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Ten on Tuesday – 23

Posting on a Wednesday, though! cooltext468162920

Ten Things I Don’t Want to See/Read on Blogs

We all love our blogs as much as our babies! It’s our very own personal space where we Communicate, Connect and Comment. In doing so, we connect with a lot of blogs. While, I enjoy my time in the blogosphere, as there are a lot of things that I observe, absorb and soak, however there are a few things, I wish I don’t get to see or read on the blogs…

  1. Comment Moderation and Word Verification : word-verification-google5I know, I know, you do this to protect yourself from the spammers and their attack. But having both these things together?? If you are moderating comments then you do take care of what gets published on your blog. So, there isn’t actually the need of the very painful word verification. Sometimes, the words and numbers are so twisted that you need to try 3-4 options to get it right. I doing so, it leaves you a bit perturbed and all the pleasure and joy of reading and commenting goes away!
  2. SMS Lingo : Dis is sumthin dat I hate da most! Da wurds ritten lyk dis not only r n i-sore bt irks n irritates me 2 no end. U may say dat it is ur space and u cn rite da way you pls, but I believe that you want people to read what you write too, so, I guess, it makes sense to give your readers a wonderful reading pleasure!
  3. Painful Layout and Fonts : White text on black background or multi-coloured text in between or the curvy cursive writing kind of fonts are so hard to read. Such layouts and fonts are a big strain on the eyes and sometimes you have to squint too!! And in this process, even the brain (of course, I am talking about my brain!) fails to register the written text!
  4. LONG Posts : anti-long-post_c_552796I was reading a blog post. The beginning was captivating and the subject was interesting. A few paragraphs down the page, it lost its steam. I continued reading still and then my attention simply vanished. I scrolled down to check, how much of it was left anyways and the cursor continued to move down and down the page for FOREVER. Yeah, no exaggerating… it was a long long post!! Agree, you have a lot to share, but can that be divided in parts? Or can the post be concise and crisp?
  5. BIG Header Images : You click on a blog to read but what you see is a big picture that takes up the entire screen. You have to scroll down a bit to read the actual content! Ok, this is not much of a pain but still it would be nice to see the content first!
  6. Distracting Sidebars : Sometimes there are so many widgets on the sidebar that it gives a very cluttered look. The animated GIFs are so very distracting too! And I have never understood the rationale of having a clock on a blog!
  7. Same Same Every Day! : We don’t like to eat the same food everyday, so why do you dish out the same type of posts on your blog all the time! It makes perfect sense if yours is a niche blog! But the same rants, same cribs, same topics to discuss/share (which may be written brilliantly) all the time?? Well, I’d like to have some spice, some variety on a blog!
  8. Insipid Content : OK, this is self explanatory and of course, one can’t churn out brilliant pieces all the time! But still…
  9. Too Many Ads :  An advertisement here or a blurb there or the flashing ads or the scrolling marquee are not fun when reading something interesting!
  10. No Engagement : No interaction with the readers is a big dampener too. Well, I have improved on this one, lately, only courtesy the interactive comment format introduced by Blogger.
Despite, all this…white_i_love_blogs_detail

122 Responses

    2. Lol.. same here.. Very good points.. Especially about the SMS language.. Your version of it was hilarious!

      Reply

    1. Hi Meena! I guess, I had shared this info earlier as well…
      Regarding this comment format in blogger, what you need to do is…
      In Blogger, switch to new blogger interface.
      Go to Settings – then Posts & Comments – Select Embedded Comments.
      It will be done. 🙂
      In case you are not able to figure it out… let me know!
      Cheers 🙂

      Reply

  3. Moderation and word verification,both together is awful.In fact there are cases where I have stopped commenting because of this.
    I have always wondered as to what should be the ideal number of words for a blog post.I have never been able to get the answer,but,in my opinion about 400 words should be just OK.
    As for subject,Shilpa,I can’t go beyond subject of current affairs….shall we say politics.

