Writing Sites Meta

Google Blogger vs Tumblr Blog: Search Feature

2019-04-03T19:00:00.000-07:00

What’s so useful and important about search boxes? Why should sites or blogs have a search feature? It’s important for sites and blogs to have a search function for the sake of their potential users and visitors.

People who come across your site and are searching for something specific should be able to easily find what they’re looking for by using the blog’s search box. They shouldn’t have to go through the entirety of your archives or articles list, if they don’t want to, just to find what they’re looking for.

You have to make things easy and convenient for your potential visitors and users because, otherwise, why would they bother to stay on your website or blog? With that said, you would expect platforms like Google Blogger and Tumblr to have a search feature, right? Let’s take a look at their search functions:

Google Blogger Search Feature

Google Blogger (blogging platform) has a built-in search feature, which you can easily add to your blog with no trouble or problem at all.

All you need to do is go to the design or layout part of your blog and choose to add a widget. Google Blogger offers the search feature as a gadget, which you can add in your site’s sidebar or footer. You can easily configure your search box by clicking on the edit widget link. You can name it and set it to search your blog, etc.

Tumblr Search = Laughable?

On the other hand, Tumblr’s search function, if you can call it that, pales in comparison to Google Blogger’s search feature. Seriously, it’s like they’re not fit to be mentioned in the same sentence. Why? What’s the problem with Tumblr’s search feature?

You Can Only Search for Tags on Tumblr

The biggest problem is how Tumblr only lets you search for tags. Who searches for tags? People don’t usually search for tags. Mostly, they search for keywords. Sure, some will search for tags, but they’ll also want to search for keywords alongside the tags.

Besides, it’s not like you can tag anything and everything on your Tumblr blog, so how can your visitors find what they’re looking for if they’re limited to searching by tags? Why does Tumblr set such an annoying limitation? How can this be useful at all?

If you want a decent and useful search feature, you obviously can’t make use of the built-in Tumblr search function, so you have to go through the trouble of looking around for possible alternatives and figuring out how to install or add it to your Tumblr blog. Needless to say, this is such an annoying and time-wasting hassle.

Update: Tumblr now lets you search using keywords, if you want to. However, from what I've experienced so far, it's just not as good as Google's search. Whenever I search for something on my Blogger blog, I always find what I'm looking for, even when I only type a single keyword.

Unfortunately, this is just not the case when it comes to Tumblr's search. Whenever I try to look for a post that I know is on my blog, I always have trouble finding it. I always have to try inputting several different combinations of keywords or look through pages of search results.

Sometimes, even then, I still won't end up finding what I'm looking for unless I go through each and every single page of my blog, which isn't feasible when I already have so many posts published.

Conclusion

Google Blogger definitely wins this round for having a superior search feature. Tumblr’s search function definitely needs a lot of improvement.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

What do you think? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by Kazenokaze (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone using the search box on their Google Blogger blog and trying to find a decent search feature for their Tumblr blog
- YouTube video shows you how to add the search box gadget to your Google Blogger blog
- This was previously published elsewhere

Google Blogger vs Tumblr Blog: Adding Text on Footer and Sidebar

2019-03-29T20:02:00.000-07:00

What kind of information or text content can you put on your blog's or site’s footer and/or sidebar? Is it really necessary to have text on your footer or sidebar?

Do platforms like Google Blogger and Tumblr make it easy for you to add any text you want on your website’s footer or sidebar? How can you add text to your Google Blogger or Tumblr blog?

What Kind of Content Should You Put on Your Blog's Sidebar and Footer?

You can put all sorts of information or content on your blog or site’s footer or sidebar. This depends on what you want those places to have.

For instance, you could have a copyright notice, a disclosure notice, a short list of your most popular posts, a list of your tags or labels, and more. You can even have a short introductory message there or even a mini bio about the blog author or some short tidbit about your site.

Take a look at the following screenshots from some of my blogs for examples:

The sidebar of the the Anime Meta Archives blog makes use of Google Blogger's Popular Posts Gadget. The blog's top 10 posts are displayed with large thumbnails. The post title shows up as an overlay on top of the image. If you hover your mouse over the title, a tooltip with a short excerpt from the post will show up.

My main Tumblr blog has a 2-column footer. Both have text content with links to the Disclosure, Disclaimer, Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy pages. The footer also includes a copyright and credits section.

Google Blogger Text Gadget

If you’re using Google Blogger (blogging platform), you can easily add any text to your site’s footer or sidebar. All you need to do is go to the layout part of your Blogger blog, then click on the “add a gadget” link.

From the list of widgets that will appear, just choose the Text gadget and click on the link to add it to your site (you can choose to add this to either your footer or sidebar or both).

Google Blogger’s Text gadget allows you to type any text message or content that you want to show on your blog or site. You can easily edit or delete this whenever you want.

Adding Content to Your Tumblr Blog's Sidebar and/or Footer

Tumblr (microblogging platform and social networking site), on the other hand, doesn’t make things easy for its users at all. First of all, it doesn’t even have any built-in gadgets or widgets, so if you’re looking for a Text gadget, don’t bother because you’ll just end up wasting your time.

I know, it’s horrible, isn’t it? Things would be so much better and easier if Tumblr was nice enough to offer its users a Text widget. Don’t you wonder why Tumblr isn’t user-friendly enough?

If you want text on your Tumblr blog’s footer or sidebar, you’ll have to take the time to search around for possible ways to get this done. So trying to insert text on your Tumblr blog footer or sidebar isn’t easy at all.

However, there are Tumblr themes that allow you to easily add content to the footer or sidebar of your blog without having to code anything. All you need to do after installing the theme is to go to the theme options page of your blog. Then just copy and paste whatever you want to add in the appropriate textbox. Have a look at the following screenshots for examples:

You can put anything you want on the Clarent Tumblr Theme's sidebar widget, including HTML, Javascript, or just plain text.

Clarent even comes with a carousel widget, which you can use to showcase your arts and works. Check out the demo blog here. Learn more about this theme here. Check out my Themes List for more responsive, mobile-friendly, and easily customizable Tumblr themes for your blog.

Conclusion

With Google Blogger, all you need to do is select the Text gadget, input your text, and that’s it. You don’t have to worry about HTML or codes or CSS. It’s no wonder that Google Blogger wins this round.

Looks like Tumblr needs a whole lot of improvement, right? Well, that is, unless you choose a Tumblr theme that comes with text widgets for the sidebar or footer of your blog.

What do you think about this? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone trying to add text on their Google Blogger or Tumblr blog’s sidebar or footer
- YouTube video shows you how to add a Text gadget or widget to your Google Blogger blog’s sidebar or footer; it’s really easy
- This was previously published elsewhere

Google Blogger vs Tumblr Blog: Widgets and Gadgets Feature

2019-03-24T19:42:00.000-07:00

What are widgets? Why are they important? Why should Google Blogger and Tumblr offer their users gadgets to use on their blog or site? How does Tumblr fail to surpass Google Blogger when it comes to the use and availability of gadgets and widgets?

Widgets and gadgets are useful features or tools that you can add to your blog. For example, you can have a labels gadget, which can show all the tags that you use on your site. You can even have an archives widget, which can show a list of all the posts or articles on your website.

Let’s take a look at the gadgets and widgets offered by Google Blogger and Tumblr and see which of the 2 is better:

Google Blogger has Numerous Gadgets and Widgets

Google Blogger (blogging platform) offers you a lot of gadgets that you can use for your Blogger site or blog. These widgets can all be useful and helpful to you.

For instance, Blogger has a Contact Us form, so your potential visitors can easily contact you or message you if they want to. You can even have a Follow By Email feature so people can easily subscribe to your site or blog.

Blogger also has a Search Box, Popular Posts, Poll feature, and a whole lot more awesome widgets. You can also easily add a text message to your blog’s footer or sidebar with the Text gadget. If you want to add codes, you can do so by using the HTML/JavaScript feature.

The best part is how easy and simple it is to add whatever widget you want. All you need to do is go to the layout part of your Google Blogger blog then click on the “add a gadget” link. You’ll then be shown a list of all the possible widgets that you can choose to add to your site.

To add your selected gadget, all you need to do is click on the gadget name or the plus image next to it. It will automatically be added to your site, and you can then change its settings or configure it to your liking.

Tumblr has Zero Gadgets or Widgets

On the other hand, Tumblr (microblogging platform and social networking site) is not user-friendly at all, not when it comes to gadgets or widgets.

That's right. Unfortunately, Tumblr doesn’t have any gadgets or widgets. So if you want features like adding text on your sidebar or footer, then you’ll have to go to your blog theme’s HTML and figure out how and where to insert the text you want.

The same can be said for other features like the Follow By Email, Popular Posts, Contact Form, Polls, and more. If you want these things on your Tumblr blog, then you’re going to have to go through the trouble of researching and trying to find out how to add said feature to your site and it’s definitely not going to be easy.

Why does Tumblr have to make things so difficult for its users? If it offered gadgets and widgets like Google Blogger, things would be so much easier for people trying to fix and customize and modify their Tumblr blog theme.

With that said, Google Blogger definitely wins this round for having so many helpful and useful gadgets and widgets that you can easily add to your blog or website with a simple click.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by Kazenokaze (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Image is meant to symbolize someone using the widgets offered by Google Blogger blog and trying to find working gadgets for their Tumblr blog
- Second pic is by Romain Toornier (CC:BY) from flickr
- YouTube video shows you how you can add Google Blogger gadgets to your blog; as you can see, you have what appears to be thousands of widgets to choose from
- This was previously published elsewhere

What to Like About Tumblr’s Signup or Registration Process?

2019-03-19T19:29:00.000-07:00

Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking site with a pretty easy sign up or registration process.

Seriously, it’s really quite simple and easy to create an account or a blog on Tumblr. But that’s not the only thing to like about the site’s signup process.

It’s Easy to Register or Create an Account on Tumblr

Tumblr makes its account creation process easy for all its potential users by simplifying things and presenting the necessary information a few at a time. For instance, when you get to the register page, you’ll only see three textboxes that you have to fill up.

This is better than having to see everything all at once and being overwhelmed and overloaded with too much information.

It’s only after you fill up the 3 textboxes (which asks for your username, password, and email address) and click on the next button that you’ll be brought to another page where you can fill out the next set of required information.

Once you’re brought to the captcha page, you’ll have to grin at seeing the next button labeled as “almost done!”. And, indeed, the sign up process is almost over as you get taken to a ‘welcome to Tumblr’ page upon clicking the aforementioned button. This page asks you to make a blog.

Don’t Feel Pressured or Stressed About Having to Make a Tumblr Blog

You get to choose from a number of colorful headers, or you can just upload a photo. You can also add an avatar as well as a blog title and description.

But before you start panicking and stressing about how you’re not prepared to make a blog yet and how you thought you were just creating an account for now, Tumblr is quick to reassure you by saying “and don’t stress about it. You can change this stuff whenever”.

And that’s absolutely utterly perfect because, of course, you’d want to change all this stuff later on especially if you haven’t made up your mind yet on what your blog is going to be about or if you haven’t fully ironed out all of your blog details yet.

So you don’t even need to fill out anything on this page. You can just click on the “make it” button right away. After that, you can decide to follow some blogs or you can head straight to your Tumblr dashboard where you can start exploring and looking around already.

You can do a number of things now, but you do need to verify your email address before you can access the rest of Tumblr’s features.

You can check out my main Tumblr blog here. I also have a Harry Potter Plotholes Archives blog, a Hetalia Axis Powers Archives blog, and an anything-goes blog called Soyuz Mir.

I've also started making themes for Tumblr. These themes are all responsive and mobile-friendly. Check out my Themes page, Themes list, Themes blog, and my Author page.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? What do you think about Tumblr's signup or registration process? Do you like it? Do you have any blogs on Tumblr? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

Note: info mentioned on this post was true when it was written, but Tumblr’s signup or registration process are subject to change without notice, so the info presented herein may no longer apply should Tumblr decide to change their account sign-up process.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by clasesdeperiodismo (CC:BY-SA) from flickr
- Second pic is by Romain Toornier (CC:BY) from flickr
- This was previously published elsewhere

Why and How Tumblr’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Can Make You Smile?

