Written on October 14th, 2007 at 01:10 am by Darren Rowse
Get Something Off Your Chest
It’s time to ‘get something off your chest’ about blogging.
I listen to a sports radio station here in Melbourne and every Wednesday morning while I’m dropping my son off to his Grandma’s house for the day a segment comes on called ‘get something off your chest’. In the segment listeners are asked to call in to share something that they’re frustrated about, something that they dislike etc. They get about 30 seconds each to say their piece.
It’s a great segment for a number of reasons.
- Firstly it’s fun to listen to people rant.
- Secondly it causes some interesting debate.
- Thirdly it leads to solutions to problems (quite often questions are asked, confusion is clarified or problems are solved).
Every time I hear this segment I wonder how it would go to do it here at ProBlogger on the topic of Blogging.
So lets give it a go.
Here are the ‘rules’:
- Tell us something that you’ve been wanting to get off your chest about blogging.
- It could be a frustration, a problem you have, a concern you’ve been keeping to yourself – really anything that you want – just try to keep it to the theme of blogging.
- Attempt to keep it to 150 words of so maximum (I’m not going to police this – but it’d help us all to digest everyone’s comments if they were shorter than longer).
- No personal attacks please – while I don’t mind if you critique things or even others – try to keep things civil and don’t get too personal in bringing others down.
Hopefully this won’t be too negative (crossing my fingers) but can actually be a constructive experience and lead to us learning something about the medium of blogging.
PS: in a sense this is similar to my previous What’s Wrong with Blogging? posts from last year and the year before which led to some interesting discussions.
112 Responses to “Get Something Off Your Chest” - Add Yours
yuqk
October 14th, 2007 2:12 am
hmmm….
Kirk Warren
October 14th, 2007 2:17 am
I hate how many damn sites you have to sign up for networking. I’m not talking about reading and posting in the community. What I mean is how I “need” to sign up for every social network known to man, such as Stumble Upon, Digg, and del.ici.ous, and “forced” to register with dozens of blog sites and trackers, such as Technorati and the like, just to get my blog out there. Starting one blog requires like 50 different sign ups to various sites related to it and typing in the same info on every damn site. It’s tiring and almost feels pointless when you are starting out despite how everyone says you should do it.
Sean from AboutBlogging.Info
October 14th, 2007 2:21 am
Things about blogs that annoy me:
- Widgets that take an hour to load and hold everything else up.
- Spam comments. If I had a dollar for every bot that told me I had a nice site, I’d never have to work again. People who unleash these bots into the world should be dealt with severely. (I’m usually against the death penalty, but. . .)
- Everything I think of a good theme for a blog it turns out that hundreds of people before me have had the same idea.
- Everything I think of a good url for a blog someone else has already thought of it. Some of them have actually actually set up a blog. Others have just registered the domain and are sitting on it but doing nothing with it.
Paco
October 14th, 2007 2:28 am
I don’t have time to blog as muck I like
Paolo Amoroso
October 14th, 2007 2:36 am
I hate out of my guts those About pages containing only a poem or a cryptic quote, and absolutely no clue on what the blog is about.
Patrick
October 14th, 2007 2:36 am
* ell us something that you’ve been wanting to get off your chest about blogging.
* It could be a frustration, a problem you have, a concern you’ve been keeping to yourself – really anything that you want – just try to keep it to the theme of blogging.
I sometimes feel the “rules” of blogging or those things that are supposed to bring greater hits, participation, etc. keep me from being myself. I can be a blog thing but it’s also a web thing that basically forces us to niche and constantly stay on topic. I’m a big picture person and see the forest a lot more than I see the trees. I realize most people go looking for the trees and they are benefits of being an expert in a niche and providing service to an audience who looks for specific things. I’m tempted to create a category called, “The big picture.”
Jeff_
October 14th, 2007 2:42 am
Bloggers who are only in it for the money are ruining it for the rest of us. My opinion, anyway ;)
Shawn Hoefer
October 14th, 2007 2:47 am
I’ve been taught that content is king. I hate it when I struggle with word choice and phrasing and grammar and try to keep the size of the page / post down so it can be read and get no response only to find a pseudo-competitor has a poorly worded caption under an over sized photograph and that gets the response. Makes me want to quite writing and just put schlock photos up.
I also hate being accused of being a spammer for any reason. This is (not the blog, but what I generally blog about) is how I make my living. If I don’t talk about it and market it somewhere, then I don’t make a living… argh!
Oh, but I rambled on didn’t I?
Brian Auer
October 14th, 2007 2:52 am
Time, or lack thereof. I wish my day job didn’t get in the way so much.
Mer
October 14th, 2007 2:52 am
Bloggers! All the “d00d, werz muh r3aderz @t?” bloggers and the “I want to be rich, how do I install the word press?” bloggers and the “I’ll stick everything I can find in my sidebars because I’m a giant sheep and I love every fad!” bloggers.
And also, there is a certain community of bloggers out there who all seem to prefer Typepad blogs, and folks, your blogs are all so full of community sidebar garbage and you all got your blogs done by the same community member and they all look exactly the same, you ridiculous martini-swilling attention whores!
Eric Grey
October 14th, 2007 3:01 am
- I hate how so many health related blogs just regurgitate eachother’s content or just parrot what’s available in any book for lay people on the topic. This goes for any topic… so many blogs just say the same damned thing that everyone else is saying. It makes it difficult for unique content to rise above, sometimes.
- It bugs me how I have this compulsion to produce content constantly. I have so much going on in my life, but I’m always trying to think about an article I can post so my readers have fresh content. It’s an addiction. I probably need to form a 12 step program.
Freelancing Tips
October 14th, 2007 3:01 am
I hate it when I visit blogs and all they do is mimic what another blog said. It really annoys me because I feel like they have nothing new to offer, they just chew and spit out what other bloggers are saying. If a blogger that I subscribe to does this more than a couple of times consecutively I unsubscribe instantly, because I want to read fresh content, I want to learn something new, not read regurgitated content. I would rather read one fresh post a week from a blogger than a regurgitated post every day.
