May 18, 2014 / Community Pool

Community Pool

The Community Pool is for those of you looking for feedback, 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 . .

TIP: 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.

  • 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. If you simply leave a link to your blog, it’s likely to be overlooked.
  • 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.
  • No running on the deck.

Photo by t_a_i_s.

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    1. I like the post, personally.

      From a veteran reader’s perspective, I tend to prefer blogs that know what they are about and stick to subjects relevant to the blog – if you go off subject, try not to do it too often. If you try to cater to everything, you end up losing sight of what the blog is supposed to be about.

      That said, if your existing followers think it works then there’s no reason nobody else will!

      Good luck 🙂

      Like

      1. Thank you for your valuable advice, I appreciate it a lot! You have a point: I certainly don’t intend to cater for all tastes and all readers, that would be impossible, but I was thinking I should try something new. Once gain, thanks for your thoughts and happy blogging!

        Like

    2. I thought it was very well written and I could detect your sense of humor in the writing. Very well done!

      Like

      1. Thank you for reading and for your feedback! It’s encouraging that you find my little text humorous, that should be the main tone of my blog — so I guess I might try to do some more posts of this kind and see how it works long-term 🙂 Happy blogging!

        Like

      1. Thank you so much for taking the time to give me feedback! You’re kind 🙂 And happy blogging to you, your blog looks pretty awesome! Both as to the form and to the content 🙂

        Like

  5. I’m still sort of new at all of this. I got a Tumblr 4 years ago hoping to improve my writing but it wasn’t until I came here that it actually started happening. If anyone has like any short story requests or anything, let me know!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. First of all, I’m so sorry for your loss. Second, the post is very well written and I can feel your emotion coming through and third, like you I can’t imagine the pain and loss of a child, I have 2 boys. Good job!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Tim, Thank You so much! My brother passed four years ago and I have been at peace with it for a while now, but naturally my mom is still having a hard time. I can’t imagine what she is going through or feeling. Thanks again for your kind words!

        Like

    3. Hi April. I’m so sorry for your loss. In my humble opinion the reason why your mother think like that is memories. The longer we live, the more memories we will have and share to others. Last year, I also lost my uncle and aunt. They left us and their one and only daughter in the same year. I can imagine how sad she was, but now it seems that she has accepted that. “This is life”.

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    4. April, I’m very sorry you lost your brother and your mother her son. Please take my thoughts kindly as they are intended to enhance your writing, not minimize your tender feelings. The post was repetitive in saying ” you can’t image a Mother’s loss” and that feeling is shared by many, however it raises many unanswered questions; how does your mother cope, did the movie help, what did you say or do after the movie, the expression on her face, the pain in her heart. Claudia

      Like

      1. I thank you for the feedback as it is much appreciated. If it wasn’t clear, this is the statement she made in the car after the movie. She survives the day at best, and some days seems fine and others not so fine. Thanks for reading I appreciate the feedback 🙂

        Like

    1. I like your posts and I like the theme you chose for your blog: it really highlights your writing. Keep it coming, I’m sure writing could be a therapeutic experience, not only for you as the writer, but also for us as readers 🙂

      Like

  10. Hello all! Usually my blog fits best under “personal”–I share anecdotes from college and past experiences, as well as my opinions on social justice issues, etc. Recently, though, I’ve taken a stab at travel blogging, since I am doing a trip through Portugal and later Spain. It’s a new format for me and I’d love feedback on it!
    http://victimtocharm.wordpress.com

    Like

    1. Hi there. Your tone is appropriate and conversational and it makes me want to visit some of these places, so you’re doing well with that!

      Very nice blog, keep up the good work!

      Like

  11. Hey there everybody. The reason I’m here is to get feedback on my blog, not just a post. I need to know from seasoned and newbie bloggers what I’m doing right AND wrong. Please check out my blog and let me know. Any feedback would be much appreciated! Thank you so much.

    http://ahillbillyblogger.wordpress.com/

    Like

    1. I enjoy your blog! It’s fun, original and refreshing 🙂 The only thing that puzzled me a bit was your header image and your tagline: I wasn’t sure how to interpret the little funny person in the header, and the tagline seemed a bit too general, but you have a good About page, which made up for what was not explained in the tagline. Keep it coming!

