Comment censorship: I don't understand how some bloggers think that deleting a negative comment makes it disappear or somehow invalid. As a rule, I don't delete comments. You can leave me a comment saying that I'm a horrible human being, but I won't delete it for two reasons: 1. It just doesn't bother me enough and 2. I want people to feel free to say what they think. If you call me out on something in the comments, I won't even hunt you down and attack you in a back alley. Probably.
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| In Soviet Russia, comments MODERATE YOU |
I've gotten negative comments in the past and they are all still there, even the ones that questioned my humanity because I don't like Santa Claus. I will delete a spam comment if it gets through, unless it's the complimentary kind of spam (you know, "You write good, very inspirational. Check out my Viagra"). If a negative comment is funny, I actually enjoy it a little. You can get away with a lot if you make me laugh while you do it.
Blogs that have comment moderation turned on make me suspicious too. What are you so afraid of someone posting? I've only heard one good reason for having the moderation turned on, but in general it just seems unfriendly.
Asking me to vote for you. I don't care that you've been nominated for some inane blogger award by some publication that no one has heard of, but if you bug people repeatedly on your blog and on other social media outlets to vote for you, I will go vote for the other person just out of spite. Mention it once if it's important to you, but don't harass your readers into going to another site and registering just to vote for you just so you can win some award that allows you to put some button on your side bar that says "Fitness Endurance Weekly's Most INSPIRATIONAL Blogger Winner!".
"Click to read more" If you have it set up in Google Reader or on the main page of your blog to not show your whole post as some sort of clever ploy to get more page clicks, then guess what? I'm not reading. I have never seen a first paragraph of a blog post that is gripping enough to make me feel like I must know more, and chances are that you're not a good enough writer to make me change my mind. If you are that hard up for money, get a part time job and stop pretending that your readers are too stupid to understand what you are doing.
Alluding to something, but refusing to elaborate. I get that somethings are too personal to blog about, but then just DON'T. Don't hint about it, don't say "I'm going through a vaguely horrible time in my life" and then never elaborate on it. If you don't want to talk about something, then don't. Hinting at it makes it seem like you want people to ask about it and that comes off as manipulative.
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| Don't be a Cordelia |
Having just one long paragraph for a post. Things like grammar errors and typos annoy me in a passing way, but I cannot read something that's just one long paragraph full of run-on sentences. The enter key is your friend...use it.
Word verification. A lot of the blogs I read have this turned on and I assume they don't know freaking annoying it is, or else they would have turned it off. It's under Settings if you use Blogger and Google is your helpful friend if you can't figure it out. For the love of all that's good in the world, stop making me type "Injowe Ttlqueo" every time I want to comment on your blog.
Overuse of emoticons. I admit when I first started blogging that I used emoticons, but I realized one day that I was doing that as a lazy crutch to avoid working hard enough to make my writing clear. If I'm reading a blog post and it has a line like "After I worked out, I had oatmeal for breakfast. ;)" I'm confused as to why that is winky face worthy and if "oatmeal" is code for something else. The occasional smiley face is fine, but if you have over 3 per post, then you're beating a dead horse (would a smiley face here make that sting less?)
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| See? A smile makes everything better. |
3 part race recaps. Unless it was an ultra marathon, there is just no way that is warrented. Even if it is an ultra, more than 2 parts is pushing the limits of what I want to read. I love reading recaps in general, but a little streamlining goes a long way and it's nice to remember what your audience wants to know (things like race logistics going smoothly, how organized the race was, etc). Also, if I read a long race recap and you play coy and don't post your time? You are dead to me. I could just look up your time, but I don't care that much and I also assume it is slow or else you would have included it in the recap.
Some people have "Bolded questions at the end of a post" on their hate list, but I'm still ok with it.
What do you hate about blogging? Say whatever you want, I won't delete your comment, even if it's about how I suck at blogging.
What do I hate about blogging?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I hate doing it. I just don't like writing. Or doing anything on a schedule.
I like that you put a picture of Hot Willow in this post though.
also, you're fat.
DeleteI know. That's why I'm forced to wear elastic waist pants lately.
DeleteYou know who needs elastic pants?
DeletePeanut.
oh man, I love this post. also, thanks for including the awesomeness that is BUFFY!
ReplyDeletei also hate it when commenters comment as "Anonymous". WTF, are you ashamed of your words so much that you have to hide behind a veil?
