Thursday, August 09, 2007


Thirteen Things I love and hate
About the Blog World at Large

Although I created my blog at the end of 2005, I have only been a truly active member of the “blogosphere” for the last few months. In this short time, I’ve “met” some wonderful and talented people, and have really enjoyed being able to share a little bit of myself with all of you.

In my travels around the blog-world, I have found blogs I love to read, memes I enjoy participating in, writers who make me laugh, some who can make me cry, and in general, a form of entertainment and communication that makes each day just a little brighter. That said, every once in a while I come across something in the blog-world that just bugs the bejeezes out of me.

Like in the real world, some of these things can be minor, like someone chewing gum with their mouth open, and some major, like people leaving their shopping carriage in the middle of the aisle at the supermarket and standing next to it, blocking the passage for anyone else (I REALLY hate that). We all have pet peeves, these are just some of my blog related ones.

But, because I really have a lot more likes than dislikes about blogging, this list will be cut in half. The second half being some of the things bloggers do, that I love and appreciate:

The Peeves:

1. Pages that take FOREVER to load. There are a few blogs in particular that come to mind, these are blogs that I just love to visit. The authors are witty, funny, smart, and I thoroughly enjoy visiting them, but sometimes I think I might have to stop because in the process of trying to hop over to their page, my entire computer is FROZEN while their template loads. I realize this may be more of an issue with my computer than with their blog. Still…I hate that!

2. Wordless Wednesday participants who write explanations, paragraphs, stories about their WW entry. Look, I know this is minor, but it’s WORDLESS Wednesday. WORDLESS…give it a title, I always do, but then stop talking. And if you just MUST explain the photo, do it in your comments section. Yes, I know it’s picky, but it bugs me okay?

3. Spelling and grammar errors. This pet peeve spills over from my “real world” personality. I’m not talking about the random misspelled word or grammatically incorrect sentence. I’m plenty guilty of that myself. I’m talking about such disregard for the English language that it would take a code to decipher what someone is trying to say. English as a second language bloggers are exempt from this peeve. But only if you are a recent “English as a second language” member…after all, English is my second language as well, but I’ve mastered it (sort of), after 20 or 30 years, you can too.

4. Illegible font colors. Please double check to make sure that your font color and background are at least a few shades apart, otherwise, we can’t see the words. OH, and whoever thought those bright yellow, neon green colors were a good idea obviously had no regard for my sensitive eyes…good grief, I’m blinded.

5. Those stupid “secret codes” we have to enter when we enter comments. Look, I know, I have them on my blog too…I can still hate them, can’t I? I especially hate the ones that make me do math problems. Seriously? I hate math.

6. Bloggers who criticize other bloggers for the use of memes. I get it, it’s not your thing. That’s cool, but then don’t do it, and leave those who enjoy them to be. It does not make someone less of a blogger because they choose to meme, does it? It shouldn’t. After all, back to the whole “free world” thing, it’s your blog, do what you will with it.

I love when bloggers:

7. Respond to all comments. I love when an author takes the time to go through their comments and individually respond to everyone who has commented. I’m working on that in here, but haven’t quite mastered it yet.

8. Offer contests (even those with “virtual” prizes), hand out awards, create “audience participation” entries. When you take the time to make me feel like I’m part of your blog, that’s pretty cool.

9. Make me laugh out loud at my desk when I should be working, instead of bloghopping. You’d think this a bad thing, but at times my job can be both stressful AND boring at the same time, and a barely contained laugh at my desk is just what the doctor ordered.

10. Tell me about the world they live in. Okay, that’s lame, I know that’s what we all do here, but I just love those bloggers who can pull me into worlds that are geographically or socially different from mine.

11. Inspire me. I’ve started writing again thanks to all the wonderful writers I’ve come across. And the photographers amongst you all inspire me to take my camera with me everywhere I go.

12. Do good things. So many bloggers are using this platform to do good. Raise money for good causes, raise awareness, share prayers and positive vibes. We have a pretty cool community in here, don’t we?