2019-03-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

There are many things to like about Tumblr’s terms of service and privacy policy, one of which is how the site helpfully included annotations to help readers understand all the legal jargon.

Another thing to like is how Tumblr was able to inject some humor in some parts of its terms and policies.

Humorous Snippets in Tumblr TOS and Privacy Policy

Saying things like:

“Yahoo! owns us and we share”,

“Google search and the far superior Yahoo! search”,

“should we get acquired (again!)”,

or

“if we dissolve (no way)”

can certainly make you grin or smile in amusement, at the very least.

And this is why it’s not all that boring to read through all this stuff even if it is really quite long.

Tumblr Terms and Policies Are Easy to Understand

A lot of these terms and policies are also pretty easy enough to understand even without all the annotations, which is just as well since Tumblr’s minimum age requirement is 13.

So it’s good to see that this microblogging platform actually cares enough to make sure that all its potential users, no matter how young, will be able to easily understand and comprehend all these legal stuff as well as all their rules and guidelines.

Many parts of these terms and policies have been written in a friendly manner. You can really feel or hear the nice and friendly tone of voice, and it’s like having a conversation with someone who might not be your close friend, but who you wouldn’t mind listening to because of the friendly tone injected with the occasional fun humor.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? What do you think about this? Do you like the fun and humorous way that Tumblr wrote its terms of service and privacy policy? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

Note: info mentioned on this post was true when it was written, but Tumblr’s terms and policies are subject to change without notice, so the info presented herein may no longer apply should Tumblr decide to change its legal info.

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by clasesdeperiodismo (CC:BY-SA) from flickr
- This was previously published elsewhere

What Can You Say About Tumblr? What Is There To Like Or Dislike About This Site?

2019-03-09T19:07:00.000-08:00

Tumblr is a microblogging platform and social networking site that’s pretty similar to Google Blogger and WordPress. Do you know anything about Tumblr?

What’s your opinion on this blogging platform? Do you like it, or do you dislike it? Why? Would you recommend this site to other people?

I've been looking for information about Tumblr and trying to find out more about it. It does seem quite interesting, so I've been wondering if I should try it out or not. I've been considering and deliberating on whether or not I should join the site.

From what I've heard and read about this website, it seems that Tumblr is a pretty good blogging platform and that there are many who are using this site.

It’s also apparently possible to place ads on your Tumblr blogs, and you can even include affiliate links as long as you're not spamming the site. The large community is also something to take note of.

Edited to add: yes, as long as you're not spamming, it's okay to put ads on your Tumblr blogs. You can also include affiliate links such as the ones from Amazon. And Tumblr does have a pretty large community.

So, if you had a choice, would you blog on Tumblr? It would be interesting to hear more opinions regarding this website.

Update: I've created an account on Tumblr. I now have several blogs there. I've even made several themes for Tumblr and am planning to make more.

Here are some comments about this post, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

BarbRad wrote on August 3, 2014, 7:45 PM:
I currently have seven Tumblr blogs under two different profiles. For me it's more like Pinterest than the other sites you mentioned.

I don't see a lot of original material. It seems most of what comes through my feeds are posts reblogged from others. I reblog some again.

I think it's more of a curating site than a blogging site, but I guess you could blog there. Photos seem to do better than words. Maybe someone else could add to this.

I wish I knew which of my other friends were there. I'm following all people I don't know. I think it's hard to find followers there.

Freya Yuki replied to BarbRad on August 5, 2014, 3:44 PM:
Wow. That's a lot of blogs. The information I've been reading and seeing about Tumblr say you can post articles there and there are even some that mention SEO for Tumblr.

Yeah, I heard about reblogging, and it seems that a lot of people there are doing that. Is it really hard to find or get followers on Tumblr?

I heard the community there was vast and pretty nice or friendly, so I thought it might be nice to try to blog there so you can also socialize and get to know people who might share the same interests as you, etc. Looks like I need to do more research about Tumblr.

BarbRad replied to Freya Yuki on August 5, 2014, 9:38 PM:
It's easier to find people with common interests than it used to be. I just wish each blog could stand alone without having to be under a main account.

I opened two accounts to cover my nature and gardening blogs. The feed pretty much goes to the main blog.

Freya Yuki replied to BarbRad on August 6, 2014, 2:52 PM:
Thanks for the additional info. Yeah, I read that you can have a primary blog and several secondary ones, but that there were some limitations on what you can do with those secondary blogs.

Do you write long articles there or just short ones? Or do people just reblog and not write anything original? Is it all about images there? Or will articles also do well?

nbaquero wrote on August 5, 2014, 5:28 AM:
Freya Yuki, I have just used Tumbler to share my posts from another writing site, but beyond that, I have not really found it to be a great platform. As BarbRad says is more like Pinterest.

Freya Yuki replied to nbaquero on August 5, 2014, 3:55 PM:
Thanks for the information about Tumblr. How is sharing your articles from another site on Tumblr working out then? Can you recommend another blogging site that's similar to Tumblr then?

nbaquero replied to Freya Yuki on August 6, 2014, 3:56 AM:
Freya Yuki It's only given an extra view or two per article which is not much but helps, besides it is some sort of repository for my posts, as BarbRad indicated is more like a curating site.

I haven't explored enough to find sites similar to Tumblr, being used as blogging platforms, but I would say for a full blog you can go with Google Blogger or WordPress as you already mentioned.

Freya Yuki replied to nbaquero on August 7, 2014, 3:17 PM:
Ah, I see. But you can still write original articles there, right? You can't advertise on a free WordPress blog.

You'd have to go with the paid version to advertise, but there's no guarantee that it will be worth it, which is why it's best to go with a free blog first unless you have funds.

I've tried the free Google Blogger, but it doesn't seem to have any community at all, not for socializing or interacting anyway. I heard Tumblr was good for those things and that it has a nice community. Is that true?

It would be nice to, not just get readers for your posts, but also get the chance to interact and socialize with people like what happens in sites like this where people comment and have conversations with each other.

cmoneyspinner replied to Freya Yuki on March 31, 2015, 2:51 PM:
RE: Tumblr -
* Can you write original articles there? Yes.
* Can you advertise there? Yes.

RE: Blogger -
* Free Google Blogger doesn't seem to have any community at all …? True. But use it anyway.
Try to interface it with Google Plus, if you're on G+.

*Notes:
- Image is by Romain Toornier (CC:BY) from flickr
- This was previously published elsewhere on Monday, December 26, 2016 at 11:41 AM

How and Why Tumblr's Terms and Policies Can Make You Feel Welcome?

2019-03-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

Okay, it’s been established (in another post anyway) - one of the things that makes Tumblr’s terms of service and privacy policy cool and likable is how it makes use of annotations to help readers understand all the legalese and legal jargon.

But, guess what? That’s not the only thing to like about Tumblr’s terms and policies. Another thing that makes all these stuff pretty awesome is the tone of voice that the site uses in order to explain everything to its users.

The tone of voice in the way Tumblr has written its terms, rules, guidelines, etc, comes across as quite friendly and many parts of these pages even have a humorous tilt or angle to it, all of which can make your smile or grin in amusement, at the very least.

For example, in the privacy policy page, you can find gems like:

"Should we happen to get acquired (again!) or go out of business (no way)"

or

"like Google Search, or the far superior Yahoo Search"

This one about Google and the others like it are extra amusing, not just because Yahoo! owns Tumblr, but also because Tumblr’s Blog Customization page includes a section on Google Analytics and how it can be used on a Tumblr blog.

In their account security page, they even recommend the Google authenticator app to be used for their 2-factor authentication feature.

Seeing things like this really makes reading all these legal stuff less of a troublesome chore. The friendly tone of voice and the humorous parts of these papers really help to prevent you from being bored to death.

And it can even make you feel welcome as this serves to paint Tumblr into a nice, friendly, and welcoming community.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

What about you? What do you think about all this? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- Image is by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at 11:39 AM

How Tumblr Is Different From Other Sites Based on Its Terms and Policies?

2019-02-27T18:52:00.000-08:00

Why would I even be reading Tumblr’s (social networking site and microblogging platform) terms of service, privacy policies, guidelines, rules, and other such information anyway? Sounds like such a boring chore, huh?

Actually, it’s not that bad. But let’s start with the first question. Tumblr seemed interesting enough to me, so I considered starting a blog on Tumblr.

(Update: I've started several blogs on Tumblr and have even made some themes)

Of course, before I registered or signed up, I first wanted to know all about its TOS, policies, rules, etc, so I know what I’m agreeing to and what to expect and what will be happening.

I thought reading all this would be like reading most of the usual terms and policies wherein everything would be full of legal jargon and it would take a while before you can finish reading all of them.

Why? Because, not only will these stuff be horrendously long, it will also be utterly boring and you’ll definitely be needing a break every now and then (because who can read all this in one sitting, right?).

It’s different with Tumblr though, and it’s a good kind of different. Of course, it still took me a while to read all those stuff because there’s a lot, and I've other things to do and take care of.

But reading all those terms and rules didn’t really feel like a chore at all, and it wasn’t all that boring either.

*Notes:
- Image is by tsukkaomi (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Friday, December 2, 2016 at 11:37 AM

Why Reading Tumblr's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy Isn't Such a Boring Chore?

2019-02-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

A website's (as well as programs, software, services, etc) terms of service and privacy policy is usually long, boring, and difficult to understand with all the legal jargon, so it's such a chore to read.

So when I find sites that have readable TOS and that actually make an effort to make all the legal stuff interesting and easy for their users to understand, I write about it.

How come reading all about Tumblr’s (microblogging platform and social networking site) terms of service or terms of use, privacy policy, rules, guidelines, etc isn’t such a boring chore?

What makes it so different from the usual terms and policies that you can see on other sites, programs or services?

Well, for starters, Tumblr’s terms of service and privacy policy actually have annotations.

These annotations make it easier for people to understand all the legal jargon and the like because the key points that you need to know are summarized in a way that doesn’t bore everyone to death.

This really makes it seem like Tumblr cares about its users and potential users and that it wants to make sure that everyone can easily understand all these agreements and policies and rules.

This makes them vastly different from many other sites who just list everything in a drab, boring, and dull manner and who can really come across as uncaring especially with how these websites don’t seem to care even if their users don’t understand a single word of what their TOS or policies say.

This perception is reinforced by how these sites seem to have no qualms using long and complicated words and legal jargon. Actually, Tumblr uses those kinds of words too, but it makes up for it by providing annotations.

*Notes:
- Image is by sayuko (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- This was previously published elsewhere on Sunday, November 20, 2016 at 11:35 AM

Is WordPress.com Restrictive?

2019-02-17T18:50:00.000-08:00

Do you think that the WordPress.com blogging platform is restrictive? Does it have way too many limitations, or do you actually get lots of freedom and choices if you use this platform for your blog?

Some Facts About WordPress.Com

You are not allowed to edit the CSS of your blog theme… unless you pay
You are not allowed to use Google Analytics on your blog… unless you pay
You are not allowed to use any other polling service… except PollDaddy
You get a Gravatar account with your WordPress blog… whether you like it or not
You don’t get customer support from WordPress… unless you pay
You can’t turn off the infinite scroll feature for real… unless you pay
You can’t add a copyright link to your blog… unless you pay

Some Things That You Can’t Get or Do on WordPress.Com Even if You Pay:

You are not allowed to edit the HTML of your blog theme
You are not allowed to upload your own theme to WordPress
You are not allowed to add ads to your blog (unless you get WordAds, but you only get a shot at this if your blog gets lots of traffic)

Update: if you're on the WordPress.com Premium or Business plan, you get access to WordAds. If you're on a Free or Personal plan, your blog needs to have high traffic in order to get the option to apply to the WordAds program

You are not allowed to remove the attribution credit links on your blog (the ones that say “powered by WordPress” and “theme made by [theme maker’s name here]”)
You are not allowed to add or use Google Fonts on your blog
You are limited in what you can do in terms of customizing your blog even with the Custom Design Upgrade, which only lets you edit the CSS of your theme (for example, you can’t import files)

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, is the WordPress.com blogging platform restrictive? You tell me. What do you think? What are your thoughts and opinions about this? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- First image is by 27707 (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- Second image is by pixelcreatures (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere on Tuesday, November 8, 2016 at 11:33 AM
- Info presented above was true when it was written, but everything is subject to change without notice like if WordPress decides to change their rules, etc.

