May 1, 2017 / Community Pool

Community Pool

Where bloggers come for friendly feedback and advice.

Have you just published a new post and are dying for some feedback? Are you redesigning your blog and could use some layout or design advice from your more seasoned peers?

The Community Pool is for peer feedback and advice. Looking for more specific information? Check out some of these resources:

Tap into the wisdom of The Daily Post blogging community and leave your question here in the comments. Others can then click through and offer input either on your site, or in the comments here (feel free to indicate which you’d prefer).

Looking for free, self-guided courses to help you get started with your blog (or revive a dormant one)? Check out our current offerings at Blogging U.

To help us make the Community Pool a productive space for discussion, here are some tips and guidelines you might find useful:

  • While you’re not required to, we encourage everyone who requests feedback to also reply to at least one or two other bloggers who need some help. Spread the love!
  • The Community Pool comments section can get quite big — and starting duplicate threads doesn’t help. Thanks for not posting the same question more than once, as well as for not starting numerous threads in a single Pool.
  • If you’re looking for quality feedback, be as specific as you can. Questions about a particular post tend to draw more comments than ones about entire blogs. Questions about specific design elements are more likely to be answered than ones asking for general layout advice.
  • We discourage leaving links without a more substantive message or question. These are often overlooked by other bloggers, and we frequently remove them to make the comment reading experience smoother. Also note that including multiple links in your comment might automatically put it in the moderation queue, which will delay its publication.
  • Please keep all comments civil and constructive. The idea is to have fun — it’s a pool, after all!
  • To keep from losing your place in the comment thread while you visit others’ blogs, right-click on a link to open it in a new tab or window.
  • If you haven’t looked at our Commenting Guidelines in a while, now might be a good time.
  • No running on the deck.

Are you a new blogger looking to share your very first post? We have a special forum for bloggers just like you in our weekly First Friday posts.

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    9. What a great and simple recipe! Although, I do have a special talent for making things much more difficult than they need to be in the kitchen. I might just give this a try, though! Thanks, Hira!

      Liked by 5 people

    10. Great! Love your tips and the recipes look delicious. Cannot wait to make the jam with my daughter now. My one suggestion is that your recipe menu item is getting kind of long and might be good to add a couple sub categories to the menu 🙂

      Liked by 4 people

      5. I truly, truly, truly meant no disrespect by my comment. I was only trying to help in not offending the photographer as it is clear now that it was not your intentions. Might I suggest though for future purposes, rephrasing to just say “you are a fantastic photographer” or “you are an amazing photographer, what kind of equipment do you enjoy shooting with?” Not only does it keep the conversation going, and shows them you are interested, but it also clearly defines their abilities from their equipment.

        Liked by 4 people

      6. You didn’t offend me, no apologies necessary. I was just talking how I would normally talk when I responded and that is not what I meant or implied at all, in my mind. I thought that I had given her a compliment, not only here in the community pool but on her orginal post, and then decided that I wanted to tell her how awesome her camera was too! Having a good camera is a really big deal, especially when you are a serious photographer. Her camera takes amazing quality pictures, which only adds to her artistic views as a photographer. Either way, I value your input. Thank you!

        Liked by 2 people

    8. I read ‘photo gallery’ and I’m hyped. On to your blog!!! As for your question – to me personally captions are not important!

      Liked by 4 people

    14. Beautiful images, Sherina. You have a great eye! I really enjoyed the social justice section on your blog as well and I’m looking forward to future posts. I often include photos in my pieces and frequently write about current events. As we seem to share some inspirations, I’d love your feedback!

      Liked by 3 people

    17. Pictures are beautiful!! You have a lovely blog! I really like the format of having all the pictures on the post, but you don’t have to scroll forever to fetch through them. And the colors you captured are beautiful!

      Liked by 3 people

  3. Hello everybody, Simon from To Cut a Short Story Short here with my latest post. It’s entitled Clarissa’s Missives – Part Two, a follow up to a ‘romcom’ I published three months ago. A bit longer than my usual stories at 1100 words. I hope you enjoy it!

    https://simonjwood.wordpress.com/2017/04/29/clarissas-missives-part-2/

    I also recently revamped my menu and now have a dropdown system that makes access to all stories on my blog (over 140) quick and simple. Why not check it out?

    Liked by 12 people

      1. Hi Kristen, many thanks for looking in again! The stories are very short (there are 69 of 200 words or less) so generally don’t take too much time to write, and I have learned to stick to a schedule!

        Liked by 2 people

      2. That is still so cool! I am not a creative writer at all. I’ve tried doing it a million times, but I’m just not good at it. I love to see others who excel in this area and you my friend do just that! So cool!

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Hi Kristen, thank you for your lovely comment, *blushes*.

        In fact I just published a new one, a tongue-in-cheek horror story. A bit longer than usual, at 1750 words.

        https://simonjwood.wordpress.com/2017/05/04/new-forest-frolics/

        Don’t give up on creative writing if you really want to do it! Some books I’ve found helpful are Sol Stein’s Solutions for Writers and Marcy Kennedy’s Busy Writers Guide Series. I’ve got all the books in the series and have found some really useful advice therein. Good luck!

        Liked by 2 people

      1. Hi there. The theme is Sela, the free version.

        I saw a video on YouTube of how to do those dropdown menus (he did it with pages but it’s the same process with posts). You have to do them manually on wordpress.com which is a bit fiddly but basically you select menu items (via dashboard/appearance/menus) and drag them into position. You drag them a little to one side to make sub-menus. That isn’t obvious – if I hadn’t seen the video I wouldn’t have guessed!

