Feb 23, 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. I was just going to write about a topic that I was going to call ‘comparing faiths”..I encourage anyone else to compares there to others…the pro’s and cons basically about their faith and other peoples faiths. If they want…but I personally will write abut my own and what I believe it creates in my world that I live in and interact with… But people can of course write whatever they want about the topic, their is no laws in your perspective and how you express it…but the ones you set on it yourself….SO again the topic is “comparing faiths”( Faith being a belief that gives you hope and comfort)….what it does for not only ourselves, but more importantly the world around them, around us. 1world UP, I am starting my piece now. 🙂

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      1. How do I do that? Make a blogging event? I just posted or published my writing about “comparing faiths” is that not enough o make it an event? I am not a very savvy with blogging, or wordpress really… I do my best managing my own account, but I just like writing about things, thinking about things and creating things. Then expressing them, So if you have any suggestions I am open to them. 🙂

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    2. @cakapeace
      Some of the most distasteful blogs I have ever visited where the worst of all online behaviors are manifest are religious blogs. It’s not my experience which spans many years that religious blogs are ever a place where freedom of expression and clarity of thought prevails. It’s my experience that one doesn’t found a blog on such a theme unless they intend to use it as a soapbox to spiel their own beliefs from and/or to discredit the beliefs of others from.

      Unless you can elevate your own thought process, writing and your dialog to the level that Alan Wilson Watts could (see example below), then I suggest you find another topic to blog on because if you don’t you will risk developing a blog that may become a troll infested hive of nastiness.

      “Belief…is the insistence that the truth is what one would ‘lief’ or (will or) wish to be… Belief is fervent hope, and thus a cover-up for doubt and uncertainty. Faith is an unreserved opening of the mind to the truth, whatever it may turn out to be. Faith has no preconceptions; it is a plunge into the unknown. Belief clings, but faith let’s go…faith is the essential virtue of science, and likewise of any religion that is not self-deception. If we cling to belief in God, we cannot likewise have faith, since faith is not clinging but letting go.”

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      1. Thanks for that response timethief, and I agree that Faith is letting go. Understanding we only know what we know now…but have the capability of learning much more…if only we can compare our views and come to a common understanding about those views.My blog is not about one corporations faith or laws, but my own beliefs and creations. The composition I wrote about” comparing faiths” is nothing more than comparing ideas and there is nothing wrong with that. Unless people are blinded by a faith and want to discriminative against others to prove they ERE the ALL MIGHTY or that their faith is the BEST. distasteful or not…there is something to be learned from those views and I have no problem with people being distasteful..I only care about how people treat each other physically. Ya know the old saying…”sticks and stones may break my bones…but WORDS can never hurt me”…Well I believe in that statement. I live by it in a way. It does not mean I do not find some things to be hurtful through those words…Because I do believe ” The pen is mightier than the sword!”but they do not discourage me to speak my mind and express what I feel is my right, to be me! 🙂 I also believe that” Actions speak louder than words” Everyone has the right to their own belief…and no one has to believe in a religion to have a “faith” in something that’s for sure.That is what I wrote about in my resent piece. If we are scared to sidsicuss our beliefs together…how will we ever reach new heights of awareness. Just on our own. I do not think that would be beneficial to the world. It may be beneficial to ones self…but I am not afraid to discuses my beliefs with anyone and I am more than willing to listen to anyone’s because I learn from it… MY faith which has nothing to do with trying to control people. Or this world is something I do not feel is distasteful, but there is not much in this world I do not like, I find all life to have a flavor that is unique and maybe hoard to swallow and that is it…we all have different tastes and that is life, I like to at least see what there is out there.

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  2. I have been needing some input on my “about me” page. Specifically, if you come to my blog and want to learn more about me, have I given enough information? Is my story interesting? At any point, do you get bored and not read on? Any input is welcome. Thanks!

    This is Me

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    1. I like that you used a “story” to tell about yourself. That said, I’m not sure if the story you chose really connects enough to your subject matter. What I mean is, you have a very specialized subject matter (as do I), so your story needs to be more attached to that subject matter. If I put my hand over your title, I might think I was on a fitness blog. Obviously, this is a powerful inner shift…can you tell us a little more about that?

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      1. Thanks so much for that input. I really wanted to use a story yet I was definitely feeling a disconnect with my about page content and the blog content. I don’t always blog about this inner shift of faith so I didn’t want to make it ALL about that and wanted to express the other parts of who I am as well. I will do some thinking and try to share more about that inner shift. Thanks again!

