free online image courtesy of http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/
Today I began my second month in Blogville. As a newbie, I’ve made early observations regarding the blogging community and the various platforms good artists are using. I’m a WordPress guy and for no reason other than it’s the platform I chose at the time, I’m very glad I did.
Many of you blogger types are extremely talented individuals. Clearly your statements have merit and value. As talented as y’all are, a problem exists that should not go unattended. If you’re a creative person utilizing Blogger, I need to stand up and ask you why?
I love reading your blogs, I really do. I also enjoy viewing incredibly gifted photographers, music artists, craft-persons, and illustrators. Insight, explanations or a storyline accompanying your talents, support your mission even better. Many of your works are simply incredible. You amaze me with your poetic gift, a flair for prose, and creative eye for detail. Why would you allow a poor voicing platform like Blogger, stand in your way of being read – viewed – noticed – and appreciated?
free online image courtesy of http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/
Nearly every time I click on a post hosted on Blogger, it becomes a nightmare visit that is vexed by the demon him self. I’m experiencing about a 50% success rate in posting comments to your awesome and wonderful posts. Seventy five percent of the time my computer screen freezes, forced to reboot or sadly click out of your site. I don’t want to abandon your Blogger site. I have to leave because they don’t perform well. This comes after a 20 minute hourglass delay, while my comment to you lay in limbo. After dozens of annoying experiences, I decided to copy my comment after writing it. This helps paste it back again and increases my odds when your sites unfreeze, or tells me “something went wrong, try again”! Should I have to do this?
As a member of the world-wide blogging community and two smaller joint blogging groups on Facebook, my bad experiences with Blogger are not unique. Others are sounding off in their frustration with this platform as well. A lot of the irritation voices come from Blogger members themselves. Observe people’s dissatisfaction with Blogger and heed this warning; your host site is preventing you from experiencing a more quality enriched blogging experience.
free online image courtesy of http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/
I hold 2 masters degrees in management; marketing and human resources. My undergraduate degree is in speech communications. Connecting and communicating valuable messages is the key to my course work. As with my degrees, posting your blogs is much of the same. Communication is critical. Your posts and readership (input/output) are the most valuable commodities you have. If Blogger is your primary resource for transporting your message and the Blogger supply chain is broken, your awesome posts are not being maximized. Not at all.
Think of it this way. Do you enjoy driving in stop and go traffic congestion where it takes you 30 minutes to drive only 3 miles? You want your readers to drive on a hassle-free highway. You want your viewers to easily pull off the road and gaze at the magic that appears on your pages. You want your consumers to tangent your off-ramps and venture a new course on your site to yet another wonderful blog post. Blogger is nothing but hassle and my driving experience on a Blogger road is loaded with bumpy potholes. I’m forced to travel another path that affords me a more pleasant and carefree driving experience!
free online image courtesy of http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/
I cannot be the sole rebel when it comes to my disdain for clicking on a Blogger link. Of course some people have good experiences with Blogger. Those aren’t the ones to be concerned about. Your care should be for the people whom you’re losing. I cringe when I see your link is hosted on Blogger because I know from hundreds of bad experiences there, my time spent with you has a high percentage of being fruitless. If your blog is on Blogger, you lose another most precious commodity and that is time. If a person is reading and commenting from an outside host, they do not have the time to spend in hopes of your Blogger site actually working properly. You magnificently labor for super blog posts to reap the reward of sharing a valuable message. In my eyes as well! You all have valuable messages to share. Why not share them on a host that works right?
I have nothing to do with WordPress. I don’t own stock in the company and I’m no undercover operative stealthily plugging away for the organization. I’m just a dude-blogger whom if given a decision whether to access a Blogger site or a WordPress blog, I always choose the WordPress blog no questions asked. On Blogger sites, your messages are over-shadowed by a poor technological experience. I don’t want that and I would think you don’t like that either.