Chino Yray
October 14th, 2007 3:01 am
I hate it when other bloggers duplicate or just copy & paste my posts!!!!!!
Mike King
October 14th, 2007 3:03 am
One thing that really bugs me about blogging is all the blog sites out there with a fixed width website theme! There are so many different monitors, technologies and browsers out there, I just don’t get why so many dang websites and themes have to use such a small fixed width!.
As a graphic artist I have a 24″ wide monitor, and most websites only fill half the width making ME have to waste extra time constantly scrolling all the blog pages (even the reader sites like google reader does this). Its very annoying. More people should use table widths in there themes that fill the website!
Claudia
October 14th, 2007 3:13 am
My blog is very personal and I hate it when people post critical feedback about my personal choices when they do not know me. I can’t imagine myself thinking I was superior enough to judge someone I had only met through their blog.
I know it comes with the territory but everything I receive a criticial comment it throws me off.
Casey
October 14th, 2007 3:21 am
I wish that I had the funds to be able to advertise my blog and I wish that I had the time to allow my blog to be the best it can be. I wish I wasn’t a kid!
Simon Ward
October 14th, 2007 3:32 am
I hate blog spam about viagra. I am 27, everything is fine down there, just leave me alone!
Joe
October 14th, 2007 3:40 am
I hate how difficult it is to get noticed out there, and all the things you have to do to try to get noticed. When you take a day off, or have something else to do, it seems like you lose 50% of your readers on a start up blog! No one has any patience these days!
Oh, and its hard to make money online if you’re not a huge blog.
Marko Novak
October 14th, 2007 3:47 am
It’s nearly impossible for me to get any advertisers for my blog although I have over 150,000 visitors a month.
Who can tell me, what am I doing wrong?
Coen Jacobs
October 14th, 2007 4:11 am
The most frustrating, but at the same time the most coolest thing, about blogging is the starting of a new blog. All the effort that you have to put in it makes it really, really hard to hold on.
But think about it, would it be cool if everything would go by itself? Would it be cool, if you’re blog would present itself and do all the work by itself? I really doubt it, the coolest about a (succesfull) blog, is that you made it to what it’s now.
That the art of blogging! :)
Travis
October 14th, 2007 4:18 am
Why do bloggers like John Chow get so much traffic? Is it just because he started at the right time and attracted enough people to become “popular”, so that whatever he says is the cool thing to do?
A Blog about Nothing
October 14th, 2007 4:20 am
I hate going from blog to blog and they are all writing about the exact same thing just using different words.
I hate comment spammers. Especially since they rarely if ever manage to get their spam posted. They could at least make an effort.
I hate thinking up a great blog topic, and when it comes time to write it forgetting what it was because I didn’t write it down.
I hate the fact that if I don’t constantly update with new content I’ll lose about 5-8 RSS subscribers per day.
There’s plenty more, but Darren wants it kept short.
Zach Kollegger
October 14th, 2007 5:01 am
The biggest thing I hate Is seeing my RSS count go down. Whenever I don’t post every day, it drops.
Also, finding new content is a struggle, but I don’t hate it, as that’s what blogging is about. :)
ChrisB
October 14th, 2007 5:10 am
My biggest frustration is that I barely have time to write, so I don’t have time to learn html — but I my template and pretty much every other one I’ve ever seen.
My choices are spend time learning how to improve on one or suck it up. Guess I’ll go with the latter.
Ivan
October 14th, 2007 5:31 am
I hate how in the Internet Marketing Blogsphere everyone reports on the same crap that we get from official sources like the Google Blog without offering any real information. Everyone says the same crap from blog to blog in a not so different way. Every single one of them is useless and come off as experts when in reality they don’t know shit.
PlasticPilot
October 14th, 2007 5:51 am
I hate not having enough time
I hate when too much hot content comes at the same time
I hate spam comments
I hate being told I missed something
I hate looking grumpy in comments
I love blogging
And I love the community I’m slowly building
Roberta
October 14th, 2007 6:12 am
What I didn’t like is that one blogger (not mentioning any names) was trying to be cute, so he changed a couple of comments that I left on his blog. I posted about it and he also edited the trackback text.
Some people should just concentrate on making their blogs better.
Tom Hanna
October 14th, 2007 6:33 am
My pet peeve in blogging lately is lack of backward compatibility, specifically in WordPress. WordPress is great, it’s awesome and it’s free. But they encourage third party plugins and themes, then proceed to periodically break them.
Every so often they pop in with a new version where suddenly plugins stop working because they changed the database field names or themes stop working because they changed the tag names. It’s usually a .2 or .3, not a full number version change, which makes it especially frustrating as you tend to expect those major changes to come with full version revisions. In the latest case it was still more frustrating because they first had the big “branch” at 2.0 and then at 2.3 they had more changes that broke lots of things.
What’s really odd is that this is an open source project and they’re emulating one of the biggest consumer complaints about Microsoft, the open source archvillain.
Chris Jacobson
October 14th, 2007 6:38 am
I hate that there’s not enough hours in the day to do what I need to do as far as blogging goes.
I hate that John Chow gets more traffic than I do.
I hate that PayPerPost won’t approve my account because my site server is “unavailable”, even though it’s not.
Marek
October 14th, 2007 7:17 am
I hate when I cannot go paddling or racing due to lack of time or injury since I am blogging about fitness paddling and kayak photography.
Ken Dahlin
October 14th, 2007 7:19 am
I hate that there isn’t one damn feed reader that has all the features I’d like to see in a reader. I mean, some have a great number of features that I’ll never use, but don’t have that one feature (like tight comment integration) that would be a real time saver. The closest I’ve gotten to what I want is Google Reader but even that is as frustrating as listening to a singer who’s trying to hit high note only to miss it by a microtone.
Mark
October 14th, 2007 7:19 am
Internet users are like so many lemmings. Lemmings love to slide down those muddy chutes into the warm waters. One lemming slides down that chute, soon many more will be sliding down. It’s like the ‘ole herd instinct. No thought process, just “Look, everyone’s doing it, so I will too! Never mind even looking to see if there are sharp rocks in the water first before leaping. Just Do It!”