DeleteMaybe her name is really "Anonymous" -- and now you've reinforced her life-long struggle with that name that is so difficult to live with (getting made fun of by kids on the playground - snarky comments behind your back at work....)
DeleteWhen people do an entire post only using google images or animated gifs. Take your own freaking pictures! :)
ReplyDeleteI might have been hurt by this comment, but the smiley face totally saved it.
DeleteLOL Kari, I would totally agree except that Kara somehow manages to find some stupidly hilarious google images/videos that make me pee a little.
DeleteOk, for serious though, Here's what I hate about blogging. More specifically, "healthy living" or "fitness" bloggers:
ReplyDelete1. Nobody cares what you ate for [meal], especially not every single day.
2. Do you just talk about running in every single post? Boring.
3. Do you delete comments when I comment on your placenta-eating? Then you suck.
The only thing I really hate abou blogging is when people get on their high horse about the silliest things. And yet here I go explaining one of my biggest pet peeves. Telling peeps not to wear a race shirt to a race. Yes I get how its silly, but you know what I have done it. Why because it was my first race or it was my first of something and I wanted to rock the shirt because it was special to me. Then to read about 'how' bad someone things it is is just dumb! I wish that people would focus more on themselves and stop worrying what other people around them are doing. You can't (not you, unless you have done this) - say race your own race, focus on your own time and then be upset that I wear a race shirt to a race. How about worry about your own clothing. Not sure why it bugs me, but that one always gets on my nerves.
ReplyDeleteYou suck at blogging. Oh, no wait, I meant to say I love this post. The 'vote for me' shit also drives me nuts.
ReplyDeleteI hate when people take pictures of everything they ate. do not care!
I do like the oatmeal winky face reference. I think I am going to use that from now on - i.e. I drank too much beer and then had some oatmeal. ;)
Drinking too much always results in some oatmeal consumption ;)
DeleteAgreed. You are so right. The other most annoying thing is that people seem to copy each other, like, it's St. Patrick's day so let's all post pictures of pretty green things... and many times they are the same pictures. Come on!
ReplyDeleteI hate word verification too, and people who leave questions in comments without their email address in their profile. I want to answer, really. I swear.
ReplyDeleteI've deleted a handful of comments, but they have all been either spam or rude things from my brother who just tried to write really offensive things to piss me off.
Love it! I do not need to read your race recap broken down into 3 posts! Tell me how you did, your time, yada yada...Not what you saw at mile 1,2,3,4....
ReplyDeleteOk, I fear that I may suck with the smiley faces. It's a problem, but I might need rehab to fix it.
ReplyDeleteI really don't like the pics of every meal... I seriously don't think anyone cares. I don't like comment censorship either. Sure, your blog, your rules, and I get that..... but sometimes the fights in the comments are the best part!
YES! This is exactly what bothers me too! Like, why does everybody need to post a race recap about every race?
ReplyDeleteI am guilty of the multiple race posts but in my defense it was my first marathon. haha! It it was more: heres the day before, race day and how i recovered the following day.
ReplyDeleteI hate the word verification thing too. Sometimes the web browser on my work computer doesn't let me do it. Okay I should probably be working and not responding to blog posts. I also sometimes want to respond via cell. The word verification doesn't on those.
Sometimes really really really long posts bug me.
Word verification is very annoying, especially since they changed it and half the time I can't even read it and type it wrong now. The abbreviated thing in google reader is annoying too and I rarely read those posts. The only other thing that annoys me is way too many 'pray for xxx' or really over the top religious references.
ReplyDelete"I also assume it is slow or else you would have included it in the recap."
ReplyDeleteHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
I hate race recaps with no time. Because, that's the most important part. Even if you met the ghost of James Dean at mile 20, I still want to know your time.
One person recently told me that being forced to reveal race times is like asking a lady her weight. Too bad you can't look up weights on the internet with a simple search, because you sure can for race times.
DeleteOh shit! And I was going to put up a 6 part post to my amazingingly interesting 50 miler and explain how every single tree was a work of art and every little root was a lesson in life and how I dripped of sweat but smiled right through it. Oh shit. I forgot to use the enter key. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI hope you took pictures of each magical tree.
Deletewell aren't you a special little snow flake. Just kidding, I actually like your blog, which is a rarity for me. Deleting/moderating comments is complete BS. Most bloggers would prefer to live in a world where everyone worships the ground they walk on, but deleting criticism doesn't make it any less true.
