Monday, September 02, 2013

My Pet Peeves About Other People's Blogs

I write this blog.  I also  read a lot of blogs, some regularly, some periodically.  I participate in several link-ups and when I do, I try to visit other participants.  While I won't tell you that engaging in my pet peeves will automatically put you on the "do not read" list, the less I like your blog, the more likely these things are to send me elsewhere quickly:

  • Flashing, blinking, moving pictures
  • Light/bright text on a dark background (this almost guarantees I won't read your blog; my eyes just can't take it).  
  • Music that comes on automatically when I enter your site
  • No "home" button or easy way for me to scroll through your posts (this isn't so much of a problem on blogs I read regularly, but if I come to your blog from someplace else and want to see more, I don't want to have to hunt for your archives to figure out what you are about and whether I want to follow you.
  • Jump posts.  I know your stat counter likes to see how many posts I read.  I know you want to put lots of headlines in front of my face when I first go to your site, but my preference is to read quickly and that means scrolling through posts.  Most feed readers today have only snippets so if I come from one of them, then I've already clicked through to your post once, I really dislike having to do so again.
What are your pet peeves about other people's blogs?

14 comments:

  1. Pretty much the ones you have mentioned :)

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  2. unclear or confusing blog navigation

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  3. Whew! I don't do any of the things that bug you!

    I actually agree with most of yours.
    If music comes on I automatically mute it.
    What I really don't like is when it only shows a couple of sentences and you have to click "read more..." I like it to just show the whole post.
    I also don't like when you go on the blog and there is so much garbage and ads that you can't even find the actual post!

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    1. I agree..the Read More is annoying.

      Just thought of another one. When the post opens up into a totally new window and you can't find the scroll bar or the comments.

      My least favorite is when I have to fill out the verification form, but I don't think that is actually what we are griping about here. :)

      Elizabeth
      Silver's Reviews
      My Blog

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  4. Hi RAnn

    I don't think my site has any of your pet hates either, thank goodness.

    I agree with all of your thoughts, however I would add that an 'About' and 'Contact' button, should be included on the site, rather than having to open another site to find out anything about the blogger

    Interesting post, have a great week,

    Yvonne

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  5. I agree about all your peeves. They guarantee I won't be following.

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  6. Hi RAnn, I read this reluctantly, unsure if I was on your pet peeve list. So far so good. ;-) I hate when only the first paragraph is shown and I have to make another click to read the rest of the post (especially if I am in my reader.) I also don't like when there's no photo of the blogger. I like to "visualize" the person as I am reading their words. :-)

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  7. Great list...I actually do have some blinkies, but I don;t think they're too overwhelming. I get your line of thinking! I used to link to some blogs for hops and stopped b.c they;re so hard to navigate. Trying to find the "add link" on the right day/not wanting to click "tom read more click here" and then wait 30 sec for the page to load...etc...I hear you.
    Thanks for the tips. I'm hoping I don't drive ppl away with lots of stuff on my sidebar. But then again, I look at my blog as my online scrapbook. So I kind of like the "to each his own" philosophy, altho I hate to have an obnoxious blog with lots of distractions for readers.
    Be well and God bless!

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  8. I'm with you, RAnn. Can't stand music coming up, flashing anything, and I want to read the whole post without having to click to get to it.

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  9. Definitely agree! I get so nervous when there are flashing lights and music booms out...and I don't like the sites that are hard to navigate.

    Thanks for sharing.

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  10. You have some good points about what I dislike on blogs as well. I also don't like ads. It seems like blogger also has put up a slider ad at the bottom of the page that has been irritating me lately . Sometimes real bad blog designs are so confusing that I don't know where to click AND captchas. That is also a pet peeve.

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  11. I hate it when a site flashes and plays music when starting!

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  12. I don't do any of those things.

    My pet peeve is when I want to find a person's blog URL, it isn't on their profile page. Just put a link in please. I thoroughly dislike when it goes to google + or some other place where I can't find the URL.

    I also don't like the dark background...I can't read the page.

    Other than that, most blogs are AMAZING and well done.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My Blog

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  13. How much of that is the blogger's fault? I don't pay for an ad-free blog site, but I also have no idea what types (or how many) ads show up on my blog.

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