I love WordPress. Okay, enough of that love fest. Let’s get into the rants.
Today I only have three rants. Well, four, if you count the fact that I’m rapidly approaching 1,000 days of posts without missing a single day and I’ve never been Freshly Pressed. If an infinite number of monkeys at an infinite number of typewriters given an infinite amount of time can produce the complete works of William Shakespeare, surely even an idiot like myself could hit pay dirt one time? Come on!!! Meanwhile I know a lot of people who have been there, done that, and within only a week of launching their blogs. Ah, the fortunate ones.
Feedback like “you suck” is really valuable. At least here in the Abyss. Actually, I commend them wholeheartedly for enforcing certain standards. If I was to be Freshly Pressed, I’m sure it would be like matter and anti-matter touching. It would destroy the universe as we know it. And practically no one wants that!
Anyway, I promised rants. Here we go.
The Reblog Feature is Back – and Broken
WordPress had a wonderful reblog feature that allowed blogs a courteous way to share the brilliance of other bloggers. The blog-o-sphere is supposed to have this social/share element, right?
Then one day it mysteriously disappeared.
Changes and stuffs is always afoot in the WordPress. You log on and find that things feel different. You’re never totally sure why. But you can sense it.
Then one day the reblog feature was back. Yeah!
But it wasn’t the same. The ability to reblog and save as a draft, so you could tweak things, was gone. The reblog automatically went live and pumped out an email to your subscribers with only a number in the subject line.
“Hey, everybody! Check out what I got in my inbox!”
[New Post] 11632. And it’s from Shouts From The Abyss. You know what? That sounds so interesting. I think I’ll click on it, open it open, and learn more!”
Fail: Broken.
My Conversations Are Silent
When logged in to WordPress there is handy title bar that goes with you on your travels. In the top right, under a my name and a little icon of my avatar, is a drop down menu. On that menu there used to be a link that would let me view posts on other blogs where I had made comments.
It’s gone now.
I found that thing so handy for interacting with other folk. Now I spend my days interacting primarily with myself, if you know what I mean. Score one for sin courtesy of WordPress!
Seriously, though, I guess they felt that little notification icon counter was supposed to supercede the link, but it’s just not the same.
This is a case of a change leading me to interact less with other blogs.
Fail: Too much change.
Email Onslaught AKA One More Thing Not To Forget
Someone turned the auto checkbox on for “Notify me of follow-up comments via email.” This hasn’t gone over too well as far as I can see. Personally I hate it. Checkboxes on the internet are supposed to be opt-in. Not, “we’re shoving this down your throat unless you happen to notice.”
The proof is in this pudding. I did NOT check that box!
Let’s say I go visit a bunch of WordPress blogs and make some comments. You think that would make WordPress happy. But no!!
If I comment on 40 blogs that each get 25 replies that’s theoretically up to 1,000 emails stuffing my inbox. (This assumes I click on them all promptly like a good soldier.)
Fail: Do not want.
Tip: How To Reply To A Comment
Technically this isn’t a rant against WordPress. This is where I reward you, the faithful reader, for getting this far. Hopefully you’ll find this tip useful.
When I comment on someone’s blog it’s always to get a reply from the blogger to my comment. “Wow, the writer actually wrote me back!” It’s a thrill.
As that blogger, you’ll no doubt want the commenter to actually be aware of your graciousness. And there’s a little mistake some of you make.
If you reply to the comment using the built-in threading offered by WordPress, the commenter will automatically be notified that you did. (If they have their own WordPress blog. It will show up in the title bar in the notification icon.) All this means is that you use the reply function provide on the public side of your blog, just like a regular person would.
On the other hand, if you edit your comments into their existing comment, the person will not be notified. They’ll have no clue and you’ll likely feel hurt they didn’t appreciate your gesture of goodness.
Shouts from the Abyss 
I also hate the changes to the topics tab. I don’t feel like all of the blogs are being posted when I select my topic. Why was this change necessary?
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Good question. Perhaps WordPress did it to deal with miscreants who were somehow gaming the system? You made me curious so I’m going to look at that, too.
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Photography seems to be one area that merits a freshly pressed feature. Also, recipes. I know you can cook, and I know you are an excellent photographer, so try some humorous but real recipes. Maybe faux chicken left-wings and cherry “conserv” ative. I’ve been freshly pressed twice, which is how we found each other. Both of my posts were personal, but personal makes it more difficult for you, since you want to remain anonymous. Good luck! You certainly deserve to be featured!
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Oh, don’t worry. I’m not too broken up about not being Freshly Pressed. I get it. They have standards. If things were reversed I’d do exactly the same thing to me. I really don’t care as much as it sounds like I do.
I shall put thought into the personal thing. Personally I think I talk way too much about myself already. My wife wholeheartedly agrees!
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I know how you feel. About all of it, but especially the ‘Freshly Pressed’ impasse. Though since I’m only in my hundreds of posts while you’re coming up to 1000! I can’t really complain.
But I will.
Please ‘Freshly Press’ me WordPress Gods! But do Shouts From The Abyss first.
He deserves it for writing so well and making me (us) laugh so much.
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You are far too kind, but thanks for the kind words. It’s true I’m coming up on the milestone of posting 1,000 days in a row. (The calendar on the left can be used to verify this face. It don’t lie.) And it’s true that I’ve never been Freshly Pressed. But please don’t think I’m complaining. Like most things I think it comes down to luck and who you know. I was offered a chance to provide sexual favors but I refused because of my principles. I don’t really mind being overlooked. I just like to bitch.
If you set aside the “Reddit” day of infamy that totally screwed with my stats, April 2012 was my best month ever as measured by Views Per Day. And so far, May 2012 is on pace to break that record, too. I blame it on Google Image Search sending tons of people who could care less about what I have to say. They visit once, steal an image, then leave to never return. It’s a parable for the way I get treated by the Universe.
I do have to think some of the views might be real. And I sincerely appreciate those. Let’s see. “There’s me, myself and I + you.” I think I’ll make that into a t-shirt.
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here’s my thing about “freshly pressed” — I never read anything on there. I go to my blogs and my subjects I’ve set up to see what’s going on. And yet, I do think you are well deserving a Freshly Pressed spot if that’s what you want.
Some of the changes wordpress has made confuse me — in all fairness, I’m not that technically savvy (my talents lay elsewhere for sure), but I do HATE that already checked box below — as is I couldn’t make that decision myself. And you are so right — it does keep me from commenting, especially if I’m not on my WIDE screen computer to actually see it and remember.
Great post Tom! You may not be FRESHLY PRESSED, but you got your loyal following. And we’re pretty FRESH if I do say so myself!
WORD.
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Thanks, Carmen! Don’t worry, I’m not seriously hung up on Freshly Pressed. I know how to get on there if I really want to. (A fabulous photograph of an exotic location while sharing a recipe and a movie review with pithy commentary about recent events.)
You guys are fresh. Good point. I already have all I ever dreamed. Thanks for the reminder.
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