Everyone and their brother is a blogger these days. I have never in my entire time on the Internet seen so damn many blogs getting started up. I have been on the ‘Net since 1999. That’s 8 years.
With so many blogs, the competition is beyond fierce. It’s beyond cutthroat. Not only are you in serious life-and-death competition with the tens of millions of blogs already out on the Net, but we all live in an Attention Society. There are so damn many places to go on the Internet, so many people to IM and email and text, and so many blogs to read.
BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO BLOG…..
There are at least 75 million blogs out there. Each of those sitemasters is screaming for your and everyone else’s attention. Hell, I’m doing it right now.
This is a Social Media blogosphere. Bloggers are by their very nature SOCIAL, they blog to exchange views and ideas. Get used to dozens of Social networks and bookmarking sites and portals. There will be many more, and you’re gonna join ‘em ALL and participate! You’re gonna LOVE IT! You’ll learn to set up a Social page on your blog where you will list the dozens of links where your readers can find you at the dozens of social networks that you are a part of! Not only will you develop this Social page on your A-List blog, but it had better be THE BEST Social page that anyone in the entire blogosphere has ever seen in their life!!! If you’re serious about blogging, you better get your blog out there. You’re gonna make sacrifices. Sacrifices come with the territory if you are truly a Pro Blogger. Quit bitchin’ and make ‘em. You’ve got hundreds of blogs to track, so use an aggregator. Get an Invision Power Board or other well-established message board and maintain lists of hundreds of blogs. Stay the hell away from free message boards like ProBoards and ersatz versions of Invision Power Boards that you can get for free. Pay the price for it and use it! Read all the blogs you have listed and KEEP ON ADDING MORE BLOGS TO YOUR LISTS ALL THE TIME!!. Make their ideas your own, and Take no prisoners. Make nothing sacred. STEAL ideas and notions from popular culture and make ‘em your own. Be very controversial and opinionated if possible. This is an Attention Society and you must drag viewers into your blog by their virtual throats if necessary! I do it and I sleep like a baby at night.
Participate on twenty blogging forums, and ten more SEO forums, and fifteen more writing forums. Traffic isn’t gonna come to you, pro blogger, you gotta make it happen! Get your blog out there! Participate in blog carnivals. Participate in group writing projects like the kinds Problogger.net hosts. Write a decent article a day and submit ‘em into Darren Rowse’s GWP with ENTHUSIASM!!! Put Darren through his paces throughout the contest! Give your fellow bloggers so much primo material to read that they fall asleep on their keyboard from information overload and fatigue!!! While they are recovering from their exhaustion, you’ll have extra time to develop your fine blog and dazzle more new viewers!
Before you ever start blogging,
Realize that blogging will change your entire life. You will spend hours reading blogs online and books offline to learn. There is always something new worth your time to learn because you are in direct competition with millions of other bloggers. Technology is changing and the rate of change is accelerating. This means bloggers will be severely impacted on many levels by unrelenting change in real world society and on the Internet. Mobile technology is evolving also. People can buy goods with their mobile devices and not even have to own a computer and this will increase and become more profound with time, which will impact Web 3.0’s widgetization of affiliate relationships. Microblogging is also on the increase. Get your own Lifestream and Replystream like Steve Rubel! Get them set up on your own domain. Use yourname.name for that.
If you don’t have time to blog, DON’T EVER GET STARTED BLOGGING. If you think you do have time to blog, blog and work very, very hard at it. You’re going to spend hours at it most, if not every day. You’d better enjoy it. I don’t know why anyone would like to be a pro blogger. It’s demanding, especially with all the technological changes. But, I KNOW I love blogging so much. Blogging for hours a day does not faze me one bit, and I go to sleep each night with a grin on my face. :)
Okay, End of Rant. Sorry it was so long. I feel better now.
Ready……….Set……….BLOG!!!!!
Matt Jones
October 14th, 2007 7:40 am
The only thing I have to rant about is that blogging is such a tease.
You get a bit of success and, which leads to more, which leads to the creation of new and higher aspirations so that goals are never satisfied!
Alex Kay
October 14th, 2007 8:05 am
I hate that there is so much to read about blogging – so much that I almost never have the time to do it!
WarriorBlog
October 14th, 2007 8:07 am
STOP writing about blogging! There is enough blog blogging about blogging, so please blog about something else already!
Adrian Corscadden
October 14th, 2007 8:09 am
I hate using university computers that don’t have tabbed browsing!! Once you’ve tabbed you can’t go back!!!
Nick's Marketing Tutorials
October 14th, 2007 8:45 am
I am tired of the all the social bookmarking sites.
Let’s just pick one or two or even five and forget the rest.
Could we all agree to do that?
Please? Pretty please, with sugar on top?
“No” you say…
Okay, okay, let’s compromise: Keep it under 50?
Hyder
October 14th, 2007 8:48 am
I don’t hate anything. I just despise/ignore/look the other way at a few things.
I despise spammers and elitists.
I ignore people that think they know it all – NO YOU DON’T!! and the “survival of the fittest” group.
I look the other way from things that my conscience says doesn’t look right. Like cleavage, top and bottom, popping out off t-shirts and jeans. Seriously there is clothing that IS your size. Stop making going out in public an eye sore for people around you.
Rodney Olsen
October 14th, 2007 9:11 am
I can’t really complain about crappy blogging templates, seeing as I have one, (if anyone wants to spend some time rescuing my template, you’re welcome) but why do some people feel the need to experiment with weird colours?
So many bloggers have dark text reversed out of even darker backgrounds or other themes that are equally as difficult to read. If you want me to read what you have to say, don’t make me work so hard for it.
Deb
October 14th, 2007 9:22 am
I think that pretty much covers it.
Chris
October 14th, 2007 9:33 am
I hate it when it seems that you work your ass off to create truly original content and all the trite, shallow, derivative writers in your niche get way more traffic than you do.
I hate that the blogosphere is so slanted towards geek culture. It just gets to tiresome to be immersed in their world view sometimes.