On a WordPress site, my computer never freezes and my comments are easily posted. Unlike Blogger, I’m able to post my comments using my user blog ID and track backs for new readers happen naturally. Blogger doesn’t allow me the privilege to post comments in my WordPress or Charlie Nitric ID. I am forced to use some silly Google email ID and even there, it only works right half of the time. The other options are there, but after 4-5 failed attempts I need to abandon your awesome sites for ones that actually work consistently. Hosting on Blogger, you’re losing a handful of precious repeat consumers.
free online image courtesy of http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/
I adore blogging and people who blog. You have something valuable to say and I want to hear what that is. Its fun and a great learning experience for me. I would think it’s also a great experience for y’all. I will continue tying to post on your sites, but please remember that half of the time I will fail. I’ll end up leaving because of Blogger aggravation.
If you currently reside on Blogger, I would seriously consider switching over to WordPress. It costs you no money and you can easily transfer all your fabulous posts over with a few clicks. You have nothing to lose other than the traffic you’re already losing, and have everything to gain. Marketing 101: get new customers and retain old ones. Your gain is a new and improved blogging experience.
NOTE: If you enjoy reading my post, please click the “LIKE” button below. “SHARE” it with your friends. Thank you for reading me. 🙂
Charlie Nitric 
#1 by Jim Brandano on May 17, 2011 - 2:26 pm
This is really funny Charlie, I am today in the process of changing both my web site and my blog to new companies. WordPress being the blogging platform. Good post makes me feel like the effort is worth it
http://jpweddingphotograpy.blogspot.com/2011/05/when-youre-64.html
#2 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 2:37 pm
Hi Jim –
Last evening it took me more than 2 hours to post something like 5 comments. I rebooted twice, froze up on each of the 5 pages, and lost 25 years of hair growth from my annoyed scalp. Good for you and making the decision to increase your readership and responses. Now you have a much better platform for increasing value in the messages you wish to deliver to us all in blogville. Thanks for reading and for commenting. 🙂
#3 by Jessica Brant on May 17, 2011 - 2:27 pm
BC,
Great article… Bottom line… I so agree with you on this point…. I don’t know why anyone would choose anything other than WordPress… I have never had a problem and I always have challenges posting comments in blogger as you so clearly pointed out..
I have even started asking Blogspot “people” if they have received my comments because half the time they don’t go through..
xoxox
Jess
#4 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 2:31 pm
Hey Jess –
I’ve been asking Blogger and Blogspot people the same questions; are you guys getting my comments or not? It’s frustrating right??? I’m like you too…..only about half of my replies make it through to them. Thanks for reading and commenting. 🙂
#5 by judithhb on May 17, 2011 - 2:37 pm
As another newbie (March 1) I love wordpress. I agree it is so easy to use both for the blogger and the bloggee.
Keep writing and sharing.
#6 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 3:24 pm
Hi Judith –
I started 16 days after you and have had no problems with my blog site either. I cringe when I go to a Blogger site because of the endless problems that arise the moment I enter one. The worst part about it is that there is such fabulous artists using Blogger but the technology forces me to leave. As Jessica said in her comments above, our success rate at even having our comments posted is about a 50/50 chance. Not much value and gain there for the user or the consumer. Thank you for commenting and I hope you have some time to review my other posts. 🙂
#7 by Jessica Mokrzycki on May 17, 2011 - 3:51 pm
I’m really contemplating switching to WordPress..my only question is, do you keep your followers and all of your past articles? Is there a way of just converting without losing everything and starting anew? Ok, I’m relatively new to blogging, so these might be silly questions that most people know the answers too..but I have to know them before I make the switch!
#8 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 4:43 pm
Hi Jessica –
I suggest that you access WordPress @ wordpress.com. You can read up on how it works and how easily you can switch from one host to another. I believe you can take all your previous posts with you with only a click, and your people with you as well. You may also want to talk with Jim. He mentioned he switched from Blogger to WordPress earlier today. Thank you for commenting. 🙂
#9 by melissa on May 17, 2011 - 4:51 pm
hmmm… let me think about it…:P
#10 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 4:57 pm
Hi Melissa –
I’m guessing you read my post then, lol. Thank you for reading and commenting. 🙂
#11 by bornstoryteller on May 17, 2011 - 7:44 pm
Good post. I’m on WordPress and except for learning their system (as a real blogging newbie) I do find it to be very user friendly. When I can’t find what I want, or have problems, their help staff is just that: helpful. They will stay with me until I tell them I got it, and then they sometimes check in again, depending on the problem I might have.
