I am really enjoying using WordPress. In general I like it better than Blogger, something about the style and design and ease of use, though Blogger is no slouch. So I think I’ll be sticking to WordPress now as I don’t want to keep switching and making life confusing.
A couple of things about WordPress really bug me though. Yesterday I was flabbergasted to see that I have to PAY to host MP3 files! This is very frustrating as music tech is one of the things I do. It may be a mercy to the rest of the world and to anyone who happens on this blog but I’m very disappointed. Once I stay under a certain space limit on my free account, what difference should it make what file types I put on the blog? I can put my music on garageband.com, in fact I do, but I’d much rather have it all in one place for my millions of fans.
Another gripe is that I can’t use one of my favourite features from Blogger – the ability to host my Google Reader shared items. This means I am missing links to fellow bloggers that I would like to promote, as well as updates from my news feeds. To get a similar effect I’d have to do it all again manually (something like what Matt Staggs does with his excellent Bookosphere) or add a whole load of RSS feeds which could be messy and is less discriminating. But the reader widget on Blogger was so quick and easy!
My stop-gap solution has been to place a link I call Nautiloid News on my Blog Roll list, which works quite well.
Finally, I found that I can’t load any Java scripts, which means I couldn’t put my LibraryThing book display on my blog…
If anyone reads this and thinks I’m being an idiot and/or there are easy solutions to any of these problems I’d be really grateful.
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August 14, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Douglas
Hi there,
I’m sorry to hear you’re having some trouble WordPress.com. We don’t want anyone to have a reason to say we suck!
We ask that users pay to host mp3 files because we’ve found that it helps cut down on abuse. Giving out large amounts of free storage to host files that people would like to share with others (i. e. music) tends to bring a lot of illicit activity, so we ask our users to pay to be able to host such files. It helps to cut down on the amount of abuse dramatically.
I’m not 100% familiar with how Google Reader’s shared items work (I use Google Reader, but not the sharing function). RSS feeds tend to work well for our readers, though, and usually look okay. I’d advise giving them a try.
JavaScript is something we need to block for security reasons. JavaScript is something that can be easily abused and we want to keep the network clean and safe for both bloggers and visitors. To make it less annoying, we are constantly adding widgets, shortcodes, etc. – that way, you can still get the content you want without having to risk breaking your blog or compromising security.
Hopefully this helps. We do have a support team available 24/7 that can help to answer your specific questions and even help you find a workaround for the occasional roadblock. Just click on “Support” in the upper right. You’ll hear back from a real person within 24 hours.
Douglas
WordPress.com Support
August 14, 2008 at 2:48 pm
nautiloid
Hi Douglas,
I didn’t really mean what I said in the blog post title, I was more trying to be ‘clever’ with my erudite use of the letter ’s’. Maybe I went over the top there…
WordPress certainly does NOT suck!
In fact, I’ll be changing my post title as the last thing I wanted to do was upset or annoy you guys, or anyone really.
Thanks for the clear and useful reply. I’ll follow your advice.
August 14, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Douglas
You didn’t upset us at all – we just want you to be happy.
If you have a reason to say we suck, we want to know about it and want to help you resolve that problem. There was no offense taken whatsoever!
Douglas
WordPress.com Support
August 15, 2008 at 9:15 am
nautiloid
Great support from WordPress. I’m even considering upgrading now.
August 15, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Douglas
Sounds great! Let us know if we can be of any assistance now or in the future.
Douglas
WordPress.com Support