Sources:

Problems With Adding Polls to Your WordPress.Com Blog

2019-02-12T21:36:00.000-08:00

What’s wrong with adding polls to your WordPress blog? Are you allowed to add polls to your blog? What’s there to like and dislike about this?

Can You Add Polls to Your WordPress.Com Blog?

Yes, you can. What’s the catch? The catch is that you can only add polls using PollDaddy. This is a polling service owned by Automattic, the same company who owns WordPress.

What’s Wrong With PollDaddy?

Dunno. Nothing, maybe. Those who use this polling service will be able to tell what its strengths and weaknesses are. This isn’t the issue though.

What Is the Problem With Adding Polls to Your WordPress.Com Blog?

The problem is how you’re stuck with PollDaddy. If you want to add polls to your blog, you have to use PollDaddy. You’re forced to use PollDaddy. You don’t have a choice.

Want polls on WordPress.com? Use PollDaddy or have no polls at all. But what if you don’t want to use this particular polling service?

After all, this isn’t the only polling service out there. There are many more sites that allow you to add polls to your blogs or websites like Opinion Stage.

What if You Already Have an Account on Another Polling Service?

Some polling services make it possible for you to use their polls on various platforms, so you don’t have to sign up to so many different services.

For example, you can use Opinion Stage on Tumblr, Google Blogger, WordPress.org, and more.

So, if you already have an account on another polling service, wouldn’t you want to use that on all of your sites and blogs so you don’t have to create yet another account for the same service?

On WordPress though, you’re forced to use PollDaddy whether you like it or not or just go without polls because they don’t care if you have another account elsewhere or not.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

What do you think about this? Do you use PollDaddy? Do you like it? Do you use Opinion Stage? Do you like it?

Do you think WordPress should give people a choice in terms of what polling service they can use on their WordPress.com blogs?

Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- First image is by Alan Klim (CC:BY) from flickr
- Second image is by pixelcreatures (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere on Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 11:32 AM

5 Things to Dislike About the Latest WordPress Update Version 4.1

2019-02-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

What’s not to like about the latest WordPress update version 4.1? Is something wrong with it?

Things to Like About the WordPress Update

One thing I like about the WordPress update is how it never drastically changes the appearance of the dashboard, so the Daily Two Cents* and Writegde* dashboards still look pretty much like how I remember them before the version 4.1 update.

I like that because I’m used to what the dashboard looks like. I’ve learned to like its appearance so it would just feel and seem wrong if it suddenly changes without warning.

*Writing sites that used to pay per view, but have since changed their payment model, unfortunately, ~~where you can earn some passive or residual income by posting articles~~

Gigantic Text

Now, one of the things I don’t like about the latest WordPress update is how the text on the text post editor is way too big.

Before the update, the text was kind of small (fortunately, it’s still readable), and I definitely would have wanted it to be bigger, but not this big.

This time, the font size is just too much. It’s so huge that it borders on ridiculous.

Text Post Editor and Preview

What you see is definitely not what you get thanks to the version 4.1 WordPress update.

Whenever I preview the articles I write on the Writege and Daily Two Cents text post editor, it always looks different from how it’s presented in the editor.

On the text post editor, you can see the gigantic font size, but, when you preview your post, it goes back to a smaller font.

As such, just because it looks like you have such a huge paragraph on the editor, it doesn’t mean that that’s the case when you preview your article.

Adding Images

Thanks to the discrepancy between the text post editor and the preview, it’s very difficult to fix the images that you add to your article.

On the editor, the picture might look huge and it might look like it’s aligned with only a few paragraphs, but, when you look at the preview, you’ll see that it looks very different.

So you will need to use trial and error when you move things around so you can find the perfect placement and positions for your photos.

Word Count

On Writedge and Daily Two Cents, there is a live word count that is located at the end of the text post editor textbox.

Before the WordPress update to version 4.1, this live word count used to stay in a fixed position so that, even if you scroll up on the editor to get to the top of the page, you can still see your word count.

This is very useful because you can see right away if you still need to add more words or if you’re already past the minimum word count.

After the update, the live word count is no longer in a fixed position so you can only see it when you scroll down to the end of the text post editor.

What are your thoughts on the WordPress version 4.1 update? Do you like it or not?

*Notes:
- First image is by 27707 (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- Second image is by StockSnap (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere on Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 11:31 AM
- YouTube video features the Writedge and Daily Two Cents WordPress dashboard

A Complete Guide to Using the Niume Post Editor

2019-02-02T22:43:00.000-08:00

I wrote this post as a guide or tutorial on how to use the Niume post editor while also mentioning its quirks and the things you might need or want to know about it. However, with Niume's latest update, a lot of things have changed. So, here is the new and updated guide to using the Niume post editor.

Edited to add: Niume is a writing site where you can earn a bit of passive income by publishing articles. Unfortunately, not only has the site stopped paying, it has also shut down without warning.

Adding Images to Your Niume Post

There are two kinds of images that you can add to your Niume post:

1. The background or cover pic - this one shows up on top of your article before the post title. You can only have one of this kind of pic.

2. The pic inside the post itself. This can show up anywhere inside your article as long as it's below the post title. You can have several photos like this.

How to Add Pics Inside Your Niume Post?

1. Press the enter key on your keyboard while you're on the Niume post editor. This will start a new line.

2. You will then see a circular icon with a plus sign on the left side of the editor.

3. Click this icon and you will see the plus sign change to the minus sign. In addition to that, you will see two more circular icons.

4. Let's focus on the first icon, the one with the pic of a camera. If you hover your mouse on this icon, you will see the words "Add a photo".

5. Click on this icon and you will be prompted to upload a photo from your PC.

Here's an example:

Other Things You Need to Know About Adding Images to Your Niume Post:

- Accepted file types include: .PNG and .JPG

- There is no way to resize an image once it's been uploaded to Niume so if you want to change the size of your pic (such as making it bigger or smaller), you'll have to do it before adding it to your post.

- As part of Niume's rules, you're required to have at least one image or video on your post. I'm not sure how strict Niume is in implementing this rule as I've seen some posts that only contain text. Still, I suggest adding even just one pic to your article to make it more colorful.

- The only way to add photos to your post is by uploading it from your computer to Niume. Unfortunately, there's no way to add pics via their image URL.

- The first pic that shows up on your post and that was added using the camera icon will become the cover photo of your post. See the old guide (linked above) for more details.

The only thing that's different is that there is no more picture when you link to your post on Niume (either via the comments section of a post or another article).

- If you don't add a pic using the camera icon, but you add a background pic to your post (see section below for more details), this pic will become the cover photo instead.

How to Add a Background Photo to Your Niume Post?

1. On the upper right side of the post editor, to the right of the post title textbox, you will see the words "Add Cover" as well as a small mountain pic icon.

2. Click this link icon and you'll be prompted to upload a pic from your PC.

.JPG is the only accepted file type, as far as I know (it's the only one I've tried so far aside from .PNG, which is not accepted).

Other Things You Need to Know About Adding a Background Pic to Your Niume Post:

- See this post for more details on the recommended size of your background photo

- Note that you might need to resize your pic and upload it several times before you can get the proper placement. For instance, I had to do the same with the background photo of this post otherwise I'd end up with something like this:

For reference, the entire pic looks like this:

- There is no way to resize the cover image after uploading it so you will need to change or fix the size elsewhere before adding it your post.

- There's also no way to add pics by using their image URL. You need to upload the photo from your computer to Niume.

- You don't need to add a cover photo to your post especially if you already have several pics in the body of your article.

- See the old guide (linked above) for more details

How to Add Tags to Your Niume Post?

1. Choose a sphere or category for your article. You can choose from the drop-down list right below the post title in the Niume text editor.

2. As soon as you select a sphere, if you scroll down to the end of the text editor, you will see several tags that you can choose to add to your post.

3. Click on an available tag to add it to your post. If it's the wrong tag, just click on the x icon to remove it from the list.

Other Things You Need to Know About Adding Tags to Your Niume Post:

- If none of the available tags match your article, don't worry because Niume's latest update has made it possible for us to create our own tags. Just type your tag on the textbox provided.

As soon as you start typing on this textbox, the editor will automatically start searching for similar tags. You will then see a drop-down list of possible tags you can add.

If you see a tag that matches what you're looking for, just click it and it will be added to your article. If the tag you want doesn't show up, just type it fully and then press the enter key. This will make it show up as a tag for your article.

- There's a limit of 4 tags per post.

Changes to the Niume Post Editor Thanks to the Update:

- Before, we were stuck with having to use the available tags, which may not always be relevant to the article we're writing. Now, it's possible to create our own tags.

- Before, Niume had two types of links. Now, there's only one type of link. Niume removed the link cards that allowed us to showcase links similar to Twitter Cards complete with the post title, a short snippet and even a small pic from the article.

For More Information on the Following:

- Adding a sphere to your post as well as things you need to know about the Niume spheres

- Adding a title to your post as well as title tips

- Adding a video (such as from YouTube) to your post

See the old guide (linked above) for more details.

For a tutorial guide on how to add links to your posts, see this article.

For info about the Niume dashboard, see this post.

If you're having problems publishing posts on Niume, see this article.

Conclusion

All-in-all, the latest update improved the Niume rich text post editor. Being able to add or create our own tags is a very welcome change.

However, it's too bad that the link cards were removed as this was a useful and cool feature.

Overall, the text editor could still use more improvements such as giving us more formatting options like being able to resize pics after being uploaded and being able to use numbered and bulleted lists and more.

Questions? Need Help?

What about you? What do you think about the Niume rich text post editor? If you have any questions about any of this, feel free to ask.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Linda Kaaz said on 22/2/17
very helpful information

Jim Bauer said on 9/2/17
I always find these interesting and helpful especially considering the site really does lack tutorials.

Freya Yuki replied to Jim Bauer on 18/2/17
Thanks :-). Yeah, when I was new here, I looked everywhere for tutorials and guides, but couldn't find any so I decided to write some after figuring things out.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Niume on 30 Jan 2017 in Interesting
- Screenshots are from my Niume account
- Second pic is by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Fourth pic is by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

Why You Absolutely Really Need to Edit Your Niume Posts Right Now?

2019-01-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, you do. Don't worry. It's not just you. It's me too and everyone else who did this certain thing in their Niume posts. If you didn't, then you don't have to edit or update your posts like right this second or something.

So, what's going on?

Edited to add: Niume is a writing site where you can earn a bit of passive income by publishing articles. Unfortunately, not only has the site stopped paying, it has also shut down without warning.

Niume Update and Changes

If you've logged on to Niume or visited the site, you've no doubt seen that there's been some changes.

The site looks new and improved with a layout that now includes both a scrolling sidebar (meaning, the sidebar stays where it is no matter how much you scroll down the page unless you direct your mouse to the sidebar itself and scroll from there) and a fixed top header (meaning, no matter how much you scroll down, the header will always be visible).

They've made other changes, but I'll talk more about that in another article.

Anyway, the point is that it's because of the recent site update that now requires you to edit your previously-published posts on Niume. Because this particular feature was working perfectly fine before the update.

Something wrong seems to have happened though, and, now, it's not working anymore.

Niume Cards Feature

Niume used to have this cool feature that was similar to the Twitter Cards feature. You'll find more info about that in this post (see the section entitled, "How to add links to Niume posts?").

If you want to be technical about it, it appears that Niume still has this feature, but it's no longer working correctly.

How the Niume Cards Feature Worked?

What used to happen was that if you add a URL link (it doesn't matter if it's a link from Niume or somewhere else) using this feature, a nice little box will show up that will display more info about this link including some text and even an image from said link.

That was really cool, which was why I used it a lot of times in my posts.

How the Niume Update Breaks the Niume Cards Feature?

But look what happened now that the new site changes have been implemented:

The above screenshot is from this post. What's that horizontal line, you ask?

Well, let me tell you now, it was never there when I first published this article. Instead of that line, what was in between those 2 paragraphs was a Niume card featuring a link to the post I'm talking about.

The cards were showing up perfectly fine with no problems before this update happened. Now, all the cards have been transformed into these horizontal lines. All the links are now gone.

