Oct 2, 2013 / News

Have a question? Ask an editor!

Posts here on The Daily Post run the gamut from widgets to photography to social networking to grammar: anything and everything that might boost your blogging prowess. We’ve got lots more ideas up our sleeves, but we thought we’d check in with you — what questions do you have?

We’ve got a talented group of bloggers contributing to The Daily Post, and we want to know how we can support you to reach your blogging goals. Do you want to learn more about customizing themes? Interested in pet photography tips? Trying to figure out if you need a Tumblr in addition to your blog? Want to explore different poetic forms?

Ask away! If we don’t know, we’ll track down someone who does — we’ve got friends in bloggy places.

We’re not going to be answering questions in the comments, but we will compile all your requests and use your needs to shape our calendar in the coming months. We’d ask that you keep your questions blog-related — either design, administration, or content — although between us, we’re also competent to answer questions about 18th-century French literature, Canadian Football League rules, drum n’ bass music, rabbit husbandry, gelato, and high-altitude mountaineering lore.

Help us help you! Tell us what you’d like to learn about in the comments below.

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  1. Do you know if I were to purchase the WordPress.com Premium package for $99/yr., would I get access to all the premium themes or does it only include the custom design upgrade?

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  2. When I publish a post sometimes it gives me the opportunity to also publish to my Facebook timeline. I would like to have all my posts show on Facebook but I cannot find where I do that if it doesn’t ask me when I first publish a new post.

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      2. @Trina
        You have two options:
        1.Clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the emails you receive to unsubscribe.

        2.Visiting the blog you subscribed to and clicking the follow link again to unsubscribe ie. unfollow.

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  4. Some of my posts are seasonal, such as for hay fever or tornado seasons, and I like to re-post them. Which is better for the search engines and robots–to redo the post entirely and thereby making two posts on the same topic with different wording, to re-post it by changing the date to move it forward, or to re-blog it, using the re-blog button?
    Thanks!

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    1. @Katharine Trauger
      Neither one id the best SEO choice. Create a new post and include new and relevant updated information in it and then backlink to your earlier post in it.

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    1. @rache1renee
      You got to the support documentation and type delete site into the searchbox and follow the instructions provided there.

      You must be logged in under the exact same username account that registered a blog to delete the blog. To prevent accidental or inadvertent deletion of blogs, there are multiple warnings given that blog deletion is permanent and irreversible. Lastly, a verification link is sent in an email and must be clicked to delete a blog. If clicking that link does not work then copy and paste it into your upper browser window and click.
      https://wordpress.com/support/delete-site/

      Deleted blog URLs are not recycled, regardless of who registered and deleted them and no exceptions are made. It’s always good to have private blog for testing themes and widgets. etc in. So I recommend not deleting the blog but changing the visibility to private instead. To change blog visibility go to > Settings > Reading.

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  6. Sorry but I’m fairly new to WordPress. I’m just wondering about my Avatar. Sometimes it shows as a pink geometric type shape and other times my gravatar photo thumbnail will show. There have even been times when it showed a completely different avatar altogether. How can I make it consitently show just my photo thumbnail and then link back to my wrodpress site?

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    1. @KidazzleInk
      The pink image is an indenticon not a Gravatar. Gravatars do not show up instantly after uploading them. Gravatar images are cached and frequently take several days to display after a change. Do not keep uploading! Login and delete all earlier images from your Gravatar account. Then wait patiently for the last remaining image ie. the one you want to appear to display.

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    1. No! Don’t follow everyone. Be selective. Otherwise, you end up Liking things you actually don’t think much of – and spending all your time reading other people’s stuff. Pick blogs you really enjoy, for whatever reason, and support them. The alternative is a shallow numbers game. Alienora

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  10. If a blog’s content is composed mainly of images, what’s the best way to entice existing wordpress.com followers to visit and browse instead of simply viewing posts via wordpress.com’s reader? I have just started, and am happy with my growing number of followers, but I have noticed that ‘likes’ often outnumber visitors and visits. I presume this means that the likes are coming from posts seen in the reader.

