During the late-night hours when the internet works slightly faster, I read posts via email notifications and can sometimes follow those links to the proper webpage. Lynda (Pixilatedtoo) called our attention to several bloggers who join the verbal protests regarding changes in WordPress. I commented via email, which now drags lots of clutter from the email post. Six months ago those comments were clean and without baggage when they reached their destination.
Lynda nudged us to GrahamInHat’s well-researched post About WordPress Changes-What We Can Do and also “An Open Letter to WordPress” over at Fishofgold. These recent posts reflect that we are not alone in our grumblings, especially if you read the comments! Graham in Hats stated, “If we get up on our hind legs and howl for the pack to pay attention then we stand a good chance of putting more sensible people in charge.” Take time to scan the comments as well; I also enjoyed Jessee’s comment on Fish of Gold, “It’s Not WordPress. It’s been renamed WORSTPress”
His comment fits well with today’s Daily Prompt: Play Lexicographer… How about it, Jessee? You should submit your suggestion via post and pingbck! The Weekly Challenge arrives soon, so I’m hoping that many people will design their post to address these WordPress changes. Will any of you join me?! Say, “Bah, Humbug,” if you’re not pleased with the new obstacle course.
People who don’t cook shouldn’t design kitchens. People who cannot draw shouldn’t be working on an expensive art-design project. Do any of the people that make these WordPress changes write blogs on computers or have a queue of comments to read and answer when they log onto their account? If so, let’s play, “Swamp them with comments!” and see if they can teach us the art of finding them!
Years ago I worked in a design studio with a dozen other artists, and the younger ones worked circles around me via computer. If they had to hand-draw a design, they turned almost white with fear. These designs were to be drawn on huge stretched pieces of fabric to be made into hand-woven rugs, and I often checked on my younger peers’ progress. Once I told the director, “You’d better tell Marriott that their hand-made rug will be late…”
The young designer’s hand-drawn work required a complete redraw; there are times that an artist shouldn’t sketch the carpet design – there is a grid system of easy math that keeps the original design accurate. After that fiasco – to my delight, all future hand-drawn designs were lobbed to my desk, and I was able to dash to the warehouse and use my talents! I’d leave a note with a huge smiley face icon on my desk, “Gone to the Briar Patch. – signed, Brer Rabbit.”
It’s nice to switch modes every so often, and sometimes unexpected changes and hurdles are later embraced. But sometimes we don’t want to be hurled to the future, where the obstacles prevent us from doing our work with ease.
Yahoo has been rearranging its format for years, and I stick with it because I love my ‘At A Glance” homepage that shows me summaries on emails, world events, specialized areas of the world, science, the arts and even the weather in locations that interest me. I do not like the many changes in the email writing options and decided that most of the changes were made by a younger generation that never learned business etiquette or formal ways of correspondence. The changes have a sloppy informal flavor which I still dislike.
Regarding the changes in WordPress, I think that most of us that are unhappy because we like doing things in the ‘Old School” system. We don’t want to search for shortcuts that take more steps than the old system. We want to write and design images around those words and spend time creating. We’re irritated by cutesy distractions like the “Beep Beep Bop” – a pesky mosquito buzzing around my face that doesn’t make anything happen faster. Sometimes I think it slows my already-slow connection even more. While online, it’s nice to reply to comments as they arrive, but if we’re offline for a while and return, we don’t want to play ‘Hide and Seek.”
Many have suggested that WordPress should develop a totally different format for ‘androids,” but I’m thinking that maybe they need to design one for “Old Folks” that doesn’t sing and dance, it just goes straight to business and let’s us enjoy the art of writing!
Thanks for listening!
Z
I couldn’t agree with you more. WordPress has indeed become WorstPress. The newer systems are cumbersome to use, the BEEP BEEP BOP is incredibly irratating at best, and the resulting edit screen is worse. Comments are difficult to find and manage, and the overall process has become burdensome.
I wish we could convince these young neocons that “just because you can change something, doesnt mean that you should.”
Thats my two cents worth.
Oh, I’m with you all the way! In order to reply to comments I prefer going to the actual post and scrolling down to reply – but then I have to check back that somewhat small column to see whether I missed any comment to another post… tired just saying it! I hope wp isn’t trying to become another type of twitter, with abbreviated dialogues. Alas, we’ll soon be communicating with inarticulate sounds! Brstvinkls pergpfiklurfdrulrz tr tr! 😉
I have never understood why people things that work well need to be changed. I suppose it’s the technological imperative: if we can do it we ought to do it. Bollocks!
I hate how much WordPress and other sites are changing things and most of the time for the worst! I wish they would listen and change things that don’t work back to how they were.
I almost get the feeling that they don’t want us to comment. You can get round their annoying new format but why should we have to.
Well written Z! You got it all! The new notifications are junk. There are only so many that are allowed there and if I miss responding to someone who is responding to me on their post, well, that is the reason.