ReplyDeleteThat's what my kindergarten teacher called me, so it must be true! No two snowflakes are the same.
DeleteI used to work in a job where my writing was TORN apart on a daily basis and then I had another job with an abusive boss, so I have yet to have a blog comment that comes near either of those experiences.
I have always been a die-hard comment moderator because of a difficult incident on an old blog, but I finally realized that if someone wants to trash me on my own blog, I'd be pretty entertained to see what sort of thread developed from it. Ergo, comments no longer moderated. I feel FREEEE!
ReplyDeleteProduct recaps that are "ZMG AMAZEBALLS" yet never make another appearance on the blog...
ReplyDeleteComment moderation. For sure.
Also, bloggers - I know what overnight oats look like, please stop posting pictures of them.
#1 reason I stop reading blogs: You're boring and can't come up with new material. I would much rather a blogger post every few days with something worth saying, rather than monotonous jargin that my brain never processes because I'm already thinking about other things.
You're making me snarky*.
* :)
My goal in life is to inspire snark in others.
DeleteI like this post almost as much as Michel.
ReplyDeleteLately, I'm hating the I-can't-think-of-a-post-today-and-god-forbid-I-go-a-day-without-posting-so-here's-a-bunch-of-motivating-jpegs-I-found-on-Pinterest.
ReplyDeleteAnd running, going to the grocery store, and blogging IS NOT AN OMGSOBUSY day.
It's only a busy day if you add in cooking dinner, right? Thank goodness I avoid doing that most nights.
DeleteI also with the commentator above who doesn't want to hear what people ate. I don't mind hearing the outlines IN GENERAL of an eating plan, especially if it might minimize bathroom stops during long runs, and I don't mind sharing recipes if someone asked....but a blow by blow of breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner on an ordinary day? Yawn!
ReplyDeleteMy biggest "amen, sister, preach it" from your post are the multi-part race recaps and the hints at dark events going on behind the scenes. I've always figured these people must be blogging more for themselves than others. Remember all those multi-chapter recountings of Hood to Coast last year? God save us!
I would also add that giveaway requirements (especially liking some company on Facebook) have gotten really irritating. In fact, corporate ass kissing in general, whether or not it's associated with a giveaway, is a big turn-off. I think Lululemon clothes are cute and Nuun tastes good, but I will never mention either of these companies on my blog (and so far I've never bought anything from Lululemon--not that I won't someday...but it won't be because of breathless endorsements).
Amen to hating giveaways with a billion steps for entering. There are very few things that I want badly enough to deal with that headache.
DeleteI almost stopped buying Nuun just because even seeing the word "Nuun" drove me nuts after the endless Hood to Coast shit.
I heart Nuun, but hate them a little bit for making me an alternate on their team last year and then ignoring me and treating me like I didn't exist. :(
DeleteI really do love my Lulu running skirts too and will probably keep talking about them..sorry :)
Those emoticons were just for you Kara, cuz I am a bitch like that ;)
I try not to commit too many of those, although i do bold questions once in awhile, and I probably overdue the smiley faces. (This would be a good spot for one) :)
ReplyDeleteTyping in the word verification definitely gets old.
I get annoyed with those who post everything they ate. If it has to do with fueling before, during, or after, ok-but, every detail or every meal-I don't care. Especially when your meal has nothing to do with health or being active when you are a running or fitness blog. Or those blogs that turn into a soap opera of every detail of people's lives. Or people's posts about stuff they have already posted about. In other words, some people have to post 2x's a day and they run out of content. If that happens, just don't post. It's ok. I will still remember you and come back to read.
ReplyDeleteI hate blog posts that are about food, like what I ate Wednesday, I really don't care what you ate Wednesday it bores me to fuc%&ng tears, I used to try to read them, now I don't bother. They seem like cop out posts to me. BORING.
ReplyDeleteHATE HATE HATE the word verification, when I am lazy I just close the page instead of entering it in. I also don't want to go to 16 pages and "like" or "follow" to enter a giveaway. although Rafflecoptor does make it so much easier. I do like winning giveaways though
1. I hate pictures of the same oatmeal and smoothie everyday.
ReplyDelete2. I hate a picture of an apple in your hand. I know what an apple looks like, I don't need to see the one you ate because you have a lack of content.
3. I hate when bloggers apologize for or explain why they haven't blogged. I don't care, I'm not waiting on your ass to post something.
4. I hate when bloggers use over-complicated sentences to explain their food: "The vegetables added a punch of succulent nutrients and accompanied my steak nicely." No one talks like that and you sound like an ass.
