blog. I love getting new readers with new ideas. I am rather new at blogging, since I only began almost two years ago. I love reading the comments people leave on my and other blogs, as well. New perspectives are always interesting. Thanks for your blog and for checking mine out a few weeks ago. Best regards to you. Ruby

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  17. Hmm, I agree with your list. Though I'm early into this blogging thing, and I don't think I've yet encountered a blogger with so many dud blogs to their name!

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  18. Diane -- I hate to do it, but every once in a while I have to unfollow as well, but so far never anyone who follows mine.

    Theresa -- I've thought about maybe the speed issue being on my end, but most sites load really fast so I don't know.

    Ocean Girl -- You are too funny! The opening thing might be partially inspired by what's in the news, but mostly it has to do with issues related to today's post.

    Yvonne -- the comments always seem to have dates. When I get comments on old posts they are usually spam. I used to do embroidery, but I don't think I'll ever do crocheting.

    Helen -- I have my list on Google reader, but don't keep any other list. And my memory is sometimes so bad I can't remember which blogs I've looked at before.

    Pam -- I do wish there was a way for people to tag a description to each of their blogs when they have more than one. I would save me the time of looking.

    Sandy -- Thanks for stopping. You and Pam will be doing a great service I think. I subscribe to some blogs and use Google reader for others. I can keep track of those okay. It's one's that I find through comments, profiles, etc. and I go to them several times just to find that I'm not interested that I'd like to be able to screen.

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  19. You always make me think Lee! Another interesting post.

    Elana is SUCH a wonderful lady & blogger. She has given me a lot of ideas to help me be a better online person. :)

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  20. Hi Lee,

    Thanks for the compliment. You are really so sweet.
    I find it amazing that you still visit my blog! And that you still enjoy it (most times).

    I dont know how some people have several blogs. While I can understand it to some degree if the subject matter is totally different, or if they wish to write one under a different name or anonymously, I just cant imagine the time! It takes me a lot of effort to write mine...just thinking of WHAT to write, then the writing itself. I know most of my bead-cohorts stick to showing off their beadwork or write a simple paragraph about their day (sort of like a face book entry).

    Trying to keep up a good blog is WORK. This is something you excell in. You are my roll model in a way. I dont expect to agree, or be interested in everything you might right, but even so, you do it well, and that's what counts.

    I dont have the time to keep up with reading blogs as much as I like. And yours is one of the VERY few I do try to read at least a few times a week!

    Sig

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  21. Well, I am one of those people with a handful of blogs. I have two myself (only because I wanted a writing blog separate from my random blog) but the other two I have I am co-authoring, and I did it under another name so I won't confuse people.

    I think sometimes people name a blog just so that nobody else can take the url that they thought of (which annoys me to no end).

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  22. B.-- Those readable to the point blogs are the ones I like too.

    Jody -- I can overlook the minor irritations, I just don't like the recurring timewasters.

    Jane -- I think it's about time for me to pare down my blog roll. But where do I start? There are a lot of good ones there.

    Jon Paul -- Thank you for stopping by.

    Marvin -- sounds like a good system.

    Talli -- I do like some of the blogs that aren't writing related -- especially if they have some good writing.

    Alex -- I'm wondering if the dateless posts I've seen are on something other that blogspot ---I'll have to take note next time I see one.

    Ruby -- Your blog is an example of a blog that is personal and yet it is written interestingly enough to get us all involved. I like reading what you have to say cause I've gotten to feel like I know you and I'm reading news from home.

    Lydia -- Well, you probably run across one of those bloggers one day, but hopefully you find nothing but good blogs that don't waste your time.

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  23. Jemi -- and I like to read blogs that make me think. I agree about Elena. I swear, you and she really can rack up some comments.

    Sig -- thanks for the kind words. And I've been a champion of your writing since I found you. Keep up with what you do.

    Achinghope -- I think you're right about there being some blog hogs out there. What are they going to do with all those empty blogs?

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  24. I have all the blogs I follow in Google Reader...loading time is never an issue, and if I find a blog I'm not reading i simply unsubscribe. (I have to go to the blog and unfollow at the same time so it won't show on my blog roll.) If I read a blog I want to comment on (or see a photo that's not showing up for what ever reason on Reader), I click the title and I'm there.

    It's funny how there are so many different opinions. I have only been blogging a few months but I LOVE it when someone comments on an "old" blog. (You didn't talk about this a commenter did.)

    I agree with the multiple blog thing. I have 2, but the titles speak for themselves (Running Commentary is obviously a craft blog- :D.... As little as I post on the other one, I should just close it down, but I selfishly keep it open for when I do feel like "Getting My Words Out" because I have a lot of them!! :D

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  25. It was my understanding that Blogger always dates and timestamps the posts. Is this untrue?

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  26. Getting -- I like it also when someone comments on an old blog. Unfortunately its usually spam when I get it.

    Dominique -- I thought blogger dated it so I'm not sure where the ones like this I've seen came from but I'm going to pay more attention to it now.

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Lee