Chris
October 14th, 2007 9:36 am
I hate that so many people in the blogosphere don’t think for themselves. “Oh, this site gets a lot of traffic so it must be good and it must be an authority.”
Adrian Corscadden
October 14th, 2007 10:02 am
…..just like this one eh Chris…hehe
Christy
October 14th, 2007 10:09 am
I hate that all the noveau bloggers have decided that there are RULES for blogging. I’ve been online since 1989. I’ll blog about whatever I want. I’ll have all the widgets I want (including a calendar because I like it). My page loads slow and, right now, I don’t care. More importantly, I don’t care if you care. Not all of us blog just for the paycheck. Give me a quirky, snarky, intelligent blogger over all those mass-produced “I started a blog just to make money” folks. Thanks for letting me rant. =} (old-school smiley face for the young-’uns).
Bloggrrl
October 14th, 2007 10:48 am
When I write about the things that I am really passionate about–alternative education, the nature of consciousness, neurological diversity,etc., not many people are interested in reading it. Money, however, is a different story.
I am also very aware that there are much better writers than me out there, and often wonder if I am truly adding value to people’s lives with what I write. Being a better writer than (perhaps) 90 percent of people is one thing, but being better than 99 percent is another, and I think that’s where writers worth reading need to be. And…I don’t think I’m there.
I love blogging, but it brings out a lot of self-doubt. Oh, and hey, am I not “marketing myself” very well by admitting that? ;-) Sometimes it feels good to be real.
pearl
October 14th, 2007 11:10 am
An interesting thing is that you put two females screaming at each other but here I see ‘majority’ of them males ranting ;) whats wrong with this picture?
I thought all day not to write that but had to take that off my chest!
Steven Wilson
October 14th, 2007 11:37 am
I guess my number one complaint would be having to register with all the social bookmarking sites that it takes to get one’s site recognized.It takes way to much valuable time.
Steven
Lori Magno
October 14th, 2007 11:58 am
I hate spam commenters. A lot. I resent having to moderate my comments just to keep links to bullshit off my site. Just because I write a post about shoes, does not mean I want affiliate spam in my comments.
Collin
October 14th, 2007 12:04 pm
Try having some jerk off spamming porn on your site. I have had to turn my moderation on this week for the first time. Some goof that always says nice site peter pan and when you click on his link it goes to a porn site. LIke really its bad enough my site has to be stuck between porn sites but don’t spam on my site…….but what ever I guess thats all I got. The same old dame porn stories we have all had.
John Lockwood
October 14th, 2007 12:10 pm
I’m a Realtor®, and outside of bubble bloggers who hate me on principle, my main concern lately has been trying to really engage my readers and potential clients instead of my colleagues, and develop something of a following even though my blog has a local focus.
I hate the fact that it’s taken me so long to really hit my stride. I’ve been at it for years and it seems I’m only starting to really work on engaging readers. Well, the good news is, the search engines dig me.
Also, I hate the fact that 10% of my web site effort produces 90% of the results. And 90% of my effort is my blog. :)
Michael Martine
October 14th, 2007 12:27 pm
I just wanted to get off my chest that I don’t have anything to get off my chest! :)
engtech
October 14th, 2007 12:37 pm
I hate the blog treadmill. I hate that old content only stays popular if it ranks well in search engines.
I hate how you’re only as good as your last post.
Latinbombshell
October 14th, 2007 12:44 pm
There is nothing I hate about blogs or blogging, except when people take themselves too seriously, but that’s also about life in general, which is why I get such a laugh from this whole idea of blog celebrity and revel in my cartoons. To me, some A-Listers are just people who worked hard at something and reached a point of success, same as in any other damn field. Anyone who is a true master is always humble! One thing — I don’t like to read blogs that are hard to read, ie, bad choice of font, even if the content is choice.
Max Powers at http://ConsumerFight.com
October 14th, 2007 1:11 pm
As a new blogger my biggest frustration is lack of knowledge involving technical issues.
I am trying to learn as quick as possible but I still don’t know half of what you all are talking about.
It’s kind of ironic that I have all the time in the world but very limited skills and some of you have all the skills in the world but very little time.
Castigador
October 14th, 2007 1:14 pm
I hate the fact that you have to do soooo much to get noticed.
Jacqueline
October 14th, 2007 1:43 pm
Sometimes, I hate how it seems like there is nothing new under the sun, especially in the blogosphere. Everyone talking about the same topics and linking ’round to the same blogs – but there is nothing original – there is no innovation.
At least some people – mostly bloggers if you look at my blog (this is probably painfully obvious, but it’s linked in my name) and at http://www.newschallenge.org are actively trying to come up with new and different projects, whether they are blogs in the traditional sense or not. Of course, I’ve found many interesting, creative blogs in the Problogger community as well.
And like everyone else, spammers piss me off – but that’s hardly original.
Alfredo
October 14th, 2007 2:12 pm
I can’t help but share my friend’s frustrations dealing with clients who does not keep their word.
Clients who
1. Asks you for a discounted rate assuring a second project after the first one is finished, but NEVER did.
2. Tells you that a big project is coming up and asks you to prepare a contract, prepare a design but never hired you.
3. Make you work and work for several hours and suddenly stiffs you and never replies to your emails.
4. Says your rate is too high and offers you a sponsor link on their site as payment.
5. Makes you design a prototype and later cancels the deal but the site is now designed very similar to your concept.
I understand how he must have felt encountering this kind of problems from difficult and untrustworthy people and I too have experienced some of these problems from my previous clients who have given me a hard time.
Lesson? Always ask for a downpayment before doing anything and never give a discounted rate on the first project.
As posted on my previous post
http://alfredo.palconit.com/archives/designer-rants.html
off my chest
October 14th, 2007 2:40 pm
I have SO MANY THINGS to be kicked off my chest..
1. I am an engineering student and the only one in my institute who actually runs a blog. And still no teacher is ready to give me relaxation in my attendance as many even do not understand the positive points of blogging!
2. I have been blogging for more than 9 months and still I have only 90 RSS subscribers (with 60 unconfirmed email subscribers ) even though other competitors have hundreds just because most of them use black hat techniques. Heck with them..