5. You know what I do like? This post.
Bwahahaha "succulent nutrients" are my favorite.
DeleteWord verification makes me insane. I hate it and I am close to not wanting to comment on people's blogs who use it anymore. I love the That 70s Show and can't believe you found a way to fit them in! They rock! I'd have to agree on almost everything you put here.....almost. :) :) :) ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd, oh, I ate oatmeal 8 days ago and I know you're jealous. ;)
I can not stand the misuse of your and you're and their, there, or they're. I just stop reading. I would like some oatmeal now please ;)
DeleteWord verification, despise and often won't comment because of it.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous comments(when I used t blog about infertility I used to get some anonn haters and did the whole comment moderation thing, many moons ago).
Boring, "I'm so fantastic I eat oatmeal every day blogs".
But your blog, I totally heart.
I agree with:
ReplyDelete1. word verification (I often can't tell what the F'ing letters are.
2. I hate, "What I Ate Wednesday."
Um, my last post had a picture of oatmeal in it bitch. It was damn good too. Oh and, that was my second helping that day ;)
Seeing that your standards are so high, I feel special knowing that you read my blog.
it's only for fodder. Plus the fact that being a stay-at-home-mom is so easy, she's got tons of free time.
DeleteAdd me to the list of word verification and WIAW haters.
ReplyDeleteI also am not a fan of fad diets and "everything I eat must be organic." I'm so tempted to point out that there is no regulation for the organic label, but that would make me too nerdy.
I love that you have a picture of Michele in this post.
ReplyDeleteI hate pictures of pointless food. If you have a recipe or went to a great restaurant, yes please. If not, why are you photographing a banana?
In all fairness, I tried making mine a food blog. It lasted a week. Turns out, the only thing I hate more than seeing pictures of pointless food is TAKING pointless pictures.
Spot on! I feel like the universe crafted us from the same material ;) =) :)
ReplyDelete=P (sorry, couldn't help myself)
I hate when people allude to things, like saying there's only one good reason for comment moderation but not telling me what it is, which is driving me crazy. I also hate things like "wordless" days or 4 pictures of the same thing, but I don't really read the blogs that actually do that any more. Also, when the text goes around the picture really awkwardly, like the picture is in the middle of the sentence, and it looks like the blogger was just like "F#$% it my husband is eating fries and I need to go "steal" half of them".
ReplyDelete"I hate when people allude to things, like saying there's only one good reason for comment moderation but not telling me what it is, which is driving me crazy."
DeleteSeriously. Don't leave us hanging, Kara.
Ok I can now think of two good reasons:
Delete1. Angry ex boyfriend turned stalker who wants to use your blog as a venue for punishing you for leaving him.
2. You need to maintain your secret identity and can't have anyone blowing your cover.
I don't care what you fucking ate on Wednesday! Or any other day!
ReplyDeleteAlso an email address connected to your comments means I can answer your question. Don't ask me something and not leave your email address for me to respond.
The comments on this post are freaking hilarious!
ReplyDeleteYou hit my top two:
1. Comment moderation/having to put in a completely nonsensical password to post a stupid comment. I X that box so fast when "QneTys3" shows up.
2. Having to click through in Google reader. Don't want me to read you on my phone? Ok, I won't!
Kate: I'm surprised you even commented positively on this post seeing as you seem to be the target of a good bit of the "I freaking hate what this blogger does" content--not necessarily from the post itself but also the comments. Interesting.
DeleteKara, you will never cease to be a gem in the blogging/writing world.
Word verification sucks.
ReplyDeleteI hate when people blog everyday even when they have nothing to blog about.
I don't have a blog popular enough for anyone to complain about my posts, so comment moderation isn't even an issue. And I love me a good debate, so I would never moderate comments, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI will say that for me personally, I blog about what I eat to keep myself accountable. It's 99% likely that if I didn't post it, it's because it was a poor choice of which I am ashamed. So that helps me to stay on track. Although, I've never really cared what anyone thought of me, anyway, so that's helpful, too :)
But I do abuse emoticons. Because I love them so <3
Ack! I just disabled word verification. Thanks for commenting on my blog today anyway.
ReplyDelete-My eyes glaze over when there's one big paragraph. I need like 4 sentences at a time with space in between.
-I don't understand pictures of the same piece of food/meal from 5 different angles.
