I try to keep this blog positive and upbeat and friendly. But we all need to vent every once in awhile. So, here's your chance. Tell us what drives you crazy and really turns you off a blog. Is it bad grammar? Fugly colors? Too many ads? Do tell!
Here are two my pet peeves. First off, ALL CAPS. For anyone who missed the memo in the early days of email, gratuitous capitalization is akin to yelling. And it's harder to read. Please don't do it. Next is incorrect word usage. As in using "remit" instead of "admit." Or "loose" instead of "lose." I can forgive the occasional slip-up, but I read a lot of blogs by professional writers who consistently misuse words they should know. And it comes off as careless.
Your turn! Share your blog beef(s) in the comments.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
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22 comments:
Oh, my biggest is when it's obvious the blog owner is getting paid to promote a product or a service but not telling us. One blog I visited not only promoted a bunch of products, but did so with some pretty crappy writing. Took that one off my feed instantly!
Another peeve is when there are so many colors and graphics that it takes forever to load the page. I have computer-induced ADD - I'm not waiting around!
Bad formatting. This really turns me off and I most likely won't read the blog.
A blog should be inviting to read.
And I agree with the wrong word usage - 'there' and 'their' - those are commonly misused as well.
Repeated heavy snarkiness or negativity turns me off. And bad formatting, too.
I believe that some things are just a matter of stylistic preference--For instance, I often use ALL CAPS for emphasis, especially titles and in sending Emails.
It's also quicker for me to type this way.:-)
But, I personally do know the rules. As they say, some "rules are meant to be broken."
The only pet peeve I can think of is when Bloggers don't reciprocate support.
We're all busy in the current economy, but if a Blogger takes time to stop by and comment on another person's Blog, I think that he/she should do the same.
It shows mutual respect and regard and fosters a stronger creative community.
That's my 2 cents. :-)
Bright blinding colours turn me off a blog. Screaming colours make my eyes hurt.
Constant negativity is another big No-No. We all need to vent occasionally, so vent and move on.
All good pet peeves! I just thought of another that I used to do all the time. Teeny tiny text. If you go back in the archives, you'll see that the font used to be a lot smaller. But (and this is after two laser eye procedures) I've realized that slightly larger text is easier on the eyes.
Music! I hate when I open a page and get blasted by music, then spend a minute trying to figure out how to turn it off.
Gratuitous foul language. I'm certainly not above using a well placed expletive but I will not continue to read a blog that sounds like a bad Rap video. The post also needs to have valid content - blogs are published material, they are not private diaries or Facebook status updates.
1. Lack of caps and punctuation in general
2. White text on a black background (ouch)
3. Posts that are about nothing.
4. But the worst is when bloggers who I don't know send me their blogs as part of an email spam list
Oh wait, I'm on a roll. These issues are not confined to blogs, tho:
1. Overuse of the "LOL"- If you have to tell someone that something is funny, maybe it's not really funny
2. Emoticons - if you have to tell someone that you are really kidding (ie happy face after a bit of sarcasm), it always makes me think that you are not kidding at all
This is my first visit. Here are some of my pet peeves:
- automatic music
- way too many photos. There are a few blogs I'd love to read but they make my computer stop working.
- asking for donations for a personal problem (like dental bills, I can't pay my own, why would I help pay yours?)
- posting over twice a day on average. I read lots of blogs. I can't read you if you post many times a day.
My two peeves are:
1) Animation. Please don't distract me from the post..
2) I think this is a writer specific peeve, since I read and subscribe to many author and writer blogs. Seriously, if you can make your point in 300-500 words, please don't make us suffer through 1500 words. More is not better. Many writer blogs I have to skim. They are just too long!
On the other hand, I love, love, love a blogger who takes the time to find a really great image, that is relevant, and interesting to go with their post. I personally think that adds volumes to a post, far more than just writing volumes!
Any page that forces you to sit through their Flash animation intro. Sorry, I don't care. Also, I don't want to see it EVERY TIME I come to your page! Don't even bother putting a "skip" link, just don't do it! Flash animations are, by and large, horrible and make me move on.
hmm...so what DO you all like in a blog? i just started one--atandemtextbook.wordpress--and would love to hear what you DO enjoy. i'm sure content will factor in!
that being said, i'd be happy to visit any of your blogs and will comment, for whatever it's worth.
my pet peeve is "english teachers" who sport comma splices. punctuation matters!
I can navigate away from blogs with too many ads, music, animation, and just bad writing. But I hate it when a good blogger makes it hard for me to follow him/her. I shouldn't have to register to comment and please don't make me hunt to find out how to subscribe to the feed.
Thanks, everyone! Music and animation are also no-no's.
@Susie: Here's what I like in a blog: when it's written in an engaging, conversational style that shows some of the blogger's personality and offers useful information stated in expected ways. When it uses quality images to illustrate a point and makes it easy for readers to join in the conversation.
I agree with most of the above complaints. I think my biggest pet peeve concerns unedited posts. Like a previous commenter said, you should make your points in fewer than 500 words. Before you click on "publish," read over your work a few times to see where you can reduce redundancies and typos. If you don't respect your own writing enough to put that effort into it, then your readers won't respect it either.
This is the perfect thread for new bloggers to read! Good things to avoid. While I agree with the editing, word use, animations and music, there's one pet peeve that hasn't been listed so far. It really bothers me when a group of bloggers get together to sell something. This usually only happens on really big blogs, but it starts to feel high pressure and really dampens my enthusiasm for all the blogs (and bloggers) involved.
I dislike when bloggers overuse italics and strike-out their words.
And, to reiterate what someone else said,I HATE UNINVITED NOISE (yes, I mean to yell) on blogs. There's nothing worse than being bombarded with some cheesy song when you have accidentally left the volume up high and your kids are sleeping.
Black backgrounds and large chunks of text are annoying.
Also, I don't like when people withhold information to make it seem like they are something they're not.
Yesterday I came across "The Official Website of the Children's Author, So-and-So!" Only thing was, I spent 10 minutes looking for what books said "author" had "officially" written. There were none listed on the site, though she had herself all set up to do school visits.
I looked her up on Amazon and found the only place her name appeared was in reviews she'd written of other books.
In short, she was an aspiring author. And hey, I'm an aspiring author, too--but my website reflects that.
I was "officially" peeved.
Posts that are too loooooooooong.
Like most people, I like to locate content easily and skim through it quickly. If I find it helpful or thought-provoking, I'll take more time to read through content carefully. Since I feel like I should be able to do this initial scan with little effort, my pet peeves are things that make that challenging. Things like:
- Lots of clutter (e.g., lots of ads, lots of links, the focal point doesn't immediately draw your eye in)
- Lots of bright colors all over the page
- Animation
- Music (I leave a site IMMEDIATELY if it plays music)
- Long paragraphs...and actually, really long blog posts in general
Good discussion. I've picked up a couple tips from reading through these comments!
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