3. Akismet has started to block my URL (EVEN THOUGH I AM NOT A BOT) and so I AM NOT ABLE TO COMMENT on other blogs :(
4. Finally whatever the heck happens. I wont stop blogging and will continue to update my blog and enrich it with many tips tricks without thinking too much about my subscriber count and my daily readers…
www[dot]nofullstop[dot]com please pay a visit to my blog and I assure you that you wont end up saying it is a spam blog..
seogeek
October 14th, 2007 3:12 pm
I really grow tired of the porn on the net. Enough already. I know what the female anatomy looks like and how interestingly it can be shared/used. Enough of the emails telling me how you like me and how you want to chat with me. Enough of the emails telling me I have a small and how you have the pills/creams/etc. to make it larger. If I want it larger I WILL find YOU, I assure you. :)
James Seay
October 14th, 2007 4:42 pm
One thing I have to get off of my chest about blogging. What in the heck am I doing with my blog? I am not sure if it is about myself or a variety of other subjects that I write about. When looking at other blogs I think that my some type of plan might help me out, still not sure. I need direction for my blog!!
Darren
October 14th, 2007 5:00 pm
I get frustrated at the difficulty of being original. I just can’t. I see so many designs, applications and articles that do or talk about something new but finding that yourself never seems to happen. I’m always a step behind.
2xKnight
October 14th, 2007 5:35 pm
What I want to get off my chest…
Most of the comments on my content are positive, yet I only get about 25 visitors a day.
Having to bend over backwards for Google to get those 25 visitors, and I still have no Page Rank.
I can’t use the money I have in PayPal for advertising because I haven’t set up a bank account for my online income. It’s my own fault, I know. It still bugs me though.
Wow, I do feel better. Thanks.
Luke
October 14th, 2007 5:39 pm
I think the internet is largely a useful resource. However, blogs are not. What bothers me is that there is very little useful information in blogs, in general. For instance, a blog about ‘how to make money from blogging’ is always going to attract traffic from the 74.995 million of us who don’t make money from blogging. I really want to see cool ideas but I find so much crap out there. But really, should I be so critical? Look at life in general… especially television. So much of it is recycled plot lines, unoriginal, stick figure characters and so on. I think the idea of blogging is wonderful as it has the potential to reinvent publishing as we know it. However, at present it’s an over bloated content monster filled with meaningless nonsense. There are very few exceptions to this in my opinion.
Andrew
October 14th, 2007 6:06 pm
I’m sick of constantly leaving comments on people’s blogs, relevant and on topic to have them not appear (either editorially deleted or picked up by akismet etc for no apparent reason)
I am also sick of people that steal content off your pages and then don’t take it down after you ask them to politley.
I also am frustrated that there is no sort of mentor system with blogging. There are many people out there with interesting things to say but are not tech savvy or do not know many people in the blogging community that really struggle just to get noticed, or know if what they are doing is right. I wish that some of the pros would get together and take some individuals under their wings, give them some directed advice, on the understanding that when they are up and running they return the favour to more novice bloggers… this would really be a community thing that is not currently present.
Finally I am annoyed that the vast majority of comments I get on my posts is spam, I really would like people to write things and interact, and have tried to encourage this to no avail – I spend hours writing and preparing posts just to have them ignored, maybe it is my content or maybe it is the visitors. I wanted to start blogging to meet people and stimulate debate, currently it seems like a one way street.
Anyway -
Andrew
October 14th, 2007 6:19 pm
I get annoyed with many different things, I noted these in the post I put up 15 min ago. One of those things is how things like akismet sometimes call me a spambot and don’t display my posts, Unfortunately it must have taken exception to this and blocked my post from appearing…. which just proves my point – I understand its utility and rationale but at the same time wish it had some way of recognising that I am not the spammer it suggests (I make about 10 comments on blogs a day)
I hope that my post re-appears, else I will be back writing my other concerns about blogging as I would like to see what problogger’s’ readership thinks about them
Leon G
October 14th, 2007 6:59 pm
I hate all the ‘make money blogs’ popping up, we already have problogger, johnchow and yaro wtf else u need? Not only are those guys the top blogs in that category, but their category is actually more how to be a professional blogger, not make money fast online….
Robert Macniel
October 14th, 2007 7:02 pm
What bothers me is that blogging doesn’t make enough money all the time. I have to get at least 4000 visitors to my blog to make 30 bucks. For this I have to write and post my articles to several websites all day. I wish it was more profitable.
Joe @ Escape Job Hell
October 14th, 2007 9:36 pm
I guess it’s not directly about blogging, but…
I hate how Firefox has all these wonderful add-ons. Yes, I hate it. Because now I’m tied to Firefox even though there are memory holes everywhere, and it crashes about 3-4 times a week.
But I love StumbleUpon (and I need it to stay on top of what’s hot). I need SEOQuake. I *need* AdBlock. I need the extension that puts my CJ balance right in my statusbar. I need the bugmenot addon.
So it’s weird, because it’s not the browser itself that makes me want to use it, it’s the third party software I can get for it.
I wish I could go back to Safari. It’s so much faster.
Joe
Mariella
October 14th, 2007 9:58 pm
I hate it when other web sites use my whole posts using feeds >:(
Kathy
October 14th, 2007 10:12 pm
I’m frustrated that some posts that I put a lot of work into get zero comments and only a few views. Then, others I knock out in only a few minutes get a huge response. Where I get the most response does help me determine what my readers want, but it’s not always what I’d expect.
One thing this does do, though, is teach me where to put my time. My blog used to be a hodge podge of unrelated topics. Now I’m turning to mostly humor pieces, where I get the most feedback.
Thilo
October 14th, 2007 10:51 pm
I hate spam comments.
johno
October 14th, 2007 11:13 pm
It doesn’t really go so far as to annoy me, but it does niggle me: those “warnings” one sees next to the comment box on many blogs, that reads something like,
Necessary? I don’t think so. Let’s give our readers the respect they deserve, and credit them with some intelligence.
