A Few Thoughts from Readers About Blogging from A to Z

Feedback Is Helpful

       We've now heard some of the bad and some of the good in regard to the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  Along with the observations about the Challenge some of you offered your own suggestions about how to improve Blogging from A to Z.   Also, during the course of the Challenge I heard various suggestions based on problems some of you encountered during April.  

        In today's post we will look at a few of these suggestions and ideas that were offered by participants and others as well.   Next Monday I will bring together all three summation posts and offer some of my thoughts and conclusions in order to garner some of your reactions.  Please check out the following suggestions and ideas and let us know what you think about them.

Some Thoughts Expressed

1)  Subdivide the A to Z participant list into topic or genre categories.  In order to keep the list more manageable turn it into several lists.

Here's what alberta ross commented on the post "Taking pride in ourselves (Rachael Harrie's reflection post).": 
"one of the things I found with this challenge is how many blogs I found totaly outside writing which I thought were great and am going to follow - how much I found i enjoyed other subjects - having blogs under topics may help but I would hate to think we lost that casual grazing which spreads our minds sideways" 

Another one of you said, "However on reflection and as I've posted some ideas .. I'd say definitely don't break us into groups .. categories is difficult - because I like to follow different people .. so the A - Z gives me a chance to find like-minded people, who are prepared to accept a challenge .."

2)  Find a way to eliminate commercial blogs, faulty links, non-participants, and other listings that waste time.

Suzanne made this suggestion:
I enjoyed it and would do it again. And yes, I made it to Z. I think we need to figure out how to delete spammers and blog links that don't work off the list. Also, ones who never did start. If you had more members to your team, you could maybe split up the list, and say the Monday of each week each of you would visit a section from the list, and delete any bum ones. Also, I think the signups should end on March 31.

3)   Why didn't I gain more followers or get more comments on my blog during and after the Challenge?


Consider this blogger's comment:

I’m generally not a talker(some wouldn’t agree with me) and I guess I’m that way here too, I find myself reading beautiful posts and leaving without dropping comments. I forget that unlike in the real world where I am seen when i sit quite in gatherings just observing, no one sees me when I visit a page and seat reading and trying to understand the writer in the virtual world, and so no one knows I've been there.  iNyamu

4)   Now that the challenge is over my blog will go back to being unread as it was before.


Maybe this is why?:

I have learned that I am a really bad blog follower as I try to do too many things at a time and end up not going and visiting those folks that took the time to visit me.  I sincerely apologize to each and every one of you for making you feel unimportant if I did. :(  This is something that I hope to change."     MJ

Here's an attempt by Tina and Shannon to keep the spirit of community alive after the Challenge has ended:

Tina @ Life is Good  wrote:   Shannon @ The Warrior Muse and I are joining forces in another challenge. We're going to visit and comment at each of the participants of Blogging from A to Z, starting with the reflections post. We hope you'll join us!

5)   Not having CAPTCHAs.---  (It may be the browser you are using.  I found that using Google Chrome mostly solved the problems that I was having with WV.   The Word Verifications still take time and are a hassle, but when I started using Chrome I never lost a single comment and the process was very fast with all screen jumps and twitches eliminated.)




6)   Use the pop-up comment box system.


7)    Everyone should enter shorter posts.   


8)   Don't be clever .. eg going from Z - A .. it's bad enough with so many blogs going - wondering what's happening .. and I found where the posting was shared between two people a bit frustrating .. there's enough to do anyway without jumping around! Z - A can be done in May ..


9)   A system needs to be put into place to assure that bloggers at the end of the list will receive as many visits as the ones at the beginning of the list.


There were several suggestions regarding this.  Here are a couple:


Alex J. Cavanaugh wrote in his Reflections post:

Hart had an excellent suggestion, one I think we should adopt for next year. We start with the blog immediately following ours on the list. We go as far as we can, and if that’s only one hundred blogs, that’s fine. But that way, everyone receives visitors and no one feels overwhelmed.

And a similar idea:

With so many people entering, and such a long list of entrants, is there some way to ensure that people near the end still get lots of people to their blogs? It's not quite a random process. I was wondering if there could be a 'rule' that you befriend the 50 people in your '50' first??   Sarah

10)  There were too many on the list.  Could we set a limit on the number of participants next time?


But here's an upside to that thought:

The hardest part for me was the number of blogs I missed during the month itself - but, happily, I now have a treasurehouse of archived material to peruse.  Mojo

11)   To make it easier to find blogs that interest me most, "I would really appreciate to have something like an additional sentence or some keywords, what all those wonderful blogs are all about."


12)    How about charging an entry fee to be sure only the most serious bloggers get signed up?


What Are Your Thoughts?


          I have not included many of the other ideas that have been suggested in my comments, in some of your reflections, and elsewhere.  What are your thoughts about the suggestions I have included in this post?  Are there any other ideas you might suggest to make the A to Z Challenge better?






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