    I’d like my blog to feel more like a gallery than an update, but it seems that even slightly old posts are unlikely to be seen. I understand that the nature of a blog favors the timely, but I would like to minimize that to some degree.

    I would love it if you would post in the future about turning “views in the reader” into visits, and about image-based blogs in general. Of course, I am appreciative of views and likes via the reader–I don’t want to look that gift horse in the mouth.

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    1. @Mr. Gentleduck

      If you provide full posts and sharing links in your Feed URL then there is no motivation to click into the blog, view the post and create a page view stat.

      Likes and shares and reblogs are not page views.In fact, likes, shares and reblogs are completely misleading when you are talking about page view stats.

      Your followers and anyone with a WordPress.com blog who is logged into WordPress.com can “like”, “share” and “reblog” your posts in several locations such as the Reader, without ever clicking into your blog and creating a single page view stat. Visitors using a mobile can read the full post without creating a page view stat.

      You can control the length of the entry sent out on your RSS feed here > Settings > Reading. Choose the “summary” setting for your RSS feed rather than to “full text”. That will compel followers who are not using mobiles to click into the blog to read the full post which will create a page view stat. (Note that setting the RSS Feed to summary does not affect the length of the post displayed on the front page or main page for posts on the blog.)

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      1. Thanks Timethief, I appreciate the reply. You do a great service on this site as I’ve already seen from my short time here.

        I checked and see that I did already have ‘reading’ set to show only the summary. Most or all of my 15-posts-so-far have only a few words. In the reader-view for my posts, it typically shows an image or a gallery, and then either all or most of my text. Since an image (featured) is the post, and the post is an image, the reader-view is essentially showing the post.

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  11. @Staff
    I had some hesitation when it came to clicking the like button on this post. The reason for that is that the majority of the questions asked here are answered in support documentation and have been answered zillions of times in the support forums. My concern is that new bloggers posting here are not using the links to the support docs and to the support forums found on the bottom of their Admin pages in their blogs.

    So my request is that what you please publish future articles aimed at teaching new bloggers how to use the search functions here at WordPress.com. My second request is that Staff acknowledge the fact that there are very good WordPress.com blogging tips blogs that predate this one and that they are kept by Volunteers who have freely provided support for many years in the support forums – please send them to us there and we will teach them how to fish.

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    1. @alema0795

      This is a common question posed by bloggers who do not understand that they must go to the relevant theme description page and read what they find there. There will be options and instructions they find there to set the theme up the way they want it to display.

      See here http://theme.wordpress.com/themes/vintage-camera/
      Note the featured image support in the Vintage Camera theme is different than in other themes. It is only used if the Post Format Type is set to Image. If the post type is set to “Standard” it will not be shown.

      If you have additional questions on this theme post to the support forums for help.

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    1. @elleestbelleavecdumiel
      What do you see using this search syntax site:buddhawalksintoabar.wordpress.com when you type it into Google and click the search link?

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      1. This is very interesting. Now it’s number 2 hit using the search syntax you provided me! but then I realized that when I tell people to search for my blog they must be entering “Buddha walks into a bar” and “Wordpress” with all the spaces in between the first term as opposed to all one word. Should that make a difference? I guess it does!

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  15. Hi. I’m from Nigeria and I’ve tried to get my on domain, but I can’t complete this operation because:
    a) I use a debit card
    b) You only have credit card listings
    c) Nigeria isn’t listed under the list of countries in ‘Payment method’

    Please reply asap, because I’m working with a deadline to register the domain name.
    Thanks!

    Like

    1. @High Street Muslimah

      WordPress.com uses PayPal as their payment processor, and as such, can only accept payment from countries they support: https://www.paypal.com/worldwide/

      If PayPal have chosen to block payment from your country, so you will not be able to purchase an upgrade here unless you have a source of payment outside of your country.