I feel better already :)
Robert Macniel
October 14th, 2007 11:30 pm
What also bother me are those people who hate bloggers that wanna live of their blogging. I mean why be a hater? We all wanna do what we love best and yes most of us wanna work from home and be independant. And I’m not a communist, if I can get rich fast I will do so without being ashamed of it.
Prathik M
October 14th, 2007 11:41 pm
“What also bother me are those people who hate bloggers that wanna live of their blogging. I mean why be a hater? We all wanna do what we love best and yes most of us wanna work from home and be independent. And I’m not a communist, if I can get rich fast I will do so without being ashamed of it.”
I was one of the hater, then I realized how fun it can be to blog.
Prathik M
October 14th, 2007 11:42 pm
@Thilo “You can install anti-spam plugins”
Prathik M
October 14th, 2007 11:43 pm
@Leon G “People do have the right to express”
Prathik M
October 14th, 2007 11:45 pm
@off my chest You told you are not a spammer and you are asking every one to visit your site. I wonder why Akismet blocked you.. Ha ha ha
Brenda Carter
October 15th, 2007 12:13 am
I hate the fact that there are so many pessimists out there.
I also hate the fact that there are so many rules that everyone feels they have to follow. I know, you have to follow them if you want to be found, but this is Google’s fault. Maybe if we all went with the flow, Google would adjust (insert dream cloud of newbie blogger here). If you don’t want to sign up for the social networking sites, then don’t. If you want to have your blog be about whatever, then do it. Everyone seems so conformist that it gets to be sickening.
Richard Rinyai
October 15th, 2007 12:28 am
The only thing that I can think of is trying to get more traffic to my blog. I’ve been running it for about 2 months now and still am getting about 40 hits per day.
I’ve tried many different tactics, such as submitting to blog directories, social networking, commenting on other blogs and even joined news groups.
I have all the content that I need, just need more visitors to see it.
Thanks,
Richard
Erik
October 15th, 2007 12:39 am
I’m so tired of people trying to make money off their blogs. Why not create something just for the sake of art? What does Darren say? Focus on making something quality and of value before trying to profit from it. That’s the advice more people need to follow.
Also I can’t stand all these bot-run blogs stealing content from me.
NancyP
October 15th, 2007 12:46 am
I get annoyed when people ask the same old questions (we all know what they are), without bothering to do any research. They could come to ProBlogger or any of the other great sites for bloggers and get 99% of their questions answered, but they’re just too lazy.
Grrr.
Robert Macniel
October 15th, 2007 12:50 am
Yo Erik “I’m so tired of people trying to make money off their blogs. Why not create something just for the sake of art?”
First of all “Art” hardly pays any bills. With everything I do on the internet, including blogging, I make a very good living. A better one then I ever had working for a boss.
“What does Darren say?” What does the man who makes a lot of money on his blog say? Pun intended.
Sangesh
October 15th, 2007 1:06 am
Here are something i want to say:
1. I will update my blog more frequently with quality blogs.
2. I will add more widgets to my blog for more user activities.
3. I will spend more time for my blog.
Cheers
Reddy Kilowatt
October 15th, 2007 1:07 am
I am frustrated trying to find my blog’s niche audience. Our blog is about meditation and spiritual life, and should prove useful to those with spiritual interests. But where do such people hang out on the web? (If they do at all!) They say fish where the fish are. But no one is nibbling. :(
melissa
October 15th, 2007 1:16 am
My number one, biggest issue with blogging…people not leaving comments!! I can tell, from the numbers on my counter, that people are stopping by (unless the number is from me checking on or adding to, my blog). Another little “issue” I have…yes…I started out my blog on a humorous note but…not everything in my every day life is funny. While I do try to find the silly side of things…it doesn’t always work so…for those who have complained about “the dark side” of my life, it’s who I am!!! Sure, I have a witty comment about most things but, if my cat died and my step-son is border-line psycho…do I always have to be humorous about it?
So, those are a couple of my problems with blogging. Otherwise…it’s great, love it, love reading other blogs etc…
melissa
Nicole
October 15th, 2007 1:31 am
The lack of great ideas for catchy headlines and low CTR on ads are not very fun. The time required to properly market a blog via the dozens of social networks and other communities while keeping up with breaking news, trends and maintaining quality posts while working a day job and trying to have a life offline is very stressful.
Glen (The Gnr Group Web-Design Blog)
October 15th, 2007 1:39 am
I Hate
1. it when bloggers complain that nobody reads their blogs.
2. bloggers obsessed with Google ad sense( ad sense sucks)
3. bloggers that ramble on about them selves
4. blogs that don’t get to the point
5. blogs with content you can’t read because blogger used dark text over a dark background
6. I hate blogs that use those annoying ads that pop up when you mouse over a link
7. I hate when I go to a blog and there is no about section that talks about the blog or the author of the content.
Margie
October 15th, 2007 2:26 am
The moral tone that invades some of the posts and comments about blogging is starting to rub me the wrong way. People are passionate about blogging and have strong opinions about the “best” way to do things, and that’s great. But it becomes needlessly nasty and personal when people then take it to the next level and start to think they know the “best” way to FEEL about things. One person likes to blog for fun, one person likes to blog for rent … they don’t need to square off in a Sharks v. Jets rumble over whose goals are more legitimate.
Robert Macniel
October 15th, 2007 2:36 am
Your absolutely right Margie. What I notice though is that the idea seems to be that if you blog for money you don’t produce quality content. Which I dont agree with. Besides I dont like the atmosphere here much. Perhaps I’ll just stick to reading Darren ’s posts and Ill stay out of contributing comments.
Genesis
October 15th, 2007 2:52 am
Things that suck about blogs:
- Blogger blogs that only allow you to comment if you have an account, meaning that anyone hosting their own blog can´t use it in comments.
- Blogs that require you to type in a barely visible jumble of letters and numbers on a wiggly background . . . a simple math question or easy to read word is just fine.
- Not getting any comments, even with nearly 200 visitors daily.
Ades
October 15th, 2007 3:42 am
I don’t like when people copy my posts and do not give credit. And some of them go as far as trying to find other sources, so that I won’t get credit from their blog. I don’t know what is their problem!
