Thursday, August 9, 2012

Beef with Blogger

I've always been told that I shouldn't bite the hand that feeds, but a--I'm currently making zero dollars and zero cents off this blog and, in fact, probably losing money because the hours that could be spent working that I, instead, insist upon spending with my blog, and b--I'm under a hex this week, and my actions cannot be held against me.

But here are some things that really make me frustrated with this site, and that I want to email blogger about, but instead I'm making them come to me. Counterintuitive, right? I'm hoping it's backwards day.

--Why, oh why, are the pictures so hard to place?? I've complained about this before--with agreement from other bloggers--and still seem to wrestle with it daily. It takes me a maximum of ten minutes to write my posts, as you can probably tell from the spelling and typing errors--but then another 45 to position the pictures correctly. And even then, when I review the post later, the pictures have moved, making the sentences hard to follow and leaving huge blank spots on the page. C'mon. It can't be that hard to follow my mouse when I move it. Make it work.

--I cannot tell you how many comments I've left on people's posts. That's because they never get published. Blogger wants to be sure I'm a human, which I appreciate, since I don't want non-humans commenting in their alien script on my posts, but come the hell on. I know, on more than one occasion, a letter or number that is not a real letter or number has been included in my "are you a human" test line. They want me to retype what I see but an upside down blurry squiggly line isn't on my keyboard. AND even if I type the line exactly as it shows, they tell me I have typed it incorrectly. And they like to do this until I give up, delete the comment, and punch the screen. This isn't even addressing trying to leave a comment from my iPhone or iPad. I've had other people text me to tell me they're trying to leave comments from their iPhones and can't. I've also spiked both of those devices on the ground after trying without success to be identified as a real human.

--Dear Blogger, when I add a site to my reading list, please send me updates when they occur. I have three, count them, THREE sites that I follow that never make it to my reading list. (To clarify: I follow more than three, but those specific ones don't show up.) I have to check those sites individually each day, every hour, obsessively until a new post is published. I don't know why blogger wants to keep them from me, but please, please just send me their damn updates.

Okay, I think I'm done. I think, otherwise, I enjoy using this site and am grateful for the ease with which it has helped me create a blog. I also appreciate it telling me who my audience is and where they come from (Shout out to Latvia!). And if these glitches ever get worked out, it would be perfect, but until then, I got some beef with blogger.

PS--my hands naturally typed beer instead of beef. What's on my mind??