Brad, I’m trying to use more of Hruzekian strikethrough. It didn’t show up on the feed though which made it look a bit odd - any idea why that might be?

I’m enjoying Zemanta so far though I had to switch it off last week while they were upgrading - a few tech glitches. I tend to use flickr cc for images but have been finding their automatic links useful, and the posts on other sites very much so. I’d say about 25% are relevant, which isn’t bad. I’ve also had some links in the way already too.

I’m enjoying watching you and Karen go for the top spot. I think she might still have you beat though
PS I had some fun on Twitter yesterday asking how to spell vie. I got a ton of responses! It was a good clue about how to get into the twitter stream - ask questions that you genuinely need to know the answers too. People like responding to those requests (and showing off their spelling!)

Robyn, I don’t think your comments are long-winded. I love getting long comments here, often very thoughtful or explanatory, and it’s only right that people should be able to use paragraphs. It was a strange behind the scenes formatting thing. It was good to have the incentive to track it down when Jeanne asked me about it.

I hadn’t realised you could filter the mybloglog but it makes sense that they offer that service. I’m not sure if I’ll switch it back on or not - some people are saying they prefer it gone. I’ll suck it and see for a while I think

Bo, I prefer uncluttered too, but am still guilty of finding new things on other sites and thinking ‘oh! I’ll add that…’

Thanks for the reminder of the RSS comment feed. I had been meaning to add this for ages but had been a bit stumped as to where to put it (as the design for the main RSS subscription is built into the theme for the blog and I didn’t want to break it).

I think I’ve cracked it now and you’ll find the RSS feed for comments just under the recent comments section in the sidebar - seems like a reasonable place to put it?

Thanks for the prompt to fix this

Bo, that is a very good question.

There was a post on Copyblogger about this a while back, making that very point. Subscription is associated with payment. The argument was that you change the language to ‘get free updates’ or something similar. You might find it an interesting read.

http://www.copyblogger.com/increase-blog-subscribers/

I’ve just changed the language I use to reflect those points - it does make sense (and lets face it most bloggers will just go for the orange icon it doesn’t matter what you call it)

On how to explain RSS - I have some difficulty with this. I’ve written posts explaining it in the past - I’m guessing most of us have at some point - but that’s no use for someone coming for the first time.

The solution is to have a link to ‘what’s RSS’ somewhere near your subscribe button.

I haven’t made that change (because I can’t tinker with my sign up box very easily) but you’ll get an idea of how it looks and works at Problogger. His description of what’s RSS is very good.

http://www.problogger.net/what-is-rss/

Copyblogger also has some text on what’s RSS that you’re free to make use of.

http://www.copyblogger.com/what-the-heck-is-rss/

Hope that helps. This is probably a post in itself some time… I’ll see what other gems readers offer first though.

Hi Karen, sorry for jumping over you!It’s hard to find the words for the things we take for granted - like how to follow in a feed, how to comment - and as I was just saying to Bo, even if we find the words it’s hard to find the right place on the blog to explain it without making the place over-cluttered.I guess like you say it’s a question of constant experimenting and improving. At least with a blog unlike a house you can easily undo any disastrous ‘improvements’ you make! Whereas living with bright orange paint takes longer to adjust to…I’m having fun watching you and Brad go head to head. Actually I like watching that plugin full stop, because it’s a constant reminder of the people who spend time here, and give so generously of their ideas and thoughts.

Karen, yes, that’s one of the things I’ve found too. Although I can do a lot more with Wordpress it requires me to be able to adapt and work round the quirks a lot more too. Which is great in terms of learning and new skills… but can sometimes seem like a big technical challenge!

Jeanne, that’s good feedback on mybloglog. I know I used it a lot when I started it out and found lots of good blogs as a result. Maybe I’ll give it another go now I know I can weed out the porn queens!

Wouldn’t you know since I wrote the post the preview option has stopped working! I’ve just updated to the new comment luv - which provides an option to chose which post to link to - and it seems to have got in the way of the preview. Isn’t this always the way - you make one improvement just to find you broke something else! I’ll see if I can fix it.

Scott, thank you I was really thrilled to get there.

I know you’ve already got your face ‘out there’ - stumbleupon and twitter maybe? - so it should be no problem to get your pic up on gravatar - really it only takes a minute

Hope the pc problems are getting sorted

Ricardo, good point about the gravatars - though that doesn’t pick up the pics of those who are browsing and not commenting. I couldn’t possibly describe that as lurking!

It’s been good getting to know you on Twitter too… keep the conversation coming!

Pelf, that’s a very neat way to beat some of the problems with ‘do follow’ - I don’t use it myself, but have heard about and seen them - very crafty!

Lillie, now you mention it I had noticed that the site was often waiting on mybloglog to load - maybe another reason to keep it off. People seem to have mixed feelings about it.

I’m looking forward to seeing your new site!

The plugin is the top commentators plugin

http://www.pfadvice.com/wordpress-plugins/show-top-commentators/

I haven’t called it that on the sidebar, partly to avoid drawing attention to it by those who aren’t legitimate commenters.

There are a number of other versions around including versions with widgets - in fact they’re listed on that page I’ve linked to. I’m not using widgets so preferred to use this version and pop the code into the sidebar.

Hi meghna

Thanks for the feedback. I’m glad you like the changes.

Are you on Twitter? If so do say hi!

Jeanne, I’m not sure I’ll hunt for preview - edit seems even better. I had a hunch it might work when the preview stopped working… and hey presto it did! Will probably all be different again next week though!

Barbara, thanks, I’m liking the theme and trying to stop myself from adding too much clutter to it. I like some of the plugins that work behind the scenes and help you manage and edit it - and systems that allow to check the speed of your site, like the references you shared a little while ago. I might not always understand how things work but I do enjoy finding practical ways to improve the reading experience here.

Debbie, it’s not meant to be a pressure! But I’m thinking we need a plugin to reward people who make the most number of comments in a 24 hour period
Thanks for looking me out on Facebook. Each to their own I think - Twitter is great when you’re in the ‘zone’, but there are times when it’s beyond me too. And you do need to set aside time for it - or at least I do.

Wilson, thank you. Your comment was a lovely treat to wake up to this morning! I do care about you all very much… and it is meant sincerely.

Joannas last blog post..Respect For The Power of Blogging