I don’t like when WP keep releasing new versions and you have to update, it’s too hassle to upgrade when you have a custom design.
… But I like my PR7 ;)
Thorsten
October 15th, 2007 4:13 am
I hate that i have 100 good ideas and only 24 hours a day.
I hate that other people get money for nothing and good investors are hard to find.
I love the internet and the fact that it brings people together no matter where and who they are.
Speechie Keen
October 15th, 2007 4:20 am
I hate feeling tied or obligated to my blog.
If don’t have time to post, I feel bad. I feel as though I’m neglecting something and letting someone or something down.
I’m annoyed at the lack of related blog content on health professionals like me who blog about their workplaces and professions.
People need to comment more. Nothing worse than having plenty of hits on a post and nothing much more to say about it because people don’t comment.
It annoys me how computer unsavvy people are, particularly the people I work with. So many people out there don’t know or understand blogging.
I despise how blogging gives me an excuse to feed my chronic insomnia!
Kirk Warren
October 15th, 2007 4:21 am
Curious about the “About Pages” complaints from people. I NEVER read About Pages. I see no point to it. If the site is so vague that I need to read an about page to figure out what it is actually about, what’s the point? Thus, I have no About Page on my blog (which is related to news and reviews of graphic novels).
Am I making a mistake by not having an About page? Is that an immediate turn off for people? Seems a lot of people are ranting / complaining about poorly written or lack of About pages.
sbpoet
October 15th, 2007 5:42 am
I do have a meta-blog, which is linked to my name; but I’ve been blogging nearly four years at my personal blog (Watermark: http://www.sbpoet.com) and I do have some peeves to unchest:
- “blogging” has come to mean political or pro or tech business blogging — completely ignoring the majority of blogs out there
- suddenly we have lots of ‘rules’ — which may or may not make sense for problogs, but are assumed (wrongly, I believe) to be applicable to all blogs
- personal blogs — which often have the best, most edgy, most risk-taking writing — are ‘dismissed’ as meaningless and unimportant
- the blog world is drowning in ads and make- money- blogging schemes, propagated by folks who don’t ask themselves: what am I good at? or: what can I offer? but only: can I make money at this?
- thus, it becomes more difficult to find those blogs that truly have something of value to offer.
Jason
October 15th, 2007 8:44 am
Are you ready for this?
Dang it. I wish it didn’t take me so long to learn everything I know about blogging!
If I had known these things a few years ago when I started I would be a mack daddy blogger by now! It seems like the obvious is the best when blogging. Instead I took too much advice and tried too many failed experiments.
In August I started my first good blog. The rest before sucked. Why? Because they felt like so much work.
I actually enjoy my blog now and would continue posting 1 to 3+ times on a daily basis even if I made $100 per month.
I didn’t realize the great thing about blogging until recently. Bloggers have a way to voice anything they want. Your one opinion can impact millions of people. When you’re not a blogger, you’re just another person with a small opinion or worthless advice.
Even writing SEO-focused posts don’t feel like work to me today. It’s because I actually enjoy the content.
Another thing, I enjoy being an entertainer, being a social blogger, getting to know other people and what they think, and more. Blogging has become one of the most fun things I do with my time.
It’s an honor to have a blog and say whatever I want to say.
I just wish I had thought like this from the start, instead of thinking $ $ $.
I’ve had dieting blogs, even credit card blogs. Man, I don’t get a rat’s behind about that stuff. But I wanted to make money online so bad that I started a blog on them anyway.
I’ve had a make money blog, a sports blog, a blog about blogging, a writing blog, a product review blog, a humor blog…
All a waste of time.
Now I only blog at one blog that I love, my guitar blog. I’ve met other guitarists in the blogosphere and we chat about everything going on, what we think, we share our recordings… It’s just awesome.
I’d like to make a lot of money with my blog now only so that I can spend more time blogging.
It’s a straight up blessing.
My whole way I view blogging has changed. If it were only this way the day I started (and only if I already understood HTML, some PHP, monetizing, SEO, social media, etc)…
I guess the last few years was like going to blogging college.
I’m glad I’m on the right track now, but all of the failed attempts were annoying and unsatisfying.
Elena
October 15th, 2007 8:47 am
Wow, I find myself nodding my head with a lot of these.
I wish commenters would actually READ what they are commenting on and stay on comment. Many times I’ve had commenters accuse me of saying things that I never said. When asked to provide me with an example it becomes apparent quite quickly that they misunderstood or misread but by then bad feelings abound on both sides. I really dislike it when the topic has degrades into talking about who-said-what-and-when.
This medium has a limitations. You can’t read “tone.” Assume the best!
Michael Moncur
October 15th, 2007 9:41 am
I’m sick of…
1. Spammers. Comment spam, spam blogs that copy my content, email spam…
2. Bloggers who have a casual attitude toward spammers. Get some anti-spam software! And don’t assume spam isn’t a problem just because they haven’t found you yet.
3. People with an attitude about commercialism. I have advertising, and I deserve to make a few cents for what I write. Get over it.
4. Bloggers who don’t understand the concept–people who write deeply personal things on their blog and then get bothered when their boss/wife/etc discovers it, people who enable comments and then complain when they get comments from strangers, and so on.
5. Endless discussions of “the rules” or “what is a blog?” or “blogging etiquette”. Everything’s a blog, and nobody cares about the rules. Let’s forget about the novelty of blogging, each set rules we can live with ourselves, and focus on the content.
6. CAPTCHA images for comments. Don’t make me type “2kcx098v98fQ” to comment. It’s annoying to your readers and it’s easily defeated by spammers.
There’s more on my chest but I should keep it short…
Mike Goad
October 15th, 2007 10:43 am
- comment spam
– blogs that require me to register for their site before I can comment ( I leave without commenting)
– commenters that can’t respect the request to make it brief (150 words max)
– comment spam
(I REALLY hate comment spam!)
(all this in less than 50 words – more than enough)
Eric at maninchair.com
October 15th, 2007 11:57 am
I sometimes find it difficult to turn off my inner critic as I am creating my blog. I try to publish three to six posts a day, so there’s not a whole lot of time for editing. I just write what comes out.