        My main menu is done with categories. So I selected posts to be added to the menu and then dragged them under their respective categories. To stop them going off the screen I created some ‘dummy categories’, A-E for example and dragged those into position, pulling the ones below a little to one side.

        I think it gives great visibility of what’s on the site (for me as well as readers!) and I’d recommend giving it a go. Just allow plenty of time!

        Liked by 2 people

  4. Hi all! Happy May!

    My blog is all about how we can become better bloggers and writers. I just wanted to share with you one of my latest posts about how we can successfully work to build a COMMUNITY of bloggers:

    Everyone Wants to Win, But No One Wants to Play

    Check it out if you’re interested. If there’s anything I can do to return the favor, please let me know!
    -Dom

    Liked by 22 people

    6. I totally agree. Sometimes it seems like we get so distracted by talking the talk, that we forget to walk the walk. Good for you for resisting! I’m all for a greater sense of community.

      Liked by 3 people

    2. Not going to lie, those make my brain hurt. haha I could barely read them right much less try to find an answer. I’ll have to come back to them at a different part of the day. I liked it though!

      Liked by 3 people

      2. That’s why I want to come back to them later on today. I am too hungry right now to think straight. haha But I did enjoy the idea behind it and I am curious to figure it out!

        Liked by 4 people

  6. Hi everyone! Good to see you all again :3

    I published a book review recently and tried really hard to limit my word count. I have a habit of writing long rants, so I’m trying to make quick reads.

    I’d love some feedback on it! Did I get my point across? Was I still rambling? Please let me know.

    http://wp.me/p8eD4m-ez

    Thanks so much! 😊

    Liked by 17 people

  7. Happy Monday everyone!!
    This is my 8th post in my blog, I hope you guys love reading it. Please let me know your thoughts on it.
    Any suggestions, comments, even criticisms are welcome.

    Her.

    Thank you 😊

    Liked by 19 people

  10. Hi all,
    I’ve been experimenting with poetry and paint to get some ideas across. With this piece I’m trying to convey the importance of flexibility in facing hardship using the mythological motif of the Phoenix.
    I would appreciate any thoughts you have on this, on whether it resonated with you and how well the art worked well with the poetry and words. 😊

    The Phoenix

    Liked by 11 people

  16. Hi all 👋🏼

    I’m back from a 2 (?) month hiatus with a post that’s a bit personal — it’s about that weird limbo place between depression and recovery.

    I tell my story the only way I know how: candidly and with a touch of self-deprecating humor.

    Click to read about the uncertainty, a few disastrous dates, and coming back from the dark side👇🏼

    https://sydneyhartle.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/getting-to-know-me/

    Feedback always welcome. Thanks!

    Liked by 16 people

  18. Hi guys… Happy Monday?

    Have you ever been left out? Felt like you weren’t accepted?

    This week’s Everyday Nostalgia post is a story about kindness, acceptance, and empty seats. I would love for you to check it out and let me know what what you think. Would love your feedback!

    https://www.nostalgiadiaries.com/2017/04/30/week-17-the-empty-seat-a-story-of-acceptance-everyday-nostalgia/

    Excited to check out everyone’s work today!

    Liked by 7 people

  21. Afternoon from this rainy state. Hope you all are having a great start to this new month! 🙂 Feel free to check out da blog: http://reactionarytales.com/ We’ve decided to add a new section called “In Danger” to bring awareness to endangered and critical animals of the world. Feel free to poke around everywhere else though. I’m sure you’ll find something that peaks your interest, haha. 😀

    Liked by 8 people

  22. Hey people,

    A very happy monday to all of you!

    I am Mila from doodlingpanda. I blog about lots of stuff which includes, writing poems and stories!

    Check out my blog! Enjoy yourself with the content(I hope so!)

    Ps: follows, likes, comments, suggestions and tips are always welcome!!

    Liked by 10 people

  24. Hi all, a new Music of the Month series is out for everyone’s listening pleasure where I show the music I enjoyed during the month. As well as that, I have television analyses, fiction, gaming, and film posts. You can find everything on the menu at the right hand side of my site – hope you enjoy!

    https://mattydwo0d.wordpress.com/

    Liked by 5 people

    2. Great idea to include the u tube video. Not sure if it is just my phone but there was no audio when I tried to watch them on your blog page… have a great day ^^

      Liked by 2 people

      1. Thanks, it just makes it easier for people to listen. And in terms of the videos, a few didn’t end up working g unfortunately but most of them should have worked. I’ll have a look at them – thank you!

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Great job on your blog! Looks like some interesting content! I liked the If Who I am now met who I was in High School post. 🙂 Just a couple comments. It’s a little difficult to know what the difference is between your Blog Posts, Sample Works, and Of Interest … categories. clicking on them, they all seem like collections of blog posts. Perhaps there can be some way to differentiate each of these pages so they seem more unique to what they contain once you click on them.. Also, you have a page/menu item entitled “Synapses of Me” Wondering if you actually mean “Synopsis of Me”? Keep up the good work!

      Liked by 4 people

  29. Hello, happy Monday!

    I write about baby names and character names. For the past year I’ve been publishing a series of rare name selections from the 2015 American dataset. I just put out another such post today, and I want to finish the series by the end of the week because the 2016 set is coming out soon. In the meantime, I’d love it if people check out some of the installments and maybe contribute to the discussions! The link for the latest one is below. Please and thanks! 🙂

    https://wellinformednamer.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/below-the-top-1000-part-43-girls/

    Liked by 6 people

  30. Hi, fellow pool-goers! I am wondering what y’all think about ending a post. Do y’all like the same one for each post? Or different ones for different posts. I’d be happy to give feedback in return.

    Thanks!

    Liked by 6 people