Sep 1, 2014 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Feedback, camaraderie, and free popsicles! (Free popsicles: not included.)

Have you just published a new post and are dying for some feedback? Did you recently start your blog and could use some layout or design advice from your more seasoned peers?

Tap into the wisdom of The Daily Post blogging community and leave your question here in the comments. Others can then click through and offer input either on your site, or in the comments here (feel free to indicate which you’d prefer).

To help us make the Community Pool a productive space for discussion, here are some tips you might find useful:

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.

  • While you’re not required to, we encourage everyone who requests feedback to also reply to at least one or two other bloggers who need some help. Spread the love!
  • The Community Pool comments section can get quite big — and starting duplicate threads doesn’t help. Thanks for not posting the same question more than once!
  • If you’re looking for quality feedback, be as specific as you can. Questions about a particular post tend to draw more comments than ones about entire blogs. Questions about specific design elements are more likely to be answered than ones asking for general layout advice.
  • We discourage leaving links without a more substantive message or question. These are often overlooked by other bloggers, and we frequently remove them to make the comment reading experience smother.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. The idea is to have fun — it’s a pool, after all!
  • 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 Brian Cantoni.

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    2. Hi! I liked your Good Deed post – not only was it inspirational, it was also very personal. The writing flowed well and it was a happy read. Thanks for sharing and I’ll likely revisit.
      Pixie

      Liked by 2 people

    3. Your blog is excellent and insightful. You raise questions about issues that are crucial for our world and do it in a very intelligent and thoughtful way. I look forward to reading much more of your writing.

      Liked by 1 person

    10. You’re a great writer, truly! And the blog theme is great just personalise it a bit more?

      Would love to be able to talk, I’m new to this whole ‘blogging’ world and looking for a little bit of guidance

      Like

    1. I just recently started to watch horror movies, so this is going to be my go-to site for recommendations! 🙂

      Your reviews seem really helpful and like you put a lot of time and thought into them. I will definitely be checking back to see more of your posts.

      Like

    2. That is one of the coolest and most original ideas for a blog I have seen. Your reviews are really thoughtful and would really help when I want to choose a movie to watch on movie nights. Thanks!

      Like

  3. hello! I have this blog: koenm.nl and i am not sure whether my layout is okay.. My blog is in dutch, so if a dutch person could tell me if my subjects are good or nah, would be great! I would prefer reactions at my blog

    Liked by 2 people

    1. HI there. I cannot read dutch, but let me tell you that if you want more traffic, you can do what I did. Mine is in spanish, and I added a google translate page, into the languages i considered most popular. I chose four, but you can choose all of them.

      Like

    2. I like the layout and set up of your blog. I think you could add categories to it so people could find similar posts more easily (especially since it seems like your blog covers many topics). Hope that helps, keep up the good work! I followed 🙂

      Like

    3. It looks good to me. 🙂 Just one thing, perhaps you could organize the things on the sidebar in order of importance?

      Like

    1. Love the thought provoking quality of the pictures…Favourite one being the dogs drinking water. The picture of the solitary flower does have jute rope in the background, have you taken another picture of the flower keeping the rule of thirds in mind?Your page looks inviting…will surely have some serious reading later.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. I think we may have similar views on some things..I also traveled quite a bit during my formative years. Like minds. Thanks for your time!

        Like

    2. I left a comment on the post itself but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I would happily read more and am now following your blog.

      Like

      1. Thank you so much for the feedback and the follow. Hope you enjoy the other material. I liked your post about the difference between sadness and depression – I see you are passionate about this topic and I hope to read more about it too.
        Pixie

        Liked by 1 person

      1. Hi shrutigopinath,
        Thank you so much for visiting. I’m glad my writing sat well with your tastes, and I hope to produce more posts of the like. I’m trying to organise my posts so that they are easily accessible. Happy to know the blog is viewed as ‘organised’!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Firstly may I ask what is significant about 86,400 seconds?

      Secondly I think your post length was fine. In this fast paced world people like things short and I certainly think there is a upper limit to blog post length but your post kept me interested, it had a point to it and so it did not particulary bother me that it was longer than that I would normally expect to be reading.

      Like

    2. Hello,
      I think the length of your posts is fine. Our world seems to favor brief snippets of information. Personally, I appreciate when a person examines a question or issue in depth. Good work!

      Like

    3. Just read your ‘finding my voice’ post and found it a great read. Based on that, my view is that you shouldn’t worry too much about the length of your posts; it’s an engaging piece.

      My posts often go the other way; for some time, I had the arbitrary figure of 1000 words in my head and felt that any post shorter than that would be throwaway and insubstantial – now I take pride in producing well crafted short pieces of 500 or 600 words.

      Each to their own – keep it up!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Nice short posts makes your blog easy to read. Always upbeat and constructive. I like the category header at the top…..lots of potential to expand your blog or delineate your posts. Good work!