13. Leave nice comments. And no, this isn’t a hint, I’m not fishing for comments. I’m actually saying thank you here. There have been a number of comments left on my blog that have brought genuine smiles to my face and brightened my day.






The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!



15 comments:

Jeremy Lowe said...

Boy, you better not pick through my site if you're looking for grammar and spelling. I use speech recognition software so from time to time things really get messed up, and I am not the world's best English major. Happy W. W., await a minute it is Thursday. Happy TT

Ms Eva said...

I share your thoughts! :)

Anonymous said...

Great List! I agree with them!!!
hey you have that secret code I have to enter!!! LOL!

Spy Scribbler said...

I love the conversation that takes place in the comments section, although I don't respond to the Thursday Thirteen comments much. I do respond on other days, though!

I'd be curious to here how long it takes my page to load for you, if you stop by! It's a design by me, and I fear it's klunky!

Happy TT!

Unknown said...

I agree with all the peeves! Especially the 'taking too long to load' one! :) Great post! And happy Thursday!

Miss Frou Frou said...

I hope you let me know if I'm one of those sites that takes a long time to load?

I try to respond individually to comments, but often because of the time differences, its much later... unless I'm having insomnia and then on occasion have been able to do the toing and froing of reply and answer.

Karina said...

Jeremy, don't worry, it's not so much the random spelling or grammar errors that get me, it's more the cryptic "english" thing...but like I said, this is a pet peeve that spills over from my "real" life. I'm constantly correcting others' spelling, even at work, with the lawyers I work with.

Makita, and MamaArcher, I'm glad you ladies agree. OH, and yes, I know I have the stupid code too...I'm my own pet peeve! ;-)

SpyScribbler, I'm trying to get better at responding to comments too, but it is hard. That's why I love those who do it regularly. OH, and I'll be off to check the speed on your page in a minute! ;-)

Virginia, I hope I haven't inserted foot in mouth...I'm about to modify this blog, watch me become one of those "forever to load" pages!

Miss Frou, as I said, I'm not that great at replying to all comments either, but I'll keep working on it! ;-) oH, and no, your page is pretty quick to load!

Literary Feline said...

I agree with both your peeves and your likes. I once used the wrong word in a blog and someone very kindly pointed out my error. I made the correction and felt both embarrassed but ever so grateful that she was brave enough to tell me so that I wouldn't be embarrassed further.

And being kind when leaving comments--that seems like common sense. There's nothing wrong with disagreeing, but when a person makes a personal attack, it's just plain mean and spiteful. :-(

Rebecca said...

Dude, if we were in a church down south I'd be shouting "Amen" after reading that! And ya, #9 did make me laugh because of all the times I've sat at my desk at work trying to stifle a laugh and probably just looking constipated :-0

Very good list!!!!

MommaBoo said...

Maybe it's my screen, but I can't read your list.

Bet it's awesome, though!

Happy weekend!

Karina said...

SEE, I said I was going to be inserting foot in mouth when I started updating my page! What I'm running into now is that my new font color looks horrible with this TT background, but I can't change it for the life of me...trust me, I've tried!!!!

Karma's a biatch! ;-)

Literary Feline said...

I can read it just fine. Your red update is a bit bright and took some extra focus on my part to read (but then maybe I should put on my glasses? Duh!). Okay, now it's more clear. I forget that at work I can see my monitor just fine without my glasses but at home, it helps to have them on. I can be such a dunce sometimes.

I really like the colors--the pink, blue and purple.

Amy said...

Yeah, that code thing gets old, but when I disabled mine, I started getting these comments that said something like "I'm going to California for the weekend, but I posted that information on how I made lots of money on my site." Blah Blah Blah... if you really made all that money, why are you wasting time spamming our blogs... go spend it for cryin' out loud! That's what I'd do!

I could just delete the posts, but I don't want them scamming the people kind enough to be reading my comments!

Anonymous said...

I so agree with you about 1 and 4. Some people need to be told that pale green on white is not a good combination! Another of my peeves is blogs pages that play music at you.

Kathleen said...

Well said! I know I'm late but I didn't get to read very many TT pages on thursday.