      Like

      1. Thank you Mara! As for the little person he’s a Hillbilly sittin’ in front of a computer bloggin’ lol Hence The Hillbilly Blogger 🙂 I’ll work on my tagline though.

        Like

      2. Oh, I see now! My mistake, I wasn’t aware that Hillbily is a thing — I thought it was something random you invented, but now it’s clear 🙂 That makes the header pretty cool!

        Like

    2. Hey there. I’m a newbie. I like your blog. As input though, I’m viewing on a smart phone, and I couldn’t find a “categories” section. Could you put more on the “menu?” That would really help me navigate. 🙂 Blog on!

      Like

      1. The Categories are at the very bottom of the page, that’s where the Theme dictator decided to put em lol But thank you for the input, it’s much appreciated. 🙂

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      2. Okay, I found them, but there are only four listed. I thought there were more. There isn’t one (at least that I can see) that shows “food.” I thought the blue velvet cake and rolls recipes were in a category called “food.” Maybe I was wrong? 🙂 I’m unfamiliar with this theme. Also, viewing on a smart phone, I have two options either the application or the full site. There are benefits and drawbacks to each. When I view “full site” I have to scroll side to side, when I view from the app I don’t necessarily get the full impact of a theme. Not your problem, eh. Good luck!

        Like

    3. Hi Tim. When I went to your blog one of the first things I rad is about your not using that blog and to go click another bloh etc. I htink if you have decided to keep that blof then maybe delete those posts.

      The theme seems very minimalistic which is fine, but I think they suit longer posts ( I don’t mean full on novels but somethign other than a few words.

      Like

    4. Hiya, Tim! I’d be honored to give you some feedback on your blog. 🙂 I like the fact that you address your readers directly. It creates a sense of community and mutual experience. I feel as if your current theme doesn’t complement your blog as a whole. It may just be subjective preference speaking, but you may want to look into different themes that are more visually pleasing as well as that provide more convenient navigation. That is, the fact that things like your search function and Recent Posts section can only be found all the way at the bottom of your site may be a turn-off for future potential readers. Apart from that, I think your writing style and content is pretty interesting. The fact that you mix the hillbilly persona with an intellectual air is very cool and wonderful in its own way. Also, I went ahead and liked your page on Facebook, and I’m going to follow your blog as well! Overall, good stuff going on here. 🙂

      Like

      1. Thank you so much! I appreciate the feedback. I’m not real thrilled with widgets being at the bottom of the page either and I actually am looking at different themes. I will prolly have to adjust my header to fit the final theme but thats ok, just takes a little tweakin’ 🙂 And thank you for following my Facebook page as well!!

        Like

    5. Good blog – it is very interesting. The only thing – maybe a bit more exciting theme- it is a little bland. Otherwise, good work! Happy blogging!

      Like

    6. When I say your name, I immediately thought of Tim “The Toolman” Taylor! Anyways, once I got to your most current blog I enjoyed what I read, keep up the good work!

      Like

  13. I’m new to this blogging thing, and wouldn’t mind getting some tips from more experienced writers and bloggers on how to become better at the craft. Thanks in advance.

    Like

    1. Hello eric. I see you write fiction (as do I) and poetry. I don’t really get a sense that you are engaging with your audience enough – you are just posting the fiction and poetry without talking about it.

      Treat your blog like a writer’s a circle, give an intro, some insight into what inspired you to write it or something like that.

      Otherwise, it looks good!

      Liked by 2 people

  14. I’m new to blogging and webpress, and wouldn’t mind getting some tips from more experienced writers and bloggers on how to become better at the craft. Thanks in advance.

    Like

  15. Hello all! I’m trying to figure out the layout of my blog – especially on mobile devices. I’d love to get feedback on how you think I could improve the design. My main concern is how the posts appear and the column indicating Instagram, Twitter, Recent Posts, etc. Right now, it feels too busy to me, but I also want to make sure I feature enough for more click-throughs. It’s tough to balance!

    Here’s the site: http://www.districtstyle.net. Thanks!