-Agreed on not drawing out race recaps unless you ran nonstop for 10+ hours. Then maybe I could see 2 parts being warranted.
-I don't have a problem with bolded questions. That way if you lose interest in the one long continuous paragraph, your eyes can easily jump to the question.
-I had oatmeal for breakfast this morning ;)
Yay to no more word verification!
DeleteLove love love it. And agreed. Sadly I am one of those people that have the comment moderation on for the sole reason that I am married to a man that has a crazy ex-wife and she kept posting anonymous comments on my blog about what a home wrecker I was! Cracked me up really cuz she is literally certifiable, but I couldn't take it anymore and didn't need my family reading that stuff.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, True Blood as become one of favorite shows! He is hot and I would definitely let him turn me into a vampire.
That's a pretty good reason for comment moderation. I bet she's mad that she can't do it anymore!
DeleteI love this post. I'm guilty of using too many smiley faces. I need to work on that. I think it's become a bad habit! I hate when people have that thing where you try to post your comment and you have to type the funny looking words into a box before it will submit. Sometimes it takes me forever to figure out what the heck it says. I struggle. Not posting your race time is annoying too. I have a lot of blogging pet peeves too, but there are too many to list :). There's that smiley again!
ReplyDeleteI'm tired of looking at oats, voting, and reading essentially the same thing every day. I also am OVER the intentional misspelling of certain words. (like seksi instead of sexy).
ReplyDeleteI LOATHE "read more," and I have used comment moderation because I have a crazy family member who needs censorship for their own sake.
I love this post.
My biggest peeve is the long paragraph. I have a short attention span and if a blog is written in long paragraphs, I probably won't be reading it.
ReplyDeleteI'm so with you on the "Click here to read more...."! A few blogs I used to read regularly started doing that, and I think I've actually clicked maybe once, total, since then. Reading blogs takes up enough of my time that it's not worth clicking over to someone's blog to read their post (which probably contains lots of vaguely worded references to other posts complete with links to make me click over yet again to figure out what the hell they're talking about).
ReplyDeleteVoting and oatmeal are also high on my list of blog pet peeves. If I never see another bowl of oatmeal covered in peanut butter, I'll be a very happy person.
I didn't even know I had word verification on! It has been removed. Thanks for pointing it out. I also have no idea what the "click here to read more is about"
ReplyDeleteI loved this! I agreed with all of it and the only thing I'd ad is that I hate when people are just so negative all the time on their blog. There's just no need for that, in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteThere are many things I hate about blogs, but I love this post, if for no other reason than the Gilmore Girls reference!
ReplyDeleteYES. Thank you for saying this out loud. AMEN.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the word verification! It's so hard to read. If I am reading blogs on my phone and someone has that, I skip it! Also the "click here to read more" just makes me click past that one in Reader. I don't have time to take that extra step.
ReplyDelete"Vote for me" posts are annoying. "Sorry I haven't blogged in a while" posts are annoying.
It's hard to focus when people do not use enter and their post is just one long paragraph!
Bad grammar is also something that is hard for me to swallow. Your/you're and their/they're/there are some of the ones that get to me.
And I like oatmeal! I eat it every day. And sometimes I even take pictures of it and post it on my blog ;)
Word verification needs to die a painful death. I get stuck behind a constant loop of redirection if I try to comment on a Blogger blog that turns out to have word verification. So annoying. Oh, and adding crap to oatmeal does not make you a food blogger with brilliant recipes.
ReplyDeleteI take personal offense to the soviet russia post...our president didn't assassinate us, he just made us disappear.
ReplyDeleteHow about the one where the blogger "reviews" a product without you know, reviewing the product? They paste all the marketing BS provided by the company and then offer a "free" giveaway with a million requirements to enter. A review is not when someone says "this product is great". It should also not start with, "I don't typically use x, y, z but...". People that agree to do product reviews just for the sake of free stuff annoy me. If it is remotely applicable, maybe. But trust me when I say that I am not going to be doing a review for create your own running charms. Those email offers I just click delete.
ReplyDeleteI will totally unsubscribe if a post has a read more, or abbreviated posts on reader, sorry but than you are more in this for money and not gaining readers. I will 100% comment on blogs that I like but let me read the dang thing in reader!
ReplyDeleteI also hate vote for me crap, over and over again. I actually just unsubscribed because someone even emailed us reminders, even though I never said I allowed emails to be sent for that crap, arg!
some of the other stuff I am awful at, sorry :)