Oct 6, 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. Hi all, I’m an aspiring blogger. What I meant by ”an aspiring blogger” is I want to continue doing this for a long time. I want to keep things professional, while at the same time keeping things interesting and entertaining.
    Please check out my page(?):
    http://thewaywardpummel.wordpress.com/
    Any insight, correction, tips or anything of help would be appreciated. After all this is my first time blogging and my first ever post.
    Thanks.

    Like

    1. Hi BABANAFANTASY,

      Do write something about yourself in the About section. Right now it says “This is an example of a page. Unlike posts, which are displayed …” etc. This page is your second chance for the first impression, if the “first” first impression from the posts people read will get them curious enough to see who is writing all this. So it doesn’t look good to have a default meaningless text there.

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      1. Hi, thanks for the reply. I have only noticed the About Section now after your mentioning it. I’ll get to that section right away. It’s was only yesterday that I created an account and my first post; so will take me a while longer to get the hang of things.

        Like

    2. So far, so good 🙂 Try to pick one topic and stick to that for the entire post (I’m curious about the mutism, what is that?). It sounds like you have a lot of topics in mind, so take one at a time. Good luck!

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      1. Indeed, I have lot in mind. As a matter of fact, I’m in the final stages of a new post that’s currently in the creation process.
        You will also get to know more about the selective mutism part and how it had negative effect on my life later on in time. I’m sure that will be an interesting topic.

        Like

  3. Started blogging a few days back.Comments and suggestions are welcome.
    Please tell me more about pressing and using permalinks.
    Enjoy every minute!

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  4. I am really confused about the difference between my self-hosted WordPress blog and this WordPress.com website. When I initially began doing research on how to start a blog, every single article insisted I pay for my own web host and avoid these training-wheeled blog sites.

    Problem is, I am totally lost and don’t know what I’m doing. The information about blogging is overwhelming. Ignorance is my worst enemy, and I don’t feel like the blogs about blogging really care about helping people like me get started.

    Since I paid actual money for my website, I intend to make it work and learn to love it. Why type of resources (and I’m talking ELEMENTARY-level) are out there for me to learn how my website works? I don’t want to add my weblink here because your “rules for comments” or whatever said we can’t put links to our site in our comments.

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    1. I checked out “WordPress for Dummies” from my local library about a month or so ago. There was a couple of chapters on the self-hosted versus the site-hosted.

      I’m not brave enough to go self-hosted for now, but maybe one day. 🙂

      Good luck and have fun!

      Like

    2. If you can drop the paid version I’d suggest switching to a free blog until you know more about what you want from your website. I wouldn’t worry about posting your url. The guidelines talk about “shameless self-promotion” but not asking for help and feedback on your blog, which is what this is all about…kinda hard to give you much more advice unless we can see your site 🙂

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  10. Hey guys ! 🙂 This is my blog :
    http://vandysnape.wordpress.com/

    I have a separate page called ‘Vandy’s book nook’ where I post reviews for most of the books I read. I don’t usually write the reviews as separate blog posts (because I don’t want to turn my blog entirely into a book blog). But I have a feeling that the layout and general appearance of my page ‘Vandy’s book nook’ is not very good. Can you please suggest any changes ? Is it necessary or okay as it is ?

    Thanks 🙂

    Like

      1. Thanks for the suggestion 🙂 That’s why I post only a few reviews in the front page.
        I I went through your blog ! 🙂 I don’t know spanish, so I had to translate the page. Loved your post on mothers day gift ideas. Very thoughtful 🙂

        Like

    1. Keep it simple and tell the truth. If you believe that you have something to share it with the world, do that. Don’t follow others and write what you feel about yourself.

      Have fun! Enjoy the moments!

      Like

  18. Hello! I was just wondering if anyone had any comments or tips on how to get a picture from the original template off and put on your own?

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  21. Hi guys,

    It would be great to get some feedback on this post of mine about my experience of trying to do some sports again:

    Sports doesn’t kill you, but it makes you suffer: My Capoeira Diaries

    What I was going for:
    – easy to read
    – funny
    – not boring
    – not banal

    The things I’m interested in regarding your feedback:
    – Language/sentence structure: is it easy to read or did you “stumble” over some clumsy structures?
    – Is the length ok or did you get bored by the end?
    – Was it interesting enough for you to voluntarily read the second part of it?
    – What do you think of an idea to post the same story in two languages?

    Thanks a lot in advance for your time.
    Now I’ll go and read some posts of yours to return the favor 🙂

    Gill

    Like

  23. I know the frog reference is related to a fairytale and turning a frog to a prince. My question is. What do you call the female version of the frogs you have written about. Seem i have met all your frogs gender opposites. the one exception is the girl that is gay. all the rest are spot on. With the girl having a car with boom boom music and huge rims on the car instead of it being britney spares and other girly music she had country music and hardcore rock, and even some rap music too. She scared to poop out of me. I was afraid to break up with her even after i found out she had a boyfriend good thing we never slept or maybe i would have caught something.

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  25. I am fairly a new blogger and want to know if I am on the right path? I feel as though you may not get much of me and would like to get some feedback as to things I may or may not be doing correctly? I am also trying to understand SEO? Let me know your thoughts…. Thanks.

    Like

    1. I really enjoyed the visuals you used. If I had to offer a suggestion I would say if your going to have a poll try to leave out the number of people that have voted. If you can and stay with just percentages so it appears as though the activity is more.

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  29. Hi to all seeking feedback bloggers, those of you who posted in this section already and those of you to come,

    I looked into several blogs that were referenced here already and would like to give a general feedback that happens to be common for all of them, and I’m sure will be relevant for some other blogs as well.

    I’m sure most of you heard of Freshly Pressed. For those who haven’t: WordPress people manually select the posts they think are the best, mark them as “freshly pressed”, and post links to these posts at places where everybody could see them. That guaranties you hundreds and hundreds of readers and lots and lots of followers. Dou you know what one of the criteria they use to select a post is? Proper grammar. And WordPress people know what they are doing (see the full list of the criteria here: https://wordpress.com/support/freshly-pressed/)

    I’m sure that they are not too strict on it, but if you have no idea how to use quotation marks (hint: if you use quotation marks only to stress the meaning of the word you fail), where to put your commas, which words should or shouldn’t be capitalized, etc., there is no chance you are getting there. Also, there is also little chance somebody else would read things you write on regular basis.

    So first of all, get your basics straight, people. You might be taking a reader on a journey through a breathtaking landscape, but if the road is bumpy and full of holes, your reader will get off the bus before reaching the destination and will never come back again.

    Hope it helps. Good luck to us all.
    Take care,

    Gill

    Like