Thursday, April 7, 2011

F is for Follow Faster

One of the things that drives me crazy about blogging is the unbelievably slow process of following and commenting. I don't know if it's the time of day, the pull of the moon on the electrons flowing through the computer, or frequent storms of vermicious knids, but I quite often find that when I want to follow a new blog, Blogger won't let me. If it does, I am required to wait at least fifteen minutes for said request to process, and I usually give up before it finishes.

But guess what? I found a shortcut. And it works for following Wordpress blogs, so all the blogs you follow can be in one place, rather than having some posts showing up in your inbox. Copy the URL of the blog, then go to your Blogger dashboard and scroll down to your Reading List. Under the Blogs I'm Following tab, click on Add. Paste the URL, click Next, and you're good to go. If you choose the follow publicly option, your avatar will still show up on the person's blog, so they'll know you're there.

This takes 15 seconds, rather than 15 minutes. And then you have an extra 14 minutes and 45 seconds to write something.

Does Blogger do this to you? Or is it just me?

16 comments:

  1. Hi, Alison, no I don't have this problem, maybe it's just your area. People living deeper in the countryside than I do have a slow connection. Or maybe it's because so many millions of us are using blogger at the same time due to this A to Z thing... :0)

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  2. Blogger does that to me from time to time, but I have another problem which I don't think is entirely Blogger's fault - sometimes when I click on my new follower's avatar it brings me to his/her profile but the blog or web address is not there...(?)

    Once I follow it's easy - I just use Google Reader.

    Grandpa
    Life on The Farm

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  3. I find that with blogs that don't have the blogger bar at the top I have to click follow elsewhere. Then it asks me to log in to GFC but then won't let me in. I tihnk it might be something to do with my internet browser as the one on my work computer is different and lets me follow blogs fine.
    I have had the odd occasion when I have gone to add a blog manually and it says it can't do it just now but to try again later... which to me is in about ten seconds time and then it worked!

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  4. Carole: That explains why others seem to get around faster than I do. I'm not in the country, and this has been a problem for ever, but maybe it's just my location.

    Grandpa: I think that's a setting the blog owner has to fix.

    Chippy:I never thought about impact of different browsers. I always use Firefox or Chrome.

    Toby: Ha! You're way ahead of the curve! :)

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  5. Hi Alison, I live in a dead zone--no cell service, no cable, no high speed internet access, so everything I do on the computer is often so slow that I get a timed out message and have to begin the process all over again. :p But thanks for the tip; I think that over time it will add months to my quality of life!

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  6. I've never had this problem before. Thanks for the neat tip though. =)

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  7. I've never paid attention to this. I will now. Thanks.

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  8. lol. There is never enough time is there? Things are so fast in today's world with new pc's and high speed internet, but it never is enough.

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  9. Oh, that's so cool! I didn't know you could do it like that on Blogger.

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  10. Clara: I hope it helps. Keeps me sane!

    Sara: Now I understand why some people are all over the blogosphere, while I struggle with it. :)

    Vanessa: You're welcome.

    Michael: I admit, I am not a patient person. :) But I also get so frustrated that it takes me an hour to follow or comment on four blogs, that I give up. And that's no fun, either.

    Cherie: Kind of fun, isn't it? ;)

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  11. I've had some problems with following on Blogger, but nothing as bad as yours! 15 minutes! Jeesh.

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  12. I haven't had this problem before, but it would definitely be frustrating. I use Google Reader, you might have some success with that.

    Sarah Allen
    (my creative writing blog)

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  13. I notice it works differently on my work computer than my home computer. But no real problems either way.

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  14. I use Google Reader to follow blogs, but I think it works mostly the same way. I copy/paste the URL and put it into "add subscription."

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  15. I had to learn that one the hard way too... but it makes life so much easier! Yay! ~Tori @www.journeycalledlife1.com

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  16. JEFritz: Yep, it gets pretty frustrating.

    Sarah: Thanks, I'll try it!

    Luana: Wonder what the difference is.

    Julie: I might need to try Reader.

    Tori: Yay! :)

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