The Blogging Pet Peeve Meme

By jeffcBlogging

I’ve been chomping at the bit to write a post like this for quite awhile but haven’t been pushed enough to do it. That is until I read Jack Humphreys post containing his biggest pet peeves of all time, some of which are related to blogging. He lists a couple which I whole heartedly agree with such as:

People who see someone succeeding with a certain kind of blog and build one just like it filled with content just like it.

And

Thinking of a great idea for a post only to read it on Problogger. Even worse is when that post was inspired by Chris Brogan.

I’ve got some pet peeves of my own. In no particular order they are:

1. Marketing pages which contain one big long page filled with testimonials made to convince only those who are not smart enough.

2. Commenter’s who leave a somewhat relevant comment but link back to a scummy site.

3. Sites that are successful based on blackhat techniques

4. Spam. Email spam not so much these days, more like Twitter spam and comment spam.

5. Writers block.

6. Blogs/sites which don’t have an About page.

7. Sites with great content that don’t have an RSS feed to subscribe to.

8. Make money online blogs.

9. WYSIWYG Editors that do more harm than good.

10. Blogs that don’t have a contact page.

This is by no means a complete list as I could be here all day. So, I am turning it over to you. Let me know in the comments your pet peeves involved with blogging. It’s much easier to be negative about something than positive so there should be plenty of comments. Once the meme has calmed down, perhaps I’ll publish a list of things that give me joy as they relate to blogging.

13 thoughts on “The Blogging Pet Peeve Meme”

  1. Animated anything. Especially animated ads. I don’t block a lot of advertising, as I understand that’s what drives a lot on the internet, but I’ll block ads on your site if they blink at me and distract me from why I came there – the content.

    I too am irritated by truncated feeds. Don’t tell me you have an RSS feed if it’s not a full feed. You can call it a “notifier” but it’s not a feed.

    Sound or music. I don’t need that stuff.

    Video. I get it, the web has video, but tell me what it is or why I should watch it.

    Hidden links or links that aren’t properly marked.

    Opening links in new windows. I can right click myself, thank you.

    Too many widgets that keep the page from loading.

    Too many widgets.

    Lists that are broken into something more akin to a slideshow. It’s the internet, we’re not limited to 8.5 x 11 any longer. I’m not afraid to scroll. If you want more revenue, put ads at the bottom too.

    Bloggers who ask for link exchanges.

  2. The WYWSIWYG editor in WordPress 2.7 has so far managed to resist every HTML trick I could think of to force a blank line between items in a list! At what point do we simply have to accept that the technology has beaten us???

    😉

  3. The blog pages that looks like I just entered myspace on drugs. A page with all the flashy stuff, and the music. Just cause you like it, doesnt mean I like it.

    CAPTCHA that dont work with the pictures they are with. I like your though, I can add. hehe

  5. I tried to add this at Jack’s blog but it seems to be hung up – maybe Firefox doesn’t like his site..

    My peeve:

    Sites that take hours – sometimes days – to moderate your comments, even after you have been a regular for a long, long time?

  6. Yeah, I hate when I’ve finished with a website, but when I try to close the window when a sneaky popup appears, asking me if I’m sure I want to go, and offering a “special” deal. It just makes doubly sure that I will never visit that site again.

  7. I too am totally bothered by those successful black hat sites. I always tell myself that its only a matter of time until they get caught… But they don’t get caught. Who knows, maybe they have some sort of special arrangement w/ Google. lol.

  8. 1. Blogs that auto play music – especially if there’s no way to turn the music off.

    2. Partial RSS feeds. If I subscribe to your blog in my reader, I expect to read the entire post in that reader. If I can’t? I won’t bother reading your blog at all.

    3. Memes. Boring, useless, and tired. If you can’t think of anything better to write about, don’t post anything that day. It’s ok.

    4. Content thieves, sploggers, spammers.

    5. Vendors that get irate when I don’t link to their site, review their product, or approve their spammy comments.

    6. People that don’t read my contact page info before they contact me about stuff that’s answered right in front of them. I have a very clear info about where to send press inquiries, my policies on link exchanges, etc. right above the contact form itself.

  9. I hate blogs that pop up ANYTHING while you’re reading a post. I don’t want to take your survey, and I am unlikely to subscribe if you interrupt my reading with a pop up asking me to.

  10. Ahh yes, that is yet another pet peeve I have, blogs who’s articles don’t have permalinks.

  11. That is a great list of pet peeves. One that I want to add to your list is a blog where it’s so hard to find the comment link. Ughhhh…I sometimes just give up.

  12. Man, I’m glad I sorted out my comment form before reading this.

    I agree with your points. I really hate box shots for products that don’t come in boxes. Anything that seems like it may be trying to manipulate me, which obviously includes those long marketing pages.

    I am also a stickler for rules in general. They are usually there to make life better for everyone but some selfish people think……… I will stop my comment there or else I will go on forever.

Comments are closed.