    Like

    1. It doesn’t feel too busy for me. I would keep the widgets that you have, but I would reduce the number of tweets shown in the widget. In this way the link to your Twitter would remain, but it wouldn’t take up so much space.

      Like

    2. Hi. I don’t think it is too busy. It seems to have a good text/image balance. It also seems focused. The only problem I had viewing on my smart phone was the header. I could only read “District.” The full blog title is clear from your icon here and on the “about” page so it isn’t that detrimental to the experience. But since you asked… 🙂
      The “column” indicating Instagram, Twitter etc is at the bottom, not along side or otherwise bothersome. Blog on!

      Like

    4. Thank you all for your feedback and taking time out to review my design. I have to figure out how the logo can shrink for mobile viewing – I suspect I have to create my own style sheets for that. (Perhaps something I need to research in the support forums?).

      I will go ahead and reduce the number of tweets. I just put up the twitter one now to see if it drives more engagement to my Twitter – though I have been finding that Twitter drives more engagement to my blog (at least for now).

      Like

    1. I don’t think the post is too controversial, it is just a statement of opinion. One that many would agree with I imagine. I think it would get to controversial if you start wishing harm upon whoever your writing about. However, you did not do that in the post so it is in respectable limits in my book.

      Like

  17. Hello! My high school graduation was this week… 🙂 I’d love to hear y’all’s thoughts on my blog post about it. Any other general feedback about the layout or theme of my blog, or the content itself, would be greatly appreciated! Thanks everyone.

    neverstationary.wordpress.com

    Like

    3. Love your “guard dogs.” I thought your blog was interesting and the pictures helped a great deal although you might consider enlarging a few of them so even old eyes can enjoy them. Great start and happy blogging.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I think it’s a brave effort that you try to write in English! Great for you! I spotted just one or two minor mistakes in your otherwise very fluent text, so go ahead, you should feel confident about writing more in English! Of course, I don’t say you should abandon your mother tongue, but your posts in English could reach even more people. This is by a blogger who only blogs in English, though my mother tongue is different 🙂

      Like

      1. Hi Mara, thank you so much for your feedback and advice, it’s really helpful for me. As you said, may be I should feel more confident about writing more and more in English. Practice makes perfect, right ? you just reminded me to these words. Happy Blogging !!

        Like

      2. Your English is actually much better than that of some bloggers who are clearly native speakers — you don’t need to be self-conscious about writing in English whenever you feel like it 🙂

        Like

  23. Hey everybody! 😀

    As you may (or may not!) have heard, a topic that his been trending recently is that the small European nation of Argentina has unearthed the BIGGEST…DINOSAUR…EVER!

    Now, many of us have stumbled upon fossilized dinosaurs on hikes, and I myself have found some PRETTY enormous specimens from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, but I’ll tell you right now: NONE of my finds hold a candle to what the Argents found! Their chance discovery is one for the history books, though the photographs released so far have left much to the imagination.

    …which is where I come in! 🙂 Below you will find a link to my DRAWING of what I believe the largest dinosaur ever may have looked like. I welcome any comments, both positive or negative, for I freely admit that I took a LITTLE creative license in my rendering. Just a little, though. I am sure scientific journals will later reveal that I am 90 to 95% accurate. Please enjoy.

    Trending: Biggest Dinosaur Ever Unearthed in Argentina!

    Like

      1. Really?

        I consulted Wikipedia before writing my comment and the article said it was in South America, but as you know, Wikipedia is hardly a reputable source, so…I just went ahead and assumed that it was in Europe.

        I’ll take your generous comment under advisement mgm75, but please don’t take offense if I wait for some kind of recognized authority on the subject of cartography to chime in with his or her expert opinion before I edit.

        …which I’m going to need help with, as I do not know HOW to edit. :/

        Liked by 1 person

      2. haha, you can’t edit comments here sadly. This is one of those rare occasions that wiki got it right – Argentina is indeed in South America, right next door to Nepal. 😉

        Like

    2. Clean, crisp, easy to follow but I didn’t find anything about you. I like to get to know a little about the author. Great start though and have fun with it.

