This post will probably be quite short, there’s also more than a slight possibility that it’s going to be a rant. Brace yourselves.
For a long time now and in many posts I have lamented the fact that it is almost impossible sometimes to keep up with reading on WordPress. The sheer volume of amazing content and posts is astounding sometimes, blogs I follow can between them export up to 30 posts a day. This last two weeks I’ve found work extremely difficult due to a whole host of changes taking place. At night by the time everyone was fed and all the dishes done I had no energy left for anything other than plonking myself in front of the TV and there I stayed until I dragged my sorry arse up to go to bed.
The train WiFi was also being an arse most likely due to the fact that schools and technical colleges have returned for the new term and the passenger levels on the train have tripled. There was a few times I nearly lost my phone, mainly because I wanted to heft it out the window.
I got behind on my reading.
There are two main ways I try to keep up, one would be the WordPress reader and the other Bloglovin. The former used to be great and then it was updated and started skipping and missing huge chunks of posts for no reason, at that point I moved most of the blogs I follow into Bloglovin. It was great, it easily filled in the chunks that I was missing. Then they updated it too and now neither of the two work that well. Don’t get me wrong, I can still read posts in both, WP reader will allow me to do all the things I need to, it just seems to be selective about which posts it shows. Bloglovin on the other hand seems to show all posts, but will not allow me to either like or comment, instead it just hangs on a white page. It is extremely frustrating.
Moral of the story and a note to the creators of both readers – If it’s not broke, don’t feckin fix it!
The Indecisive Eejit 
I know. There are so many great blogs.
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Indeed, and it looks like I found another one :)
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Seconding this. Huge chunks are axed from my reader, too, which became a problem only a few months back. :/
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It’s a real pain isn’t it and there is no way of going back. Without BL as a mop up I’d miss loads :(
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Problems everywhere I see!
My likes we turned off… Maybe it was a glitch with the new update!
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As in turned off on your posts?
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Yes! I’ve had to manually share and click allow likes on 4 posts and my settings were changed as well.
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That’s a bit rubbish. Maybe something for changed in your main setting in Wp for Dashboard
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That’s where I had to go adjust my settings but my posts are still not adjusting to the “new” parameters. Maybe it’s a time thing, I’ll just keep checking my posts until it’s either fixed or someone in the forum has an answer!
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I’ll keep an eye on them. I’ve stopped reading in Bloglovin for the time being though because it doesn’t allow me to like anything.
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Do watcha can.
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I know, but it’s just frustrating *she says stamping her feet* lol
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As one who.would rather read, I know,.too.
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It is so frustrating, especially as there are so many great blogs to read..
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I know right, I hate missing out, I’m a nosey cow lol
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HHa! You and me both! :;-)
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So.. I thought it was just my reader.. it really does suck to find out weeks later that you missed someone’s post! Uggh so frustrating..
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See Greg’s posts in the comments, it looks like we might be to blame, albeit unwittingly lol
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Yeah, but you can’t stop progress and whatnot. Just because it no longer works doesn’t mean it isn’t “the future” :-)
I channel the blogs I read (and more importantly, have two-way interactions with) into a gmail account I set up just for blogging. That way I can turn email notifications on and off easily without “unfollowing”, allowing me to keep things manageable :-)
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That’s a good idea, but I have so many accounts already. I’d manage just fine if Blog Lovin would let me like posts and if the bloody train WiFi worked lol
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The fault, dear Eejit, lies not in the reader, but in ourselves! In “Settings”/ “reading”/ WP bloggers have the choice of allowing how many posts appear in their feeds–includes reader, and bloglovin and others. (Blogger has the same ability.) Suppose a daily blogger has this set to 3. On the fourth blog, when it is posted, his first blog will disappear in all feeds, as that is what he set. In 7 days 4 posts will disappear. If you did not view his posts in reader the first few days before the fourth post posted, the first post is lost, and so forth. A daily blogger needs to set a higher number of feed posts–7 at least. It is no surprise you could “lose” many posts from high volume posters because of this. You have to view everyday, or, create a “dedicated to blog post updates” email address, and have all post updates sent to it. The rule does not have any effect on emails. You would lose nothing that way. You could check any post out at your leisure.
The next setting gives you the choice of displaying in your feed full text or summary. From experience I found if you select a high number of feeds and full text, you fill the reader ‘cache” and your newest post may not update at all!!! I have gone back, adjusted my feed setting, and the new post pops out. You don’t want to set “30+” full text feeds! In fact, I recommend the text “summary” setting as well. It helps alleviate the problems, and forces readers to visit your blog directly if they want to see more. You’re tempting the cats who run the internet to shut the reader down for jamming a large number of posts down their throats. Others will not see you. You know how often you post, and can select for yourself a reasonable number to show on feedreaders, so people do not miss you. As far as other bloggers are concerned, they are in control of the problem of missing feedreader posts, whether they know it or not. Cursing WP or bloglovin will not help, but it may make you feel better! Like your “picture” on here by the way.