    Reply

    1. Agree… on some of the blogs, I see that the word verification is pretty simple ie you can make out the numbers and alphabets easily, but in some they are so twisted and convoluted that its so difficult to type them at one go!
      Ideal word count, they say should be 500 words.
      I know, politics is your fav subject! :))

      Reply

  4. 1 is something I keep requesting blogs I frequent too. Some words are so difficult and keying them out more than once is such a pain! 🙁

    I wish some people also realize how slow their page loads because of the numerous bling things too.

    Reply

  6. This list is really very good. Most of them are my pet peeves. About long posts, I don’t even bother. Seeing the length I am out of there in a jiffy. Word verification is again painful and crazy formats, bad fonts, loads of ads. I also get very put off with wrong English, spellings and grammar. You’ve nailed it dear. A good comprehensive list this.

    Reply

  7. Agree with all your points here…

    more than any thing its the length of the post n word verification that bothers me….
    i don’t understand why ppl have comment moderation because i feel the readers have every right(as the bloggers have to write their mind at their respective blogs) to comment n see that their comment got published there…as long as comments are related to post.

    Reply

    1. I know what you mean, Irfan! 🙂
      Most of our blogs don’t get those hate or abusive comments so, I believe, the comment moderation is done to keep the spammers at bay.

      Reply

  8. Really the very essential points to make any blog post worth reading. Actually I have skipped reading the 2nd point (SMS lingo) Lost my patience in reading it. Imagine what will be my reaction if the entire post is like this ?

    Reply

    1. Talking of SMS lingo… a few days ago, I read a post which had words mEt, bEn and suddenly it dawned on me that when mEt and bEn are written with a capital E it meant MEET and BEEN respectively!! The reading experience shifts to deciphering the language! Very irritating! 😐

      Reply

  9. Quite valid observations 🙂

    I confess here that i had earlier flawed on many of these points like ‘word verification’, white font on black background’in my blog but realised it later and corrected it 🙂

    Reply

  11. Great tips. I like all the points except point 4. Even point 4, I always make conscious effort to keep it less than 1000. But I saw you mention in your comments that 500 is optimal. Rather that limit my average post size to 500, I would rather quit blogging. Such smalls ones seem like tweets and take the whole fun out of writing. Easy to read of course though.

    Reply

    1. If the content is interesting and entertaining, long posts are not an issue at all. After all we do read big fat books too! But it is said that the online attention span is a bit low!

      Reply

  12. Shilpa…..
    regarding word verification, my blog is getting too many anonymous links and promotional stuff if i dont use word verification….Any solution?
    Thanks 🙂

    Reply

    1. Hi Mahesh. Even I get a lot of these anonymous links… what I have done is that in Settings – Posts and Comments – Comment Moderation – Sometimes for Posts older than 14 days (You may change it to whatever number you want).
      So anybody who comments on a blog post older than 14 days will go into ‘Awaiting Moderation’/Spam section. I have seen that usually the anon links are for older posts.
      And if they are seen in posts less than 14 days old, go to Comments – Published and then mark the said comment as Spam. It will be marked as Spam and will not get published in future and will be removed from the blog too.

      Hope this helps! 🙂

      Reply

  14. I don’t like white colour font on a dark background. Such a sore on eyes!

    Black colour font on light background is the way to go. Unless the blog is gothic/dark writes genre.

    Reply

  15. I agree Shilpa !
    sms lingo put me off even when people use to comment on my blog !
    Another thing I hate is rants (specially of the personal types) I know it’s their blog and they have a right to blog about whatever they want – So I just stay away from such blogs ! I also hate cluttered blogs – Neat uncluttered look is what I like!

    Reply

    1. You said it… I cringe to see SMS lingo in comments too!
      Agree… sometimes the rants are so personal that you don’t know what to say!
      Oh yes, the neat and uncluttered look on a blog truly gives a peaceful reading experience!! 🙂

      Reply

  16. As I write more, I find that I use lesser words. I feel that the most that digital readers can read without feeling any strain is 600-800 words. Hence, I try to limit all my posts to less than that. There is one exception to this word limit – A well written story/narrative/dialogue. People are willing to read more of that, though.

