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.

Show Comments

277 Comments

Comments are closed.

Close Comments

Comments

  1. Hi guys,

    I’m writing this blog. I initially started it just to let my friends and family read what I’m doing, but each time I post I get about 300 views! So I was just looking on advice of how I could maybe change it a little to keep other people interested to? Let me know your thoughts, thank you.

    http://stefaniaella.wordpress.com/

    Like

  8. Hi I’m Sheer, I am just starting my blog but don’t feel sure about the name. It’s about home decor, food, fashion and beauty- pretty much all the good things in life. Here are a few ideas I would love to hear what you think of these
    Let’s Stay Home
    sheer delight
    Sunshine and roses
    Sunshine and coffee
    If you have any other ideas or feedback I would love to hear. Thanks

    Like

    1. My feedback is only on what you call a public rant; I did not have time to explore the entire site.

      These are highly charged, thought-provoking questions. After reading about five of them I began to wonder if you as the author would answer them in the affirmative, or if you’d had the experience of being on the other end. And then I realized I was ready for answers. I think it might be even more interesting if at some point, probably five or less questions in, you wrote your own experience with these issues.

      I was particularly affected by the first few because I just finished writing a YA novella in which a teenage girl falls in love with her best friend’s boyfriend. The questions got me all fired up. They also suggested that the topic might be of great interest to YA’s of the female persuasion.

      Thank you for allowing me to read this and ramble on about it. At one time in my life, while working as editor for a fun magazine, I was nicknamed “The Editin’ Ho” by a colleague who wrote me a rap song of that title.

      Like

      1. Thank you so much for taking the time out to go through what I had to say. I really appreciate it 🙂

        Well, my reason for not quoting my experiences word to word was because, quite obviously, I didn’t want to point fingers at the people responsible. And yes, a few of them have been personal experiences– I have both received and dished out love and hate equally. Thought provoking, yes– I’m glad I could communicate the attempt to reach into one’s own conscience for answers. I wanted to leave it as an open-ended piece, but yes, I take it that it would’ve been fruitful to display my own answers.

        And it was my pleasure reading your feedback, and I in no way find it rambling on your part.
        When it comes to writing, to me, more is always more!
        Looking forward to the YA novel 😀
        (And might I add that must’ve been quite a catchy tune 😉 )

        Like

    2. I didn’t see a place to comment on your blog, but I’m new to this so maybe it’s just me. I liked it. There was a time when I could have said I had never done any of that, when I could have said it had only been done to me, more times than I can count if I’m honest. Then, you live. What I mean is you just live, you get older and you get caught up in justification, thinking your right, your better, or just caught up in confusion and disorder and it happens. I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t done some of that stuff if they are older than thirty, really at any age because most of us have done it to our parents.
      It sucks to be on the receiving end and it sucks to be on the other side too, believe it or not. It usually means you’re either so insecure or confused it’s blinding. What I have learned is that there are few things if any that are black and white and that has taught me to not to take anything too serious except for love and that word has been pretty messed up by our society so when I say it I don’t mean Hollywood’s version.
      If your the receiver then you will get your turn to be the giver and if your the giver you’ll get your turn to be the receiver and in the end hopefully we’ll learn to be a little softer. Keep expressing yourself! And if you have a minute I’d love for you to check out my blog.

      Like

      1. Oh, I think I know what you meant about the comment box. I’ll set it straight!
        And I understand what you mean by there being a point of time when none of the questions would have had an answer in the affirmative. Nobody’s perfect, nobody can have NOT done something wrong their whole lives, but sometimes, you have to think of others who can suffer because of your actions– most people wouldn’t do that. I myself probably fit into the ‘guilty’ category for a couple of the questions. I’ve been a giver and a taker of shits– almost in quick succession, in my relationships.
        All I was trying trying to get across to people is the fact that you still have a choice… To not hurt someone just because you have it in your power to.
        And yes, it was also a subtle way of pointing it out to those who’ve done me wrong– childish yes, but the ghosts have haunted me long enough. This way I’ve set them free 🙂
        And let’s not get to the love part, because I truly feel that it varies to different degrees from person to person, and generalizing it as something made of rainbows and butterflies is something I don’t believe in.

        Thank you so much for taking the time out to review my post, and I will definitely return the favour.

        Like

      2. Just for clarification, I don’t think your post was childish, I think it was mature and a healthy way to release, “ghosts” as you put it. In my way I was empathizing in both regards. I will also clarify, choice, is a word I think that is relative and maybe I was trying to say that. Sometimes it looks like someone has a choice when they don’t, not if insecurity or ignorance is the heart of it.
        Socrates says no wise man believes men sin willingly. He is considered one of the wisest.
        In the end though, pain sucks and people suck who cause it:) Don’t let me be a pompous ass cause I don’t mean to be. Keep releasing your ghosts because people connect, I connected and it was beautifully and creatively put.

        Like

      3. I value your point, but I still feel choice plays a role in the kind of treatment you dish out to others.
        All the same, yes, pain is an awful thing to feel and those who wish it upon others suck 🙂

        I’ll definitely have a gazzilion ghosts in the future. I just hope they aren’t as evil as the last ones 🙂

        Like

    1. Beautiful post. I think you handled the diverse religious views really well. All in all, the post was concise, interesting, and it got me thinking.

