What is it with WordPress’ sending readers to a page that is NOT OUR ACTUAL BLOG SITE? Have you noticed that when you see the posts in your Reader, and click on the post title, WP does NOT take you to the post on that person’s blog? They take you to a generic page that has the post you’re looking for — and even the blog owner’s gravatar — but it’s NOT their actual site.
If a blogger clicks on the words “Visit site,” they get taken to the site, but if they click on the post itself, they do not.
Why on earth do we put so much time and attention into making our sites look exactly like we want them to look, and have widgets set up a certain way, etc. so people will notice specific things on our site — and why choose a specific theme or particular colors, etc. — if readers ARE NOT GOING TO SEE THEM????? The logic is inscrutable.
You’ll notice the use of capital letters. It’s something I tell all my creative writing students to avoid doing. And the fact that I’ve used them is indicative of how aggravated I am. I asked WP about it in an e-mail, but no answer. So I decided to vent right here. Whew! I feel better. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I contacted WordPress about this problem several days ago, but have not heard any kind of reply, so I’m going to the people I can count on: my readers. I’m having a problem with how the WP Reader directs traffic to my blog — and to many other blogs as well.
When I go to the Reader and see a blurb from an article that I want to read and click on it, most of the time WP takes me to a plain white page with the entire article on it, but it does NOT take me to that person’s site. If I click on the little “visit” icon in the lower left corner of the blurb in the Reader, it still takes me to a white page, but it gives me an option in the upper right corner to click AGAIN and FINALLY get to that person’s actual blog.
That stinks, because I spend a lot of time putting things the way I want them on my blog so that people see specific things in specific formats, colors, positions, etc, but that plain white page distorts all of that. Most people are so busy that they won’t keep clicking two and three times to finally get to my site. They just read the article if they’re interested, but don’t see other things on my actual blog that I want them to see. (Things like headers, widgets, sticky notes, etc.) To me it’s a reasonable question to ask: Why work to have individualized, personalized blog sites if no one is ever going to go there because they can read full posts on a plain white page in the Reader?
But I’ve noticed that a few of the blogs showing in the Reader do not have that problem. The Reader takes the visitor instantly to the actual blog site. Does anyone know if there is a setting someplace that determines that situation? Is there a way to set my sites so that people can’t read an entire post in the Reader without coming to my actual site?
Thanks for any information or insight that you can give.
Well, good news: WordPress got the glitch fixed that was keeping me from getting to other blogs when I clicked on “Visit” in the reader. That was fast work. I’m grateful.
Well, I thought I’d give you a little update concerning my going round and round with WordPress over the lack of control I now have with the look of my blog. After communicating with several different technicians — most of whom told me something that conflicted with what others told me — I have come to this conclusion. I can still change the background color of my blog — but only if I go through the round-about way of doing so. But we can’t have any changes that make sense or that are simple and easy, now can we?
Unfortunately, the one thing all the techs agree on is that I can never change the color of my header text again. Now, being a ‘picture person,’ I like to change my header picture frequently, and I generally change my header text color and my background to compliment each picture (as all of you know). That being the case, I changed my text on here to white the last time (almost two weeks ago.) Now I’ve learned that I can never change it again unless I buy an upgrade. Of course, some of the free themes still say that changing that header color is still a free option. But — according to the techs — that is not true.
Here’s what’s happened. Without giving us any advance notice that I can find anywhere, WP decided to drop the option of changing the header color for free. Now they insist on making us buy an upgrade for that option, and now – with no warning – I’m stuck with this dilemma: On this site (“In Love With Words”) I can never again change my background to white, or no one will be able to see the title of my blog. On my “Happy Patriot” site, I will have to always use a picture and background that blends with bright red, because the title is currently bright red and there’s no way to change it back to black. And I have the same problem on my other two sites. Honestly, if I weren’t so aggravated, I’d roll in the floor laughing at such ridiculousness.
I have two blogs on Blogger, but I had decided a couple years ago to focus only on my WordPress sites — and there are 4 of them. After all this mess — along with several other changes that have taken place recently that have made my blogging experience unhappy — I seriously thought about giving up on WP and just moving all my stuff to the Blogger sites.
The only thing that stopped me was thinking about all of you — the sweet people I’ve come to know and love over these four years. I know that a handful of you would follow me to Blogger and continue to stay in touch. But most of you wouldn’t bother. And I understand why. All of us are so busy these days that the only way we can actually stay connected on a regular basis is if it’s quick and easy to do so. With the majority of my followers being WordPress bloggers, it’s easy for all of us to stay close. If I move, that connection with most of you will be lost.
So —- I have taken a deep — deep — deep — deep breath, and decided to stick it out for now. I’ll do some experimenting and see what I can find that will let me come as close as possible to making my sites look like I want them to look. Besides, it’s true for blogs the same as it is true for human beings: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and when you love someone, she looks good to you, no matter what her hair, clothes, or make-up looks like. And I know that so many of you love me — even as I do you — so you won’t really care even if I have a lavender picture posted onto a bright orange background. Ewwwww!!!
Mostly, though, I just feel sort of sorry for the WordPress “happiness engineers.” They have a rather thankless, almost impossible job trying to explain why all these changes should make us happy.
What is it with WordPress’ sending readers to a page that is NOT OUR ACTUAL BLOG SITE? Have you noticed that when you see the posts in your Reader, and click on the post title, WP does NOT take you to the post on that person’s blog? They take you to a generic page that has the post you’re looking for — and even the blog owner’s gravatar — but it’s NOT their actual site.
I contacted WordPress about this problem several days ago, but have not heard any kind of reply, so I’m going to the people I can count on: my readers. I’m having a problem with how the WP Reader directs traffic to my blog — and to many other blogs as well.
The Happy Wordcrafter 