For free? Yes, please.
#12 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 7:58 pm
Hi Stuart –
I haven’t dealt in person with WordPress customer service or IT people. I did have an issue that was resolved through the exchange of email from me and their IT department. It was my issue on my end. I needed to clear out my cache and delete cookies, that’s all. Thank you for reading and for commenting. 🙂
#13 by Roy Durham on May 17, 2011 - 7:54 pm
are you using IE 8 or 9 i have experienced the problem you are talking about when using IE8. as for word press i have a blog on WordPress and it limits the creativity and freedom i have with blogger/blogspot. i have stop using WordPress be cause of the limitation.
#14 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 8:01 pm
Hello Roy –
I’ve been using FireFox since I started blogging. The options you speak about could be available with paid blogging services. That I don’t know about since I am using the free service. Thank you for reading and for commenting. 🙂
#15 by Penny on May 17, 2011 - 7:59 pm
I like WordPress blogs ! You have summed up the expertise with blogging ! Enjoyed reading all your points and I’m sure WordPress likes the plug!! 🙂 Making connections is great, makes our chosen paths a little more interesting as we each travel down this road of life.
#16 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 8:03 pm
Hello Penny –
I love making new connections. WordPress is an awesome place to make these great connections and the whole blogging community as a whole. I really like blogging people a lot and you’re right again….much more interesting, haha. Thank you for commenting. 🙂
#17 by Chrystal on May 17, 2011 - 8:02 pm
Having starting my blogging career 6 years ago I can honestly say, never had a problem. When I moved my main site to self-hosted WordPress, I lost over 75% of readership.
I actually wrote a series of posts about my experience.
Anyone wanting to monetize their blog won’t be allowed to on free WordPress. Its a violation of TOS.
Their are other free option such as Webs, Weebly and Yola. Each of these have some great features that Blogger does not have. They also allow you to use AdSense and affiliates on their sites.
Currently my main freelance site is hosted on Blogger, for now. I am moving 4 Blogger sites into 1 self hosted WordPress site, which will be my author site. Once that is complete, my Blogger site will get moved as well. Mostly because I need more than Blogger can offer me now.
I think Blogger is great to get your feet wet in the blogging world, but once you start to grow and your needs change, other options are available.
#18 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 8:09 pm
Hello Chrystal –
I honestly don’t know much about making money online from blogging so as you’ve probably already guessed, my WordPress blog site is the free one. Personally, I really don’t want any ads on my blog since I want the focus to remain on me and my writing, and on bloggers comments. I have to say, however, I have never really researched the monetary end of blogging so I have no experience in that to speak about. Thank you for reading and for commenting. 🙂
#19 by Roy Durham on May 17, 2011 - 9:48 pm
i use chrome and free blogspot. i have not heard that someone could not comment on my blog. but when i have used ie 8 going to the same blog to comment word Press or blogger i have found i could not comment and the page would load slowly. going back with chrome i could with no problem. i type my blog off line and copy and paste. word Press won’t keep the format, font or text hight, and it won’t let me post the art work i use. so it is blogger for me.
#20 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 10:19 pm
Hi Roy –
I don’t know if you’re aware of this but I have nothing to do with WordPress. Me and other bloggers are just posting our grievances from our experiences. I wrote in my post that I know there are people who don’t have issues with Blogger. No doubts about that. My experiences and others that have commented have had many negative issues when we access Blogger, not only commenting but pages freezing, clicking a link or vertical scroll bar and the site goes haywire, and lots more. I think its great you haven’t had a bad experience. I unfortunately have had many. Thank you for commenting. 🙂
#21 by Alejandro on May 17, 2011 - 10:22 pm
Thinking about it I am.
