Why is it that people are still doing stupid things on their blogs? Blogging isn’t exactly a “new” thing any more. The things that you can do wrong to annoy your readers have been blogged over and over again, yet still the mistakes are being made.
I feel the need to rant 
Here are but a few things that suck about people’s blogs (Note: these points may include my own blog )
- Cloaked links - By cloaked links I mean links which have to go via the site you’re reading to be able to view them (eg. http://www.foo.com/redirect.php?site=http://www.bar.com/, http://www.foo.com/openlink.aspx?id=SOMEGUID). This is poor form in my view. Search engines and blogs use cross-linking information to aid in determining the quality of the site (the more links that point to it, the higher the quality… apparently
). If the links are cloaked then this information is essentially kept hidden. I feel all bloggers should leave links in the raw. - Opening new windows for intenral content - I used to force my links to open in a new window if the link took the user away from my site. I don’t do that any more, as I feel that it should be left to the user to make that decision. The only time I would consider opening a popup to my own content would be if the user clicked on a link to a screencast (which appears to be a standard practice, and one that people are happy with). New windows to other pages in your site is a no-no. Stop it. Now.
- “Top 10″ posts - For some reasons I find these really annoying. Top 10 reasons to blog. Top 7 ways to bring in more traffic. Top 13 ways to not be an idiot. Top 100 books you should read if you want to consider yourself an elite software engineer. There can be only one Top N post.
- Blogs without an RSS/Atom feed - Who does this?! Really! This is 2008! If you have a blog, you should have a feed. While you’re at it, don’t cut the feed content short and force people to go to your site to read the entire article.
- Blogs without comments enabled - This has been talked about all over the tubes, but I’m going to say it anyway. A blog without comments isn’t a blog. you’re not a blogger, you’re a preacher. Open up the lines of communication. Let people express their views. While you’re at it, don’t force them to sign up! If you do want to keep track of who the people are, then use OpenID.
- Blogs that get good comments/questions which are never answered by the author - People have taken the time to read your post and give you feedback. Yet you don’t take the time to read what they write and give them some feedback too? You suck! If there are questions directed at you, you don’t just suck, you suck badly.
- Blogs which recycle content - I’ve talked about this before. I have no problems with cross-linking. I think it’s great when someone blogs as response, or some detailed thoughts, to content that appeared on another site. What I hate is when the same content appears, sometimes in its entirity without modification, on multiple sites. And no, I’m not talking about those “autoblogs” which blatantly rip off content, I’m talking about bloggers who do this knowingly.
So what do you hate about the bloggosphere? And more importantly, what do you hate about this blog Feel free to let loose!
June 29, 2008
Whether on TV, print or blogs, people seem to love top 10s and lists. All your other points are fair though.
June 29, 2008
Uh oh, you’ve opened a blogo-space-time vortex (like googling google
) - making mention of the almighty Thirteen Blog Cliche’s, and then promptly ticking off at least two of them in this post 
Success!
(Tongue firmly planted in cheek).
June 29, 2008
Oh, and im not a massive fan of your new theme :| the comments look a little messy :P
June 29, 2008
I think the problem isn’t so much the comments, but the images in the comments. That’s something that’s an issue with the theme across the board, not just the comments
At least two? More like “bang on two” - the same two that Jeff himself also covered when he wrote his post
I can’t see how you can claim more than two! 
June 29, 2008
There, fixed the smiley style. It was driving me mad!
June 30, 2008
Blogs that aren’t updated very often (mine included!)
June 30, 2008
I prefer that to blogs that are updated too often… as they tend to be full of shit
June 30, 2008
Very true.
June 30, 2008
@OJ : Comment style is much better! Nice one. Seriously though, I like to think if it’s my blog, I can do whatever I like. The issues occur when the blog is more than just a personal space. In fact, I think this is where subdomains come in - I reckon the idea of diary.site.com or rant.site.com effectively communicates what the blog is attempting to _be_ - and then if it strays, let the criticism roll.
June 30, 2008
That’s a good comment mate. The real kicker is the mixed nature of blogs. Now I’m a culprit here. I talk about lots of things from running and housing markets through to family life. I mostly talk about tech stuff.
Personally I feel that a tech blog with snippets of non-tech are just fine. What I hate is when people give you the impression that the blog is geared around a particular topic, but most of the posts are not related. On top of that, they do the things I listed which just drive me batty.
I guess for the most part I’m talking about tech blogs. I don’t really read personal blogs, unless they’re maintained by someone I know.
So I think my whinging still has merit
July 4, 2008
“And more importantly, what do you hate about this blog”
you.
July 5, 2008
i’m with Ryan on that one.
No, i like the new theme and agree with most points.
I like when a blog author is an active participant of the comments. Raganwald for example does a great job of keeping the conversation civil by giving really thoughtful responses to even the most blatant trolls. Generally.
July 5, 2008
@Ryan: Thanks mate. I knew I’d miss you after leaving the UK
@secretGeek: I’m with you mate. There are some blogs out there (Joe Duffy’s is a good example) where the post stirs up questions and conversation which are ignored by the author. It takes a bit of the personal side away from the blog and it reduces its value. Sometimes the best bits of information you can find on blogs are tucked away in the comments, and if those comments aren’t nurtured you end up losing out on those potential nuggets of wisdom.
Thanks for the beedback guys
July 22, 2008
Nice list, and happy to see none of them apply to me, *yay*
I like active conversations in comments the most. But having said that, I should add in a feature to my blog to have the option to get notified by email when a comment is posted.
Because I comment a lot on blogs, but rarely go back to check if there have been any replies, except from the blogs that notify me a follow-up comment has been posted.
(So yeah, I probably won’t read this back either, sorry :p)
July 22, 2008
Hi David! Cheers for the visit
I see you read my comment on your blog!
I’m the same, active conversations in blogs are great, so long as you don’t get reddited, at which point the quality of the conversation heads south
I am also the same with following up conversation in blogs that aren’t my own! But I’ve started subscribing to comment feeds as well which is solving that problem a little.
I’ll chat to you via Twitter