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    2. If I were you, I’d either change your theme or add a custom background.

      Your title is “rose-colored.” Your tagline is “rose-colored.” And the top of your blog is dusk-colored. One of these things does not fit.

      That’s not to say you have to go with red or pink, but the really dark look you have now seems off. (And yes, I know the background on that theme lightens up as you scroll down. Nevertheless, first impressions matter.)

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    1. This is FANTASTIC content. Interesting subject matter, great photos, good supporting content. That said, I think you might want to look for a new template. Your photos aren’t really supported well in this template, and there are some photojournalism based templates with featured images and such that might work better. The color scheme does make it tough to read, as well. You have such great content and I think it would work well with a more “artistic” theme.

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      2. Go to “Change Theme” and check out those themes that are more picture-based. Some of them aren’t free, sadly, but ones like “Motif” “Twenty fourteen” etc. might work. (I like Moka, but it’s $18.) Also, check out my blog; it uses the Untitled template which features large featured images.

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    2. I actually love both your content and your theme, but it’s true, as Jenna says, that for a photography-based blog, a different theme might work even better. Happy blogging!

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  5. Very unique and specialized content! (I am all for specialized blogs; I have one myself.) The one thing I’d like to see is a template that supports a little more information about each post. Right now, I see the post title and the tags, but I’d love a sentence or two about what each post is about. Make sense?

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    1. I think your blog is very well written and you have clearly taken the time to analyze people and their behaviors. I would say good recon work but maybe you should focus on more positive areas of the metro system. Just a thought!

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  7. I’m new here and my reader stream is pretty slow… so not looking for any advise – but looking for blogs to follow! I don’t really care what you enjoy blogging about, I enjoy reading about most subjects (and seeing most pictures) – but I want people I can follow where I can read their full posts from the reader… when I want to visit a blog site I will, I don’t like being forced to visit one just to read a post.

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    3. @cathylass
      “but I want people I can follow where I can read their full posts from the reader… when I want to visit a blog site I will, I don’t like being forced to visit one just to read a post. ”

      LOL :D.

      Then don’t click my username and visit my blog because I wouldn’t want to risk you learning anything about blogging from me by clicking in and reading a full post. lol 😀

      I’m laughing because I’m a blogging tips blogger and my material is popular enough to be stolen regularly by content thieves. When my content is stolen I have devote my time to filing DMCA takedown notices to get it removed form their monetized splogs, rather than creating and publishing new content for my target audience, who are those who want to learn how to blog effectively. So I don’t pander to the I want to read it all in the Reader crowd, because they aren’t my target audience.

      I don’t blog to provide articles to WordPress.com so they can use it in the Reader to create a magazine. magazine. I do not allow my full posts to appear in the Reader because I want to reduce content theft and compel visitors to come to my blog.

      I provide a descriptive post titles and a strong introduction. After the first 55 words I purposefully insert the more tag followed by my copyright notice. That compels bloggers to click in for the full blog experience. It means they experience my theme and customizations and my featured content. It means they have access to my nearly 1000 related posts. It also means that I have reduced not only content thieves, but also the number of visitors who aren’t interested in entering discussion on the ways and means of becoming better bloggers.

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      1. Thank you for the tip about not visiting your blog to learn about blogging. 🙂 Good tip, as not interested in that – just interested in being able to read peoples different views on various stuff – from my reader. I’ve found a few I’ve followed don’t allow that, and will go through them and delete. Not that I don’t visit peoples blogs, if I find someone that’s posting good posts I will by my own accord go and visit their blogs… without being forced.

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      2. @cathylass
        Thanks for being such a good sport and inspiring a new post too. As you don’t want to feel “forced” to read it I won’t bother backlinking to your blog from it. 😉

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  8. I’m here looking for tips on how to promote my posts and how to keep constant content on my blogs. My original idea was to set aside a day where i write up multiple blogs, and then have them to post on different days when I don’t have time to write a post. Any thoughts or ideas would be really helpful.

    If this helps, I have a blog about movies, TV, gaming, that sort of stuff: The Paradoxical Paradigm. My other blog is about literature and writing: A Cavalcade of Literature.

    Any tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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    1. Oh, I love Eurovision! I like the idea of going “back in time” to review past contests. It gives that sense of history that I think a lot of Americans especially don’t understand about Eurovision.

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    1. The way the text is formatted is bunched up together which may make people not want to read it. Consider messing around with the layout as well because other people are using this same template too and it can come off as uninteresting visually.

