Feb 9, 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 . .

  • 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 again, Sue! Just read your latest article, and I also read that angel one a few days ago, which I agreed with. The latest one gripped me, I started thinking ‘Oh no’ when the guy said you were going to Cuba. Great stuff! Can’t comment on a fluctuating readership, as I’m having trouble with readership myself, but I like your blog. Thanks!

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    1. I have just a couple of suggestions . When I followed your link there was no information at the top immediately visible to the reader. I scrolled all the way down to the bottom and found some about info and archives. You could probably benefit from an ‘About’ PAGE and also a tab link indicating ‘HOME’ so that they were always available …. I don’t think your ‘theme’ has sidebars so your archives can’t go up at all… and without going back I don’t know if you have a ‘follow me’ widget which makes it very visible for people to follow… although you likely have the follow word up at the top… again I forget… Anyway just a couple of my ideas.. Diane

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      2. I went and took a look….what you have as your ‘home’ page should really be changed to ‘about’ Your home page should be the place where your last post shows followed by your previous ones….hope you don’t mind that I mentioned that… btw congratulations on your new little one…. Diane

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      3. Okay. I think I have got it this time! I am not very good with how pages and menu’s and all that work but I think have finally got it all sorted out! Thank you so much for your input and help!

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    1. Some people share all their posts on Facebook, or there is the option of just sharing the one(s) you want to.. For me, I’ve only done one…because for the most part I keep the friends I blog with separate… Not every friend on facebook would be interested in my blogs … and I don’t want to push them … But that’s only one opinion… Hope you enjoy blogging.. Diane

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  7. I’ve been blogging now since Nov. 11. When I first started there was so much to read and learn I didn’t pick up on one thing… and that’s taking photos from the web. I just found them and really didn’t understand copyright and buying them to use for blogs. I thought people only bought for using professionally… Anyway in 2012 I got notified to take down two photos or my blog would be shut down because I infringed on copyright or ?? So I took them down and then still didn’t fully understand so I would give ‘credit’ to where I got the photo. However I found out that’s not enough either so basically I stopped using pictures on my blog unless they were my own OR from a free site which I found but which doesn’t always have the ones I want.

    So my question is … every blog almost that I read uses lots of pictures and most don’t give any credit and I know that they don’t all purchase them so where are they getting them from or are they just not getting called on it… Can anyone enlighten me? My site is http://hometogo232.wordpress.com Diane

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    1. Hi! This is an outstanding question. And, many other people are wondering this too. Copyright law in the US prevents people from posting pictures. Pictures however can be used without violating copyright law if the use falls within one of the law’s exceptions. One such exception would be using the picture for purposes of commenting on that picture itself. The law in this area is very complex and lawyers spend a great deal of time fighting over what is and is not appropriate. Because of the confusing state of the law, bloggers often do 1 of 2 illegal things. 1. They use pictures that they find freely, and most of the time they are not caught. If they are caught, they simply remove the picture and generally do not face liability. 2. They use the pictures, giving credit to the maker, and are in fact unwittingly violating the very same copyright law. Credit does not make infringement legal. So the big name bloggers, sign up with stock photo companies like bigstock (I sometimes use bigstock), or they use free license pictures from websites where downloads are permitted like morguefile.com. But, the biggest bloggers, or the most creative bloggers create their own images, by substantially modifying existing images, so that the original maker cannot claim infringement. I hope this helps!

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      1. That is really helpful…. so since I am not a big name blogger and can’t modify images and don’t really want to infringe…. I guess I will use free ones when I can because when I checked one time about paying for some they were expensive for ‘just me and my small blog’ …. can you tell me one more thing …if I use one from the many sources that are on facebook is that also infringement since they don’t ask for payment?In any case thank you very much for explaining to me….Diane

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      2. No problem. Absolutely you can modify images, regardless of your status as large or small. The large blogs tend to come up with their own images more often, is all I intended to say. Sorry about that ambiguity. I modify and create images for my blog with photoshop and Apple’s Motion 5. I unfortunately am not sure about the facebook sources as I am not familiar with those. Should you need additional guidance, please feel free to pass me an email. Here is my contact URL from my site: http://audiencewatch.me/contact/ I’ll also check this thread, though I know it will close soon. Have a great Tuesday.

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  8. Hello all, like everyone I’m looking for a bit of feedback. Just posting this before I go visiting some of the other blogs around here 🙂 if you could tell me specifically if you like the homepage, the about page, and if the subjects are interesting. Thank you in advance!

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      2. I’m sorry.. I did say I took a quick look.. I guess because they were photos representing your posts..I didn’t immediately get that..I suppose I just haven’t seen that before…… The only other thing was I wondered about putting the widgets that you have on your post pages…. on your home page as well for easy reference if people end up on your home page?? but that’s just a question.. You may want to keep your home page just with your photos… Sorry for the confusion. of my remark..Diane

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      3. No, it’s grand, don’t worry, I appreciate you taking the time to point it out to me. It is good to know that you didn’t realise the pictures were the articles! I may look at changing to a different skin so others aren’t confused! 🙂 I shall look at putting my widgets in too! I’ll pop over to your blog to read soon. Thank you again 🙂

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  9. Hi everyone! For the Olympics my family cooks a different meal from a different country every night. I’ve been showing off what we’ve been making on my blog. Some people have requested the recipes directly onto the blog, but I have been linking them. What do you think? Just wondering if it’d be too overwhelming to have a huge recipe splat in the center of a blog post.

