A few of you may have noticed that a couple of days ago I adopted a new commenting system run by google+. I love google, all their products are fab (and it was only while writing this post I realised how many of their products I actually use!) so I thought that their commenting system would live up to their rep. I was prompted to do it at some point through blogger a couple of days ago and I thought I ought to. I really liked the blogger comment system however I had received a few communications from readers saying that they had had a hard time leaving comments and asking if there was anything I could do. I hated the idea of people not being able to get in touch so I googled a lot and discovered it was most probably a browser issue on the readers' part (although no one was eager to accept blame for this problem- very frustrating). but I didn't really like to idea of blaming my readers for something so when google+ suggested I try a new commenting system I thought it was worth a go. At first it seemed great; more people were commenting and it looked nice and professional. There were a few niggles for me; like the only way for me to actually view comments left on my own blog was to view the blog and it was hard to reply- but I figured if it was working for readers that was the important thing.
I then noticed last night that all my posts said I had 0 comments. When I then clicked on "0 comments" it would take me to the comments section and show me all the comments I had. It was so frustrating! I know it shouldn't mean much; but I know that when I browse a blog I'm much more likely to comment if there are other comments already there- it's just human nature. Not to mention I was appalled that all your comments were apparently lost in the ether! I did some googling and help desking and there were only two suggestions. Firstly that I could simply click on the 0 comments link to take me to the comments...BUT WHO DOES THAT!? You really shouldn't have to check up on whether a blogging platform is lying to its readers and I doubt any reader would ever do that. The second, and more honest reply, was simply "Yeah we know that's a known problem. Best to delete google+ comments". What a wonderful reply.
The worst thing was that in disabling google+ comments I deleted all of the comments left while I had google+ comments. I am so frustrated! I cannot explain how much your comments mean to me; they make me so happy to read and I love it so much that this blog is becoming more and more of a two way conversation rather than me just blathering on about something. The fact that the comments you guys had written would disappear without a trace just made me so frustrated. Luckily, as I noticed this problem early it only affected three posts and before google lovingly deleted all of you comments I was able to save them in a picture file. You can still see you comments for the "Video Post" here, the "Kitten Glass Painted Teacup" here and the "Super Happy Mondays" post here.
I was talking to a couple of you about this last night and you so sweetly offered to copy your comments over (probably because I was getting quite hysterical about it all...it was frustrating, ok!?). It was so sweet that it brought a tear to my eye, but it did also make me so frustrated because you guys just shouldn't have to do that.
Lastly I am still trying really hard to fix this commenting issue where some of you are unable to leave notes. If you are unable to comment on my blog (regularly or otherwise) please drop me a tweet at @allyebdon or email me at nowthatspretty@gmail.com and I will try to resolve it. Lastly to all of you guys' comment who were deleted I am so sorry. It is something I am most certainly not happy about! Oh and if anyone from google is reading this, I love you google. You hit so many times which is why I was so shocked when you missed on this one. You're ace but you really screwed the pooch on this one!
I might have something to say that could make this Google comments episode happier for you :) In order to comment, I had to create a Google+ account. I did it because, come on, I can't live without commenting on Now that's pretty! And as I did, I found an old high school friend whom I hadn't talked to in years (he was the only one of our old group we all lost contact with). And now we're all having a reunion on Saturday and we'll see him again after all this time, just because I created a Google+ account and finally found his trace :D Isn't that swell???
ReplyDeleteOn a side note, complaining can be really healthy as long as it is constructive! It's one of the best ways to question the established order of things (make revolutions ans stuff like that...) :)
Glad old commenting system's back! xx
Aww Nol that made me feel so much better, thank you! I'm so glad you found your friend!
DeleteOh no! That's such a bummer. I always love reading comments on my blog, so I'd be bummed if they were missing. I've been thinking about switching over the the Disqus comment system. I love that it seems to be more interactive and a better way to connect with readers. Good luck getting everything sorted out!
ReplyDelete-Becca
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