May 28, 2018 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Where WordPress bloggers support each other with feedback and advice.

Welcome to the final edition of the Community Pool! Whether you’ve been a regular here for years or just recently discovered the Pool: thank you for making it such a supportive, lively, and collegial place for bloggers of all stripes.

As always, feel free to share links to your latest post for feedback, or ask a question about your site’s design, publishing cadence, or any other blogging-related topic you’re looking for input on. Since this will be the last time the Pool opens its doors, you’re also welcome to chat with others about any community initiatives you’re interested in starting or share links to existing blogging events you’re part of and think others might be interested in as well.

The Community Pool is for peer feedback and advice. Looking for more specific information? Check out some of these resources:

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

  • 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, as well as for not starting numerous threads in a single Pool.
  • 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 smoother. Also note that including multiple links in your comment might automatically put it in the moderation queue, which will delay its publication.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. The idea is to have fun — it’s a pool, after all!
  • 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.
  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
  • No running on the deck.

Looking for free, self-guided courses to help you get started with your blog (or revive a dormant one)? Check out our current offerings at Blogging U.

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  2. This makes me so sad, especially because I feel like I just started to enjoy all that the Community Pool and Daily Post, Photo Challenges has to offer.

    Here is my post, 4 Months of Blogging, 4 Things I Learned: https://ericarobbin.com/2018/05/28/4-months-of-blogging-4-things-i-learned/

    Some questions I have that I keep going back and forth on are:

    1. Watermarks, yay or nay? I’m constantly on the fence about them.

    2. How to better showcase/categorize multiple posts on a page? I like being heavy on the visual side of things but I can’t seem to get my photos/descriptions congruent and look visually neat and clean. I take vertical, horizontal, and square photos but want them to be the same without losing the dimensions/details. Like Damn Delicious website https://damndelicious.net for reference, hers is all food photography so doesn’t matter as much, but maybe that’s why she adds text into some, to perhaps even out photos that are square as opposed to vertical so they fit the format? Any suggestions?

    Thank you,
    Erica

    Liked by 4 people

    1. I like your theme, it’s very big and friendly. My only suggestion is to perhaps try and limit your choice of fonts. Having so many different sizes, colours, and styles can sometimes make it messy or too busy for the eye to follow.
      Happy blogging!

      Liked by 4 people

    1. Even though I can’t contribute any financial aid to your charity ( I’m both jobless & broke) but I do convey my best wishes and all the luck towards your good efforts. Good luck & best wishes to you on this initiative 👍👍👍

      Liked by 1 person

  5. I couldn’t resist jumping into the pool one more time…thank you for all the fun over the past three years I’ve been blogging, this platform will be missed! Keep on blogging, my friends (old & new!)!

    Liked by 12 people

  7. Happy Monday Bloggers,

    I started my blog as a writing blog and then it beccame a book blog mostly about reading. In my recent post. Check out my recent post (https://selfwrittenexpose.wordpress.com/2018/05/25/i-want-to-get-back-into-writing/) where I talk about wanting to write again. It’s hard as a Jamaican writer and blogger but I’m really excited about a few projects I’m working on and would love your support!

    Happy Blogging,
    Kerine

    Liked by 14 people

  10. I am so sad that this is the last Community Pool. I started blogging last year and it took a little while to pluck up the courage to post here for the first time…but I shouldn’t have been worried! What a fabulously inclusive and encouraging community it is! Thank you to everyone for making it so 🙂

    So, for one last time here is a link to my latest post, a little series I started, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks so much for reading!

    https://mydustyflipflops.wordpress.com/2018/05/26/because-i-love-6/

    Liked by 19 people

  11. Can’t believe this is the last Community Pool. Let’s make the best of it, swimmers! Like a reading/writing blog? I hope you’ll check out mine–and I’ll do the same for you. Just because the pool is going away, doesn’t mean our community has to.

    My latest post, in honor of Memorial Day here in the U.S., interrogates the “American Dream.” Whether you’re American or not, what does it mean to you?

    https://rustbeltgirlblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/27/american-dreaming/

    Liked by 13 people

    2. Nicely done. I suspect many of us are revisiting what being American is, or what makes for a good dream versus a reasonable (or unreasonable) reality. Here’s to more good to remember than bad, regardless of what today – or this time – means to one. Na’ama

      Liked by 4 people

  12. Mistakes and Placebos

    Wow. Didn’t know the community pool was closing. That’s a really big bummer.
    Anyway.
    I post short stories daily, and I would LOVE some feedback on today’s story, or any of my other stories for that matter. Today’s is about mistakes and placebos, most are not. Some of my stories are fantasy, others are about average day-to-day stuff. Please feel free to check it all out 🙂 Thanks!