    Destination Infinity

    Reply

  17. I hate word verification and SMS lingo. If I see such language on any blog..I don’t want to read what the blogger wants to say.

    Also posts that are too long just kill all the fun. My attention span is limited and there is so much to read, I rather skip and move on to another blog.

    Loved your post 🙂

    Reply

  18. You have echoed my thoughts Shilpa….Long posts, word verification and black background bug me all the time.

    I somehow lost touch but your blog was one of the few I stumbled on when I started my blogging joruney.

    Shall be in touch. If you are on FB please add me.

    Reply

  19. I agree with all the distractions u listed down here… The word verification is the worse among all. Many widgets, big header and many post content on the home page takes much time to load and if there’s a long post many skip or read the head and tail to comment… so that I try my best to make it short as much possible.

    Interaction is truly missed at many blogs and some people comment only to get commented back… even it is common or a way of sharing, truly reading has come down. It’s just a feeling and perhaps i may be not right.

    🙂

    Reply

    1. Glad that we are on the same page about the distractions, Jeevan 🙂
      Interaction is a big topic in itself! I believe, ‘I commented on your blog and now it’s your turn to do so’ starts in early phase of blogging which does not last for long… as later on you do read what you like and not out of compulsion! 🙂

      Reply

  20. Hi Shilpa,
    I too hate the things mentioned by you, but this is a free country, and if I don’t like the word verification in some blogs, I just stop going there. Sometimes I request to them to turn it off, and many times they have obliged make visiting them again a pleasure. Sometimes, they write so well,but due to reasons known only to them they still continue to have the offending thing on, so I will go through the irritation, just because I really like what they have to say.
    And another irritating thing is when some people comment in Tamil written in English, it is alright if they want to comment in Tamil, but type it Tamil,I am sure one can do it these days.
    Yes I do have a clock in my blog, there is flickr, there is a whole lot of additions on the side bar, but, thankfully no ads.
    I also have the tendency to write slightly long posts, which I am trying to control, and grammatically, I am prone to many mistakes, and I don’t bother to correct them, because I am finally free from the Editor’s axe, because here I am the Boss.
    Also I cannot understand b why despite clicking the header picture “Shrink to fit”, many times it does appear too big, and also I cannot understand how to center my header picture despite googling through various sites explaining it. It only goes to prove that, some people can never catch up with the technology, for everyting is Greek and Latin to them.
    It was nice catching up with you through blogs.

    Reply

    1. Hi Rama!
      That’s wonderful that you could stop word verification on some blogs! Cool 🙂
      Oh, this is a new one… didnt knew about Tamil written in English! 😛
      If you want some help regarding header pics, you may ask some Tech bloggers. They’d be happy to help!
      Welcome to this space, Rama and see you around! 🙂

      Reply

  21. I sooo much agree! esp with the comment moderation and SMS lingo… Long posts hmmm as long as the content is good, am ok but still reading long posts? naaah….I might write one but can’t read 😉

    BTW, my blog too had a long picture to begin with…Oh I was so much inspired with Big B’s blog and see…It automatically happened at Numerounity 🙂

    Reply

  22. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!! I agree with everything you’ve written. People will turn around and say, “But it’s my blog, you can’t tell me what to do.” To which I’d like to reply, “Then don’t publish it for all the world to read and ask us to comment!”.
    I’m off to share this, Shilpa.

    Reply

    1. WOW Corinne!! That’s a wonderful rejoinder for “It’s my blog…”! Never thought of that!! 🙂
      You are amazing! Thanks for sharing it, truly appreciate it!! Thks :))

      Reply

  23. couldn’t agree more shilpa…!!