Have you had a problem commenting on mine? Just curious
A
#22 by charlie nitric on May 17, 2011 - 10:44 pm
Hi Alejandro –
I don’t remember if I did or not. Put it this way. Every single Blogger site has been bad for me, however some much more than others. Sorry but I can go there soon and let you know. How’s that? Thanks for commenting. 🙂
#23 by Corinne Rodrigues on May 18, 2011 - 4:56 am
Hi Charlie – If you, like me, want to have your own domain at an affordable price – just $10 – then you’ll be challenged by WP which is way too expensive. In all the 3 1/2 years that I’ve blogged, the only time there was a problem with Blogger was last week. I agree that there might be a problem with the comments but there are ways out of that:
1. Use another commenting platform – I use Disqus – go by my blog and tell me if you have problems commenting.
2. Don’t use Captcha for blogs – I think it’s a lazy thing – because people don’t want to moderate their comments!
3. Don’t ‘test’ their templates out on different browsers.
I suggest that people on Blogspot move to ‘blogger-in-draft’ to enjoy a lot more useful features.
I have tried WP and gave it up because, the free version, doesn’t give me the flexibility, ability to use ads and room for creativity I like about Blogger.
#24 by charlie nitric on May 18, 2011 - 9:47 am
Hello Corinne –
Oh wow. You’re blowing me away with all that stuff….Disqus, Captcha, and anything that’s technology related. It’s amazing I am able to even have a blog that people can read. Where technology is concerned, its always best for me to keep it as simple as possible. Seriously, I’m so bad with it. Thank you for commenting. 🙂
#25 by Pamanner on May 18, 2011 - 12:47 pm
Spoken from a happy WP user, Blogger is haunted lol! Attempting to comment is usually an ordeal which (about 50% of the time) ends up not happening due to technical difficulties. For a while, I thought it was just me then realized, nope!
#26 by charlie nitric on May 18, 2011 - 2:00 pm
Hi Pam –
I so agree with you. Although I did have 2 sites in a row this morning that I had no issues commenting on, the next 6 or so have been nightmarish and as you and Jessica pointed out, about a 50/50 chance of getting it done smoothly. If we’re allowed to get it posted at all.
BTW, I’m posting new in the next 30 minutes. You’re mentioned in my new blog, as others are as well. Thank you for commenting. Happy Wednesday to you 🙂
#27 by Laura on May 18, 2011 - 11:46 pm
I am not a sheep! Staying with Blogger. I tried WordPress first and I just did not like it!
#28 by charlie nitric on May 18, 2011 - 11:57 pm
Hahaha Laura @ sheep :). You should stay with Blogger if you haven’t had any issues and your people haven’t had many as well. I’ve had boat loads of issues and the past 2 sites I visited a little while ago, not nice to me. I’m coming over to see you right now. 🙂
#29 by Bella on May 20, 2011 - 9:57 am
Charlie, I’m with you! I started one of my blogs on Blogger and ended up deleting it. Too much work for such little reward! That said, I do wish the WordPress.com users would have a little more perks, but all in all, I’m happy where I am! And ditto for experiencing frustration on posting comments on Blogger! What a nightmare!
#30 by charlie nitric on May 20, 2011 - 10:50 am
Hi Bella –
As you read in my post, my frustrations are non-stop as I read and posted on Blogger last evening and this morning. I haven’t opted for the paid WP blog option and really don’t have a need for it at this time. I’m no fan of technology so it would be more of a pain to me than a pleasurable experience. I cringe when I click on a Blogger link but I really want to read and engage these people via comments. I’m forced to abort often. That’s sad because they have so much to say. Happy Friday to you. 🙂
#31 by Judith on May 20, 2011 - 4:18 pm
I hate blogger. have tried to leave a comment on a lovely site but just can’t so I have given up. Rant, rant, rant!!
#32 by charlie nitric on May 20, 2011 - 5:00 pm
Hello Judith –
I’ve had non-stop problems commenting on Blogger since day 1. I have many blogs I desire to read on Blogger since they’re so many talented artists using them. Unfortunately, I’m only getting to about half of the great people I really want to get too. This morning, I tried to reply to a wonderful author but after 5 attempts and failure, I simply left. I clicked off the site. Sad but true. Thank you for reading me and for commenting. 🙂
#33 by Life: Between the lines on May 22, 2011 - 12:04 pm
I dislike blogger. I totally agree and my undergrad degree was Speech Path as well 🙂
#34 by charlie nitric on May 22, 2011 - 12:07 pm
Lynn –
I never worked directly in my area of study. Surprising huh? With our degrees however, any job applies indirectly to our degree in some sense or another. It’s application across all career paths. Thank you for using up my bandwidth 😉 ! Enjoy your Sunday. 🙂
#35 by cbeck on May 25, 2011 - 9:35 am
Wow, I had no idea folks were having issues with Commenting on Blogger (other than the outage around the time you posted this article, which was a bit infuriating). Perhaps this is why I have a low readership. 😉
Would you mind telling me (i) what browser you are using and (ii) letting me know if you have experienced this problem on more than one browser? Also, do you know if the issue is the same regardless of whether the site is using “Captcha” to verify comments? I hope it is not considered rude to be asking you these questions, I just want to try and determine the extent of the issue and see if there is anything in my template I can fix to make it a better experience for visitors.
