I have a beef with some of you bloggers out in blogland. My husband has been traveling for work a lot recently. No I'm not blaming THAT on you, but my husband being gone leaves a lot of my evenings free to waste time on the internet. What do I do (besides studying up on tomato breeding)? I play "Follow the Blogs".
The game involves taking one of my favorite blogs, then following a few links from their favorite blogs, then following a few links from their favorite blogs, then.... Well you get the idea. It is fun to see what kind of blog pops up. Some are funny, some are serious, but mostly they are good to read. I do however have issues.
The first issue is that I don't know who these people are. Some don't have "about" pages and some people put their about pages on the bottom - after I've had to scroll down pages and pages. Really I'd love to see the photos of your pets, but I'd like YOUR blub above theirs. I tend to follow the gardening blogs and without the info of where you are, I can get freaked out. I start reading about you picking your first tomato and I have to look outside at all my snow to assure myself I haven't gone insane. Yes you live in Australia or Florida, but my mind is still firmly rooted in New England. Ok not so firmly rooted. Really my mind is trying to break free from all the snow, but it's stuck in the frigid weather.
My second issue is with comments. I love someone's site and want to tell them so. I spend a little time writing then click to post it and I can't. I have to log in. In some places at least they tell you that before you log in. But either way, I'm not logging in to a site I'm not already a member of. I have enough user IDs and passwords to remember already.
The third issue is your blog rolls. First why don't you have one and if you have one, why don't you keep it up to date? I hate clicking and finding out that person hasn't blogged in two years. Umm. . . you noticed that I myself don't have a blogroll. Err really I had one at one point. I started updating it and messed it up totally. The easiest thing was to just take it down and start over. I promise I'll get to it. Stop nagging. But in all seriousness, so long and thanks for all the blogs. This weekend I'm off to an enchanted land where everyone would understand my last reference.
I would think "follow the links" would be great fun! A bit addicting though.
ReplyDeleteDaphne - I have some of the same pet peeves. One of my biggest ones, is people doing a google search to learn how to do something, and they obviously take some new knowledge with them when they leave, but don't even bother to leave a comment - showing their appreciation for the information.
ReplyDeleteEG
I started out discovering blogs this way. Floating from one wonderful blog to the next. It was a great way to spend the winter, (still is). By April I was ready to start my own blog.
ReplyDeleteI need to update my blogroll. Now that I use the follow tool on Blogger I might just delete it though.
That's funny. I posted on my blog just recently on exactly the same game but called it 'blog bounce.' I don't have that much to say about myself... it's all between the leaves.
ReplyDeleteDaphne, as you are into tomato breeding, you must go to Homegrown Goodness (if you aren't already there and if you are, say hi). It's an amazing community of plant fanatics and plant breeders. Besides, my spidy sense is telling me something about your breeding project...
Forgot:
ReplyDeletehttp://alanbishop.proboards60.com/index.cgi
This is the Homegrown Goodness board url
Hi Daphne, I laughed at your asides, and agree with most. When I switched from blogger to wordpress, I now have to type my name and url to every comment on blogger blogs, and it seems 99% are blogger. I could use the blogger sign in that it wants me too, but the link will take someone to blogger instead of wordpress where the new posts are. I have come to accept the fact that I have to type the name and url, if that is an option, rather than use the wordpress sign in. Some blogs I can't use anything except my name with no link. But still want to comment so do whatever it takes. The world is against the non blogger users. And while I am writing a thesis here, google also takes searchers to the blogger blog topic, even though it is also on wordpress, the exact same post, as all were transferred there. They just don't show up on a google search since google owns blogger. Thanks for letting me rant a little too, misery loves company! :-)
ReplyDeleteFrances
I've been admiring other people's blog lists lately and you've provided the impetus I needed to set one up on my blog. It's hard work though! I've been working on it for at least an hour and I haven't finished yet. Well worth the effort. Thanks for the prod (now you HAVE to do yours!).
ReplyDeleteWow you just opened up a can of worms Daphne, lol ;) Hope you enjoy your trip.
ReplyDeleteHi Daphne, I think 'follow the link' can be a very nice way to travel around the planet an actually meet and enjoy new acquaintances.
ReplyDeleteTyra
Loved your post. I find that people with similar blogs post comments on other people's blogs. This is a great way for me to discover more blogs to read. The only I like the best, I either bookmark or add to my blogroll on my blog. I use my blogroll as a way to keep up with the blogs that I like to visit on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteI know that on Blogger and Wordpress you don't have to have an account to post a comment. You can just use your Name/URL. So I have mine set up to accept comments this way.
Giggle. I know what you mean. I traipse all over the blogosphere looking at a huge variety of blogs, and some aren't updated and some have just...disappeared. But there's always something totally fascinating to get hooked in, isn't there?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the prod, Daphne. I updated my "about you" page AND my blogroll. Sorry for the inconvenience ;-)
ReplyDeleteAli
Good post Daphne, it particularly struck a cord as I have just been up-dating my blog roll.
ReplyDeleteOne of my moans is that with some blogger blogs I can only sign in with a blogger account - the option
Name/Url
is simply not there
Like Frances - I have to sign into every blog I comment on, unless its a wordpress one.
Quite mad really!
I am interested to see that you read the "about" pages - I have one, but I think I will look at it again to see if it is up to date.
K
I agree with you 100%! I admit to being a little behind on the blogrolls sometimes, I don't use my own since I use my Google reader or Google Follower most times. I also use the Blotanicals blogroll on my garden blog and Foodie Blogroll on my food blog. That way they can do the work and keep it updated for me.