Basically, if you added a link to your article using the Niume cards feature and you then mentioned the link in said article (for example, if you're explaining something and you need to reference the link), then, now, your article no longer makes sense because the referenced link is missing.

Reason to Edit Your Niume Articles as Soon as Possible

I thought it was really kind of bad, so I've been working on editing my posts to add the missing links.

This is the view I get when I click on the edit link on the article I mentioned above:

As you can see, there is something wrong with this feature, unfortunately.

In fact, when I try to add a URL link via Niume cards feature on this post, this is what happens:

In short, nothing happens. The loading icon shows up and keeps spinning, making you think that something is happening. But it just keeps on spinning before disappearing, leaving nothing but white and blank space.

How to Fix This Niume Link Mess?

In my case, I simply click on the edit button to go to the edit page for my article. I then add the link I'm talking about the old-fashioned way, but I decided to leave the links added via the Niume cards feature as-is.

Why? Well, just in case Niume decides to fix this feature. After all, it really was kind of cool. I wish it wasn't broken.

Ugh. Well, that was the plan anyway. But, look what just happened:

I added the link that I was talking about in that post like I just said I would.

I definitely did NOT click on the x button to close or remove the link added via the Niume cards feature.

When I clicked save on that post, the link added via the Niume cards feature was still there.

But, when the page refreshed to show my updates, only the new link I added was there. The one added via the Niume cards feature and which I never deleted or removed was no longer there.

Why You'll Be Afraid to Edit Your Niume Posts?

Well, this is frustrating. I don't know what's going on, but it makes me reluctant to edit my other posts for fear of what it will do.

What if something happens and I end up losing chunks of text instead of just the links?

What a hassle.

Unable to Update My Niume Articles

And, honestly, I really do want to edit my posts, not just to fix up the links mess caused by the Niume cards fiasco, but also to update the articles themselves and add some more info.

For instance, in my post about the problems with the Niume dashboard, I wanted to add the updated info that I contacted Niume about the issue.

But, at the same time, I don't want to risk losing the text, images, links and other such info that's already on the article.

*Sigh. Must resist the urge to edit and risk losing chunks of info on posts until this entire issue is resolved (hopefully as soon as possible)*

Share Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? What are your thoughts and opinions regarding this matter? Have you used the Niume cards feature on your own articles? Have you experienced this link mess too? Have you tried to fix it?

P.S. I decided to put this post on the Interesting sphere because where else should it be placed? If you have any ideas, let me know and I'll change the category/sphere to a more appropriate one. Thanks.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Glenn Stok said on 22/4/17
I realize you wrote this some time ago and it seems these issues have been resolved. I just started using Niume and I find it interesting to see what went on months ago with updates and bugs.

Linda Kaaz said on 12/1/17
I had keep putting my updated picture on it time after time. if it did say it was published then in a few minutes it was gone again My word of advice! If you aree having this problem maybe think about wait a few hour or try it next day. I know this sounds strange but it published it using internet explore but not from Google. I do not know why but it helps most of the time

Freya Yuki replied to Linda Kaaz on 18/2/17
Yeah, I've experienced something like this too and even wrote a post about it. But, thankfully, it looks like the issue has been resolved already.

Gina145 said on 9/12/16
I didn't know about the cards feature so it doesn't affect me (for now). However it sounds good so I hope they fix it.

Freya Yuki replied to Gina145 on 10/12/16
Yeah, I do hope they eventually get around to fixing this feature as it was good and useful in showcasing the contents of a link.

Travel Notes said on 8/12/16
PS. The posting in the right sphere can be a little grey area at times.

Freya Yuki replied to Travel Notes on 9/12/16
Yeah, I've noticed that too. There are only 20 spheres/categories, but there are lots of topics to write about. The Interesting sphere contains a mishmash of a lot of different topics. What might be interesting to some, may not necessarily be the case for others. But, at least, the recent site update now allows us to create our own tags. It should help in further categorizing our posts.

Travel Notes said on 8/12/16
I noticed that links feature (and thought how cool) when making my first post, then that it no longer worked when making my Christmas Markets post. Now I'm worried about editing the first post, but the text under the line doesn't look that bad (in my case).

Freya Yuki replied to Travel Notes on 9/12/16
I liked the feature too and I do hope that they will get around to fixing this soon. I haven't edited any more posts for now. I could live with the line, but the problem is the missing link. If your post mentioned a link and you used this feature to showcase it and even talked about the link in your article, it would look weird with no actual link and just a line showing in between the text.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Niume on 7 Dec 2016 in Interesting
- Screenshots are from my Niume account
- Second pic is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

Problem You Need to Know About the Niume Dashboard

2019-01-25T22:02:00.000-08:00

There's something wrong with the Niume dashboard. Have you noticed this too, or is this only happening in my Niume dashboard? Either way, I really hope this gets fixed as soon as possible.

Edited to add: Niume is a writing site where you can earn a bit of passive income by publishing articles. Unfortunately, not only has the site stopped paying, it has also shut down without warning.

What's the Problem With the Niume Dashboard?

To fully explain the issue, we need to start by looking at this: https://niume.com/profile/70600.

The above is a link to my Niume profile page. This post will be my 9th post here, so I currently have 8 posts published so far. See the pic below for reference:

According to the above screenshot of my profile page, I currently have:

- 8 posts published so far

- 861 total reads

- 244 total hype (notice how it says 244 on my profile info, but the top bar says 245? What's up with that? What's with the discrepancy?)

The discrepancy with the total hype listed on my profile page and the one listed on the top bar (which shows up when I'm logged on to the site) is certainly an issue, but the main focus of this post is actually with regards to the number of published posts and total reads.

To illustrate, take a look at the pic below:

This is a screenshot of my Niume dashboard.

Look at it and then look at the screenshot of my Niume profile page. Did you see the problem?

According to my Niume dashboard, I currently have:

- 5 posts published so far

- 482 total reads / views

If you scroll further down on your Niume dashboard, you will see each of your published posts listed together with information like views, hype, and shares.

All 8 of my currently published posts are listed there together with the correct number of views each article has received (if you add everything up, it corresponds with the total that's listed on my profile page).

The problem is how come the top part of the Niume dashboard doesn't reflect this information?

How come it only shows 5 posts? Where are the rest of the posts?

How come it shows a lower number of total reads/views that doesn't correspond with what's shown below the dashboard page and on the profile page?

Actually, this has been going on for a while now. Initially, I thought it would just take a bit of time for the Niume dashboard to update and show all my posts. But it's been days (weeks, even), and it's still like that.

What's going on? Why is this happening? I don't know :-(.

Is anyone else experiencing this issue? Any ideas? Possible solutions?

Usefulness of the Dashboard Feature

The dashboard would have been very useful and helpful if it actually showed accurate results so you can see such information and statistics like how much you're earning so far, how many posts you've made so far, how many reads you've gotten so far, and how many visits you've had on a certain day, week, or even month.

But, with this discrepancy, it's pretty much useless. Whatever is going on, I really hope this gets resolved as soon as possible.

So, what about you? What are your thoughts regarding this matter? Feel free to share your opinions by leaving a comment below.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Niume Blog & Support said on 8/12/16
The reason for the difference is the dashboard shows by default the last 30 days of activity. If you have 8 total posts but have posted only 4 in the last 30 days then logically it will show 4. Since our latest launch this should be a lot more clear with the date range being shown.

Freya Yuki replied to Niume Blog & Support on 9/12/16
Thanks for the response. I did notice that the new update now displays the Niume Wallet, which appears to be accurate. When I select the dates, the correct number of posts is now displayed, but the number of views is still incorrect.

As the screenshot below shows, even with the correct dates (October to December as I joined sometime in October) selected, the number of views listed is only 683 while my profile shows 1.2K and even the value in the Niume Wallet reflects that.

I hope Niume will eventually allow us to see data/stats via an all-time view, so we don't have to use the custom date range and just click a button or link or something that will show us the total number of views, revenue and posts we've obtained since we joined the site. Again, thanks for your response and hope you can further clarify this issue.

Jim Bauer said on 3/12/16
I have not paid a lot of attention to this, but surely will now.

Freya Yuki replied to Jim Bauer on 7/12/16
I only have a few posts up so far, so I was able to easily see the discrepancy in my dashboard. Unfortunately, it looks like the new update to the site didn't really fix the problem. On the plus side, at least, it does look like the Niume wallet, which is listed on the dashboard, is listing the right amount you've earned so far.

Patrick Kavanagh said on 28/11/16
I have noticed this. In my case, there is a very large discrepancy. I am hoping that it will catch up eventually.

Freya Yuki replied to Patrick Kavanagh on 29/11/16
Yeah, I do hope the dashboard and profile pages will soon display the same numbers, but I'm worried it won't. Even after posting this, I'm currently seeing 1.1k reads and 9 posts on my profile (which is correct. I even got a notice and email about reaching 1k reads), but my dashboard is displaying 6 posts and 543 reads.

I've sent a tweet to @niume_official regarding this issue. I hope they respond. Do you know if others are also experiencing the same issue as us? There might be a bug or something?

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Niume on 25 Nov 2016 in Interesting
- Screenshots are from my Niume account
- Last pic is by Lena Thutewohl (CC:BY-SA) via Wikimedia Commons

What You Need to Know About the Niume Post Editor

2019-01-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

Also known as, "Things you may not know about the Niume rich text post editor" and "Quirks of the Niume post editor."

There's a lot of things to cover, but let's start with adding images to your Niume post. Why? You'll see.

Edited to add: Niume is a writing site where you can earn a bit of passive income by publishing articles. Unfortunately, not only has the site stopped paying, it has also shut down without warning.

Anyway, take a look at this pic:

How to Add Photos to the Niume Post Editor?

1. Press the enter key on your keyboard while you're on the Niume post editor. This will start a new line.

2. You will see a circular button with a plus (for some reason, Niume refuses to display the plus sign, so I have to settle for writing it down) icon on the left side of the editor.

This is actually pretty similar to how the Tumblr rich text post editor used to look like before they made a few changes.

3. Click on this button. Three more buttons will show up and the plus icon will turn into the minus (-) icon.

4. Hover your mouse on the camera icon. The words, "Add a photo" will show up.

5. Click on the button, and you will be prompted to upload your pic.

Note: Unfortunately, it seems that it's impossible to add pics via image URL.

Accepted file types: from my experience, the Niume post editor accepts the .JPG and .PNG file types if you upload your pic using the camera icon.

Additional info to take note of:

- Niume requires you to add at least one media (image or video) to your posts.

But I've seen some posts where there's no pic, so I don't know how strict the site is in implementing this rule.

Still, it's a good idea to add pics to your post to add more color to it.

- The very first pic that shows up in your post will be the cover photo for your post.

Let's take my very first post here on Niume as an example. This is the first pic that shows up in said post:

This means that this is the picture that will be displayed on:

- The sphere where your post is

In this case, that would be the Movies & Series sphere. I'd get a screenshot, but it's been a while since I published said post, and it's kind of hard to search for things here.

- Your Niume profile page

- Twitter (if you or anyone else shares a link to your post on Twitter)

The pic's a screenshot from my Twitter account. And, yup, Niume's got the Twitter Cards feature. Cool, huh?

- Linking to your post on Niume (either the comments section of a post or another article)

See the section below on adding links for more info.

How to Add a Background Image to Your Niume Posts?

On the Niume post editor, on the right side of the title textbox, you will see a circular button with a mountain icon.

If you hover your mouse on this button, you will see a tooltip with the words, "Choose a background image for your post."

If you click on this icon, you will be prompted to upload a pic. This will become the background photo for your post.

If you add a background image, anyone who checks out your post on Niume will see it displayed at the very top of the post right before the title and the rest of the text content.

Check out this post for more info.

What else you need to know about background images on Niume posts?

- Like with the post pics, it's also not possible to add a background photo using its image URL

- This can be left blank, meaning you don't have to add a background pic to your posts

- You can only upload pics that are saved as .JPG

- The background image can only be seen on the post itself

- If you make a mistake in uploading the background image for your post (for example, if you find the pic still needs to be cropped and resized), you will have to open a new tab, access a draft copy of your post from there and use that to reupload your pic.

To illustrate, look at this:

This is how this post looked like before I added a background image to it.

