Friday, March 11, 2016

Word from the Herd: Why I'm NOT visiting a Blog


There are thousands of blogs out there. Thousands. It's crazy overwhelming. One of the huge things in the community is socializing but there's just no way to get to everyone. So today I thought I'd share a few reasons why I'm not coming by and visiting.


First off...I might not realize you're a blogger!

Plain and simple. I just might not know you're a blogger! This happens sometimes especially with new people who stop by or if you're using a generic screen name. But there are a couple easy options to avoid this!
  • Add your blog link to your profile on Blogger, Wordpress and Disqus. When you comment and someone clicks your name they should be able to immediately see your blog link. This is pretty easy and just takes a few minutes then you're good to go unless you change blogs. Comment below then click on your name to see if you're linked up on Disqus :D
  • User name is important. I use anna@herding cats & burning soup when commenting around instead of just going by anna. With the first you get a pretty good idea I'm a blogger even if you've never heard of my blog. The other...not so much. Especially if you have a common name. I have like 5 Jennifers that stop by here. Gets confusing! So if you go by a generic making sure your profile is linked is even more important.
  • Add the blog link in your comment. You can also add a signature in your comment that links back to your blog. Just use the following html (inserting your blog info) and paste it after your comment ex--- Anna @ <a href="WEBSITE LINK">herding cats & burning soup</a>  will 
  • look like this ---> Anna @ herding cats & burning soup once you submit the comment and anyone can click through to your blog. 
I'm gonna use Mary as a quick example. She uses a generic screen name (just her name) so if it was a first time visiting I'd likely have no clue she was a blogger and wouldn't end up at her blog. BUT! She linked her blog in her profile. So when I click on her name I know where to find her. :D


Mean reviews. 

I have one blog where I'm semi-friends with one reviewer but the co-blogger...is MEAN. Like I read her reviews and first thing that pops into my head is you're what gives bloggers a bad name for being hateful on negative reviews. There's a way to do unfavorable reviews and a way not to do them if you're wanting to keep it classy. I have a hard time reading that blog now because I never know who's review I'm going to get (they aren't clearly labeled) so I rarely stop by because I just don't enjoy that kind of reviewer personality. I'm good with snark. I'm not good with hateful bile.

Life is an absolute bitch.

Honestly, this is my reason for blog visit delays right now. It has nothing to do with any of the blogs I follow but just with life thrashing me about this year so far. It's been rough here and I'm doing the basics and not too much more than that. I'm slowly getting around to all of the blogs I follow and comment bombing them but it's taking me a while.

So sometimes it's nothing to do with you at all. I know I've had other blogger friends go through things now and again and they have to take some time off from commenting. If someone's disappeared from your site that's a regular maybe check in with them. See how they're doing and if everything's okay. Let em know you're thinking about them. That can mean a lot when life is sucking so hard. 

You're not visiting here! 

I love supporting other bloggers. I think it's one of the most important things about being an established blogger and part of the community. Those interactions and friendships are so much fun but not if they're only one sided.

Now. I'm not saying you have to visit every day and comment on every post for me to visit your blog. But if you're visiting once a month or never? And I've put out the effort to visit your blog. Yeah. You're likely going to land on the back burner of blogs I visit or comment on. Which means after all of the other blogs that are interacting with me. I follow 311 blogs (as of this morning). For one thing...It's just logistics. I'm going to visit those who have a relationship with me, who visit my blog now and again, and who return comments on their own blog. They support me and I want to support them, ya know? I might not make it by their blogs every day but I make the effort to come by often and check out what they do. This kind of ties in to the above one as well. Right now I'm ONLY visiting blogs who visit me. I just don't have the time to visit all of them AND then hop around to blogs who haven't visited here in a while.

Difficult Commenting System

There are some blogs that I find interesting or fun and would love to join in on but the commenting system is a freaking nightmare. If I can even FIND the place to leave a comment...I'm out. Same goes for out of the norm commenting systems. The general ones are Blogger, Wordpress, Disqus and CommentLuv. Once you start getting past those it's hit or miss if I'm going to even attempt. Some just make it too difficult. Wordpress--even though it's a common one--is also one that I'll likely not visit as often as I'd like to because it is so incredibly hard for me to comment on. Without fail I have to leave the same comment 2-5 times because of WP glitching, giving me an error, telling me something is invalid,etc. And yes I have a WP account so it's not that. It just doesn't like me. A while back a handful of bloggers I followed jumped to WP and I fell off with most of them unless they installed Disqus or CommentLuv just because it was more frustrating than fun to visit them and when I'm trying to hit all of the blogs I follow I just don't have time to spend trying again and again and again to leave a comment :/ It starts reminding me of passwords and the you must have one capital letter and one special character and you can't have two of the same letter or consecutive numbers or on and on and I'm just not putting in that effort most days. Sorry!

Too Many Posts.

Okay this one might sound weird to some people but it's true for me. I panic a little. If there are too many daily posts it gets overwhelming for me and I'm more likely to just X them all out instead of picking one or two to visit. I know that may sound weird but it's just too much for me. And I'm talking 12-20 posts a day. That's just. I can't process it for some reason so will just move on to the next blog on my list.

Okay. Adding one more in. Shady behavior/Attitude.

I've also left off on some blogs because they've behaved badly in some way. Just like authors can behave badly...so can bloggers. Plus some that always just seemed to want to pick a fight with me or bitch at me (not with me but at me) over things. I just don't have time for that kind of attitude/behavior. I blog for fun and that's not fun for me.

Alright. So that's my handful of reasons why I might not be visiting a blog.
What keeps YOU from stopping by and commenting on blogs?




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I always enjoy hearing what YOU think so come on and leave a comment. Everyone's welcome :) And feel free to leave comments on old posts. I'll check in on you there too :)

Bloggers don't forget to leave your links!
~Anna

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