Have you ever come across certain things on someone's blog that just irks the living daylights out of you? Of course you have. Have you ever reached out to the person to let them know? Of course you haven't, because that would be rude. And not nice. But have you dedicated an entire blog post to it? Oh you betchya!
So, without sounding like a broken record to the 800 blogs that have already posted about this, I give you:
STOP DOING THESE THINGS ON YOUR BLOG.
please and thank you.
1. TURN OFF CAPTCHA. Word verification. Robot finder. WHAT EVER YOU WANT TO CALL IT. GET RID OF IT. OH MY GOD. Why in God's name do you have that shit on your blog posts? Really, do you just not know that it's on there? I'm not going to show you how to do it. As a seasoned blogger, you should already know how to turn it off. Would it be rude to email someone asking them to turn it off? There have been so many times I've went to comment on a blog, and I end up not doing it because of that stupid thing. It's so annoying and it just needs to go away. For those of you who have this activated: why? What is the reason (honestly though, I'm very curious) ?
2. Teeny tiney microscopic font. Oh, I'm sorry, can you not read that? If you don't have 20/20 perfect vision, that little blurb says "TEENY TINEY MICROSCOPIC FONT". People, I don't have perfect vision, and my computer screen is about 2 1/2 feet away from me. I can't read your posts if you use size 8 Arial font. Please increase your font sizes!
3. "Older Posts" and "New Posts" links open up a whole new browser page/tab. I know what you're doing. You are trying to increase your page views. You aren't getting by on ME! This is super annoying. If I wanted to have your page open in another browser/tab, I would right click, and click on "Open In New Reading Tab". But for you to specifically set up those links to automatically open a new tab, that's just wrong and ANNOYING.
4. Sharing stupid shit that you would never buy in a ZILLION years [For the record, that's NEVER]. Example of this: sharing organic face wash. REALLY? What the hell happened to using good old Neutrogena Face Wash. COME ON. Or, how about this one: don't share how you are eating pizza bagel bites every fucking night of the week (because we know you are getting compensated to do so.) You are making me think you are a lazy fatass. (That's someone who's fat and doesn't want to cook, ever). Was that rude of me? I don't care.
*Please note, this is not in ANY FORM jealousy of those who do sponsored posts (that I obviously don't have the opportunity to do). But making me look at your pizza bagel bites for the 8,000 time this week is a little overkill.
5. Apologizing for being absent. (I'm guilty of this). We all need to stop. Think about it, when your favorite blogger hasn't blogged for quite sometime, and then they randomly show up and churn out 5 posts in a row...are you pissed?? NO!! You're HAPPY they are back! So let's stop apologizing.
6. Don't be a copycat! I can't tell you how much my blood boils when I see nearly identical posts from two different people. So why read then? I normally don't. I read a really clever (what I now know was sponsored) post the other day and I genuinely liked it, and it made me want to get the product. I randomly stumbled across a blog that had almost the exact post, but obviously with their own pictures/wording. I guess this is more of a complaint to the companies reaching out to too many bloggers to promote the same product.
7. REALLY HUGE BLOG BUTTONS. We got really serious for the last couple of points, so bringing it back down to good old fashioned complaining. I really don't want a blog button bigger than 200px wide on my side bar. If you have a blog button that is larger than 200px I'm just letting you know now, that I will resize it regardless if you tell me I can/can't.
8. Hideous Fonts. Sarah has provided us with an awesome post on fonts that go well together. Let's keep Comic Sans back with our AIM Away Messages from 1999. Thanks.
9. Having a picture in your post, with a "source" link beneath it, that leads me to the jpeg of the image on your photobucket account. People. I didn't click on the link to see this on your photobucket page, I wanted to see where the hell you found this item you're sharing with us. Is this an active item that is being sold in stores right now? Or was this simply an image on page 17 of 300 results from a google image search?
10. Plastic. Like mean girls plastic. I know your life isn't as pretty as you show us on your blog.
I want to hear your real voice sometimes, even if it means spilling the secret that your husband and you argue over who does the dishes, or the pile of laundry you have on the other side of the room when you do a photo-shoot. Or that sometimes, you really do rely on those bagel bites for dinner because you have NO idea what the hell to cook for the 700th night in a row. I want to hear the real YOU! When you constantly share perfect images and outfits on your blog, my opinion of you changes...I start to feel that I can't relate to you anymore. BE YOURSELF!