After uploading a pic using the mountain icon, if you scroll down to the end of your post, you will see this loading icon:

You will then need to wait for a bit before you can see the photo that you just uploaded.

If you try to reupload the updated version of the same pic, it won't work. The loading icon will not show up and nothing will happen.

So you will need to open a new tab on your Internet browser, access your Niume drafts page (you need to be logged in to your account to be able to access this page) and then click on the saved copy of the post you're working on.

From there, you can reupload your background image and you should see the loading icon.

This means that, yes, unfortunately, you will need to keep doing the above method until you're satisfied with your background photo.

Things to take note of:

- Be sure to click on the "Save draft" link (see above pic) to make doubly sure that your post has been saved.

Yes, the post editor auto-saves, but you can never be too sure. Better safe than sorry.

- When you open your saved draft post in a new tab, double-check that it includes all the text and pics you've added to the post.

If not, refresh your drafts page then open the saved draft again.

- DO NOT close the tab where you originally wrote your post unless you're really sure that it has been saved to your drafts list.

Yeah, I can never be too sure that the Niume post editor is really saving the post I'm working on, so I end up opening several tabs of the same post just to make sure.

The title textbox

On the Niume post editor, there's a separate box where you can add the title of your article.

You will notice right away that the box is only on one line, and, if your title is too long, not all of it will be displayed, unfortunately.

Fortunately, this only applies to the text editor. As soon as you publish your post, you will see that the full title will be displayed on several lines (depending on how long your title is).

Yeah, it would have been preferable if even the text post editor displayed the full title so you can see how it looks.

Title tips:

- Write your title on a word processor or notepad or anywhere else and then just paste it on the Niume text editor's title textbox

- Write your title on the Niume text editor (where you add the body of your post) and then paste it on the title textbox

Either way will allow you to check your title for spelling and other such errors before the rest of it gets cut off (hiding it from view) by the title textbox.

Adding a Sphere to Your Niume Posts

Right below the title textbox, you will see the word "Sphere." Beside it will be a downward arrow.

Click this word and a dropdown menu will show up. This menu will show you a list of the spheres (categories) that are available on Niume.

Choose the most appropriate sphere for your post. This can be a bit hard depending on your post since there are only 20 spheres on Niume.

So, where should you put your post? If the other spheres don't fit, just put it on the Interesting sphere. This one seems to cover all the other topics that don't have specific spheres.

What else you need to know about the Niume spheres:

- When you first join Niume, you will be prompted to pick spheres that you're interested in.

This will be the spheres that will show up on the Niume text editor.

That's right. Not all spheres will show up unless you join all the spheres from the get-go.

- To add a sphere to the dropdown list, you need to join said sphere.

Adding Tags to Your Niume Posts

As soon as you pick a sphere for your post, the Niume text editor will display a list of tags that you can add. Just click on the tag/s that you want to add to your article.

You'll know the tag has been added when the button changes color; it will become a much darker gray. See the above pic for an example.

Additional info about the Niume tags:

- Unfortunately, you can't create your own tags, so, yes, you're stuck with the ones that Niume provides.

Yes, we could certainly use so much more tags. The available ones aren't enough at all and most aren't even appropriate for a lot of the posts here.

To illustrate, this is a post about Niume, but there's no sphere for Niume. There's no Niume tag either.

So, I have no other choice but to put this in the Interesting sphere. After all, where else should I put this post, right?

How to Add Videos to Your Niume Posts?

1. Remember the circular button with the plus icon? Click it.

2. Choose the button with the play icon. If you hover your mouse on it, you will see the words "Add a YouTube or Vimeo link."

3. Click the button with the play icon. You will see the words, "Paste a YouTube or Vimeo link and press enter."

Here's an example:

Additional info about videos added to Niume posts: Just copy the URL link (not the embed link) of the video you want to use on your post.

How to Add Links to Niume Posts?

You can add 2 different kinds of links to your Niume posts.

The first one is using the circular button with the plus icon. If you click on said button, you will see another button with a chain icon (right below the icon for videos).

Hover your mouse on it and you will see the words, "Paste a link." Click it and you will see the words, "Paste a link and press enter."

Here's an example:

As you can see, Niume pulled 3 things from the added link:

- Image

This is the first pic that shows up on the link.

- Text

This is the first few words from the link. Note that the post title is not included.

- Source

This refers to where the link is located.

Additional info about this link type:

- This feature is very similar to the Twitter Cards feature.

- Use this if you want to showcase content from the links you've shared on your Niume post.

Edited to add: unfortunately, this link type no longer works on Niume

What About Niume's Second Link Type?

Check out this post for more info.

Niume Text Post Editor Options

If you highlight some of the text on the post you're working on while you're on the Niume rich text post editor, you will see a tooltip with a few options.

These options are: bold, italic, regular font, heading 3 (H3), and link. Just pick the one you want to use and it will automatically be applied to the highlighted text.

In the case of links, refer to the article linked above.

These options remind me of the ones on Tumblr because they also show up when you highlight a piece of text, except, on Tumblr, they show up as circular buttons and there are more options.

What's Missing in the Niume Text Editor?

A lot, actually. To name a few, we can't:

- Use numbered lists (<ol></ol>) and/or bullet lists (<ul></ul>)

This is why I'm using the dash (-) as bullet points.

- Use blockquotes

To quote someone, you'll have to stick to just quotation marks (""). You can also italicize the text.

- There's no HTML editor so, for instance, you can't use <small></small> (like for pic sources)

Other things you need to know about the Niume rich text post editor:

- The read more link (continue reading) is automatically added to posts.

- All text is automatically aligned to the left. You can't center or right align anything.

- You can't schedule posts.

- You can't set the URL link (permalink) for your posts, which is really rather unfortunate since you end up with URLs like this:

https://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=137618

Which doesn't tell you anything at all. You don't even know which sphere that URL is from, or who wrote it, or what it's about, etc.

- You can't increase or decrease the size of any of the fonts according to what you want.

- You can't choose the font family either.

- You can't move the images and videos on your posts around. I've tried, but nothing happened. The pic/vid just stayed where it was.

- You can only add a total of 4 tags to your post.

- You can't preview your post before publishing it.

Fortunately, the Niume editor already looks very similar to what your post will look like when you publish it on the site.

Just note that you won't be able to see the links while you're on the editor.

The hyperlinked text will be underlined, so you'll know it's a link, but you can't actually check where it will go unless you publish your post.

- You can close the box where the Niume Content Guidelines are, but, the next time you open a saved draft of your post, the box will show up again. Every time you create a post, the box will be there.

Well, that's all for now. All-in-all, the Niume post editor is pretty impressive though it could still be improved. What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

Hope this helped. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Glenn Stok said on 22/4/17
This has been extremely helpful. Thanks Freya. I couldn't figure out how to add a video. I see so many people just placing the link in their post, which takes the reader away to another tab to watch the video. I like the fact that we can place it right where we want in our article.

Treathyl Fox Aka Cmoneyspinner said on 29/1/17
Excellent tutorial. Every place I find you on the web – here and elsewhere - I know that I will learn something and that I will usually receive an extra treat because of the beautiful images you share. Whenever I see your name, I explore further. :)

Freya Yuki replied to Treathyl Fox Aka Cmoneyspinner on 30/1/17
Thanks :-). If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask.

Treathyl Fox Aka Cmoneyspinner replied to Freya Yuki on 31/1/17
Not a question. An exclamation. WOW! That Twitter Cards feature is sweet!!! :)

Lena Kovadlo said on 17/1/17
I am not a huge fan of the text editor on the site. I have published a number of posts that are either lyrics or poetry. Most of those I have published have more than one stanza in them. When the post is published everything comes out as one long stanza instead of many stanzas and the text appears to be double spaced.

And if I manage to somehow get it separated into stanzas the space between stanzas is huge (quadruple spaced?). Makes me wonder why regular paragraph type posts come out looking fine and poetry/lyric ones don't.

Freya Yuki replied to Lena Kovadlo on 17/1/17
Yeah, they do need to improve this especially since there's a Literature sphere so there are members who'd post stories or poems and the like. You press the enter key after every line of the poem, right? If so, that explains the huge spacing problem (have seen this in some poetry posts I've read here).

The Niume post editor automatically adds a space or begins a new paragraph every time you press enter. The text in regular-type posts come out okay because people only press the enter key when they want to start a new paragraph, which means the text of each line in a paragraph flows naturally. Hopefully, there will be an update that will fix this issue.

Amelia Jane said on 15/1/17
Thanks! I only just joined, and literally the first thing on my mind were all the features they should add and things they should change about the text editor. If I weren't so drawn to the concept of this platform, the endless list of things I can't do would be a reason not to stick around, frankly. Hope that will be improved soon!

Freya Yuki replied to Amelia Jane on 15/1/17
Welcome to Niume :-). Yes, there are lots of things I wish they'd add to improve the text editor. The site did undergo an update a few or so months ago. Hopefully, there'll be another update and the text editor will be changed to include new and better features. I like the site too though have encountered a few issues here and there. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Lena Kovadlo said on 12/1/17
I've read that an image is required in a Niume post. Does adding a cover image into the post (without inserting the image into the post itself) count?

Freya Yuki replied to Lena Kovadlo on 15/1/17
Yes, it does. If you don't add a pic in the post itself, but add a cover pic, the cover pic will be seen as the post pic. That cover pic will show up on your profile page and on the sphere page where your post is listed.

But if you add a pic on the post itself, the first pic on that post will be the one that's displayed on your profile and on the sphere page. Hope this helps. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask :-).

Lena Kovadlo replied to Freya Yuki on 17/1/17
What I do not like about inserting pics into a post is that they are very big... I wish there was a way for us to control the size of it. It seems even if we make them smaller in our photo editing software it still comes out very big when we upload it into the posts.

Freya Yuki replied to Lena Kovadlo on 17/1/17
Yeah, unfortunately there's no way to resize the pic after uploading it. I thought resizing it before upload would work (haven't bothered to resize the pics), but looks like it doesn't. That's too bad. I do hope they give us more options in the future.

Am especially looking forward to a way to be able to add pics via image URL (I usually just get pics from Pixabay or other sites that have public domain or Creative Commons-licensed pics) so we wouldn't have to download pics to our PCs just to be able to upload them to Niume.

Mrinalini Mohanty said on 12/1/17
This is a much needed, informative post :)

Freya Yuki replied to Mrinalini Mohanty on 15/1/17
Thanks. Yeah, I also noticed the Niume FAQ and help pages weren't very helpful. They didn't contain all the information I wanted to know about when I first joined the site.

Stephen Carr said on 11/1/17
Good info...I have had to learn by using.

Freya Yuki replied to Stephen Carr on 15/1/17
Yeah, after joining Niume, I also took the time to explore the site to find out more about it and to learn about all its features.

Rama Devi Nina Marshall said on 11/1/17
Extremely helpful, especially for newbies. Thanks for taking the time to share this informative post! :)

Freya Yuki replied to Rama Devi Nina Marshall on 15/1/17
You're welcome :-). Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Rama Devi Nina Marshall replied to Freya Yuki on 22/4/17
Thanks....saw this again...such a kind service you've done for your fellow Niume-ers. Bless you!

Travel Notes said on 9/12/16
Wow. You've really put a lot of work into this!

Freya Yuki replied to Travel Notes on 19/12/16
Yeah. Thanks. If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask :-).

Saori Sam said on 25/11/16
Great thanks dear. Found the answers here. :)

Freya Yuki replied to Saori Sam on 25/11/16
You're welcome :-). If you have more questions, feel free to ask.

Patrick Kavanagh said on 25/11/16
Very helpful!

Freya Yuki replied to Patrick Kavanagh on 25/11/16
Thanks. Glad it helped. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask :-).

Patrick Kavanagh replied to Freya Yuki on 26/11/16
Actually, I was wondering if there was a way to set up a post so that a video appeared as the site-card (opening pic) ? :)

Freya Yuki replied to Patrick Kavanagh on 28/11/16
Unfortunately, there's no way to do that. The first pic you add to your post will be the one that gets displayed on your profile and the sphere page.

Patrick Kavanagh replied to Freya Yuki on 28/11/16
Thank you! x

Freya Yuki replied to Patrick Kavanagh on 29/11/16
You're welcome :-).