Amen Z! Spot-on and I totally agree with you. I noticed that they have started scripting comments back to a post and then I have to go back and re-open the post to read. I just don’t have the time for going back n’ forth and unfortunately posts that I really want to spend time on in my Reader get short-changed because I have to limit the time I spend on WP. Most people aren’t teenagers or twenty-something and would prefer a more professional atmosphere to our blogs, however cute – the average age of the blogger is out of the cutesy age. Thanks for addressing this my friend.
I have always thought that Boomers doing technology is at best amusing and at worst pathetic. Still — WE CAN WRITE and our grammar and spelling ain’t bad either.I stick with the “classic” screen, I ignore the beep beep boop (have to admit, mildly curious “Why do we need this?”) and I usually reply to comments via email notifications, which seem to be the same as always. I’ve developed a coping strategy for using the Reader “likes and comments” and go to “Notifications” last, because it messes up the reader screen if I try to go there while using the Reader. Does this make me co-dependent? I guess that after having such slow internet (and often NO internet) in a “developing” country, I’ve adapted to most changes and annoyances with a certain amount of aplomb. But I hear you and I’m all for KISS — Keeping It Simple Sweetheart! ♥
ha.. you made me laugh.. co-dependent! yes, we adapt and try to do our best, but with slow internet, it seems even more ‘redundant’ to have to click more times to reach the destination we want!
Agreed! ♥
Your post title definitely got my attention 🙂 I may be a Boomer, but I’m proud of the fact that I can actually maintain a blog. But the beep boop thing scares the heck out of me and I continue on the “classic” screen for posting.
and your reply gave me a great chuckle as i read in the dark on battery power! thanks so much, and hopefully we’ll get our ‘simple’ options returned!
! WP CEO Matt Mullenweg ! has know made a reply on this subject. It can be found near the end of the comments list (at January 29, 2015 at 17:57) on :-
https://freedfromtime.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/about-wordpress-changes-and-what-we-can-do/
You can reply to him if you wish. I don’t think he is quite aware of the deliberate removal of navigation links. So, the more the merrier. 🙂 .
thank you so much for this feedback, and i read some of the comments, then lost power/internet.. will be back! z
Sorry to hear that. I hate it when things don’t work. Best of Luck 🙂
I couldn’t agree more with you. The latest changes are more a pain in the but than of any help. As you say, things take longer to do now. Is it a generation thing – or just people (the designers at wordpress) wanting to show off that they are “ahead” of the game? Change is the new world – but not always to the better. For the same reason I stopped updating Microsoft Office. My latest’s version is 2003 – and it will remain the latest version, probably for the rest of my life.
yes, some change is good, and it helps to keep our brains strong.. but some change goes against what works/worked well. i agree with your attitude about microsoft office and also with the windows media player. z
I’m afraid I am clueless to all of these changes. I never use the reader because most of the time some of the people I followed were not there or people that I did not follow were there so i became disinterested in that. Is that where the beep beep boop is? I don’t even hear that anywhere. Did I miss a memo? I know I’ve done all the updates. I don’t get it. I’m not having any problems. Not that I’m totally happy with WordPress anyway. The only way I look at posts is through my email which is very cumbersome but nothing else seems to work for me. Like I said I don’t know what’s going on but if you want me to sign on the dotted line somewhere I will just to support everyone else seems to be having a problem. I guess I’m the one doing something wrong but I don’t know what it is. 😦
thanks so much for your feedback; my biggest complaint is the loss of the comment archives, not the one under adminis/edit/comments, which i am using now.. it’s hard to tell on this which ones i’ve answered and which ones not.. they don’t sync well… i liked the old that was reachable thru the drop down comments on the top right ‘bubble.’ ‘(view all prompt which is now missing)
Good post Lisa and a good follow up to your previous post. I went along to the WP forum and registered my discontent with the new changes along with 100’s of others. I wonder if they even read these comments. I pleaded with them to NEVER remove the option for using the “classic” screens as that is all I use and find it works OK for me. I shudder to think of being forced to use that ridiculous “beep, beep bop” thing. As for following bloggers I enjoy, I always RSS them into my favourites and do not use the reader, then for finding new blogs to follow I usually visit the ones that have commented on my posts and then RSS them if I decide to follow them. I do not follow via email as it does clutter up the inbox.
wow, there’s a lot of useful information here! i’ve never used the rss and need to explore that option.. hard to do when it’s hard to open email or anything! thanks so much! z
I find it is more reliable to have an RSS feed in my favourites, it pops “new” next to the name when a new post comes in, easy to keep track of my favourite people…
I , too, totally agree with you. We’re sticking to classic, and so far not too many issues especially since we still respond to comments via email. Hope they don’t continue with more changes, would hate to start our blog on a different site and I’m sure they’ll miss our yearly renewal fee. Hugs amiga
i am often wistful for just plain basic no-frills options.. no matter if it’s email or wordpress! just get to business and stay there! thanks for your feedback…
Oh boy, I must be slacking on my blogging lately– I don’t even know about the beep beep boop, or whatever that is. I’m kind of thinking my ignorance is definitely bliss, and now don’t want to face this! 😉
Well said Lisa. I echo every one of your gripes. Only, you say it a lot better 🙂