    On my blog, I saved the comment moderation, but did away with the word verification some months ago, when i experienced how painful it was while surfing and commenting on someone’s else blog!!

    my blog header… after i read this, i think mine looks a little too bright for comfort! so let me see what i can do to it..

    quite a helpful post actually!

    Reply

    1. Comment moderation is way better than subjecting the readers with the pain of Word Verification! So glad that you did away with that! 🙂
      All the best for your blog’s new look!
      Cheers 🙂

      Reply

  27. I was nodding away my head at all my points (& cross checking with my blog I guess I fall in the reptitive content thing, need to work on it).

    You what I hate the most? Big headers with the blogger’s image, I mean are you Salman Khan that I want to see you? Gimme some writing please…and to add to that black background with white font in small….I think they feel that we guys read their blogs by zooming it to the max size….

    This post shud be picked by Blogadda & be featured there permanently. 😀

    Reply

  28. I agree with every point and as far as long posts are concerned, I believe, brevity is the soul of wit. And SMS language is so hard to interpret. Also, when someone write a hindi post, I think it should typed in hindi.

    I think this post should be in the official rule book of blogging!

    Reply

    1. Yes, I shared this above… I read a post which had words mEt, bEn and suddenly it dawned on me that when mEt and bEn are written with a capital E it represented double ‘E’ and so the words read as MEET and BEEN respectively!! 😐
      Thanks Saru :))

      Reply

  30. Good compilation there…In fact it was like a check list to make sure mine was not irritating in any of those ways… And the thing I cant really tolerate is SMS language…In fact leave alone blogs, I cant tolerate it in SMS or web chat as well….Hmm! 🙂

    Reply

    1. Thanks J! Agree that on Twitter/SMS, you need to condense your message to few characters, so it’s ok to use such language but in a blog post?? I wonder how typing a few alphabets less makes a difference… saves time? Saves effort??

      Reply

  31. Agree with most of your points. I hate word verification…annoys me no end especially with the new one Blogger has with number and letters. Long posts…kinda depends. If it’s interesting or in bulleted form, I can read it. Hate hate hate hate SMS lingo!

    Reply

    1. Tell you what… this word verification, the new one that you mentioned, with numbers and alphabets… I can never get it right the first time!! 😐
      Agree, about bullets… makes readability better! Or break into smaller paras, of course the content should be interesting in entirety!

      Reply

  33. I hate word verification too, I cant understand how that helps.. If I have to spam someone I can still do it by entering the words .. so how does it help ..
    and this new one numbers and words , I have so much problem with , I cant comment from my phone its a pain.. so i just leave without commenting ..

    hmmmm so hey tell me you come to my blog, what is the annoying thing you find there and do give a sincere answer , I dont mind taken to the cleaners with your reply 🙂

    sms lingo and twitter lingo , I cant understand it sometimes GOD i feel so alien now

    Bikram’s

    Reply

    1. I guess, these word verification are used to prevent internet bots from accessing websites as the twisted words are difficult for a computer to solve!
      And yes, spamming by individuals can be done despite the word verification!
      Bikram, I am no expert and am just a blogger like you… :))
      Agree about the alien feeling about SMS lingo, sometimes!!

      Reply

  34. Bang on Shilpa! Agree and empathize with you on each and every point. The SMS lingo, comment moderation&word verification, loooooong posts, ads,..gosh they are all such huge turn-offs!

    Reply

  35. Hi Shilpa

    Now this is very useful stuff that you have listed. I HATE SMS lingo even in aSMS!!! And yes the huge picture taking up half the space I can understand that. But I guess I am one of the culprits where the LONG posts are concerned. And writing about the same thing- do people do that? I follow about 20 blogs regularly and I find there is a good variation of topics. Guess I am lucky!

    PS thanks for visiting my blog. Hope to see you there more often.