      Liked by 1 person

  12. I’m French but I post in English so more friends can read my blog. Should I translate the About section or keep it in French (also a way to ask my readers to bear with my poor English 😉 ? Thx a lot

    Liked by 2 people

    3. Hi – your English isn’t ‘poor’ at all. I didn’t have any problem understanding you. Everything seemed perfectly clear.

      If I were you I wouldn’t translate my French ‘about’ section, I’d leave it in French and write something short in English. I wouldn’t translate though – mainly because direct translations from one language to another, especially when the original is personal and informal, are horribly easy to get wrong in tone. I would write a short About piece in English. Then your English speaking readers and your French speaking readers will all feel welcome.

      Does ‘Trophy Wife’ mean something positive when you use the expression in French? I was surprised to see you describe yourself as one in your About section.

      Good luck with your blog.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Thanks a lot, your message is very encouraging! I really like the option you are offering!
        “Trophy wife” is pretty cynical actually, but there is actually something with the “trophy” that is not translated in French. In French we would use the word “potiche”, and it does not say anything about the looks of the wife; A potiche is useless, plainly. I referred to Trophy wife because of its cliché: expat moms are usually defined as non working, but spending time in salons when the nannies are taking care of the kids. It is the easy way out when people ask me “so what are you doing in the Philippines? “. Do you think the expression is too pejorative?

        Like

      2. I understand ‘Trophy wife’ to mean a young, pretty woman who has married a rich, older man. He’s acquired her because of his money, not because she loves him or wants to be with him. She’s a ‘trophy’ like a hunting trophy – his way to display his virility.

        That’s why I wondered if it had a different meaning in France!

        Like

    1. I think your blog is quite interesting. It covers a range of topics yet still feels inclusive and something I can relate to. ‘Off How To Be Happy” in particular is the sort of thing I blog about. You have gained a follower.

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Just from a quick look, your tags are longer then your excerpts which doesn’t look great and doesn’t really invite me to “read more.” My advice: cut down significantly on the number of tags and show more of your writing on the home page. People want to read what you have to say. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. I think you write incredibly well. You had me hooked after the first line. All I would say is that you dont want your posts to be any longer than “Those Bad Days”. I often push the boundaries with mine in terms of length but the shorter and snappier is probably better. Your passion certainly comes through in your writing. I look forward to more posts.

      Like

      1. Thanks! That was my longest post I’ve written, mostly because I also feel like long stories are not so great. But I thought that it was a decent length for a weekly account of how school went. It takes some time to construct a poem or short piece I’m prepared to publish. Posts, though, are getting harder. I think you can guess why!

        Like

    2. Are you a freshman in high school? If yes, your writing is excellent. Continue to read, read, read excellent writers both on blogs (which tend to be more casual, conversational) and novels and non fiction books. If you want to pursue writing find an english teacher at your school to mentor you. Good luck on your new adventure.

      Like

      1. Yes I am – but does age really matter? 😛 If I answered that I wasn’t a freshman would my writing be less excellent? But yep, I love reading and writing, hence my kind of new blog. 🙂 Thanks for the response!

        Like

      2. It was more a question of education than age. As you will see you will do more and more writing through high school and college. As with any skill, you will improve with practice and constructive feedback.

        Like

      1. I can’t seem to get to your blog. Can you post the link to your blog here so that I can go directly to it? I want to see what you’re blogging about! 🙂

        rachsthoughts.wordpress.com

        Liked by 2 people

  17. Do you think it is poor form to reblog sports stories from other more established blogs or should I stick to just my own opinion when writing posts for my sports blog?

    My blog (just started) intheloope.wordpress.com

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I think reblogging if done minimally can be quite powerful however for the most part I would personally prefer to read what you think about the topic. You can always insert a link to the blog that sparked your discussion.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Same for me. I follow bloggers because I like reading their opinions, hear their own peculiar voice. Good luck 🙂

        Like

  23. I just posted two new posts today and yesterday. Please give some feedback on the new posts and blog in general!

    Thank you,
    John

    umflight.com

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Hi there. I didn’t find your posts preachy at all. I thought that you struck the right note in the mommy wars post–you offered a clear perspective, but didn’t call anyone out. Your tone is genuine–not snarky. To me that’s a big plus!

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Hello,
      As someone who is also deeply involved with words, I love your blog and your short stories. I started with “The Whole Nine Yards” and wondered where you might go with it. It was both humorous and compelling. Keep writing!

      Liked by 1 person

  28. I started a new blog: Pikturamma.wordpress.com. It is a photo collection. If I am working on something in dashboard, when I click on the blog name at the top, I get a blank square with just the date. If I click on the square, the pictures come up. What have I done wrong when I posted those posts?

    Like

    2. In absolute agreement with creativewriter. Enjoyed reading your post about the conference – the high-speed pitch process sounded oddly exhilarating. All good luck with your paranormal thriller. I hope it brings you lots of new readers.

      Liked by 2 people