Monday, February 20, 2012

Fog Creeps in on Little Blogger Feet

(I can't see the forest for the trees fog.)

Okay, help me out here. What is all this about Blogger taking away the Followers gadget? And what on earth are we supposed to do instead? If we join Google plus, do we hang onto our followers? Or do we have to add some kind of new gadget from other than Blogger to keep track of each other after the deadline that I hear is sometime in March?

Does anyone know more about all of this than I do? (It wouldn't be hard...)

And does everyone dislike the new word verification craziness as much as I am disliking it? Half the time, I can't even make out the letters!

(May I make another plea right here and now for everyone to get rid of word verification altogether, once and for all?!)

Thanks, guys. Enlighten me. Please.

(I do not want to lose track of my little community here.)

=)


25 comments:

Brian Miller said...

i can not stand word verification...even less so now...you can not make out the words half the time...

google friend connect goes away for non-blogger blogs on march 1st...have not heard when they will drop it for blogger blogs...

it is a desire to pull everything under the google + platform and i dont know that you get to keep your followers...

Jocelyn Christensen said...

You don't get to keep your followers on Google +, you have to rebuild from what I understand. I hate it too!

Also, I don't do word verification at all...HOWEVER, whenever you do that thingy, it is helping to digitize books. I watched a TED Talk about the creator of that technology. So people all over the planet are digitizing books and they don't even know it! You should blog about THAT!

CB said...

I just heard about this yesterday and I have no idea.

All I know is that Google is not a company I like right now. First they are taking away Picnik and now our Google friends - Yikes!!!

I also am getting super annoyed with the word verification - it was annoying enough before now it is just hard. Sometimes it has taken me 3 or 4 tries. I am with you - everyone get rid of the verification!!!

Connie said...

I hate the word verification! I know that's harsh to say but the words are so hard to read. After trying 3 times to leave a comment on a blog, I give up.
That will be sad if we lose our followers.
p.s. Like your picture

LeAnn said...

I am with you all the way on this one. Why can't they leave good enough alone. I will probably get rid of the word verification because I often can't figure it out either.

anitamombanita said...

1. I HATE word verification and wish everyone would just get rid of it on their blogs... I've said this before and I'll say it again...if you get rid of captcha I'm betting you'll get more comments from readers and people who want to follow you and none of that other junk that you're so worried about. JUST TRY IT!!!!

2. google has its head up its proverbial buttocks right now...not sure what's going on over there...

3. I went to look at my blog the other night and was greeted with a message saying it didn't exist. It was late at night and I was too tired to even contemplate what that meant. I tried again several times and decided to go to bed, hoping the problem would go away in the morning...it did. But, it freaked me out... time to do a serious backup!

Unknown said...

I really dislike the word verification change.

Grandma Honey said...

This is news to me. I knew nothing about this. I don't understand what it is to blogger whether people have following gadgets on their blogs, or not. But then I've never understood the significance of followers. Sorry, but I don't.

I've noticed on the word verification that it accepts just about any spelling I give it...so what's the point in having it. ;)

Caroline said...

I hadn't heard about the followers gadget being removed for blogs.
...but along those same lines--the photoshop online software I use (and love) called Piknic is being converted into a google+ thing--so I will lose my ability to use it unless I upload all my pics to google+

I think many people are switching to Wordpress because of all this craziness and I have thought about doing the same. But then I have to hire a web person to do that for me (which i'm not sure I'm up for) because I've heard making the switch can be tricky without one.

Sorry I don't know more....
there was a huge article in WSJ this weekend about Google and the controversy surrounding privacy issues. Kind of worrisome stuff...

Darlene said...

I am so in agreement about word verification. I can'r read the printing plus I just don't see that it is really necessary, and for those of us who are computer challenged, it is awful because we have no way to go in trying to rebuild anything.

I wasn't even aware that they were going to change anything. Oh well, what the heck, they just don't care about me, but I know this, that I just wouldn't even blog if I can't keep my followers. If they do change it too much, I will just stop blogging.

Unknown said...

The word verification thing has me bugged so bad that I've almost stopped commenting all together.
I have been trying to build my followers on google + but it's hard to to because not everyone is a google + follower. A pain.

jen said...

I had heard it was just for Wordpress but I'm sure I'm wrong. Sounds like we all need to sign a petition or something.
As for word verification, time to post your poem again!

karen said...

I hadn't heard about losing followers. Where are you reading about this? Word verification is awful - like everyone else, I hated it before and now it's just maddening. I don't even understand what Google + is, and I don't want to upload all of my photos to it. I loved Picnik - it was such a great program for those of us that don't have Photoshop. It didn't look like Google+ had anything remotely like it, so that was disappointing. They're going to have a lot of unhappy people. Keep me informed because obviously I'm not reading the right articles to keep informed!

Ames said...

Sue I haven't heard about blogger taking away the Follower button. I don't quite understand why they would do that. I think I will see if they are going to give an explanation and another solution to the button.

As for the Word Verification just let me say this. I don't like it! I have made up my mind that I am not going to leave a comment on someone's blog if I have to enter a bunch of stupid letters to leave my comment.

I may have visited everyone's post over at Jenny's blog but if they have word Verification I will just pass on leaving a comment. And I have noticed that some of her followers are starting to use Word Verification. Too bad. When there are 80+ post to go through, Word Verification slows down the process for me. So it will be their loss not mine.

Feel free to save a copy of the No Word Verification logo on my blog page and post it to your blog post.~Ames

Welcome to the Garden of Egan said...

I have the word verifier turned off. It hate the new verifier.


I'm not sure about all the new stuff with Google +

Jo said...

I don't understand why they would take away the follower button ... sounds like a crazy bad idea!

The word verification is just nuts, I cant read it half the time either ...

I haven't had mine on for a long long time, and I know sooner or later i will just stop leaving comments where people have wv up ... I'm also not a google fan right now!

yaya said...

I also hate the word verification and it has gotten so hard that I'm not really wanting to comment if they have it. I didn't know anything about the follower button. Why does everything have to change..can't it be like me and stay the same for 58yrs? Well, maybe I did change a few things....

Susan Anderson said...

Maybe those two people whose blogs I read about Blogger getting rid of the Follower gadget are wrong. Maybe they are, since none of you seem to have heard of it and those who have think it's only for non-Blogger blogs.

I hope so!

=)

Gail said...

I have had comments ready to go and see the new WV...ain't gonna do it!!! We have to jump through enough hoops with out this being added.

Rumors are Mr Linky is the new follower gadget...but know no truth about any of it.

Are they forcing us to Word Press which I dislike???

We, the bloggers, have a voice, who can we speak to about this unrest in Blogland??

Pondside said...

Word verification - terrible!
As far as followers go, I believe that the change will not affect you if you are using Blogspot, as you do. What will happen is that your followers who use Word Press will no longer be able to follow - you won't lose your Blogspot followers. That's why I have put Mr Linky follower up, so that those that aren't on blogspot can continue to follow.
Of course, that's today. Who knows what google is up to!?

Jenn said...

This is the first I've heard of this... That would be sad indeed.

Jenny said...

Okay...I'm close to the 'hate' word on veri, too. I can't figure them out and I'm frustrated and annoyed.

I've heard about the linky follower tool, but who has time to figure that out right now?

Arggggh.

Terra said...

Sue, I will have to do some investigating...I hadn't heard this but it wouldn't surprise me. I have been considering some changes with my blog maybe now is the time...

Gina Kleinworth said...

WOW- so pretty! We are too dry to get fog here- I really miss it.

Gillian said...

I love it when the fog is beautiful, and not just pea soup that you can't see through, such a pretty photo!