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  10. Hey! I’m really new to WordPress. I’m just looking for someone to read or look over my blog and give my any tips. I don’t know much about formatting or how to write, blog or post successfully so I’m sure any small comment would help. I appreciate the feedback!

    http://katehobson.wordpress.com

    Thanks
    xx Kate

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    1. Hi… just a couple of thoughts or observations… I did a similar thing when I started blogging… I tended to make them a bit too long. If there is really a lot to say…sometimes it’s better to make two posts… eg. Title …part 1 and then same Title part 2 .. Sometimes I do long posts but I warn the reader ahead of time that it is a bit long …. One other thing is the writing area seems rather small but that’s likely the theme and you can’t change that. Maybe that’s why the post seemed long and maybe isn’t … the background is a bit strong….again You put what you like not what others do…. just making an observation… and I would say that some side widgets where they are more readily seen at the sides rather than all at the bottom might be considered… And maybe your first post.. (I think it was your first??) where you talk about why you started blogging etc… could be a separate ‘ABOUT PAGE” Just remember you do what YOU want and not others as you’re writing primarily for yourself and then others… So ignore everything I said if you like what you see…. Diane …

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you! I appreciate you looking at the blog and all the feedback. I am definitely having some formatting issues, but I also tend to go for strong backgrounds, etc. I definitely think making shorter posts is a good idea! What do you mean by the “side widgets” (I’m very new to word press and all of it’s lingo). Thanks again for your feedback Diane!!!

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      2. Hi… Widgets are information for the reader …some of which are at the bottom of your particular theme. You have chosen a theme which does not allow side widgets. I took a look. You can always change if you want .. Anyway..take a look at my site…Recent Posts, Topic Cloud… follow me …. etc. All of the ones that can be used are found on your dashboard if you want to look at them… Go to Settings… Appearance… Widgets and then what happens is you select the ones you want and in my instance I have a Sidebar 1 on left side of site and Sidebar 2 on right side. Some themes have one Sidebar… some two …. or they may be referred to as 1 column which means no sidebar…2 columns..which means 1 sidebar and the writing area is the 2nd.. or 3 column which mine is and I have a sidebar each side plus writing area I am going to give you two links to help you learn about things …the first is wordpress forum where you can look or ask question at top The second is worpress support …. Anything else ask me if you like One more thing to remember Your blog is WordPress.com and not WordPress.org…there is a difference Diane

        https://wordpress.com/forums/

        https://wordpress.com/support/

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    2. Kate, I liked it. Honest, searching. It’s all good. I don’t know if this would be helpful, but I thought it could be tighter, meaning, look for bits that are a bit repetitive or not critical to the story and see if you can life without them. Only a suggestion. And I also don’t think you need to thank us for listening to your “vomit” — it is our privilege to hear your story, so thanks for sharing. Good luck! : ) c

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      1. Thank you for taking a look at my blog and for your feedback. I am grateful for it. I think making it tighter is a great suggestion. Hopefully that will come more easily as I write more frequently and get more accustomed to Blogging. Thanks again Carolynne!

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    3. Hi! I’m going to be completely honest – I hope you take it I’m a constructive way. I don’t mind reading your posts, but your layout is sort of, err, not very great. You need to work on that. I’m sorry for vein blunt 😛

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  13. I’m struggling to get my blog kicked off and working the way I want it to. Understand, this is tough for me because I’m new to WordPress but not to IT or Web development; I’ve been in the business for 25 years now. Any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated. I’m working on this and a manuscript for a story that’s been living inside me for decades now. Thank you for your time and consideration in advance.

    http://www.resurrectedwarrior.com/

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    1. You are much more experienced like you said re designing…I just went and had a quick look and noticed that you show very little of each post on your home page… I’m not sure it’s enough to get a reader’s curiosity up to read more…. Also your them I don’t think has side-bars at least on the home page… for most recent posts ..or most viewed posts.. Just a couple of thoughts… Diane

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  14. Hello, I’m new to blogging, I will appreciate any feedback. The initial idea was writing about things I find on the street. Now, I think I’ll add some film commentary. I haven’t found how to get more readers.
    I see some people visit, but they don’t comment. Any ideas, how I can prompt more interaction?

    http://vicusz.wordpress.com

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    1. Just one observation… I noticed after looking a couple of times … that you have your link to comments on your home page is at the top not the bottom where I think most people look for it after reading the post…. just a thought… Diane

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    1. I really liked reading through your blog. I liked the mix of media you use to express your thoughts. You definitely have a voice. Keep writing about any and everything that catches your attention.

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  20. Hi all

    Has anyone used WordPress to create ‘headers’ with ‘posts’ stacked up behind? More web site design I suppose? I am really struggling with this design, so at moment I have headers with nothing behind them and a heap of posts by date, despite me giving them a theme aligned to the headers.

    Have a looksie http://www.islifearecipe.com

    Hope someone could help many thanks Brian

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  23. I started my blog at the first of the year and am looking for feedback, mainly concerning the layout but any other thoughts would be appreciated.

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  25. I’m having a bit of problem with my blog design. I have a few followers, and those followers are getting notifications when I add a blog entry on the main page. But I also have sub-pages that have to do with different stories, and when I make entries there, like posting scenes, my followers don’t get notified of that.

    Does anyone know the reason for that?

    My main blog page is: laramcgill.wordpress.com

    The subpage address in question is: http://laramcgill.wordpress.com/worlds/chronicles-of-rassa/the-day-of-choosing/alizaanes-escape/

    I’d be grateful for any ideas I can get.

    Thank you!

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  27. Hi there! I’m a Design student who has recently set up a blog attempting to overcome my identity crisis as a Designer and lover of food (Organic, local, sustainable systems) community development, minority groups etc.. I am aiming to attract people from inside and outside the Design profession and would love to hear what you think! There is only one post at the moment but please please comment! Thank you

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  29. Hey everyone! Recently started blogging and my last post was about the Great White Moose concept – a dating phenomena where you are in love with your best friend. Read it and tell me how it can be made better? badtree.wordpress.com

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