I write a theatre blog because I love theatre. Sometimes I think the voice in which I write comes across as a little “Pollyanna,” like, “isn’t everything just peachy…”
There are a lot of bloggers out there who see themselves more as critics of the world at large. I sometimes am imagining the vultures descending on me before I’ve even clicked “publish.”
Honestly, Darren, you have been an inspiration as someone who has maintained his own, very positive voice throughout three years of blogging about blogging. I appreciate that.
(See, I can’t even complain in a post that encourages complaining…)
Ben
October 15th, 2007 12:37 pm
What I don’t like about blogging or bloggers is:
1. Being told that one blogging platform is better than another. The best one is the one you like to use and not one that someone tells you is the best.
2. Being told that I need a dedicated hosting service instead of using a free service to be a “real blogger.” Personally, I think those that push the dedicated hosting must have ties to those services and are making money doing so.
3. Digg – There is more to life than Technology, News and Gaming. Also, way too much emphasis on getitng your posts “dugged.”
4. Alexa, Page Ranks, etc. Way too much emphasis on stats instead of keeping with your blogs goals
Other than those four things, blogging is fun and enjoyable.
Lisa B @ simply His
October 15th, 2007 12:47 pm
My complaints? I’m not sure where to start, but I know all of them start with me :) If I blog about what I’m passionate about, I feel inadequate because there are already a gazillion blogs about this stuff out there — people more popular, more established, etc. Why bother cluttering the net with my ramblings? And I’m absolutely torn with writing for the passion vs. writing for the money.
I just want to write and throw it out there. I’ve got too much to do to be worried about a lot of this other stuff — like making a few cents off ads — who do I link to — who links to me — how much traffic, etc. If I’ve helped one person, then it was all worth it.
Bob J.
October 15th, 2007 1:12 pm
Digg bait.
I’m REALLY sick of seeing the headline (number)+(plural noun)+(stuff)
12 Reasons Your Mother Doesn’t Love You
15 Ways To Stop Writing Digg Bait
Andrew Ferguson
October 15th, 2007 6:36 pm
I hate writing about photography some days, because it keeps me from taking photos.
Blogging feels like trying to fill a bottomless pit. No content is good enough. Everything is forgotten a day later. The short attention span of the blogosphere is almost as frustrating as my inability to captivate their minds.
I get incredibly depressed when I encounter someone who’s done something more meaningful with their life or is more successful in my chosen field, especially when they’re younger then me.
Having an audience who cares about me and enjoys my content is one of the biggest highs I’ve experienced, but it feels so insignificant when I come across the website of a successful international photographer… who’s barely seventeen.
That’s what’s on my chest.
Travis Seitler
October 16th, 2007 1:52 am
No easy way to keep track of comment-section conversations.
I got spoiled with message boards and LiveJournal. “Notify me of future comments” shouldn’t be a plugin; it should be a standard feature on all blogging platforms!
The Reviewer
October 16th, 2007 2:34 am
I hate that I have been blogging for 10 months and still don’t have 100 uniques a day, I know movie reviews is a huge niche, it’s not even a niche, but it is kinda hard, I did break 50 feed readers though and that really made me feel good, I also hate that the people that run the screenings in Austin told me that no I can’t be on the critics list, when the critics row is never full, they said they don’t add bloggers, but the guys who run spill.com are allowed to go and Ain’t it cool is allowed to go. How many people do I need till I can go.
BJ
October 16th, 2007 2:50 am
My peeve about blogging? I wish I was allowed to start!
Our VP of Marketing has been thinking of starting a blog, so she’s been reading Blog Rules by Nancy Flynn.
Now she’s thinking of *not* starting a blog, due to the legal issues. On page 48, Flynn says that the blog owner is responsible as a “publisher” for the content of the replies — if those replies are edited (i.e. if we delete spam posts, defamation, copyright violations, etc.).
We’re having a big committee meeting this week about whether we should blog or not. She yanked me out of my old position in the company to do this — the waffling is driving me insane.
Barbara
October 16th, 2007 10:41 am
Does “get it off your chest” have to constitute a negative reaction?
For me, that means “state your opinion, and here’s what I think.
I love to blog,
I love to share what I’ve learned in life.
I love when my readers leave encouraging, inspiring, and meaningful comments on my blog.
I love learning something new everyday.
I love to read other blogs and blog comments, and see what someone else has to say.
I love the fact there are 110 million+ blogs out there, and people are learning to express their opinions, and share their knowledge with the rest of the world.
I love that we have an opportunity to make money with a blog, and can choose to fill our pages with ads, or not.
I love that there are so many talented people in cyberspace who freely and willingly share free themes, plugins, widgets,and gadgets with fellow bloggers.
I love that Darren asked this question, so I can have my say. Thank you!
Vascabruta
October 16th, 2007 11:41 am
Way too much hate.
I love blogging…………………………
a pro blogger
October 16th, 2007 11:59 am
How cut-throat everything has gotten since money and advertising came into the picture. How much like high school everything has become. It depresses me, to be honest.
How people’s minds have shifted away from personal expression and human connection to hierarchical positioning and getting as many pageloads as possible.
Yes, I make money off blogging. But even with the money – which has its charms, no doubt – I kind of miss the good ole days.
Melissa Donovan
October 16th, 2007 1:12 pm
I wish there were more readers for non-tech blogs. I’m looking forward to the day when blogs are more like magazines, and everyone knows how to subscribe.
I also wish there wasn’t so much competition coming from big money blogs, especially the ones that are backed by major corporations. If there’s one thing I wish corporate America had stayed away from, it’s blogs. I’m tired of seeing the same listings on the Technorati Top 20. Oh and that reminds me…
I’m tired of Technorati because they have not updated my authority or ranking for over three weeks, despite the fact that I know I’m being linked to by pinging blogs. Their functionality is NOT stable.
ashok
October 16th, 2007 5:22 pm
The biggest frustration I have is getting a good index of my posts together and into the hands of people who care. I’m constantly advertising my content to potential readers in bits and pieces I select at a given moment, and it is very inefficient marketing.
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