Why I hate your blog.
This entry was posted on October 8, 2007
I’ve been thinking of doing a post like this for a while now, and after seeing V’s latest blog entry titled “three annoying things bloggers do”, it’s motivated me to write this.
When I’m not at work or writing my own blog entries, I am an avid reader of other blogs. For the most part. There are, however, some surefire ways to make me leave your blog and never come back. Note that this list is not exhaustive.
You make me feel left out
Oh my gosh you went to school and saw Emily and you had an argument after she stole Zac from you because you wanted to take him to the prom with Stacey and Troy? No way!
If I have no idea who or what you’re talking about, I’m not going to dig deeper or come back to your blog. Besides, didn’t your Mother ever tell you not to give out personal details on the Internet?
Your text is tiny
Your text is 10px Tahoma with 14px line-height. That might be fine for you and your x-ray vision, but me, I like something larger. “Resize the text then” I hear you say, but here’s where it gets a bit tricky for me: I’m using Internet Explorer. That means I can’t resize text that’s sized in pixels. So even with my text-size set to “largest”, I still see 10px Tahoma. And in Firefox when I get the text to a more legible 12/14px, the line-height cramps everything up and I find myself screaming at the computer in frustration.
Your site is covered in adverts
If I have to scroll past adverts to get to your content, your content probably won’t be worth it. A few minimal text ads in the sidebar I can just about cope with (after all, some of us do need the money) but please don’t plaster your site in adverts. I don’t want to, and nor should I have to, search for your content on your own site!
You waffle
Get to the point. Please?
You’re arrogant
I am a nice person. I like to believe that there are other people out there like me, other nice people. If I come across a blog entry and within ten seconds realise that the person writing it is typing with their head either up their backside or in the clouds, I’m not likely to continue reading.
You don’t talk proper like what I do!
I’m a native English speaker and if even I can’t understand your blog entry, then you’re in trouble. If English is your first language, you have no excuse and you’re letting the side down. If English is your second, third, or even seventh language then you’ve probably learned to speak it properly (we always seem to learn other languages better than our native one) but need to brush up on your skills. Proof-reading goes a long way, and if all else fails there’s always a spellcheck.
You’re using a celebrity picture in your header
I’ve come to your site to see you, not Ashley Tisdale, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Scarlett Johannsen, Amanda Bynes, or any other female celebrity. Besides, when did landscape headers become so dull?
You don’t have the facility for me to comment
If I read your blog I’ll probably want to comment on it at some point. This is a good thing. You’ll get to hear from me, and I’ll get to feel more involved, which is what many visitors ultimately want. It helps to build relationships and discover new people. Unless of course you don’t have the facility for me to comment on your blog, which just makes me feel alienated.
What turns you off blogs?
30 lovely people have commented
^ It’s next on my to-do list, I promise. I need to style all my form inputs actually.
You changed it! Thank you! (Not one of those horrid nitpickers either. I just like to ramble in comments and thus I couldn’t see what I was typing. Hm.) 
When I first read the blog title, my immediate reaction was something along the lines of “Why Rachael! I always thought you were nice. I can’t believe you would call people out like that.”
I’m very presumptuous obviously. But the article’s good. Although admittedly, I’m guilty of waffling myself. And quite some other ones once upon a time. Hypocrisy is a virtue.
Gah, agree on all points.
Very glad you made this post anyway. 
Yours is much more comprehensive than mine!
I am practically blind when it comes to reading on the computer. Lately I even have to up the size on sites that use about 76% Verdana. Those sites don’t bother me–normal people can read that; I can Cmd-+ in Firefox or Camino once to increase it. No big thing. Even getting into the 11px-ish (ew, pixels) territory doesn’t bother me too much. Twice should do it. But if I have to hit the resize function more than twice? Damn.
I absolutely loathe adverts in the content area, particularly at the top. I can get over it in the sidebar (as long as it isn’t a million internet-kilometers long) and even if it’s integrated into the header (as long as the header isn’t huge) if the blog is fantastic or useful.
Personal sites definitely don’t need celebrities. It’s not a site about Piper Perabo (no matter how hot I think she is), there shouldn’t be pictures of her all over the place! Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a site with pictures of Piper Perabo all over the place. I might find that much better than seeing, say, Christina Aguilera all over the place…but I still wouldn’t return or link to that site.
Disabling comments drives me crazy–particularly when comments are normally turned on, but then the blogger takes a controversial view-point and disables comments so they won’t have to deal with the opinions of others. Normal blogs with all comments disabled irritate me as well because it always seems that I have the most to say at these blogs or would really like to read the comments of others in response to the post. Grr!
@Ramsha - Oh, I would never single anyone out individually, because that’s just harsh. But, like any other web user, I have opinions on things that bug me.
And, yes, I never said I wasn’t guilty of any of these pet hates, but then I’m biased because I *love* my blog.
