Jan 19, 2014 / 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. Zero to Hero folks, head to today’s forum thread to chat about the assignment, but feel free to seek other feedback here!

  • 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. Thanks for following! To spraff is just to talk needlessly for a long time on anything/nothing. Seemed suitable for me 😛

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  4. Good afternoon all 🙂 have enjoyed reading some of your blogs, and thought I’d share mine. I’ve not had it long, but it’s growing all the time 🙂 it will be a place for my short stories, and blogging about the experience of completing the first draft of a book idea I’ve had for many years.

    Any feedback is appreciated! Cheers 🙂

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    1. I really enjoyed reading this! Your style of writing is perfect to me. It’s conversational, and flows well. It’s kinda weird that you started with Buffy, I’ve literally just started watching it tonight (I’m on episode 3 on Netflix right now). I look forward to reading more from you 🙂

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    2. I like it. My only thing is you should probably find an actual blog title. ‘suzie81’s blog’ tells me nothing and does not draw me in. For example, I have a blog called ‘A Cavalcade of Literature’ – even if you don’t know what cavalcade means, you know there is a focus on literature. Or, another blogger, ‘Opinionated Man’ – it’s a man who is very opinionated. Suzie81 has a blog. So what? It also doesn’t need to make sense to be decent as a title. I have another blog ‘The Paradoxical Paradigm’ – it only makes sense if you know the words and you’ve been on my blog, but people seem to think it’s clever. Yeah? Yeah.

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      2. Great article. =] You still haven’t been able to come up with a title yet? What’s is your blog generally about? You could think of calling it something simple like ‘Suzie’s Notebook’ – since you said you had a ton of notebooks. Or something. If you have enough readers, you could ask them to try and put a title to your blog, too. =] Or do you just have enough followers where you feel it’s too late to change it?

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  6. Hi fellow bloggers would love feedback on my layout, theme & logo. I am a newbie. Also anyone familiar with Avid can i get my widgets to appear on my FRONT page? The only visibility options i see are for other pages thanks!

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  8. Hi Everybody,
    Just started yesterday, having company over today so I cannot spend as much time looking at all your posts as I would like, but what a great idea this is! I have posted a couple of recipes, but I won’t share until I have the time to look at other blogs as well.

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    1. Hey, the recipes look interesting, but they’re really hard to read! The font, especially the italic one, just gets completely lost in the background.

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  9. Hi everyone,
    I asked for feedback on my blog previously, but I got some contradictory comments. I wanted to know if my theme is a little too much. One commenter said it is a little dark, but another said it is original. What do you think? Is it too dark for the type of content I write?

    My blog is http://theauthorwhoknows.wordpress.com/

    More than anything, I wonder if it’s a mismatch for the topics.

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      1. Thanks for the feedback. I will keep it in mind as I look for a more appropriate theme (maybe lighter blue?)

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    2. I like it. There’s this foggy city image and then the first post if ‘Married, young, and having fun’. It actually made me laugh. In a good way. I think it’s lovely.

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      1. Hello. Thank you for the feedback. The city image is actually part of the cover for a short story I published on Kindle. I am thinking that maybe the color scheme is the main problem. I wonder if there’s a way to just lighten the colors a bit…? I’m still learning about this whole blogging thing, and I really do like the layout of the theme, but I’ve gotten a few suggestions that it might be a mismatch.

        Thanks again.

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  10. Wondering if I should give my posts a little more structure… At this point they’re just word vomit since I’m posting every day of 2014 and am already pretty busy so I just whip something up. Not sure if it’s coherent enough for the masses though.
    If you guys could read a couple posts and give me feedback that would be amazing!!

    http://notakarentheworld.wordpress.com/

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    1. Hi! I have to say, for me, structure is important. It helps with the overall flow of an article and if I have to focus too much to try and work out what the writer is saying, I often lose interest. Having said that, your posts seemed fine (in my humble opinion!) structure wise. The ‘snail mail’ entry was funny (Olivia’s cat) and I think you had one on blood? It was quite interesting. 🙂

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      1. Thank you so much for reading and for your kind words. I’ve only ever written for myself before, starting a blog feels a lot like the transition from singing in the shower to singing to actual people ♥

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    1. I like it. My only thing is, looking through your comments, it doesn’t appear you reply to everyone. I don’t know why that is, but you should look to fixing that. It’s important you reply to everyone, even if you have nothing to add. Yeah? Yeah.

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    1. I love the line at the top of the page “Be yourself; everyone else is taken.” =] Your blog looks very nice, and you have a nice engaging voice. It’s nice and inspirational. Nice blog!

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  16. I am extremely new to blogging in the last 5 weeks. I would love opinions on how my blog is laid out, is it user friendly? Because I am so new I am trying to gain a group of followers (isn’t that what we all want?) Last night I posted about blogging and friends and that was fun. But I would really like to know what people think of my layout in general. I’m thinking about changing it from people seeing the “about” section first to posting the latest blogs on the front page. I noticed most people are doing this and I’m wondering if it isn’t to grab the readers attention? Any feedback would be awesome! confessionsofanailtech.com

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    1. First off, love your blog name, it definitely made me want to read it. I think you may be right about changing the home page to your most recent post. I just did the opposite, but liked your reasoning so I may change mine back now! I loved the photographs, but wondered if you could make them larger.
      ~Catie (www.theapproximateyogi.com)

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      1. I tried to make them larger and that was the largest it would come out. I’ll work in it a little more. 🙂 also I need to figure out how to change my front page with the most recent posts. I think it’ll attract more readers.

