I had tried starting a monthly discussion post about a year ago called Second Thursday Debate Club, but... it failed MISERABLY. Every once in a while when I see more than one blog discussing a specific topic, the notion of a DISCUSSION feature rears its ferocious head again. So following the new trend in what some bloggers call RANDOM FEATURES (posted on no set day or schedule and sometimes called a floating feature), I am going to randomly post WHEN IT COMES TO... (previously called It's Wednesday... Whatcha Thinkin' Bout) when I feel inspired/irked.
THESE ARE THE BLOG POSTS THAT INSPIRED ME
AMBER from THE MILE LONG BOOKSHELF's posted...
* Her number six was, if your cursor "shits glitter", I paused and thought hmm... how do they manage that magical effect, and then I woggled my head and remembered I am 58 years old, and do not post poems about baby unicorns on my blog in comic sans.
*You should go and peek at why this gif was used...
HERE ARE MY REASONS
♦ Things in common with Amber ♦
1. The font is too small.
I didn't unfollow this one major font offending blogger on Bloglovin' because she is such a sweetheart, but I NEVER go to her blog anymore. Not only was the font tiny, but it was neon green on a medium green back ground. I did take a look just now because I haven't been there in about a year, and she has changed it to lilac on white, but I am on my laptop right now and the font is still very small. I can imagine what it looks like on my Kindle Fire tablet.
Which leads me to this...
A few months ago a newer blogger asked me why the font on my blog was so large. I asked her if she was reading it on her laptop and she said yes. Most of the time I do my blogging on my Kindle tablet, in fact, when I first started blogging I used the tablet exclusively. The font size is set to a comfortable reading size for a tablet. You might want to have a look at what your blog looks like on a tablet. On some blogs that have margins with gadgets that are set too wide, their sidebar gadgets don't even show up on my tablet. I kept asking this one blogger where her Bloglovin' button was, and she kept telling me it was on her sidebar. I kept thinking, "What sidebar?"
2. Pop up ads!
Especially the ones that cover a good portion of the page and need the X clicked several times for it to go away. Also, ugh, the ones that stay visible and follow you around the blog as you read! With me this also includes lots of visually loud ads cluttering the page
♦ Things in common with Cait ♦
3. When the blogger shows zero interest.
There are two levels to this:
A. When the blogger never, or hardly ever, replys to the comments on their blog. On some blogs I have never seen a comment reply ever, and others sometimes manage to get to the first two or three comments and then...
This ultimately irritates me on DISCUSSION posts!
There are also the bloggers who only reply to their buddies,
B. When a blogger, no matter how many long and meaningful comments you leave on their posts, NEVER returns the favor!
Now, I am not talking about the popular blogs that have 30-40+ comments on a regular non-giveaway post, ALTHOUGH CAIT, BLESS HER HEART, MANAGES TO VISIT ME QUITE OFTEN: despite the million billion comments on her blog. I am talking about the bloggers who normally receive less than ten comments. Sometimes I am the only regular commenter, and I still get no love. Even one return comment every four or so times would be appreciated.
RELEASE THE FLYING MONKEYS!
Next, to quote, Cait...
4. If the blog squishes into unpleasantness.
When I first started on TWITTER, I followed a lot of accounts that commented back and forth with this one particular high profile book blogger, who was good friends with one of my favorite YA authors. I would in turn follow their book blogs. One person's blog was almost constant negativity. Her posts were 75% of the time about authors who ignored her on Twitter, bloggers who spam on Tumblr (which was funny because she was one of the people who would get on once a month and reblog about 30 author posts in a row), ungrateful giveaway contestants and winners, etc. Another 20% of her posts were prepackaged blasts, blitzes and bashes, with the last five percent being reviews usually slamming a book in a genre she didn't like; reviewing based on this hatred and not on the merits of the book within it's genre.
HERE ARE A FEW OF MY OTHER PET PEEVES
5. The blog features a large percentage of prepackaged BLASTS, BLITZES, BASHES and spotlights.
I want to read original content, PLEASE. A lot of times it is obvious they haven't read the book being promoted, or intend to read, because I know it is totally not a sub-genre they read (cowboy love triangles with interpretive dance teachers and pastry chefs).
6. The blog hardly ever gives links
I will give them a break if it is just omitted book title links to Goodreads, and I love the blog otherwise, but when it is mentions of blog posts, author pages, other blogs, or articles; that are not linked; buh-bye.
7. Not publishing comments that are different from the blogger's own opinion.
This includes turning off comments to DISCUSSION posts. If you disable the comment section it is not a discussion post; plain and simple. Returning to Miss Negative Nellie in #4 above; she once did a rant post about how most people who enter and/or win her giveaways are greedy and ungrateful LOSERS (if I am not mistaken I think she actually used that word). She was mad that people would do follows for the Rafflecopter entries and then unfollow when the contest was over (probably for reason #4 above). She had a problem with people sending emails when it had been six weeks and they still hadn't gotten their prize. This one got me especially because she would cry financial woes as the reason people hadn't received their winnings from her last two or three contests, but would put up another giveaway on her blog! She also seemed to want a thank you note signed in blood from the cretin winners as well. Anyway, I wrote a comment that said if the giveaways were from the heart only and required no following, retweeting, adding to Goodreads TBRs , adding sidebar widgets, or visiting Facebook pages; then she had the right to complain, but after all the publicity we get from the giveaway entry activities, we should really be thanking them! Hmm... Maybe I will do a WTB on giveaways. To make my point here, she never published my comment.
8. I don't relate to your content.
You might question, then why did you follow in the first place? Well, sometimes blogs change for whatever reasons. A blogger I was buddies with, when we first started out, had similar reasons for blogging, as in getting the word out about mostly under the radar books. She also was as allergic to drippy romance as I am. Somewhere along the line her blogging goals changed and it was all about follower numbers and getting highly prized and hyped physical ARCs from the publishers. There started to be a lot of blitzes and bashes for books I knew she didn't read, or even want to read. The lethal blow came when she told me my blog was never going to go anywhere if I kept posting about, "books no one wants to know about." But, isn't that the point? They just don't know they want to know about them! This is my mission! Also, there are the bloggers who at one time had a mix of genres only to go almost genre specific. If this exclusivity is Contemporary or Romance, you can bet I am out of there. And then there are the blogs who start out as book blogs and end up being more about movies, television shows, or fashion.
(I have no idea who this person is)
♦♦♦
Ha ha, I used more gifs than usual because people have unfollowed me because they thought I used too many gifs. Fair is fair. Cait is going to be doing a WHY I FOLLOWED YOUR BLOG post in the future and I think I will do one, too. I don't want to be a Miss Negative Nellie.
What would make you unfollow a blog?