      Like

    1. This is really well written! The beginning was unexpected and I was drawn in immediately. There are a few grammatical errors that were a bit distracting (“nothing really happen [sic] in this neighbourhood”; “He was getting old [sic]each day”) but otherwise a good read.

      Like

  21. i have been doing a little reorganising on my blog in terms of grouping posts together as i have a lot of useful resources and these two on aspects of MARRIAGE [http://brettfish.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/married-people-and-how-to-maybe-do-it-even-better] and PARENTING YOUNG CHILDREN [http://brettfish.wordpress.com/2013/10/05/parents-of-all-shapes-and-sizes/]have proved to be really encouraging and inspiring for a lot of people so feel free to check them out and pass them on if you feel like they are helpful…

    also what i could use some help on is the visual look of my blog as on different devices it seems like my colour scheme becomes difficult to read – is black on white the only way to go or is there a way to have some colour like i have now but without it overwhelming the reader? would love some ideas on this… thank you

    Like

  23. I teach people how-to blog and how-to create websites (not just blogs) and/or how to integrate blogs into their websites. My business was such I myself needed a stand-alone business site (whereas before I just sent prospects to my personal blog CheriSpeak.com).

    The key in a lot of what I teach, is how people can do all or much of this stuff free. So, I created my own site strictly for biz and am looking for some feedback on it here:

    http://www.CheriSpeakMedia.com .

    It is not all of the way complete, but nearly. I still have some info to put in under some of the tabs. Thank you for any time. 🙂

    Like

  27. hi:) im new to wordpress. im just starting my fashion/lifestyle blog. So far i only have one blog to look at, however, i’d love if people would leave me suggestions and let me know what they think! (i know, im changing the design…just something quick)

    Like

    1. I’m not a designer or anything, but I think it would look better if the image/logo you used to tile/skin the blog has a light gray background (behind the black words) instead of white. Right now it’s ‘competing’ with the blog itself.

      Cool start, though. It has an elegant and feminine vibe that really sets the blog’s character.

      Here are some WordPress blogs that I follow that might interest you, both content-wise and design-wise:

      http://buddhachicandbuttercream.com/
      http://lagraphicdesign.wordpress.com/
      http://pradaforbreakfast.wordpress.com/

      ♥

      Like

  28. How Many Emails Can You Process A Day? Can You Process 30 Emails a Day? If You Can. . . You’ll Earn 750.00 Every Day! GUARANTEED! Earn 25.00 For Every Email You Process! You will be Supplied with all of the Information to Send Out You Are Guaranteed To Get Paid Instantly For Each Email You Process! IF YOU DONT MAKE YOUR 25 WITHIN 1 HOUR I WILL GIVE IT BACK TO YOU!! Visit http://www.emailprocessing4cashonline .info

    Like

  29. Hello Michelle, I’m also new to blogging. There is so much to learn!
    Please review my blog, particularly the “Garden” category. When I “customized” yesterday I lost a lot of the widget text, the widgets are very spread out instead of close together. Also, at times the text is narrow and vertical rather than horizontal. I would very much appreciate it if you or someone could check ot out and advise me. Thank you, Kim
    Kimbettencourt.wordpress.com

    Like

    1. Looks like you’re off to a great start. I am always interested in easy, yummy and good for you meals! Please check out my blog and let me know what you think.

      Like

      1. Hi “Family…”

        Wow, well I love the looks of your blog, the dark background and the lighter text. It commands being read.

        I’m sorry that your parents were not capable of being good parents. It saddens me when I hear such stories and I’ve come to realize that it’s more prevalent than one might think.

        Bravo for you for taking the bull by the horns and getting such a good education. Unfortunately, the education you chose may – 1) Help you gain the insight about why your parents were like they were, and – 2) make it more difficult to overcome knowing human nature as well as you must. People are just weird!

        My family is expressive, even when we’re screaming at each other. Due to loss (2 children, another Type of Hell on earth) we rarely hang up the phone or end a conversation without saying I love you. Life is short and we are never guaranteed the next moment. I do hope and pray that your peace is soon to be found.

        I am fortunate enough to have a loving husband. That’s not something I take for granted. But I will tell you this, my favorite nights are still Netflix marathons with pizza!

        Like

      2. Thank you for checking out my blog! I appreciate your comments. I’m so glad you have people to lean on and that you guys don’t take each other for granted!

        Like

      3. Are you kidding? Isn’t that human nature? We do tend to take each other for granted at times but I remember at least three times in my life when I have been faced with the gut wrenching and painful realization that we are not guaranteed tomorrow and that life is oh so brief and fragile. I’m a slow learner but I do learn. I try to always value my family and others. But when I’m feeling slighted especially from my family I just try to fill up my time with doing things that bring me joy, personal joy like gardening, cleaning out closets, ha ha and now blogging! Yes, I’m definitely OCD that way. But I did enjoy your blog I appreciate your reply and I’ll continue to read on, as I’m now a follower of yours. Be well! I apologize for any typos I can barely see this iPhone screen.

        Like