@V - do I need to start a “blog haters anonymous” therapy session? Let out your frustration, I understand! *hug*
Omg, I hate your blog, too 
Almost everything on that list bothers me. Even though I can just as easily read tiny text, I always think of the difficulty others may have. But if someone doesn’t want any response to their entry, I’m okay with it.
If I visit new blogs it’s usually when they talk too much.. (Might be what you meant by waffle, but I don’t quite know what it means.)
Scrolling down about a 1000px before I get to see the content is pretty lame as well..
AND an explosion of just one colour In every different shade known to man.. 
Yay, it’s wider!
I automatically hate any site where I see the words “sponsored” or “PPP.” Adverts are bad enough, but to find them surreptitiously masquerading about as content just KILLS me.
And I hate seeing those MyBlogLog sidebar things, though I don’t have a good reason why. There’s just something about them that seem ad-like to me…
Advertisements make me mad. Not little ones, like you said, but ones like, RIGHT in the middle of the blog entry. I DON’T WANT TO READ AROUND YOUR AD FOR A DATING SITE, OKAY?!
@Leila - oh yes! I forgot to add “pointless sidebar widgets”. I don’t care who your latest commenters are or who reads your blog or where your visitors come from or how many subscribers you have. I just want to see your *blog*
Most of the points you have mentioned are valid. I know what you mean by waffle but I’m guilty of doing that so it doesn’t bother me so much.
The lack of paragraph use (yes, there are still people who don’t use paragraphs), excessive profanities and bad colour co-ordination bugs me most.
Bloggers who are constantly angry don’t do themselves any favours either.
^ I hope I don’t come across as too angry, do I?
LOVE the layout. I just love simple, beautiful pictures like the one in this header.
I have many of the same peeves that you have. I hate bad grammar, ads, tiny text, and the lack of a commenting system. I will also immediately leave a blog if I don’t like the layout.
You think tiny fonts aren’t cool??!! HATER!!!11!
Haha. This was a fun read.
I like this post.
But it makes me feel bad. Because my head belongs to the clouds… 
@Rachael - no, you’ve elaborated on your points. Angry posts just state. It’s okay to let steam out sometimes (otherwise we wouldn’t be human) but I’ve visited blogs where most of the post are angry ones.
I agree! I hope my blog is up to your standards though. I usually post long blogs but never about my personal life. Just about idiotic and random junk. Plus about updates on my site.
Tell me what you think of mine!
I think the lack of a commenting system annoys me the most on blogs I actually like reading and furthermore commenting on. It’s a real killer when they don’t enable comments. The biggest thing I get out of being a blogger is interaction amongst other bloggers.
What I really do hate is arrogant people. Some people can pull off the “sarcastically cocky” attitude but most can’t. I just hate things like “If you don’t like it click the X” and webmasters that insult/ridicule their visitors.
Also, the “I’ve updated this page. Bye” posts annoy me to death.
You must hate mine then
I’d have to agree on all accounts. I also hate when people have ridiculously large RSS feed icons. I’m quite certain I know how to add your feed if I want to. Thank you!
A lot of the fun of blogs is in the comments! I love to read what other people say.
And I absolutely HATE it when I Google something, and find a informational (non-blog) site that gives me an article. When I click on the next Google link, I find a blog with the EXACT SAME article, but no credit! It just really annoys me when people steal other content…
Awesome post! It was really interesting and fun to read… 
I agree with all points except the disabled comments, though I can see why it would be annoying to those who always like to respond.
On an unrelated note, this layout makes me happy!
Autoplay music. Please, don’t make me come into your sight and I jump out of my seat because of a music playing, which I don’t even like.
Me & you = agree very well.
Hi Rachael, I love the way you’ve written this it made me smile especially “You make me feel left out”. I am actually quite sad and it sometimes infuriates me when a blogger talks about someone/something on their blog and I end up doing a search trying to find out what on earth they are talking about.
Just signed up for your RSS feed looking forward to reading more!
Hey Tara! It is indeed infuriating when people talk about bizarre and pointless topics, but sometimes those topics can be useful and are worth the research.
You signed up to my RSS feed? Okay, now I’m scared! I shall have to try and deliver good blog entries for you, maybe try and teach you something about web design.
That would be great, I need all the web tips I can get.
I read this entry in my feed reader, and seeing my name right there gave me a fright. How self-absorbed am I, haha!
I definitely agree with the comments thing. It makes me sad when I read a really awesome post and I can’t leave any feedback. It doesn’t help that I’m a pretty crappy e-mailer.
I read this right the comments to the very end and I must admit, having music playing might be a nice additive but can you AT LEAST make it optional?
I’m a hypocrite for saying that though because when I first became a blogger I had Who Knew - Pink playing in the background lol. Eck…what was I thinking???
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Amber said:
Waffles are tasty though. Which is probably why I do it so often. I want my visitors to have something to sink their teeth into! Hahahaha..?
Can you make your text area a little larger please, on a side note?