ReplyDeleteAs for signing in, if I have to, I just leave and go somewhere else. You're right -- too many passwords!
I am new to the blog roll and just getting the hang of it. I recently realized I had to correct my comments to fix that exact thing. It's nice to see areas for improvement :)
ReplyDeleteWow so many comments. I must have struck a nerve somewhere.
ReplyDeleteTina, Yes very addicting. Don't start unless you have a nice block of free time.
engineeredgarden, I guess I never really thought about those people before. I do love to look at the search terms people use to find my blog.
Robin, I actually started my blog before I found out there were so many around. Last spring I started playing the game and discovered so many fun blogs.
Ottawa gardener, that's another good name for it. BTW I loved the link you sent. I spent a short time looking at posts. I'm not going to sign up right now since I seem to be time impaired right now, but when life gets a little less hectic.
Frances, I often have to type in all my info too. Luckily my browser remembers things and usually lets me just type the first letter and the rest gets filled in. ... Google certainly is trying to take over the internet. I love that you can subscribe to the comments on blogger, but wish I could respond to people on their comments like you can in wordpress. Nothing is perfect.
Amanda, lol yes I do have to do mine. There are two things I want to add to my sidebar. I'll have to get too it as soon as I've caught up from vacation.
perennialgardener, thanks. I had a great time.
Tyra, yes it is. The interesting thing is that most US people have mostly US links. Most UK people have mostly UK links. etc. If I want to find people actually digging in the soil right now I just pop down to an Australian blog and start hopping.
Anonymous, I've actually not been able to post to a wordpress blog recently. They required a sign in. You can set your preferences that way. :<
jodi, I always find some fascinating blog or post.
Henboggle, now you have the right to hassle me about mine. Sigh. I have to get to it.
Karen, Ah so blogger has that option too. I couldn't imagine forcing someone to sign in. Aren't the little letters you have to type enough (and annoying enough). I've hit the problem with some wordpress blogs and live journal.
And yes I do read the about pages before I start a blog. If there is enough info on the main page I won't click a link, but otherwise I will. I love photos. It helps me correlate the person to the blog. The most crucial piece of info I'm really looking for zone info or location. Strangely enough I like to know if the person is male or female. A name usually gives this info or a photo. But really any info is useful to get an idea of who you are before I read your blog.
Jane Marie, I actually wouldn't use a blogroll to follow my favorite blogs. I've been using bloglines (though am thinking of switching over to google) and Blotanical. That is my biggest challenge. I follow too many blogs. My blogroll will be way over 50. Now some of them don't post very often, but some do. I'm wondering if I should just post a handful of them. I'll have to think about it.
Willo, I'm often curious about what others think of what I add to my page. Is the archive important? Are the labeled posts important (so you can find all the tomato posts). I know what I like in blogs, but I don't read my blog, you all do.
Thanks for all this useful info, especially for the shortcuts, which I may try in my own long-long-anticipated update of my blog links. I'm not even going to mention all the other "to do" items on my blog list.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm a little late getting to read all of this- but I thought I should let you know that you've inspired me to change some things- I have a little 'welcome' note at the top of one of my sidebars and I change this as needed- Come and have a peek at what I now have. I've been to blogs before that had information that I really liked- zone and location were big ones! Funny, it never occurred to me before reading your post that I should have that information visible as well! Also, I've had to hunt through comments many, many times to find the blog author's name, which I couldn't find on even their profile page. I believe some would rather be know as whatever name they've chosen for their blog, so I just use that unless it's obvious or I speak to that person a lot. I use 2 feed readers Google and I'm trying out Feedly, which I really like so far! Firefox has a nice add-on button for it for the toolbar too. And I always have the option of adding all of my reads to my blogroll, but I try out so many blogs first, and in time I discover ones that I automatically return to. These have become regular morning reads- those are the ones on my blog (I know it needs to be updated, however). I've toyed with the Follow Me thing, and may still offer it on there. I'm still fairly new to all this, so in time I'll figure it out. My comment form does allow for name/url- thankfully! Okay, I'm long winded- I know! Thanks for posting this, and happy gardening!
ReplyDeleteI have some of the same pet peeves, Daphne. One of the things I hate is how the comments link is in such different spots on different blogs, depending on who's hosting them. The link may be at the bottom or the top. It seems most logical to me to have it at the bottom, since that's where you are when you finish reading it and want to comment. But on some, you have to scroll back up to the top to click on the Comments link up there for that particular post. Know what I mean? Just a little itty bitty irritant for me. LOL
ReplyDeletePomona, I hear you. I have that long todo list too.
ReplyDeleteTessa, wow you exceed my expectations. That is a lot of info. My blogroll actually isn't for me. I follow my blogs in Blotanical and in my feed reader Bloglines (which I want to replace with something else, too many issues recently). I actually do follow some blogs that aren't in my blogroll right now (getting to know them). My blogroll is a link to people that I've liked reading. It is a way of promoting their blogs. It is a way of saying "thank you" for the blog.
Kylee, Good one. I really hate that too. Also when it is hard to tell if the comment link at the top or the bottom goes to that post (I like the posts separated in some way so I can tell). Oh and another peeve that I found the other day. I want to know the date of the post. There are very few blogs that don't automatically put the date on, but some don't. I want to know if the post was put up today or a year ago.
Just for that great rant I'm adding you to my blogroll...which I keep very up to date since I personally read all of them. In fact I don't put any on my roll that I don't read...what is the point of that? If you don't read them why are they there? Anywhoo, you will be added post haste! Kim
ReplyDeleteThanks you Kim. I read all the ones on my blogroll too, plus some others.
ReplyDelete