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    2. There is a good vibe, and I’m interested to see where you take things. I agree that you probably should make the content a bit more scannable with a few more spaces, etc. (I know that the “big chunk” is one style, and is a personal choice, but it is a bit hard to read…) Keep adding content! You’re writing about my area of the country, so I’d love to see what’s next.

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  13. Relationships, human psychology, mortality are some of the topics that fascinates me. I mix my posts up with a few quotes and photographs. Any comments & feedback is welcome. 🙂

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      3. This looks interesting! Though the static front page confused me at first and it took me a while to get at the actual content. I’m not sure if the static front page is a good choice for your blog?

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      4. Thanks for your feedback.
        And yes I’m trying and experimenting a few looks for my blog including the static home page. Would look into making my home page more user friendly.

        Liked by 1 person

  14. Last one from me today. I’ve not really changed much about my blog since I started and and just want to know if it still looks okay. My posts are very varied also and just wondered if the variety was too much?

    http://steve-says.net/

    Thanks for looking 🙂

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    1. Hi Steve. While the things you write about have personality, I sort of wish the layout had some of “you” in it. Maybe choose another template and consider creating your own image header/banner? I’d be interested in seeing what you come up with and I think it would draw more readers in.

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  16. I have formatted the content of my blog to chronicle the people/places/things that I find inspiring, mostly through celebrating their birthdays/anniversaries on the that specific day. I enjoy that sort of structure and randomization of subject matter. On Sundays, for the last eight or so months, I have done a weekly roundup of the subjects that I chronicled earlier that week, as well as what I have been tweeting and posting on tumblr/instagram and included a random interest that I found that week. I think that I have found the structure and schedule that I like that is fun and not too challenging. I am interested in learning if anyone else has found other ways to digest what they have blogged the week before. Here is mine: http://waldina.com/

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    2. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but when I saw your title, I was expecting your typical “mommy blog” (i.e., mostly about the kids). Your content is very heavy, and very diverse, and I don’t think that comes across in the title. I was a little taken aback to land on a very heavy post about abortion. There’s nothing at all wrong with the content, it just seems a little incongruous with my expectation based on your title.

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  18. Last week I wrote a post based on a writing prompt. It is subject matter I don’t typically share on my blog and I would love some feedback. Should I write more like this, even though it’s not my blog’s primary subject? Is the writing decent? I thank you in advance for giving me a hand! Here’s the link…

    He Saved Me From Myself

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    1. So, I’m going to put on my fiction editor hat instead of my blogger hat. 😉 It is good writing. I like the flow of it, and I don’t even mind the first person present tense. You do build up tension throughout the piece, which is good. The only thing is that I didn’t know who “he” was until I got to the end. I thought it was a lover or a sibling. You might want to introduce the person earlier, as part of the story, instead of leaving it to the postscript as backstory. Does that make sense? Overall, though, it’s a beautiful, emotional piece.

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      1. Thank you, both for reading and for the wonderful constructive criticism! I thought that leaving out who “he” was until the end would make it more intriguing and thought provoking, but perhaps it’s just confusing… Thank you so much for the feedback!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. GREAT title and subtitle! One of the best I’ve seen, to be honest. They really help establish your voice right from the start. I love the balance and mix of your posts, and the warmth of your voice. Really good start…can’t wait to see what else you’ve got.

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  20. I put up a post yesterday as part of a new semi regular feature I’m considering (called Uncovered Covers) where I plan on talking about song covers and the originals. Mostly focusing on songs that hit my awareness as being originals but are really covers.

    Uncovered Covers: Tainted Love

    Any thoughts on if the concept is interesting or what I can do to make future posts in the series better would be appreciated.

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    1. I actually think this is really clever. it’s well written, not too long, and utilizes multimedia well. I think it’s a great idea for a semi-regular column, particularly since you clear know a lot about the subject matter.

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      1. Thanks, to be honest part of my info does come from my wife (a music teacher) but on occasion I know or dig up something she doesn’t know. This post for example.

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  22. Hi, I write about my time in college and things that I experience, but I’ve been feeling like my posts have been kind of bland because I don’t have anything scandalous to talk about anymore. That’s why I focused on the layout of my blog instead and even added a guide for the people I talk about. Please give me some input on my new blog. Thank you!

    http://almostinparadise.wordpress.com/

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    1. First of all, don’t feel like you have to be “scandalous”. Your life is interesting in its own right and your writing is worth reading. 🙂 That said, I notice your blog posts skip around a lot in subject matter; if you could tighten up the blog a bit and focus on one thing, it might make it easier to “hook” readers. But overall, this is a well written “diary” blog.