Andre´ Hartslief said on 17/11/16
Thank you for this informative post. I have been on numerous writing sites and none of them even come close to the wikinut site for incredible ease of use for both writers and visitors, such a pity its management has no interest in paying its contributors anymore. check it out here, your honest comments are welcome: http://www.wikinut.com/in/togkk/

Freya Yuki replied to Andre´ Hartslief on 18/11/16
You're welcome. Glad it helped. I've heard of wikinut though haven't joined as I also heard that it's not possible to delete your posts on there and you don't have much control over your own articles. It's sad to hear they're not paying anymore.

Andre´ Hartslief replied to Freya Yuki on 18/11/16
You can delete all your posts if you like. The only thing wrong is that they suddenly stopped paying royalties. See the post at this link: http://guides.wikinut.com/How-and-when-does-Wikinut-pay-me?/23_gnbq_/

Freya Yuki replied to Andre´ Hartslief on 28/11/16
Ah, I see. Thanks for the additional info about wikinut. It must have been a different site that didn't allow writers to delete their own work.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Niume on 15 Nov 2016 in Interesting
- Screenshots are from my Niume account
- Second pic is by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Third pic is by cabepfir (CC:BY-ND) from deviantArt
- 8th pic is by hayashinomura (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

Who Else Is Having a Hard Time Publishing Posts on Niume?

2019-01-19T18:17:00.000-08:00

I like Niume (wouldn't be here otherwise, right?), but one of the things I don't like about it is how difficult (totally the understatement of the year, seriously) it is to publish things there.

I've posted several articles here already, and never once has it been easy to do so. Ever since the beginning, it has been a struggle to post here. I suspect it will be the same for this post as well :-(. And I'm dreading it already.

Edited to add: Niume is a writing site where you can earn a bit of passive income by publishing articles. Unfortunately, not only has the site stopped paying, it has also shut down without warning.

What's Going On? Why Is It so Hard to Publish Posts on Niume?

Basically, every time I publish a post here, it gets sent back to the drafts page. Here's a step-by-step explanation on exactly what happens:

Scenario 1:

1. I click the "publish" button on a post I want to publish here on Niume.

2. I get taken to a page that says my post has been published. I'm given the option to share it on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, etc.

3. Clicking the "finish" button on that page will take me to the sphere page where I chose to publish my article.

For example, I put this post in the Movies sphere, so when I published it, I was directed to the Movies sphere.

4. The post I just published is listed on that sphere. I click it to go to the page where my post is.

5. My post shows up and looks as if it's been published and there's nothing more I need to do.

6. Wait a few minutes. Click the refresh button to see if there any views, comments, etc.

7. Refreshing the page should bring me back to my post. Instead, I get redirected back to the Niume homepage. Where's the post I just published?

8. I check my profile page. The post I just published isn't listed there either.

It's as if I've never published it.

9. Check my drafts page. The post is back there.

Scenario 2:

Steps 1-3 are the same as in Scenario 1.

4. The post I just published isn't listed on the sphere page. I still get taken to the sphere page, but my post isn't there at all.

5. I check my profile page. Sometimes, my post is listed there. At other times, it's not listed there.

6. If my post is listed on my profile page, I click it to open it.

7. Repeat step 6 from Scenario 1 here.

8. I experience the same thing that I experienced in Scenario 1's steps 7 and 9.

Either way, it all boils down to the fact that my post gets sent back to the Niume drafts page.

And I have to keep publishing it over and over and over again before it would finally show up on my profile page and stop disappearing every time I check on it.

The last post I've published, the one about Critique Circle, was an especially frustrating ordeal because I had to keep publishing it over and over again for what felt like hours.

I spent a lot of time on Niume just trying to get it published. In the end, I had to sign out and just try again the next day.

Thankfully, it finally decided to stick the next time I logged on to Niume and published the post.

But, by then it was too late.

Why, you ask?

Because another problem is that when you publish something on Niume for the first time, that will be seen as the original publication date and time.

So, no matter how many times I publish the post that refuses to stay published, it will still be listed by that original date and time.

This means that when I was finally able to publish the post, it doesn't matter anymore because it will have been pushed far down the spheres page by newer posts. How can the post be seen when it refuses to stay published?

Is Anyone Else Experiencing This Problem?

Does anyone have any idea how to fix this? :-(

Edited to add: Here we go again. Yup. It's happening all over again with this post. Wonder how long I have to keep publishing this for it to stop getting sent back to my drafts page? :-(

Take 7.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Carol Taylor said on 8/2/17
I also have never experienced that type of problem (I have) with another site but always use a desktop and Chrome...I hope you get it sorted as it must be frustrating. Have you checked whether your browser is compatible because if I use IE I cannot publish the post ..hence Chrome :)

Bodylevive said on 30/1/17
I use a desk top computer and Fire Fox browser. I don't know if that's any help or not. I have never experienced this type of problem. Did you tell support about this problem. They maybe able to help.

Barbara Radisavljevic said on 29/1/17
Wow! I feel for you. This has never happened to me, though I've sometimes discovered my intro photo didn't publish. I always publish from a PC desktop. What do you publish from? You also might try a different browser. I use Chrome.

Freya Yuki replied to Barbara Radisavljevic on 30/1/17
Thanks. I use Chrome too. Not sure what was going on, but it looks like the issue/problem has already been resolved as am no longer experiencing it.

Cynthia Friedberg said on 22/1/17
I have never had this problem. Maybe you should send niume support a note and they can help you. The system and rules are pretty simple to follow and use. Maybe you should try reboot your computer, just a suggestion.

Freya Yuki replied to Cynthia Friedberg on 30/1/17
Thanks. The problem isn't with my PC, but with Niume itself as this is the only site am having trouble with. Have already sent them a note as well as a tweet before, but they didn't respond. Thankfully, it looks like the problem/issue has been resolved since am no longer experiencing it.

Mardene Carr said on 3/1/17
I have had a post sent to draft because I had missed something. If it does not follow the guidelines it will be sent to draft but usually you get a message explaining why and that you should re-publish once it is fixed.

Freya Yuki replied to Mardene Carr on 4/1/17
Haven't experienced what you described. In my case, the post gets published, but it doesn't stick. If I refresh the page a few minutes after publishing the post, it redirects me back to the homepage and I find my post back in the drafts page.

I then have to publish it again and again before it stays published. But there's no message about not following the guidelines since all my posts follow the guidelines and I'm able to publish the post without having to fix anything. Yeah, I do hope this problem gets fixed soon. It's very inconvenient and frustrating.

Annie Haycock said on 1/1/17
So far, I have not experienced this either. But the platform certainly does have its quirks. For example it was telling me I had made 6 posts, even when I had made, 7, 8, 9 posts, and now finally it is telling me I have made 7! Yet all the posts are showing up.

Annie Haycock replied to Annie Haycock on 1/1/17
Sorry, didn't see that you had already written about this in another post.

Freya Yuki replied to Annie Haycock on 4/1/17
Yeah, that has happened to me too. It takes a while for the number of posts to display the correct number.

Jim Bauer said on 23/12/16
So far I have not experienced this, but based on your description of things that has happened, I hope I do not encounter this. It would give me good reason to give up and move on to more productive things.

Freya Yuki replied to Jim Bauer on 4/1/17
Yeah, this is really very frustrating and disheartening. Still experiencing the problem and hoping Niume will fix this soon.

Zzopretty Griffin said on 20/12/16
You have to title the post,pick a picture for it,pick the sphere to put it in and have at least five lines of words and then push the publish button and then you can share it if you want to then just click finish even if you don't want to share it then push profile and you should see your post

Freya Yuki replied to Zzopretty Griffin on 20/12/16
Thanks, but this is not the problem the post is talking about. As mentioned in the post above, the posts get sent back to the drafts page and one needs to republish it over and over again before it will show up on the profile page and stop disappearing.

All my posts have titles, images (sometimes more than 1 pic) and a lot more than 5 lines of text. They're also in the proper spheres. The above post also mentioned how I publish the posts using the "publish" button and then the "finish" button. The posts don't show up in the profile page until you republish it several times (sometimes even more than that).

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Niume on 5 Nov 2016 in Interesting
- Screenshots are from my Niume account
- Image is by rawpixel.com (Public Domain) from Pexels

Important Things You Need to Know About Background Images on Niume

2019-01-16T20:46:00.000-08:00

Also known as, "What Is the Size of the Background Image on Niume Posts?" and "What You Need to Know About the Background Image on Niume Posts?"

I've been looking for the answer to that question since I joined Niume and began writing my first post. Now, I've finally found the answer, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

Why not? What does that mean? Okay, let's start at the beginning.

Edited to add: Niume is a writing site where you can earn a bit of passive income by publishing articles. Unfortunately, not only has the site stopped paying, it has also shut down without warning.

Searching for Information About Niume

Since I was new to Niume, I've been looking for more information about the site to learn more about how it works. Unfortunately, it's not that easy looking for posts about Niume.

The site does have a FAQ page, but it doesn't contain a comprehensive list of everything you need to know about Niume.

For example, the Post Creation part of the Niume FAQ page talks about the background pic:

"How can I insert a background picture on my post?

On the “Create a post” page you will see that when writing a Title for you post, a little Background Icon on your right will appear. By clicking on it, you will be able to add a background picture to your post."

But it doesn't say anything about the ideal or recommended size for these pics. IMHO, the size is what we really need to know.

I mean, if you go to the "Create a post" page, you can see the picture icon right away without even needing to scroll down.

If you hover your mouse on this icon, a tooltip will show up with the words, "Choose a background image for your post."

If you click the icon, you'll be prompted to upload a photo. So, it's not that hard to figure out what to do, right?

Wouldn't it have been so much better if the tooltip itself included the recommended image size?

How to Add Links to Niume Posts?

2019-01-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

The quick, easy, and fast tutorial version of how to add links to Niume posts for those who just want the answer:

Edited to add: Niume is a writing site where you can earn a bit of passive income by publishing articles. Unfortunately, not only has the site stopped paying, it has also shut down without warning.

1. On the Niume post editor, highlight the text that you want to add a link to.

2. A black-colored tooltip will show up. Click on the chain icon.

3. Another tooltip will show up. Paste your link on this tooltip.

It can be kind of hard to figure out how to add links to your Niume posts, but, once you know how it's done, it's really easy

4. This is the part that can be confusing. I got lost here too. What you should do after pasting your link is to press the enter key on your keyboard.

5. You'll know it worked if you see that the text you highlighted is now underlined.

6. To see an example, check the pic sources at the end of this post.

The Story of How I Figured out How to Add Links to Niume Posts

The Niume rich text post editor is actually fairly easy to understand, so even though I'm pretty new here (having just recently joined), I didn't really have much of a hard time writing and publishing my very first post.

Except when it came to links.

Since I used images on my post, I wanted to link to the sources of these pics.

So, at the end of the article, after including the necessary info like the artist and the site where I got the pics from, I tried to add the website link.

Technically, this should have been really easy. Why? Because when you highlight the text in your post, a tooltip shows up above the highlighted text.

There are a few icons in this tooltip including the chain icon, which is supposed to be for adding hyperlinks to your text.

When I click the chain icon, a new tooltip shows up with the words, "Paste or type a link." There's a small x icon on the right side of the tooltip. You can then paste a link on said tooltip.

That's the part where I got lost. I could paste a link easily enough, but, after that, for some reason, it just wasn't working. I tried pasting the link and then clicking the x icon, but that didn't really do anything.

Do You Need to Publish Your Post First Before You See the Links?

After trying a few times, I came to the conclusion that I just wasn't seeing the links since I hadn't published the post yet. However, even after publishing my post, the links still wouldn't show up.

Editing the published post to try adding the link again still didn't work. In the end, I just pasted the link as-is without trying to use the link icon.

How and Where to Find Information About Adding Links to Niume Posts?

I tried to look for information about this, but I couldn't find anything, so I decided to write this post.

I was going to ask if anyone knew where I could find info on how to add links to Niume posts, but- well, let's just say I had a sudden epiphany while I was trying to add links to this post.

While I did find a few posts about Niume, I wasn't able to find anything about how to add links to your posts here

I was testing the link tooltip yet again when I thought to press the enter key on my keyboard. Guess what? Yup, it actually worked.

