Today, I’m going to break my vow of positivity to discuss a few things that bother me about blogs and blogging. Not all of these are deal breakers, but they can be irritating sometimes. Many of these are personal, and may not bother you at all. Also, just because these are things that aren’t sitting right with me, doesn’t mean you’re doing anything wrong. It just means I’m a curmudgeon.
I hope you’ll weigh in with thoughts and nitpicks of your own in the comments.
1. Checking the box that says “remember me” and it never remembers me: My food blog does this to me all the time. I ask my browser to remember my password, and I check the “remember me” box but WordPress chooses to find me forgettable. I’m not finding it to be a compliment that my own blog doesn’t even want to remember my name.
2. Captcha: It’s bad enough I have to figure out what letters all those squiggly lines resemble, but having to do this over and over again until I get it right can turn me off of a blog forever. I’d look into Disqus or another commenting solution to keep away spam because Captcha keeps away readers and that’s even worse.
3. Sporadic posting: Don’t you hate it when you really get into a blog or blogger and they only update their blogs once every few months or so?
4. Firefox crashes: I want to love Firefox, truly I do, but all the crashes don’t endear it to me at all. There’s nothing worse than writing up a whole post, crashing, and finding only half of what I wrote has been saved. Well, OK, there may be a few things that are worse, but not at the time I’m blogging.
5. No dates: If I’m searching for information or discover a new blog, I like to know how current the information is. Not having dates on a blog post is frustrating because I don’t know if the advice is timely or several years old.
6. No author: Oh. Hello “Admin.” How nice to meet you. Nice, personal touch you got there.
7. Dropping links in comments: What’s worse than people who spam comments with links to their blogs, blog posts, ebooks or affiliate links? The same people complaining that their comments always land in the spam filter because of said links.
8. Title doesn’t match the content. At all. If a blogger is going to promise me the secrets of blogging success, that’s what I want to learn when I land on that post. If a blogger is going to tell me how I can become rich, I don’t want some sort of affiliate pitch. If a blogger is going to promise information but go off on a personal rant about something else, I’m going to walk away scratching my head. Writing shocking headlines to bring in readers and giving lackluster content having nothing to do with what’s promised in the headlines will make me hesitant to visit that blog again.
9. All negativity, all the time: Personal rants. Calling people out all the time. Telling everyone what they’re doing wrong. When every post is pointing fingers or grumbling about poor service I’m going to stay away. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with doing some of these things every now and then, but when a blog becomes a bastion of negativity, I’m out of there.
10. Not saying anything new: When bloggers are at a loss for content, it shows. Sometimes (OK lots of times) it’s frustrating to read the same thing under different headlines.
11. Text speak: LOL. OMG! WTF? I rarely do it when texting, and I it hurts my eyes to see text speak in blogs, tweets, Facebook updates and, Skypes.
12. Music: It’s less common than it used to be but I’m not a fan of blogs that automatically play music. Blogs shouldn’t be an assault on the senses. Also? One blogger’s favorite music might make another blogger’s teeth grind. For me it’s not fun, cute or enjoyable. It means I have to make a choice between muting the speakers and not visiting that blog anymore.
13. Profanity: This is a personal thing, I know plenty of bloggers do it and their readers don’t mind. I’m not a fan of profanity laden content. I’m really not a prude. I can tolerate a bit of swearing here and there and I’m even known to do it myself from time to time. However, I cringe when I read profanity for profanity’s sake. I just don’t think it’s necessary or appropriate.
14. Can’t find a way to subscribe: I enjoy discovering fresh, new blogs. I love subscribing to new blogs even more. What I don’t like is having to comb a blog over and over again to find the RSS button. It shouldn’t be buried at the bottom of an “about” page or hidden at a spot only visible to you, it should be front and center where eyes can find it first thing.
15. No contact info: What if I’m so impressed I want to invite you to guest post? What if I want to write to you to tell you how much I enjoy your writing? What if I want to hire you? How can I do any of this without contact information?
16. Really small fonts: I know font size is subjective but I have poor eyesight. Glasses help, but not always. Small fonts are hard for me to read. I may love your writing and your blog but if it’s a struggle for me to focus on the print, I will probably skip reading.
17. Link requests: I just love some random stranger contacting me out of the blue to tell me I need to link to his blog. I especially love it if Random Stranger’s topic has nothing to do with my own. If I don’t know you or if you’re not a productive member of the community please don’t contact me to pimp your stuff. It’s spammy. Links are endorsement and I take them seriously.
18. P.R. pitches that have nothing to do with my blog: No matter how well the P.R. person explains it, there’s just no way to spin the benefits of selling support hose on my social media blog. Seriously. Know who and what you’re pitching to.
19. Perpetual guest bloggers: Sometimes a blogger moves on to other projects or bigger things and uses guests bloggers to provide content for his blog. Now, I don’t have a problem with this if it’s not every day. However, when I visit said “expert’s” blog for “expert” advice, I don’t necessarily want to learn from a blogger who is guest posting to get a foot in the door. I think guest posts are great and I’m all for giving people a chance. Just not every day.
20. Bandwagons: Blogger A says, ” I don’t like this anymore, I’m not using it.” Blogger B says, “Blogger A doesn’t like that anymore so neither do I.” Blogger C says, “It’s the in thing not to like this so I’m not going to like it me too.” And so on. I don’t mind different bloggers posting about the same topic and offering different points of view, but I’m not a fan of the bandwagons. The bloggers I love the most do their own thinking and decision making.
21. Taking days to moderate comments: Yes. I really like to participate in yesterday’s discussion next week.
22. Swag blogs: When a blog is nothing but product reviews and giveaways I often wonder if the blogger is blogging to receive free stuff rather than to discuss a topic.
23. Too much selling: I don’t mind links to ebooks, courses or webinars in the sidebar, nor do I mind a post launching a product. However, when every posts has an affiliate link or “buy my ebook to learn more” I’m guessing the blogger is more interested in selling than sharing.
24. Too many “you’re all doing it wrong” posts: If every post was like this one, I’d probably stay away from my own blog. I’m not a fan of blogs that do nothing but point out how everyone else is going about things the wrong way. It’s the negativity thing. We can share tips without pointing fingers or being condescending or insulting.
25. Blog has no focus: I like to know what a blog is about. How can I know that when the blogger has no clue? A personal blog on a variety of topics is one thing, but an unfocused business blog talking about everything but business only leads to confusion.
Talk to us about blogging pet peeves – do you agree or disagree with this list? Please share your own nitpicks.