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      1. Thank you so much! I have been noticing that, too, how I tend to jump around subjects. That’s because I don’t blog that often and feel like I need to say everything that happened in the day, but I think being specific is probably better. That was really helpful though! (:

        Liked by 1 person

    1. I think your content is very deep and it’s very clear upfront what your point of view is (pretty important in a political blog). I like the mix of content and the overall balance of your posts. What is tripping me up a little is your theme and layout. On the one hand, I like the “newsmagazine” feel of your theme, which really supports your content. On the other, I am kind of overwhelmed by all the stuff on the page. It feels super busy to me and I feel a little lost. It might be a good idea to cut down what is on the home page. You might consider moving some of that to its own page, or choosing one sidebar or the other (the two sidebars are adding to the clutter). Again, you don’t want to lose the newsy feel, but you don’t want to overwhelm the audience’s senses, either. My two cents…

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    2. I agree with the poster above that the home page feels very busy, I wonder if there’s a theme that would make a little easier to digest. The content is great, and I think the homepage would suffer without both sidebars, but, it is overwhelming. It’s almost like there are so many choices for which content to read first that I get overwhelmed and leave the page.

      I would play around with some other theme options. The content is too good to let readers walk away because they can’t decide where to start.

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      2. Good points thinkingdiagonally. Thank you for being honest. I will definitely work on answering those questions. I appreciate the feedback!

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    2. You’re packing an awful lot into a single paragraph. After the first, gripping line (“Valdir is being hunted.”) you pretty much rush through what appears to be the entire plot of the novel, and I got lost pretty quickly. I don’t know who any of these people or places are yet, so giving them to be in one paragraph is confusing There’s no reason to go into such detail…start with where he is right now and what that means for his current life…put him on the path in the teaser. Don’t worry about getting him to the end.

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      1. Thanks for your insight Jenna. And although I didn’t expose the entire plot, I still exposed more than necessary. I believe you’re right: I threw too much at you at once. I will tidy it up as you suggest until it is simpler and just as gripping. Thank you.

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  26. I really liked where you started with this, with judging others’ or our own lives based on some kind of rules of happiness. I feel like you didn’t stick with that theme. I liked the rest of the post but I was looking for a stronger ending. Keep up the good work!!

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  27. Hi everyone! I’m new to blogging. Have loved writing for years, but starting a blog has been a difficult process; I think I think too much. 🙂 Anyways, I recently wrote the post below, and would love your feedback on the writing style and approach. Do you get it, or does it turn you off? Too whiny, or just passionate? Do the links to outside articles help or hurt the piece? Thanks all!

    I am Unemployed. But I Didn’t Ask for This.

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    1. First of all, I’m so sorry for what you’re going through. It must be scary. But sticking with your blog, I think you have an excellent start here. I like the way your theme connotes positivity and supports your content. I think your posts are the right length and well written. Be careful not to fall into the trap of writing about all the stuff that’s going wrong; remember that what you have to write about that’s most interesting is YOU. Keep us updated, but also tell us what you’re doing to get ready for the baby, fun things you’ve done, books you’ve read, recipes you’ve cooked, etc. Let us know who YOU are, outside the job hunt. Make sense?

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      2. I don’t think you’re whiny at all. I can imagine myself being in your shoes as I am sole income supporting my honey who is in grad school. This could happen to any of us, and while writing is cathartic for you, you have no idea how much you could be helping others. I appreciate your candor, honestly. Good work…and I will follow you as you figure all this out. Good luck, Katherine.

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  30. Ok, so I’ve been blogging for about eight months now and r rally need to ramp up the quality of my photography. I have a point and shoot Canon and my iPad. Without spending oodles, does anyone have any suggestions? And if ya’ll wouldn’t mind checking out a few of my food or gardening post and giving me some feedback, that would be amazing. My newest post isn’t a good example, because that was taken out of my home and isn’t my usual content. Thanks in advance, fellow bloggers. 😊

    Deliciousdaydreams.com is my blog.

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    1. I actually don’t think there’s that much wrong with your photos. I love the bright, bright colors. it makes your blog stand out. Great mix of content, as well, with the right balance of gardening posts, recipes and others. (One pet peeve: I think the whole Pioneer Woman style of recipe photography is overdone and the sheer number of photos of the process makes the recipe harder to read. It’s better to have three or four excellent photos of the recipe in progress or completed than too many things that I know already: like a cut lemon or a hand pouring salt. My two cents.)

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