So, that's how you add links to your Niume posts. Be sure to press the enter key after pasting your link on the tooltip. You'll know it worked when you see the text that you highlighted is now underlined.

P.S. I put this post in the Interesting sphere since I didn't know where else to put it. If there's a more relevant category or sphere for this, just tell me so I can edit the post and put it there instead.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Maribelle said on 31/1/17
Thanks. I got it after 5 tries.

Freya Yuki replied to Maribelle on 31/1/17
You're welcome. If you have any questions, feel free to ask :-).

Mari Christine Glan said on 10/12/16
Thank you Freya

Freya Yuki replied to Mari Christine Glan on 10/12/16
You're welcome, Mari. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask :-).

Uwe Lang said on 21/11/16
Great advise, how old is this platform and how long are you a user?

Freya Yuki replied to Uwe Lang on 21/11/16
Niume was first launched in July 2014. I can't quite recall the exact date when I joined, but it was in 2016.

Brian Leverton said on 18/11/16
Good post with great information I am going to come back many times to look because I am lost now for certain.

Freya Yuki replied to Brian Leverton on 19/11/16
Thanks. If you have any questions, feel free to ask :-).

Ritu Nanda said on 2/11/16
Thank you, that information was really useful.

Freya Yuki replied to Ritu Nanda on 6/11/16
You're welcome. Glad this helped. Also had a bit of a hard time trying to figure it out at first.

Jim Bauer said on 25/10/16
This helped greatly. This was driving me nuts and I can't so far seem to find many tutorials on this site. Now if I can just figure out how to embed a YouTube video we're onto something. Thanks.

Freya Yuki replied to Jim Bauer on 25/10/16
You're welcome. Yeah, I'm finding it kind of hard to search through the site. It would be great if there was a Niume sphere or even a tag or something. There's a FAQ section, but, unfortunately, it doesn't include all the relevant info about the site and how it works.

Freya Yuki replied to Jim Bauer on 25/10/16
About adding YouTube vids, here's how: when you're on the Niume post editor, press the enter key on your keyboard and you'll see a plus sign on the editor. Click the plus sign and a few options will show up.

Click the 3rd circle, the one that looks like the play sign. If you hover your mouse on it, you'll see text that says "Add a YouTube or Vimeo link". Once you click that icon, you'll be able to paste a video link on the line provided. Hope this helped.

Jim Bauer replied to Freya Yuki on 30/10/16
I still can't get it to work. The video shows up while in edit, but as soon as click UPDATE it's gone. Ugh. I'll keep on trying.

Freya Yuki replied to Jim Bauer on 1/11/16
Are you using the YouTube video link itself or the embed link? Using the YouTube link, I've managed to add a vid to one of my posts: https://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=143499

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Niume on 19 Oct 2016 in Interesting
- First pic is by AlexLasek (CC:BY) from deviantArt
- Second pic is a screenshot from my Niume account
- Third pic is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

Similarities Between Bubblews Members and Sirius Black (Harry Potter Series)

2019-01-10T19:26:00.000-08:00

The latest news and update from Bubblews was that, unfortunately, those who redeemed before the 11th of November 2014 will no longer be paid while those who redeemed after the 11th will receive a reduced amount.

This was posted on the site on the 31st of December 2014. The reason given was that, apparently, there was way too much "manipulation and fraudulent activity".

Justice, Fairness

Is that right? Is that fair? Sure, there are cheaters, spammers, plagiarists, manipulators, etc on Bubblews, but, at the same time, there are also honest and good people there who did nothing wrong and who followed all the rules and terms to the best of their abilities.

Why should they be punished for something they didn’t do? Why should they be lumped or included amongst all the bad guys?

Sirius Black

Sirius Black is a character from the Harry Potter series of books by J.K. Rowling. He was first introduced in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, book 3. He lived a very sad and tragic life.

He was accused of betraying his best friend (James Potter), killing a bunch of people (including Peter Pettigrew, another friend), and being the right-hand man of Dark Lord Voldemort (the main villain of the series).

He was then sent to Azkaban prison without a trial because everyone believed he was guilty. They didn’t listen to his side of the story. They just threw him into prison, but the truth was that Sirius Black was actually innocent.

Bubblews Members and Sirius Black – Similarities

Just like what happened to Sirius Black, members of the Bubblews site are being accused of manipulating the system and engaging in fraudulent activity.

They are being punished by not getting paid and/or getting a reduced payment without being given the chance to defend themselves and show that they are not one of the spammers and scammers and plagiarists.

Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? Is it right to generalize and stereotype people like that? Why is everyone considered bad and evil when there are actually people who are good and who did nothing wrong?

Sirius Black may be a fictional character, but what happened to him can happen in real life. It’s happening now, isn’t it? You see entire groups of people or even entire countries being blamed for so many things even if a lot of them are actually innocent.

But these people are silenced and oppressed, and they aren’t allowed to speak freely and voice their opinions and defend themselves (this may or may not be referring to more than just the site-that-shall-not-be-named a.k.a Bubblews).

Your Thoughts and Opinions

What do you think about this? Feel free and welcome to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

*Notes:
- First image is by FirmBee (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- The rest of the images are from Amazon.com; links shown above via the Amazon Native Shopping Ads widget
- This was previously published elsewhere

Planning to Start a Blog on Wix? Don't. Here's Why

2019-01-07T20:33:00.000-08:00

Or, to be more precise, here's one reason why you should think twice before you consider starting a blog on Wix.

What Is Wix?

Wix is a website builder that's touted as very easy to use, which is kind of true. Okay, that's a long topic in and of itself, so I'll just say that it is pretty easy to use.

You just drag and drop website elements, and you basically get the chance to build your site the way you want without needing to know HTML or CSS. But it's not without its limitations and imperfections.

Blogging on Wix

For now, I want to focus on the blog part of Wix. Honestly, you can really make the blog part of Wix look awesome.

But it's missing one very important thing, one that all blogs should/need/ought to have. What's that? The comments system.

Built-in Comments Feature

That's right. Wix doesn't have a built-in comments feature. Don't ask me why not. I don't know either, but I've seen many questions about it on the Wix site, with Wix members requesting the feature. And that's understandable. Don't you want comments on your blog posts?

Since Wix doesn't have a comments feature, its default comments system is the Facebook plugin, which means that people need to be signed on to their Facebook account if they want to comment on your posts.

Maybe some don't mind this, but others do. Not everyone wants to go through the trouble of logging in or signing up or creating an account on some site or other just to leave a comment on a single article. If people have to go through so many hoops just to comment, who'd bother?

Wix Comment Apps

Wix also has some comment apps, but these have a lot, and I mean a lot, of limitations. One, the free versions of these apps have so many limits that it's pointless to use the free version. But what about the premium and paid versions? Well, I don't know.

Maybe they're better, and, really, they ought to be considering they're not free. But, do you really want to pay for a comments feature when other platforms have this for free? Besides, these apps were made by third-parties and not Wix. You'll have to do a lot of research if you want to make sure these apps are safe and legit.

Also, consider this - even Tumblr (microblogging platform and social networking site) doesn't have a built-in comments system, but the difference with Wix is that Tumblr actually lets you use Disqus, a free commenting system.

Plus, some Tumblr themes already come with the Disqus codes built-in, so all you need to do is add your Disqus shortname, and you should be all set. So, what do you think about all this?

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

UK_Writer wrote on February 12, 2015, 11:43 AM
Whether they use FB or disqus is irrelevant - people still have to log in to comment. Pain in the butt really.

FreyaYuki replied to UK_Writer on February 12, 2015, 11:52 AM
I thought Disqus was like that at first too, but they actually have the option to allow anonymous comments. You just need to turn this on in the settings of your Disqus account. One confusing thing about Disqus is how this isn't readily noticeable in their comment form so I add instructions on how to comment anonymously using Disqus on my blogs that use this comments system.

UK_Writer replied to FreyaYuki on February 12, 2015, 12:37 PM
I turned off commenting on my blogs when I was inundated by thousands of spammers.

FreyaYuki replied to UK_Writer on February 14, 2015, 11:54 AM
Ah, I see. Some blogging platforms do come with anti-spam plugins like WordPress. And Disqus has anti-spam measures in place too. You can set it so that all the comments will have to be moderated first before they appear live on your blog or site.

LeaPea2417 wrote on February 12, 2015, 1:45 PM
I have not heard of Wix. Thanks for the information. I will think twice before using it.

FreyaYuki replied to LeaPea2417 on February 14, 2015, 11:57 AM
You're welcome 😃. I'm still thinking of using Wix though only the free version and not as a blog (definitely wouldn't want to blog there because of all the issues with the comments, etc), just as a website of sorts.

The free version has lots of limitations though like the huge ads for Wix and having your links nofollow. From what I've been seeing so far, it seems that even the paid version has lots of limitations. There's also the thing with their odd URL link addresses.

nbaquero wrote on February 12, 2015, 5:17 PM
FreyaYuki thanks for the information, I don't use Wix but I have seen ads for their services. I still can't figure out Tumblr.

FreyaYuki replied to nbaquero on February 14, 2015, 12:05 PM
You're welcome 😃. Wix is being advertised as an easy-to-use website builder, which can help you build your very own site without knowing how to code and use HTML and CSS.

But it's not really as easy as it seems and there are a number of limitations like having your links nofollow if you're using the free version, the price of the paid version, the URL links, etc.

What problems are you having with Tumblr? Is it the theme? I find that you get more flexibility with Tumblr because you have access to the template's HTML and CSS codes though the platform also has its limitations.

nbaquero replied to FreyaYuki on February 14, 2015, 12:40 PM
Thanks for your response FreyaYuki
Regarding Tumblr it's not really a problem per se, I have just not really put the time to understand its functionlity and take full advantage of the features they offer. I have only used it previously to share links to old post at Bubblews.

grandma20121 wrote on February 12, 2015, 5:33 PM
i never heard of the WIX site before but it sounds to me like it would not work out very well without an area for people to leave their comments

FreyaYuki replied to grandma20121 on February 14, 2015, 12:10 PM
Yes, that's what I thought too. Comments are essential when it comes to blogging, so it's important to give people the opportunity to leave comments if they want to. I've read of a lot of Wix users that also don't like how Wix doesn't have a built-in comments feature and doesn't even let them use Disqus.

At least Weebly (simialr to Wix) actually has its own built-in comment system and you can even choose to use Disqus (thought I'm also not planning to blog there). So I'm not planning to use Wix as a blog but I think I'll still be trying to build a site there.

bestwriter wrote on February 12, 2015, 7:46 PM
I have yet to go about doing justice to my blog and so going anywhere near Wix is not on my schedule (lol)

FreyaYuki replied to bestwriter on February 14, 2015, 12:12 PM
Ah, I see. Good luck with your blog 😃. What platform are you using?

bestwriter replied to FreyaYuki on February 14, 2015, 7:20 PM
I think it is blogspot. I want to delete my account and start afresh. It is not allowing me to.

FreyaYuki replied to bestwriter on February 18, 2015, 4:19 PM
Do you mean your blogger account or just the blog itself? There should be a delete button there somewhere. And you can also just create a new blog then make that old blog private and invisible to search engines so no one can access it.

bestwriter replied to FreyaYuki on February 18, 2015, 6:24 PM
I want a new account. Is that possible?

FreyaYuki replied to bestwriter on February 19, 2015, 12:51 PM
Yes. You can just create a new Google account if you want. You'll also get a new Gmail with it. From there, you can create new blogs on Blogger.

bestwriter replied to FreyaYuki on February 19, 2015, 6:02 PM
Why is Google so stubborn that we cannot delete a blog and to get a new one we must get a new gmail. Funny!!

FreyaYuki replied to bestwriter on February 20, 2015, 9:39 AM
If it's just a blog that you want to delete and not your whole Blogger account, then you can do that without getting a new Gmail. When you log on to your Google Blogger account, you should see your created blogs listed.

From there, you can find the option to delete or edit your blog. If you prefer, instead of deleting it, you can just change the site address then install a new theme or template then begin adding your content.

allen0187 wrote on February 12, 2015, 8:16 PM
That just sounds so awful. I won't bother leaving a comment if I had to go through all that stuff. Thanks for the heads up about this site.