The reason I selected Blogger when I got back on the web earlier this year was because my brief evaluation of WordPress failed. Immediately after signing up for a WordPress account and making my first post, I was not allowed to use any HTML in a post. That meant no text formatting and no links. I do not know why this was an issue. I signed up again during the recent Blogger outage and did not have the same problem, but that is why Word Press lost me. I would gladly make the switch as Word Press is more similar to my old platform (Movable Type), but as one of my sites objectives is to improve the ratings of my Wife’s buisness in local search results, I don’t want to loose the referring links that Google has already indexed on my site.
Cheers~ Chris
P.S. Although this is the first comment I am making on your site, I did read through the entries above this one, and have very much enjoyed your posts!
#36 by charlie nitric on May 25, 2011 - 9:46 am
Hello Becker –
Yesterday and today, Blogger is not allowing me and other users I know, to comment on their sites. I have no idea why but the messages I keep receiving tell me I need to sign up for a Blogger blog, and my comment will post. I’ve spoken with other Blogger site owners in which some cannot even comment on their own blog. I usually enter the net via Firefox, although I have entered via Explorer as well.
I don’t know what “Captcha” is so I cannot comment in regards to that. I’ve always been able to include links in my post and never had an issue with that one. My issues with Blogger sites are never-ending. Some days if I am lucky and get in there early, I’m able to post without having to reboot and come back in to the site. Usually, the Blogger technology follows me after I am forced to click out because of the hour glass delays, freezing issues, 3, 4, 5 attempts to post a comment; typing in silly codes, accessing my Google account just to post and to fail after all of that, it sucks! Best case scenario is I am allowed to post about 50% of the time, at best.
Thank you for reading me and for commenting. I hope you come back and read me soon. 🙂
#37 by cbeck on May 25, 2011 - 10:58 am
Thanks for taking the time to comment on this. Sorry to hear this is an issue with multiple browsers – that suggests to me it is an issue with Blogger’s queries and not something I could track down in a template. “Captcha’ -though I don’t know if I’ve spelled it right – is where you are given a little image box of squiggly letters and have to type it in before your comment is submitted. I’ve personally removed that from my site and enabled non-moderated, name-only, and anonymous comments to be submitted in an effort to make the commenting less frustrating. Though I’m not sure how obvious it is since these options must be selected from a drop-down box. In any case, thank you again for raising awareness of this, and I do plan to return as time permits to keep reading!
#38 by charlie nitric on May 25, 2011 - 11:22 am
Good idea for removing Captcha then. I have left my Blogger sites because that technology doesn’t work well. Sometimes I have to type it in multiple times and it keeps telling me I type it incorrectly. Although it is possible, I didn’t type it wrongly 4 times in a row. I sometimes chop-stick type the letters and triple check it. After commenting on a Blogger site, you learn these tactics after 50 messed up attempts on various Blogger blogs. Sometimes I just leave without commenting. I’m done messing around with that site for the day. You’re losing readers and comments. Sad but true!
#39 by Cinema Profound on July 25, 2011 - 4:43 pm
And I thought I was the only one who just about tears her hair out when she visits Blogger posts. You are way more patient than I am, is all I can say. Because I cannot easily comment on them, I don’t even bother to read them anymore. It’s too much work and I’m too busy. I hope writers take your articles advice and jump ship. Like you, I never even bothered to board the Bad Ship Blogger.