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      3. looks like you’ve found it again. It can be pretty frustrating when you’re learning all the ins and outs of wordpress, but then it gets easier. Then you find more frustrating stuff to learn 😉

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  17. Hi all! This is a design question. I would like to add a lable (link) across the top next to the “home” and “about” link. I use the Adelle theme and have been unable to figure out how to add the new page to the new lable. I’ve added the page and added the heading, but when I clicked on the new lable it said there was nothing on the page. I deleted everything and would appreciate help on how to add a page with a specific location.
    Thanks! Cindy

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  20. Wanted to know what y’all thought of my theme, and how well it fits in regards to the content (I previously had the Adelle theme but it didn’t really fit my content very well). Thanks!

    pleasexcusemyvagina.wordpress.com

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  21. Is there anyone out there who would like to use up one of their precious spare 5 minutes on a Sunday and read my lifestyle blog! I do hope so, as I would love some……dare I say feedback! I am struggling with knowing how to get my blog ‘out there’. So any little tips would be loved by me. Thank you in advance.

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    2. Sometimes I wonder this too. I’ve found that subheadings/subtitles can be a nice way to break up longer pieces. Lovely blog 🙂

      ~Catie (www.theapproximateyogi.com)

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  24. Hey everyone, I’d like some feedback on my most recent post and if you have the time, can you browse some of the older content and let know what you think please?

    http://vernetteoutloud.wordpress.com

    I would like to do a post a day for 2014 and I’ve tried mixing things up so far.

    Please let me know if I am on the right track.

    Thanks in advance.

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    1. Hi! First things first, I love the name: ‘Nukes of Knowledge,’ quite to the point. Your layout is indeed very simple, I suppose it could be described a ‘newspaper-esque.’ I watched the purgatory video and started watching the God’s creatures one: it made me burst out laughing at one point. Overall, really liked what I saw on your profile!

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      2. Hi Nukes! Thank you for the comments and the reading suggestions. I shall get on to them quite soon. Its good to know there are fellow camino enthusiasts out there haha. Thanks very much for the repost too. I want to finish the video on God’s creatures, so I’ll link your pagefor others to visit too 🙂

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      3. You’re quite welcome, Nukes! Thank you for the reading material too and the repost. We are all trying to build our readership and viewership so it was very kind of you. I shall read those links soon, plus I also want to finish watching the video on your site, so I’ll share that too 🙂

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  26. Hi all, happy Sunday!
    I’m pretty new to blogging, only got ten posts thus far, and would really appreciate some feedback on it if anyone has the time to have a read. Especially would appreciate advice on whether my posts are an okay length!
    Thanks in advance!
    Anna

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    2. Hi, I’ve had a good read. I like the blog, and you have some lovely photos. I appreciated the trip to all my favourite London haunts. I think the length of your posts is just fine.
      If you don’t mind the suggestion your gorgeous little dog could also have some Cirneco dell’Etna in him, he is Italian, and really reminds me of a Pondeco, which are their Canary Islands cousins.

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      1. Hi, thanks so much for your comment and for taking a look. I really have no idea what Billy is, but I will certainly be googling that breed! Would be so good to have a better idea of his heritage!

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      2. Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated!
        I googled Cirneco dell’Etna and I think you may be right! He definitely has the giant expressive ears! Nice to finally track down some of his heritage!

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      1. thanks for your feedback! 🙂 I thought your blog was fine! Maybe split each paragraph into smaller ones, that tends to make people really read and not just skim the posts!

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  28. Hey folks. I’m a guy from London and I’ve pretty much just started blogging. Basically my blog is called ‘life law and other things’ http://lifelawandotherthings.wordpress.com/?ref=spelling and every week (I’m getting there!) I try to publish a new blog relating to either LIFE (I have a passion for motivational/inspirational speaking, LAW (Human Rights related) and whatever other things I can thing of (Hence the’other things’ section.

    Would really appreciate some general feedback and tips to improve.

    Cheers!

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    1. Hi, had a look at your blog. This is just my opinion and it could be they I’m just a nosey person, but when I read a new blog I click on the about to see who is writing, I’m not looking for in depth just a bit like where are you from, who you are. This helps me put post opinions in perspective. It also makes me feel like I’m listening to a friend tell the story. Another thing I’ve heard is a good idea ( though I don’t always subscribe to the practice lol) is to include photos . Welcome to blogging hope you enjoy it 🙂

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  30. Hi, I was just wondering for future reference, how do I activate the pingback feature on the daily prompts so I can write a blog and link it to the prompt post? I don’t wan’t to sound a fool but I’ve had a look and can’t seem to figure it out.

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    2. In the edit settings of post , there is a small icon of link you have to select a word from your post , then click on that link . Just recently daily prompt had a tutorial of linking .

      Like