(p.s.) I made this, how cute, right? By the way, that photo (found on pinterest) was the inspiration behind my new blog look!
Anyway, hope I didn't offend anyone too much, but #sorrynotsorry! (oh, that's another pet peeve too).
HAHA Love this. I'm guilty of the apologizing thing. Just did it last week. Oops. Captcha is a train wreck and I hate it. Small font, although readable for me, is still annoying. I'm not sure if my old/new posts are opening in a new page. If they are I didn't do it for page views.Personally, it annoys the hell out of me when I want to open something and it opens in the same window. I ALWAYS open in a new tab/window so I can keep doing what I was doing, and do the new thing too.
ReplyDeleteI like the new colors. They almost look 3D in your header.
I agree 100% with all of this! I'm totally guilt of the apologizing thing though.
ReplyDeleteLoving the new look! And the inspiration behind it! Hope you're having a blast!
blogs that auto-play some bullshit ad. I HATE THOSE. i immediately close that tab without even looking at the post because it's hella annoying.
ReplyDeleteor when the blogger inserts an ad right in the middle of the post. disjointed reading experience is one of the top reasons why readers never come back.
haha I love this! I apologize too much when Im absent. Guilty. Also I set my in blog post links to open in a new page not for views but so that persons wont be taken away from the actual blog post that I want them to read. But I think thats diff from what you;re saying tho ... everything else.... totes agree!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with all of these and the captcha just irks me...like seriously we are not robots or spammers, just let me comment! The big brands or shops that reach out and want sponsored posts I rarely agree to do because of the reason you mentioned - everyone is getting them and everyone in blog land will be bored to tears LOL! I actually do set up my links to open to a new page but again not for page views but like what kay said so that they people wont be taken from my original post.
ReplyDeletePLEASE tell me if I do any of those things! I can't stand crazy font, a blog I read the other day had like cursive curly writing and it hurt my head so off I went. and oh my gosh I hate when things open in another page like that, and you know what else i hate? when people turn off the ability for me to highlight / right click. because if i want to open an old post you've linked to, you won't let me open it in a new tab, or you won't let me highlight and google something you talked about. so rude.
ReplyDeleteOh the CAPTCHA... please, stop the captcha!
ReplyDeleteLove everything about this post
ReplyDeleteCaptcha. Why do people still use this?! Nothing more annoying.
ReplyDeleteI honestly just went and left a comment on my own blog to make sure my captcha was not on. Because it annoys the crap out of me too (so it would have sucked if I was that person..). I actually don't mind links opening in a new tab, I think it is just the way I read things though. I always have a few tabs open, and that way if I forgot I wanted to read something else, it is still up on my screen.
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, YES! Could not agree more with these, even though I'm guilty of the apologizing one too. Also, pop-up ads and when they have a background color and then colored text over it (not blocked off like yours)- make it stop!!
ReplyDeleteTotally guilty of #2.
ReplyDeleteBUT I LIKE ITTTTTT ;)
Oh, I totally agree about the Captcha! I usually have to hit the refresh button at least 5 times to find something I can actually read. I totally remember thinking that Comic Sans was the coolest when I was like 10 haha and now I'm like AAAAHHHHH, MY EYES!!!!! Great post!
ReplyDeletecaptchas literally make me scream out in anger.
ReplyDeletethis may be one of the best posts ever. it has me dying!
ReplyDeleteUH OHHH my button is 250x250! (i have a new one) but i don't care if people resize it. is that "rule" really something people say? fuck that, it's your button but it's going on MY blog so it'll be whatever size i tell it to be.
When SO many bloggers are promoting the same product, I'm out. it's so irritating. the bagel bites thing was honestly ridiculous, like why did they even need promotion? you are BAGEL BITES you have been around for 3923 years and everyone knows you exist. and what did the all even get for that? a box of bagel bites and $25? probably.
you said AIM away messages hahahahaha. my AIM profile was my life!
ok you have to give me details on #6!