Today I wanted to get a few things out in the open that have been bothering me. Nothing serious really, just a few pet-peeves that have been getting on my nerves recently. I don’t mean to point any fingers to anyone in particular, just an overall observation and a few suggestions.
First of all I find that far too few sites have a contact page. I think this should be a critical part of any website, particularly a blog. I find too many times I would like to contact a blogger or webmaster but there are absolutely no methods to do so outside of leaving a comment (if that!).
I list a number of methods for contact on this site and there is another option I prefer which is the contact form. The form I suggest, for WordPress, is found here:
- Unpack/upload the "wp-contact-form" directory "wp-content/plugins/".
- Activate the plugin from the Admin interface; "Plugins".
- Go to "Options -> Contact Form ][ " and update the fields if necessary.
- Create a post or page (or edit existing), and press the "Contact Form"
- Place [.CONTACT-FORM.] where you'd like it to appear. (minus the dots)
My second pet peve is needing to register on a blog in order to leave a comment. I visit dozens and dozens of blogs on a daily basis and often times would like to leave a comment but it requires me to register. That is not something I really want to do in order to leave a single comment and generally puts me to the point of not wanting to come back. Blogs should be a two-way street of communication, and shouldn't require people to jump through hoops. I love hearing from all of the readers on my blog and I'm even working on a few improvements to the commenting system (ie; larger commenting box, previews, etc)
For those of you that maintain a blog I really encourage you to open commenting. I have visited a number of your sites (both commenters and publishers on the ubuntu planet) and hate to see that I'm locked out from leaving a comment unless I go hoop-jumping.
Below are a few plugins for WordPress that I suggest for comment-spam lockdown.
I have those setup on this blog and I rarely get any spam, yet I'm still able to hear from all of you. Imagine how much less you'd enjoy this blog or how much less useful it could be without user contributions!
Well now that is out in the open I feel better. Hopefully we will be able to communicate better between websites based on these few suggestions.
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