      Like

  26. Hi everyone. The short of it is that I would like to get feedback on my blog overall, but I’ll explain a bit more.

    In the about page of my blog is says… “So… Cognitive Reflection! In many ways it is the same as a million other blogs out there I wanted a place to express myself, to get things off my mind, post stuff to maybe stir the imagination, to explore thoughts, memories and feelings that come to me on my travels through the web, or really anything else that creeps into my head.”

    that is ultimately what I wanted, a place that maybe stirred the imagination, maybe got the reader to reminisce on past times and be happy to share those times and memories, be that thought the music posts I post or the “once more with feeling” writing challenge.

    To be honest I am not sure I am achieving that, I would really appreciate some general opinions for people that have not visited the site before to get a general gist of it.

    thanks in advance.

    M

    The blog is: http://cognitivereflection.wordpress.com/

    Like

    1. A few thoughts:

      1- Things could be a little more concise. For instance, the “About Me & The Blog” was really really long and I don’t know if people are going to read through all that. I’d shorten it up and maybe even split it into two pages: “About me” and “About the blog” or something like that.

      2- Your tagline does not generate interest. “Random opinion, thoughts and musings” is dull. Put some personality into it. Catchy is good.

      3- The header feels a little generic, especially when paired with the gray and white color scheme. Add some visual interest somewhere.

      4- Don’t mess with the blog title. It’s short and sweet but also complex enough to prepare readers for something longer than 500-word posts.

      Like

      1. Hi

        Thanks for the feedback. I must admit my about pages are always long, I’ve always struggled to shorten them but Ill certainly pull it in and look at editing it.

        Interesting on the tag line, I always thought that it was actually quite good, and was really spot on for what i wanted the blog to be about. In saying that it has never changed and so I’ll think about something else to changed it to.

        The header I’ve replaced with some random ones. I had just kept the one that came with the theme.

        Thanks again for the feedback.

        Like

  27. I running two blogs on wordpress and I have some questions for you…
    1. any chance to meet lithuanian writers on WP? or where local comunities gone…
    2, Any chance to make a two languages blogs on WP ?
    if you want come to visit my blog and tell me what you think…
    http://grver.wordpress.com/

    Like

    1. Hi Klajunas. (#2).
      You can use translator plugin (the translation sucks most of the time), –or– you can just type in two languages. But the latter can be seen as duplication. Still, there are workarounds. One of them is here:
      http://filmalternatives.wordpress.com/

      Always bilingual in the intro, but only in EITHER one of the two languages (NEVER both) in the main article. Good luck.

      Like

  29. Hi @michelleweber!
    We’ve finally put the last finishing touches to our Blogging201 spinoff TravelBloggers.on.WordPress. It is a blog for travel bloggers to connect and share ideas, ask questions and get some feedback. And it is now open to the public (we are no private blog anymore).

    Here you can take a look: http://internationaltravelbloggers.wordpress.com/

    If you want to become an author on this blog and publish your own posts, go here: http://internationaltravelbloggers.wordpress.com/how-to-use-this-blog/getting-started/

    And we have set up a Featured Images Event, where we feature six photographs in a slider on our front page every two weeks. If you want to participate, here’s the link: http://internationaltravelbloggers.wordpress.com/how-to-use-this-blog/featured-images/

    Maybe some of you could check out the blog and give some feedback?
    Have a nice day, KleesButterfly

    Like

  30. Hi 🙂 I started my blog in the hope that it will help school kids deal with isuues like bullying, if you have time please check it out 🙂 I wrote it in the form of a story so I hope it’sentertaining! Feedback will be highly appreciated 😀

    Like

    1. It’s a wonderful effort that you’re up to! Though no way a school kid, I enjoyed your latest post and I do believe that you can reach out to other readers, whatever their age, too! Happy blogging 🙂

      Like

    2. Hey aakifahm, I really loved your blog. It is no wonder that you are nominated for the Leibster Award. I am a school going kid and I truly appreciate the effort. In short, your blog is heartfelt and…well, philanthropic. It is awesome!!!

      Like

      2. Do you mind giving your kind opinion on my blog?

        epicbloggingnow.wordpress.com

        I’d be honored!

        Like