Apr 7, 2013 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Community Pool

The Community Pool is for those of you looking for input, whether on post ideas, writing, blog design and layout, or anything else. If you have a post, page, or idea you want to bounce off someone, leave a comment. Your fellow bloggers can then click through and offer input either on your site, or in the comments here (feel free to indicate which you’d prefer).

Read on for the ground rules and to leave a comment . . .

  • You’ll get the best feedback if you can be as specific as possible about what you’d like people to respond to or where you’re struggling.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. We’re here to help and support one another, not to beat anyone down.
  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
  • To keep from losing your place in the comment thread while you visit others’ blogs, right-click on a link to open it in a new tab or window.
  • No running on the deck.

Photo by t_a_i_s.

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  1. Hello all. I’ve been blogging for year and while my technical abilities are lacking (learning when I can) I’m curious as to what others think about my writing style and content. After reading a few posts, what do you come away with? Do you feel inspired, want to learn more or are you pulled to click the ‘follow’ button – and if not, why? thank you in advance.

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    1. What is the name of your blog ?
      Tried to connect to your blog through your gravatar, but it looks like you don’t include your blog on your gravatar settings.

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  2. If anyone has a little time on their hands i would really appreciate some comparative comments – i have a blog called Irresistibly Fish here [http://brettfish.wordpress.com] which some people gave feedback on – it is very much in my own style which means not many capital letters or much punctuation and with many made up or redesigned words [bending the english language to suit my will] and a lot of people commented on how that can be distractionary etc… but i like it and it’s my style and i’m going to keep on with the audience i have…

    BUT I have now created a secondary blog http://mashandpeace.wordpress.com where I have a set post on each day [Monday is humour, Tuesday is news-related, Wed is relationship, Thursday is spiritual enrichment and Friday is my day for whatever] and I am trying to use capital letters and the ‘right’ punctuation and traditional words and so on… hoping to capture a different audience and give people the opportunity to log in for the stuff they want to see [so not necessarily get everyone for everything]

    If you can take a look at the two and give feedback, particularly on my new one, I would muchly [see!] appreciate that!

    Thankx.
    Brett Fish [@brettfisha]

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    1. Brett – I took a look at your new blog (I already like your first one) and I like what I see. I like the different theme per day thing. I also like the layout. Nice looking blog. Thanks for sharing at Community Pool.
      If you have a chance, could you check out mine? I posted my question four comments below (too lazy to post here again). Thanks!

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  4. My brother suggested I might like this web site. He was entirely right.
    This post actually made my day. You can not imagine just how much time
    I had spent for this information! Thanks!

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    1. Interesting. I can see how being able to post via your phone is easy but I am not sure I like listening to a blog. Listening to the Word of God is great but I think I prefer to read the written word when reading a blog.

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  7. Hi Everyone! I started my blog a couple months ago. So far I have mainly done photo challenges and daily prompts with a couple posts in between. I would say that my blog is set up to really feature my photography along with short sharings.
    I have decided to share stories about my mom to help me better relate to her. Should I start a new blog? Is there a theme where I can keep stories about my mom separate from the main body of my blog?
    I started a post here http://mithriluna.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/becoming-a-better-mom-by-loving-my-own-mom-intro/
    But I am not sure it fits in with the rest of my blog. Can anyone critic and help me? Any and all advice are appreciated!
    Thanks!

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    1. hey there – thankx for commenting on my blog, appreciate it – just took a look around yours and there is some good stuff – i would say in answer to your question there are three ways you can go and i don’t know that any of them are crazily better than the others – the one is to start a separate blog that is specifically aimed at the stuff you are wanting to write about your mom [does she have access to your blog cos that is something to consider when you are making those thoughts public] – my gut says this might be a good idea if your posts are going to be so much different from the rest of your blog… the second is to create a tab for it at the top like i have for Taboo topics and The bible on mine and so every time you write a mom post you create a link and stick it in there so if anyone is specifically interested in those posts they have easy acess – and the third idea is just to keep on as you’re doing – bottom line is the blog is yours so do what you want – my IF blog is a little all over the place [by choice] and so it feels like those posts would more naturally fit in there whereas yours in at the moment more focused on the photos and so something separate or different might be a more natural fit – hope that helps, but keep on cos you have a good thing going and people are interacting which is great.

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      1. Brett – Thank you so much for taking the time to check out my blog and for your valuable input. I’m still not sure what to do but at least I know there are several options available. Thanks again!

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  8. Greetings fellow bloggers! I’d like to submit a question to you!

    My reflex is to always justify my posts instead of aligning them to the left or centering them. It’s what I’ve done for papers for the last 6 years, and frankly I find it hard to break out of the habit. It even annoys my eye when text is aligned to the left and not justified.

    But I get the impression most people find justified text to look too dense, and that it can discourage them from reading. I am going to test my theory and start aligning to the left, but I’d really like to know what you think of this.

    Is justified text too heavy on the eye? Do you prefer text that is justified or aligned to the left?

    Thanks for letting me know and cheers!

    http://thegeekanthropologist.com/

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    1. I prefer justified text. Just looks neater, but I have a touch of OCD (or CDO, to properly order the letters). I like your blog layout, especially the cartoon characters on the side.

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  9. Hi All, I write on two different blogs, but the latest one I’ve just started is here: letsgetcrowded.com. Would love some feedback on both the concept (to write a crowdsourced book about crowdsourcing) and the theme (I keep changing it around, not sure which one I like)

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  11. Now open http://www.rainbow-photography.net I am happy with it but would like ya’ll to read the front page and let me know what ya’ll think as an introduction. I am going to be adding photography exercises to help your undstanding of photography, including the use of software and using filters. Thank you 😀

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    1. OMG…I loved the intro… Beautiful narration….
      I can visualize the images in my mind… Sort of like a video… A short video…(And narrated by none other than Morgan Freeman) 😀
      But one thing that I have to say is the colour of the phrase ‘A moment in time’ is too light… somewhat disturbing the eye(especially when u concentrate on it when the page scrolls)…M having a slight pain right now…It’d be better if it wer the same colour of that of the other phrase ‘or my photograohy’….

      Also, i’ve an intrest in photography…(I only have a normal point and shoot though…)
      I’ve bookmarked your site… Hope it will be helpful for me…

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  13. This is a general question that I hope someone can answer. How do I have “likes” on a post, when it looks like no one has even visited it yet? And are visitors the people who go to my blog? Or are they non-subscribers who “visit” the blog? Someone explain my stats for me please!

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    1. Hi! I’m not sure how your stats can show no visitors if you have likes… In your statistics, visitors are the people who visit the blog (deep blue) while views are the number of pages or posts these visitors viewed (light blue). If you see a difference between the colors, this indicates the proportion of visitors who stuck around to see more of your blog after ending up there. I think visitors include your subscribers, but of course if I get this wrong anyone may feel free to correct me!

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