    Liked by 16 people

      1. Haa! I never thought of that. First, thank you for reading and commenting. Um, let me see…his name would be…um…Daniel Stuart Collins. His friends called him Danny.

        Liked by 6 people

  15. Hello everyone !!!
    It’s good to be a part of this pool.

    I hope you can take some time to check out my blogs. I have just started and i would love to get feedback from anyone. I would love to know what can i improve in my blog writing style and the topics that i pick on.

    Happy blogging 😊

    Liked by 13 people

    2. Great work!! The description of the idol is truly great and I love how you’ve portrayed his blessings and teachings in context of today’s world.
      Feel free to check poetry on my blog too!!

      Liked by 4 people

  18. Well, this is it. The last Community Pool. I won’t share a link to any of my posts today but instead I’d just like to thank you all for reading my posts, if someone here ever did.

    I got a lot of feedback from the pool multiple times and I’m really thankful for that. I’ll miss seeing y’all here.
    But that’s how it is, I guess.

    Best of luck! Happy Blogging! 🙂

    Liked by 13 people

  19. First of all,im sad that this is the last edition of community pool. As I’m nearing my first blogversary, I would like to thank this platform that connected with so many like minded people. Going through blogs here, realisation dawned on me that people not only write for building a brand but also write to cope up with pain.

    Here’s a short intro of my book review. Click on the link to read the full review.
    ‘Love Beyond 22 Yards’ brings you real life stories of people who defied all norms and boundaries even to the extent of sacrificing their careers, all in the name of love.

    Book Review – ‘Love Beyond 22 Yards’

    God bless you all and let the ink flow!

    Liked by 13 people

    1. I honestly don’t like cooking, thank god m boyfriend does. But I had a look and this looks good! Both in the sense of ‘yummy’ and the post in it self looks good to! I like how you put the smaller pictures next to each other with the explanation beneath. Keeps in nice and clean 😀

      Liked by 5 people

    1. I read your poem… First of all it has several small mistakes like you’re instead of your and a repetition of you in the last line. Do correct them. As for the title- “Acknowledge” or “Perfect” or “Right or Wrong” or even “Perspective”.
      I write poetry too, feel free to visit my blog and leave comments and feedback.

      Liked by 2 people

  26. Hi everyone!!! I’m just starting this blog… would y’all maybe mind giving me some feedback? Technique, format, anything would be much appreciated! caffeineandbookmarks.wordpress.com

    Liked by 10 people

    1. I read your post ‘Color’ and have to admit I am impressed. It is beautiful!!
      I do have a suggestion for the blog in general: post just a small part of you post on your home page and let people click to read more. That way your reader can like and comment on your posts as well. Happy blogging!

      Liked by 3 people

      2. If I’m not mistaking: open ‘my site’ in the left top corner > settings > writing > feed settings: Limit feed to excerpt only. If you don’t set a specific ‘excerpt’ in your posts it will take the start of you post. Hope this helps 🙂

        Liked by 2 people

  27. What a shame!
    I come by every now and again, so will really miss the Community Pool. Well folks, thanks to everyone who has dropped by and supported over the past 2 years or so and I wish you all good success with your blogging endeavours.
    Here’s one of my latest posts. Hope you’ll do me the honour of paying me a visit and if you are minded please leave me a like and/or a comment. Many thanks in anticipation.
    And thanks to you @BenHuberman for hosting this popular event.

    Open Letter to Mr P

    Liked by 12 people

  28. Since this is the last time we will be here, I wish everyone a really enjoyable and successful blogging journey. When I started my blog last month, I wasn’t sure if one person would read it. But thanks to the First Friday and Community Pool, I met so many wonderful souls here. I really hope that these relationships remain forever. Here is the link to my blog here.
    I would be grateful if you could read them and provide feedback on anything you find there.
    https://ahotcuppalife.wordpress.com

    Liked by 12 people