#40 by charlie nitric on July 25, 2011 - 5:15 pm
Hi Sidney –
My nightmares on those sites are never ending, really. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve emailed someone to ask them to allow me to be able to comment on their page. They go and change the settings and I come back and do it again. That’s the lessor of many evils there. What a poor technology and yet many of them stick with it. What ever but I try my best not to visit those sites and of course, many of them take it very personally no matter how poor the technology, they expect me to sit there for 1 hour to an hour and a half tying my 4th or 5th attempt to comment. What ever! 🙂
#41 by Cinema Profound on July 25, 2011 - 6:21 pm
OMG, are you kidding me? They get upset with you? Move on! That is ridiculous and unreasonable. Your efforts are valiant, but in the scheme of things, it’s a drain of your time and energy and if they were really about “community” and “reciprocity” they would understand AND respect that. Just saying! :))))
#42 by charlie nitric on July 26, 2011 - 1:41 pm
Hi Sidney –
Yes valiant, that’s me to a tee. Draining communities from the energy supply is a scheme I’ve long awaited for and now is the time for my operation to begin. Glad you are moved to reciprocate with me in my efforts. Just saying… 🙂
#43 by Cinema Profound on July 26, 2011 - 2:54 pm
Lurch! I said they were draining YOU, not the other way around. Read before commenting, you wonderful (if not dense at times) man! XO
#44 by charlie nitric on July 26, 2011 - 2:58 pm
HiYa Sidney –
OMgoodness girl. I was just playing with you by scrambling up the words…the “Dense One” says. Too funny, lol :P.
#45 by Cinema Profound on July 26, 2011 - 3:04 pm
I love that! Signing out from Venus.
#46 by charlie nitric on July 27, 2011 - 10:34 am
LOL @ from Venus 🙂
#47 by Cinema Profound on July 27, 2011 - 10:56 am
See, Mars? You can understand Venus. It just takes interest and openness to learn the language. 🙂
#48 by charlie nitric on July 27, 2011 - 11:52 am
Do they have a couch on Venus?
#49 by Cinema Profound on July 27, 2011 - 12:16 pm
Yes, but up here we call it a cloud, soft and puffy. Perfect for looking at the sky.
#50 by charlie nitric on July 27, 2011 - 2:03 pm
I love to stare in to the deep sky. Love it. 🙂
#51 by Cinema Profound on July 27, 2011 - 2:14 pm
I, too. I can easily spend an entire day doing so. Sigh.
#52 by Calvin on October 4, 2011 - 3:12 pm
I thought it was just me. I’ve been saying for months that Blogger isn’t worthwhile and really is for the person just getting into blogging who just wants to write and post and isn’t concerned about keeping customers. There is one site that I go to and I’ve posted some 7 comments and it never ever appears. I’ve stopped going.
This is a really great post. I hope blogger gets themselves together.
Now the question is, what do you say to people who use Tumblr?
#53 by charlie nitric on October 15, 2011 - 6:11 pm
Hi Calvin –
I don’t know anything abut Tumblr so I can’t comment about that one. Blogger is a horrible experience as a visitor as I’ve mentioned in my post. I have nothing to do with WordPress but if anyone ever asked me I’d tell them hands down with no reserve, WordPress is the platform to use in my view. Thank you for commenting and enjoy your day. 🙂
#54 by Nicole on January 26, 2012 - 2:38 pm
But…but…but…I’ve come so far!!!
Sorry, I can’t stand the idea of switching over, so many people who I have as followers and dedicated readers are blogger people.
BUT, with that said, I do know what you mean. Someone mentioned above using different comment buttons to use with their blog, I hate those. I tried one recently and it turned out to be a disaster, although I may try Disqus.
I’m dying to ask if you can visit mine and in a few seconds, tell me what you think! 🙂 (Yes, I know my share buttons are a little much and I’m gonna change those…but aside from that…) 🙂
#55 by charlie nitric on January 30, 2012 - 10:36 pm
Hello Nicole –
That’s a tough decision but it’s one I see many people make. You will continue to lose potential followers, readers, and valuable comments if you stay there. The technology isn’t right. Over the summer, they lost thousands of websites when they went down for 3 weeks. It was crazy. It’s still crazy today trying to comment on the Blogger sites. I hope the best for you so good luck with your writing and website. Thank you for reading me and for commenting. 🙂