Blogs are getting busy, what do you think?

[nate]

Blogs are getting busy! What do you think about only showing the latest entry from a blog on the main page? IE, if i post 5 entries today, only my latest one shows up on the main page, instead of all 5 in a row. This means if you like to follow every single blog entry you could miss some...

[jodi]

I'll be the first to speak up - I find it harder to catch the blogs I really want to see everyday when there are so many duplicate posts...I don't mind clicking on the latest post of a certain blog to go back and read the rest. But I do find that if I only have a limited amount of time, I will scroll through the newest posts, which are often dupicates, and never get back to the ones I am looking for.
my vote - show only the latest entry.

[LittleGopher]

Yes to showing the latest entry...I agree with what Jodi says above. Thanks!

[Ima saver]

I like reading them, but I noticed one person would print different tips and posted them 12 different times. I would rather see the tips somewhere else, they should not be in a person's blog. Also, you would see one or two lines, instead of telling the whole story. Look at me talking, I am the biggest blabber mouth on here. [Automated by GetSmile]

[getforfree]

Maybe just leave those that were posted less than 2 weeks ago.

[flash]

Well, I'm one of the persons who posts tips, coupons, as well as my personal finance stuff. It's been by request, but we can separate things out if that's what people want.

People who ONLY post tips...seems a bit odd, doesn't it?

[PrincessPerky]

I like the tips, I like flashes blog! but..I hate looking at the main page and seeing 6 posts by one person, and nothing new by anyone else, I would rather click the first post if I wanted to check it out, and then move on to other posters (would never miss flashe's though, she is nice and convenient on the 'most entries' )

[flash]

True, maybe we could add most recent post to the show all page, then if you only wanted to see latest post, you could? I don't know...

[yummy64]

I think some people are posting so much so they can get into the most active blogs list. Maybe removing that list will calm some people down.

Not that I haven't been a posty gal lately. I've been writing different posts on different topics. Combining wouldn't be a bad idea now I think of it.

[DivaJen]

When a handful of people write 4-6 entries in a row, it tends to push down all the singletons. If someone was wanting people to see something they wrote and get some feedback, it's hard to do if they've been shoved off the front page by that small handful of bloggers.

[PRICEPLUS]

I go with the majority on this issue. I pushed the wrong poll answer though! Darn!_

[Thrifty Ray]

I agree with showing the most recent AND with removing the most active list.

Sometimes I just want to blog something for my memory and I sometimes will make a few entries so that when I want to look back, I will know by title where to look. However, I do not like that this pushes others' blogs off the page.

If I want to keep up with someones blog, I will go to their blog directly rather than skimming through to see if theyve posted...

But I do like having the first few lines of the latest blog entry show so that I can quickly determine if I want to read on.

Thanks for asking!

[Broken Arrow]

Just FYI, but for those that use RSS like I do, it will automatically show the very first few sentences of the blog entry.

I love RSS.

[Thrifty Ray]

also, is it possible to add a choice to a blog as to whether you want it to show on the public blog list or to just go straight to your blogs archives?

Just a thought.

[flash]

Oh, yeah, we used to have the private entry when we had journals. So we could track our personal finances without everyone seeing everything.

I'm trying to stick with the one post a day, but now I see everyone else is writing basically articles and how to's. It does seem more like a private forum for writers than a blog on personal finances. It's definitely taking away from the forums and the sister sites. It's impossible to follow a discussion between blogs, where everyone is writing the same tips; a forum thread would be much better. But, probably can't do any thing abuot that.

Does the site benefit from having the most commented and most active blogs listed?

[yummy64]

Originally Posted by flash

Does the site benefit from having the most commented and most active blogs listed?

Personally I don't think so. I think it has encouraged a very few people people to write as many posts as they can about whatever they can. I like posts separated by subject and don't mind a few by a person when the content is apt and helps them in their quest for financial happiness (whatever that may be). Posting tips cause others might find them useful Once in a while sure, but daily?

I consider myself a relatively new blogger, having been on the site about 3 months. Right now if I want to blog something I'm second guessing myself; as I don't want to add to the frenzy. I was posting quite a bit while on vacation and I hope I didn't "overpost" and drive any one nuts. It sounds like you are having similar thoughts about your posts as well.

I like reading about people's experiences. That's why I read blogs. I don't need 101 tips on how to use a Q tip (praying that wasn't an actual blog entry) - and if I did I'd do a google on uses for a q-tip or whatever caught my fancy that day.

Maybe just getting rid of the active list will do the trick. Maybe some posts pointing them this thread will help too.

/end rant

Yvonne aka yummysaves

[jeffrey]

Just like there a huge variety when it comes to writing, there will be blogs that are written quite differently from one another. The last thing we want to do is restrict how people choose to write in their blogs. That being said, we don't want people writing strictly to get in the top lists and it is why we made the suggestion of limiting to the last post showing up on the main list. We will be implementing it, but Nate informed me that it will be a lot more complicated than he originally thought - have some patience while he figures it out.

Those that visit the blogs daily have a very different view than those who visit the blogs on occassion. For those that visit daily, the lists probably have very little value, but for those that only visit every few days, they are quite helpful.

It depends a lot on what you want to accomplish with your blogging on what is the best way to blog. Shorter, specific posts focusing on a single subject get indexed better in search engines and thus will usually bring more visitors to the blog over the long term than long posts covering a multitude of subjects. Longer posts tend to reveal more about the writer and give a more in depth perspective (this is a generalization) which will attract the current members, but won't likely get much traffic from the outside. Both are important ion my opinion and you can focus the way you write depending on what your goal for the blog is.

Much of this is part of the growing pains the blogs are going through. More members are joining and sharing and that inevitably means an expansion of what the blogs were up until this point. Again, we hope that this is a positive as it will give more views and opinions for everyone to read and consider. At the same time, Nate and I always want to keep as much of the community aspect as we can because we feel that is one of the aspects that differentiates us from other personal finance sites.

Always feel free to throw out your opinions and wants - we try to fashion them as much as we can with all of you in mind.

[nate]

Okay, change made. Front page is now showing only the last entry from each blog!

Also, I want to mention, we don't want to make anyone feel like they need to limit their entries per day. Please post as much as you like. If we need to make changes (such as removing the 'most active blogs') then so be it.

[Broken Arrow]

This is just me, but the only column that I really concentrate on is the Latest Entries....

[mjrube94]

Flash may have more perspective on this than I do, but I wonder if the rapid accumulation of posts has anything to do with someone wanting to be eligible to be on a coupon train by getting to 100 posts? Just a thought...