      Nigeria is NOT a supported country.

      In addition to major credit cards Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Discover, and PayPal WordPress.com can accept echecks and some debit cards.

      The debit card must have a VISA or Mastercard symbol on it, and should work just like a credit card when selecting the VISA or Mastercard option on the payment form, even though it’s a debit card.

      More about echecks can be found in the PayPal help center.

      NOTE: Bitcoin cannot be used for third party purchase of domains or themes.

      Like

  16. Hi. Iam new on wp n startd a private blog for my own poetry. I hav seen on a particular poetry WEBSITE (NOT Blog) that they made all d difficult words in d publishd poems, CLICKABLE, so that wen i clik on any such word, its meaning pop-out. I was wondering if there’s any such facility available for free wp-bloggers, where we can manually write d meanings,etc. n make it popout just by clickin d word.

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    1. @Sandeep “BASHAR”
      In the editor when composing a post look immediately below the editor box for “Recommended Links” and you will see that you can click to have linked terms with definitions from wikipedia. Is that what you are looking for?

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      1. No ma’am..I actualy write urdu poetry, n its traditional words r not as common n easily available online as general english vocabulary..Hence, i intend to create a clickable glossary (manualy) wid such words, n i know dat an alternative cud to create a separate page wid a table of words n meanings, wich cud b utilised wid d search widget, but dats not wat i want…Infact i discoverd via google dat wordpress.org has few plugins/widgets for creating such linkable pop-out glossary, but after searchin wp.com support, cudnt find any such facility available so far…if it does, pls guide. Thanx.

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  18. Is there any way to get a URL if the blog is inactive? I want to change to “sistersbydesign” but it exists but is not used at all..like zero posts and looks like it hasn’t been accessed since 2010.

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    1. @chelseadiemer
      There is no expiration date on blogs unused, reserved or otherwise. If you can make contact on your own with the owner of an unused blog via a contact form or by commenting and getting a response, then providing the blog owner is agreeable there is a means of a consenting blog owner to transfer the blog to another username account. https://wordpress.com/support/moving-a-blog/#transferring-your-blog-to-another-user-or-account

      In the case that there is no contact information Staff will not breach the privacy policy and provide you with an email address.

      If you are not successful, you can register another blog with a similar name.

      Or you can register a domain via a domain mapping upgrade and it will not matter what the underlying .wordpress.com address is.

      Bottom line: if you are serious about blogging over the long term I recommend that you purchase your own domain name via a domain mapping upgrade.

      Like

  19. Dear WP or any other qualified answerer!

    My partner and I would like to register a new domain name via WP and this name is available because a previous user of the domain name deleted the site. Why are we experiencing problems with securing this particular name since it is really available? Can someone lift whatever hold that is on it to release it to us?

    Like

    1. @christiandancer
      You are experiencing exactly what is clearly stated in the support documentation. You cannot recover or register any deleted blog URL because deleted blog URLs are not recycled, regardless of who registered and deleted them and no exceptions are made.
      https://wordpress.com/support/recycling-blog-names/

      You can register another .wordpress.com blog. Then if you wish to you can register a domain via a domain mapping upgrade because it does not matter what the underlying .wordpress.com address is when you are domain mapping.

      Like

  20. Hi, I’m new to blogging and need some advice on share settings. I’ve just added twitter, tumblr and Pinterest but am not signed up with them. In the sharing setting it says I need a twitter users name… Also when I google my blog the likes icon on my posts say ‘still loading’. Please help.

    Like

    1. Hi. You don’t need a Twitter username to have a share button to Twitter. All that does is when someone shares your post to Twitter their tweet will say “via @username”, so you’ll get a notification in Twitter that someone mentioned you. If you don’t insert a Twitter username it just doesn’t show that.