I’m not saying Reader and Bloglovin are not broke; I’m just saying that I don’t see them working improperly myself. They may be working as they are supposed to work, based on user settings..
PS I have a silly cat blog, and not a technical computer blog. If you want more computer advice, please don’t click on me–you won’t find it there! Search the web with your questions. Thank you.
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lol That’s great information, thank you, and it certainly explains the problem of missing posts.
Blog lovin however never misses posts, yet in their android App I can no longer like posts and commenting is oftentimes difficult too.
I know things have to move with the times, but sometimes it feels like too much change too soon, if they spoon fed up in dribs and drabs we’d probably never notice lol
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I have been poking around Bloglovin and the interesting thing is that they keep all feeds for a minimum of two weeks.
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They do, no problem with them that way, its the liking and the commenting in android that’s the issue. They know about it too.
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My Inbox and Notifications page is all I use. Anything more gets complicated. I like simple ! You too :D <3
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Hey you saying I’m simple…..I’ll have you know I resemble that remark lol
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Heehee. There you go then Juls. Not really :D <3
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I use feedly, with a reminder to update my file of blogs I follow from WP every few months in case some start to disappear.
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I did look at feedly but it got mixed reviews, perhaps I shall check it out. I dread having to read add all the blogs in, or does it do it automatically?
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You can export your list here and upload them…
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Oooo I might have to check that out then, thank you :)
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Amen.
And as of a few weeks ago, you can’t follow someone easily, and as of a couple days ago, the “Like” button seems to have disappeared from most posts. WTF, WP?
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Someone else said about the like button disappearing. I think they had to go in and manually turn it on again somewhere in the post settings. Don’t as me where though cos I’m stoopid lol
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There is a lot of good content about and keeping up is a mission. I too find work gets in the way of my blogging life which is so much more than posting. I find chocolate and pink bubbles help when things go awry.
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I like the idea if the chocolate, just a sniff of the pink bubbles would probably leave me under the table incapable of anything lol
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I don’t know about “amazing content.” That sounds like late night TV publicity, to me. But, YES, keeping up with “the reader” here is next to impossible when you “follow” so many people you meet. Maybe it’s a lesson in living we have yet to grasp. Hmm? Maybe translating what we do in person to a digital format is not possible. This could be an eye-opener.
We can’t intercept every “tweet,” toot or holler from every living being we grow to like just a tiny bit. Yet, in this digital world, if we stick a sticker on someone. Whoa! What’s that? Is that 08613556 talking again? I am trying to sleep! Dammit! Can someone…? Oh, wait, I paid for that service to keep me informed every time. Crap.
I cannot spend this much time in two blog worlds at once. Heck, it wasn’t so long ago when I thought blogs were as useless as laser disks and didn’t want anything to do with them. Now, I’ve started two. But, here is where I am focused.
I can imagine these trains with all the people using WiFi…the world isn’t ready for that, yet. And, when it is, God help the brain waves. I have written fiction of such disasters. It’s not good. It’s like sticking everyone’s head in a microwave on high. Scrambled brains, anyone?
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I believe there is amazing content. You obviously don’t follow the same blogs as me lol
Phones makes us anti social but when the WiFi is not working no one talks anyway, so moot point :)
Right now, trying to catch up, well it’s like running up the track after my train lol
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I probably follow different posts, yea. And, I am not saying what I “follow” isn’t “amazing,” but, I guess, I just don’t get excited, anymore. When the power goes out, when the PC malfunctions, when life knocks you off your chair and gives you a mechanical arm, what does “amazing online content/data” really mean or how do yo value it? It’s not paying the bills (for us, anyway). And, if I was married, I doubt it would be keeping us lovers together.
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Nice angry cartoon, by the way. I like it.
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Thanks :)
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I gave up on the reader a long time ago. I have bloglovin but don’t use it. Try Newsify – it’s never let me down.
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Will have to check it out thanks. BL is great for reading it just won’t let me like or comment in any posts right now, which is an arse! Lol
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I’m on it Juls. Right now, I have my people following the brains that be at both Bloglovin and WordPress. Don’t worry, they’ve been told to make it look like an accident. :D
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Are there aliens this time? Because I’m not sure I trust them if I’m honest lol
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Well yeah of course! But don’t worry, they swore an oath of secrecy and that’s good enough for me, because they’re not politicians.
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I’m pretty damn far behind myself, through no one’s fault but my own. :(
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Who care, c’est la vie. We can only do what we can do, right? I’ll back you up if you back me up :)
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Right on, sister!
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This is the story of my life, and not just when it comes to blogging. Yahoo Mail, iTunes, Google Maps, Word, Minecraft (my, er, kids love it) — I’ve lost count of the times that some company has taken a product that functioned perfectly well, start smashing it to pieces with a baseball bat and then release the resulting mess as an update.
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I know right?! and then they have the cheek to try and tell us it’s better. It’s right around then that I want to smash them to pieces with a baseball bat! lol
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Yep, I always dread updates.
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