    Reply

  36. So true!! I agree on every point u have mentioned. Its like you spoke my mind…..too long posts, sms lingo, word verification…I just can agree less…

    Thanks for dropping by my Blog and leaving a comment, Shilpa 🙂

    Reply

  38. Hmm so I am guilty of long posts (read long book reviews) but I can’t help it. It is usually the shortest version of what I actually write 🙂 and yes, I abhor the SMS language, in blog posts, on status updates and even in SMS. It is annoying.

    Reply

    1. LOL… long posts are shortest of what you actually write!! Wow! You write a lot!! 🙂
      Agree, using SMS language in SMSs is fine, as they are short, but reading this in posts, it breaks the flow while reading which is very irksome!

      Reply

  41. I have been surfing online more than 3 hours these days, yet I by no means found any attention-grabbing article like yours. It is beautiful value enough for me. In my opinion, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will probably be a lot more useful than ever before.

    Reply

  44. I too dislike white font on black background, loooong posts, word verifications, et al.
    In a couple of my blog posts I left out a word in between even though I read a post multiple times before posting. It’s a huge turn off!
    And hey, thanks for judging my post for the Snapdeal contest. I’m thrilled to come first 🙂

    Reply

  45. Hi Shilpa,
    You write so beautifully and constructively that any one will enjoy reading your articles. I consider myself fortunate that right from my first blog, I got the benefit of your guidance.I have accepted you as my Guru. Whenever you get time kindly see some of my blogs and give a critical review so that I can improve myself. I have taken a copy of the suggestions given by you in this post.Thanks again.

    Reply

  46. No 1 is actually the no 1 dampner. Loved loved your pointers. Of course I checked out how my blog fared.. Might be guilty of ‘same same’.. kids, weightloss, kids, weightloss.. but then I AM obsessivemom. I’m entitled to it.

    Reply

  49. Love these points Shilpa…esp the first one is a dampener when I want to comment fast and get along with my work !!

    And Congrats to you on the Spicy Saturday Pick !!! 🙂

    Reply

  50. Shilpa,

    Caught up with 3 pending posts. You have made me look for these books as I have again got back into habit of utilizing time for reading, of course apart from being here in blogspace. What you say here is what I strongly second.

    Take care

    Reply

  51. Agree with most of your points Shilpa, except the large header thing 🙂 Visuals can also speak volumes.

    What I get bored of is the same visual format and blog colors (except font and text color) everytime I visit. And while textese is a no no, grammatical perfection can be sacrificed to some extent for spontaneity.

    cheers,

    Reply

    1. Hi Indiwriter. Depends on what kind of pictures you are using as header and how relevant are they to your blog and its theme, in case they have to occupy the whole screen!
      Oops, that’s a new one… about same visual format and blog colors… 🙂
      Some random errors are ok, I believe, but not when those are a part of your writing style! 🙂

      Reply

  53. A helpful post for many. This post deserves to be the spicy pick by blogadda. I echo your thoughts. Another thing that irks me is the anonymous comment.

    Reply

    1. Thanks Asha! 🙂
      Anon comments which contribute to the discussion and make the reader think are still ok. But the useless anonymous comments, I simply delete. 🙂

      Reply

  54. 111 comments? I have never seen that EVER in my blogging career. I am guilty of point 7. I usually write same stuff. But I don’t do it intentionally. It’s a vent out zone for me. 🙂

    Awesome pointers like always. You are an expert when it comes to these kind of posts.

    Reply

  55. this is such a brilliant post Shilpa. Word verification is such a pain. I don’t understand sometimes whether the visuals are bad or the audio. I never seem to understand the audio at all. I usually scan first before reading. If it is a long post, I skip reading it. And same content… I guess I am guilty of that

    Reply

    1. Thanks Bhagyashree! I can so relate to this… sometimes only after trying 3-4 options, I get the words right!! These VW should be simply banned! 😐
      Long posts are certainly not cool! 😛

      Reply

  56. Good thing you pointed out. I disabled the word verification on mine. Never realized it could be painful to readers.
    I agree with u on long posts and sms lingo.

    Reply

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