      Like

  21. Just wanna make a suggestion.

    Another blog-hosting site is holding a National Blog Month contest. Honestly, I don’t want to sign up on another site. I’m very happy with WordPress so maybe WordPress can host a similar contest. 😀

    Like

    1. Gosh I sure hope that never happens here. I consider all such contests that one can enter their own blog into and then have friends vote for it on some sponsoring site to be trashy. This is why.

      The sponsoring site gets all the traffic from the voters and is usually a pay per post site or one festooned with ads to click so they profit.

      The blogs that “win” are won by those bloggers who have the largest army of friends going to the sponsoring site and clicking buttons to vote for the blog.

      As the quality of the content means nothing in any popularity contest I find them all contests to be an insult to my intelligence.

      Like

  22. Hi, I would be interested to know how to create a newsletter. I have read that you have to create a new blog but i could do with more details. Also I would be interested to learn how to make part of the blog only accessible to people registered to the newsletter. Thanks!

    Like

  23. Once we have purchased a domain name, is it possible to change it to something else? Also, how can we increase the amount of space that pictures take up on our page. We already add them at the largest size possible.

    Like

    1. @lawanderlust
      Those are both support forum questions. https://wordpress.com/forums/?new=1

      1. Yes with Staff help.

      2. You cannot expect to be able to upload and display create images that are larger than the maximum displayed image width on any theme. Moreover, most people do not have monitors the size of drive-in movie screens anyway.

      This is the size of the images you are uploading 3,264px × 2,448px (scaled to 744px × 558px) Well, Bueno has a maximum displayed image width of 490 pixels. So what you are doing is analogous to parking a Mac Truck and semi-trailer unit in a Vespa parking space.

      Uploading oversize images amounts to wasting your free image (media) storage space, and you will experience image troubleshooting which is a time waster, and the best image quality is not demonstrated when the software has to scrunch scrunch images to make them fit.

      Like

  24. hi everyone.. i got a problem, because i lost my e-mail address, but i remember my username in wordpress. can somebody help me how to remember/find/know my e-mail address? thank you ^_^

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  25. Um is there a way I can change the color of my text when I am posting a blog because the words turn up grey and then i cant see them on my background

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    1. The text-editor toolbar has an icon for text-colour. It’s in the second line of the toolbar. If you only see one line of icons, click the right-most one to unhide the second line.

      Like

  26. Hi,

    I’m interesting in writing tips. I would like to know how to arrange text and pictures in columns, I’ve tried it, whith some html code I found. but it’s not pretty :D! I want to alternate text and picture in column from left to right. thanks for your help.L.

    Like

    1. @LawandJey

      See here please > https://wordpress.com/support/visual-editor/#alignment

      The alignment icons in the WordPress editor are for aligning text; they are not for aligning images. They are used to achieve wrapping text around images on either the right or left hand side, or to display an image that’s centered without text on either side of it.

      Align-left means position left, with the rest of the content wrapping around the right side of the image.

      Align-right means position right, with the rest of the content wrapping around the left side of the image.

      Align-center means position center, with no wrap-around (= the rest of the content below the image).

      If the text beside the images does not occupy the same amount of space that the image beside it does then the text wrapping will continue and the images and text that follow will have a staggered appearance.

      To prevent the staggered effect what you do is insert the following snippet of code into the Text (HTML) editor after each image/text pair:
      “

      Like

    1. Check that you haven’t accidentally hidden the second line of the text-editor toolbar. The right-most icon hides/unhides the second line.

      Like

  28. I have a fatal error appear when i try to log into wordpress admin, i just installed a new plugin..i now cannot log into admin at all. i also cannot log into wordpress at all…I am completely stuck and this is the only way i can contact wordpress…Terrible support services guys.

    Like

    1. On your stats page under followers you can see a list of everyone that follows you. You cannot remove followers, but you can report blogs following you that contain spam or offensive content.

      Like

  30. Hello! I’m having a problem on my blog. Functions have disappeared (can’t underline, use bold, cursive, can’t upload photos)and the whole blog is slow and doesn’t function as it normally does. Can you help me with that?

    Like