FreyaYuki replied to allen0187 on February 14, 2015, 12:17 PM
You're welcome 😃. And I agree. I don't like having to go through so many hoops just to comment. That's why I've the comments feature on my own blogs set so that anyone can comment even anonymously or as guests.

BarbRad wrote on February 13, 2015, 3:34 AM
I've never used my Wix site for anything yet. I'm still trying to figure out where I want to take what I started on Weebly.

FreyaYuki replied to BarbRad on February 14, 2015, 12:22 PM
Ah, I see. I'm actually working on both Wix and Weebly while also working on Blogger, WordPress and Tumblr. Good luck with your plans for Weebly. I noticed that it's a bit more restrictive than Wix when it comes to the drag-and-drop features (on Weebly, you can't really drag and drop them anywhere you want).

The themes on Weebly also look pretty similar to each other so there isn't much variety. But at least the free version of Weebly doesn't have such huge glaring ads/attribution links unlike with Wix who actually has 2 - on both the header and footer.

midastouch wrote on February 15, 2015, 1:18 AM
Well it really is a bag of mixes
some persons to not really bother about blog comments particularly the ones that seem to be very discouraging so they prefer to make their blog posts and just move on; for such persons Wix would just be ideal

FreyaYuki replied to midastouch on February 18, 2015, 4:16 PM
Yeah, there are some who prefer to disable the comments on their posts so they wouldn't have a problem with using Wix for that reason.

Still, it would be nice to have control over the comments section of your blog like you can turn it on or off depending on what you want or on a per-article basis.

AliCanary wrote on February 18, 2015, 4:39 PM
I might not mind not being able to leave comments. I don't get a lot of comments on my blogs because I use Google's Blogger platform, and they make you create an account just to leave a comment, which is too much trouble for most people. It might be better not to have a comments feature at all!

FreyaYuki replied to AliCanary on February 19, 2015, 12:56 PM
I'm currently working on a few Google Blogger blogs. As far as I know, you can set your comment form to allow people to comment as guests or anonymous so they don't have to log in or create an account just to comment.

You can also use Disqus on Blogger. They have instructions for this though I haven't gotten 'round to trying it yet since I'm still working on fixing up the blog's layout, etc. But I'm using Disqus on Tumblr, and you can set it to allow people to comment as guests.

I also don't like having to go through so much trouble just to leave a comment, which is why I prefer it when people are given a choice as to how they want to comment - like if they want to comment using their Facebook account, Twitter, anonymously, etc.

AliCanary replied to FreyaYuki on February 19, 2015, 5:37 PM
Oh, I had no idea! I'm kinda new to it. Thanks for the info!

haze wrote on February 22, 2015, 6:58 PM
I didn't realize the Wix didn't have a comment section. You have to have on. Thanks for the information. I will keep looking around at sites.

FreyaYuki replied to haze on February 23, 2015, 10:36 AM
Wix doesn't have a built-in comments feature. They make you use a Facebook plugin instead, which isn't all that good if you have readers who either don't have a Facebook account or don't want to log on to their account just to comment.

Wix also offers some third-party commenting apps, but you have to pay if you want to use the full features of these apps because the free versions are all severely limited, which isn't a plus for Wix at all since there are many other platforms that offer comments feature for free.

You can check out Weebly if you're looking for something similar to Wix. It's a site builder too, and, while it has its limitations and weaknesses, it does have a built-in comments feature. Plus, you can use Disqus (free 3rd party comment system) on Weebly.

BrenndaMarie wrote on February 23, 2015, 3:51 PM
I have never even heard of Wix but thanks to you i would never start a blog there. It sound like to much of a pain for the readers just to comment. Does not sound like it would be worth the time and afford you have to put into a blog

FreyaYuki replied to BrenndaMarie on February 24, 2015, 10:06 AM
Yes, I agree. I'm still working on a Wix site, but am not planning to blog there. It's better to go with blogging platforms like Google Blogger (has a built-in comments system, and you can use Disqus as well) or Tumblr (you can use Disqus, a third-party commenting system that's free and won't force commenters to log in or create accounts just to leave comments on your blog).

GemstonePink wrote on February 25, 2015, 5:45 PM
I have never created a blog, but thanks for the information that will help many here.

FreyaYuki replied to GemstonePink on February 26, 2015, 11:47 AM
You're welcome 😃. There are other platforms aside from Wix for those who want to blog. Other platforms can be easier to use as well, and, for those who don't really want to tinker with their theme's CSS and HTML, they can easily start blogging as soon as they create an account on those sites and set up their blogs.

rana199426 wrote on March 8, 2015, 11:16 AM
I already made one a year ago but I never use it anyway

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Persona Paper on February 12, 2015, 11:09 AM
- Image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

Should You Join Netboard.me?

2019-01-03T18:39:00.000-08:00

Also known as, "Concerns about a site similar to Pinterest, but where you can actually earn money."

So, there's this site that is similar to Pinterest, but one of the major differences is that you can actually use ads and affiliate links on this site, so you can earn some money. Have you heard about this site?

I just found out about it recently. Like I just said, it looks pretty similar to Pinterest in that you can share articles, pics, etc. It's like having your own personal webpage, and it's all for free.

Info About Site Similar to Pinterest

According to the site, you can create as many boards as you want. There are no limits. Plus, you can even make money by using Chitika ads and Amazon affiliate links on your pages. You can also personalize the look of your boards, making it look like the way you want it to.

Okay, what is this site? It's called Netboard.me.

Is Netboard.me Too Good to Be True?

Sounds pretty cool, right? True. It does sound good. But, could it be that it's too good to be true? What's the catch? Well, I honestly don't know. I've thought about joining or creating an account on Netboard.me, but I haven't done so yet. Why not? Is something wrong with this site?

Where to Find More Info About Netboard.me?

Well, I don't really know. And that's the point. I was trying to find more info about this site, but couldn't really find much of anything. I can see some example public boards, and they all look pretty nice and all that, but *shrug*.

Plus, I have to wonder how much traffic this site is getting because, even if you can monetize the pages that you create on Netboard.me, if you're not going to be getting much traffic anyway, then, well, you're not gonna be earning much, if any, at all.

Netboard.me Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

And I also have to wonder about Netboard.me's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

You know what's really funny? I hate terms and policies that are way too long and full of so much legal jargon. It's such a drag to have to read through these things. It's like these sites want to bore you to death or something. LOL 😃.

So, is that the issue with Netboard.me then? Their long and boring TOS? Nope. They actually have a pretty short terms of service and privacy policy page. In fact, it's so short that those two have been combined in a single page. And that's what's funny.

I hate long TOS, but I can't help but feel kind of (okay, maybe more than just kind of 😃) suspicious when I see sites with very short terms and policies. It's because all sites usually have very long legal documents for you to read. Of course, some (very few, really) actually try to make it easier for you to read through this stuff like providing annotations, etc.

I may hate the long TOS and privacy policy pages, but it can be a good indication if a site is legit or not, right? The terms and policies need to mention things like what the site is going to do to your data and info, how they'll make sure that your data will be kept safe and secure, it should also include stuff about disclaimers and liabilities and warranties, it should tell you where your data is being processed, the governing laws and jurisdiction that the site is following, etc, etc.

Well, Netboard.me's TOS page is severely lacking though precisely because it's so short. For instance, where is this site located anyway? If you compare this to the Pinterest TOS, for example, you'll see right away that the Pinterest terms is governed by the laws of California, United States of America (USA).

If you look at other TOS, you'll find information like that too. For example, the Tumblr TOS mentions following the laws of New York, USA. Netboard.me doesn't mention anything though. So, it comes across as really quite suspicious.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

What do you think? Do you know anything about this site? Are you planning to join it? If you're already a part of this site, what can you say about it? How is it working out for you?

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

Feisty56 wrote on February 27, 2015, 10:13 AM
You're mention here is the first I've heard of this Pinterest-like site. I'll be interested to see what others have to say and whether anyone is already on-board with the site.

FreyaYuki replied to Feisty56 on February 28, 2015, 1:03 PM
I've also only just recently heard about it. It seems to be new and it seems that there are only a few members as well. Am also interested in finding out more info about this site before joining especially considering their incomplete TOS.

LeaPea2417 wrote on February 27, 2015, 11:12 AM
I have not heard of this site before. I may check it out and try to learn more about it.

FreyaYuki replied to LeaPea2417 on February 28, 2015, 1:09 PM
Keep us informed of your findings if you do decide to check it out :-). It seems that this site is pretty new or, at least, it's not getting all that much traffic considering not many know about it.

nbaquero wrote on February 27, 2015, 1:10 PM
FreyaYuki I never heard of this site, but I would not join right away. It seems that is has been around for about a year or so.

FreyaYuki replied to nbaquero on February 28, 2015, 1:11 PM
Yes, I am also reluctant about joining the site considering the points I mentioned above in the post. It would be nice to find out more info about it. Besides, it does kind of sound too good to be true, right? You can make as many boards as you like and you can add ads and affiliate links on those boards and it's all for free so, what's the catch, right?

nbaquero replied to FreyaYuki on February 28, 2015, 7:05 PM
FreyaYuki exactly, what is the catch? Have you seen/read any site reviews?

FreyaYuki replied to nbaquero on March 3, 2015, 10:32 AM
Very few and none of them address or mention the concerns I talked about here. Still looking for more info about this. It looks like not many know about the existence of this site. Have you checked it out yet?

nbaquero replied to FreyaYuki on March 5, 2015, 11:59 AM
FreyaYuki I did look at their site, but wasn't really impressed.

thisnthat wrote on February 27, 2015, 2:59 PM
Interesting idea for a site. I think I'll give it a look. Thanks for mentioning it. If I join, I'll come back and let you know.

FreyaYuki replied to thisnthat on February 28, 2015, 1:12 PM
You're welcome 😃. Keep us informed about what happens if you do decide to join the site and what other info you may find about it.

BrenndaMarie wrote on February 27, 2015, 5:47 PM
Many if you give it sometime you will be able to find more information about it. I have never heard of it before. It sounds like it is a fairly new site.

FreyaYuki replied to BrenndaMarie on February 28, 2015, 1:18 PM
Yeah, it does seem to be new. I've already searched around but couldn't really find much about this site. Am also concerned about their TOS, which appears to be too short and doesn't include all the necessary info and details that legit sites have. Plus, the services being offered by the site seems too good to be true - you can create as many boards as you want and you can add ads and affiliate links to these board and it's all for free.

GemstonePink wrote on February 27, 2015, 7:20 PM
I usually read all the online reviews I can find regarding a site. If I cannot find reviews then I wait until one pops up.

FreyaYuki replied to GemstonePink on February 28, 2015, 1:19 PM
Yes. Same here. I prefer to read reviews and all the other info I can find about a site before deciding to join it.

scheng1 wrote on March 1, 2015, 1:37 AM
I rather not touch any new site until it has been established.

FreyaYuki replied to scheng1 on March 3, 2015, 10:52 AM
Yeah. I prefer to read everything I can about a site before joining - reviews, TOS, FAQ, rules, etc. Everything has to be legit so you won't end up getting ripped off or something.

arthurchappell wrote on March 2, 2015, 12:19 PM
worth monitoring the site for a while to see how it goes and forums fill with either praise or anger to them

FreyaYuki replied to arthurchappell on March 3, 2015, 10:52 AM
Yup. Am also planning to do that. Won't be joining the site yet until there is more info about it.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Persona Paper on February 27, 2015, 9:34 AM
- Pinterest pic is by vastateparksstaff (CC:BY) from flickr

Some Problems With Writedge and Daily Two Cents

2018-12-30T20:22:00.000-08:00

Anyone still writing for Writedge and Daily Two Cents (writing sites ~~where you can earn a bit of passive income~~)? If anyone's still writing for these 2 sites, how's it going? I haven't logged on to either site in a while. After recently logging in (as in before logging on to Persona Paper right now. LOL), I was surprised by what I saw.

Edited to add: unfortunately, both writing sites in question have changed their payment model from pay per thousand views to a revenue-sharing (Google AdSense) one. The traffic in these sites have also gotten quite low lately.

Low Traffic on Daily Two Cents and Writedge?

It's not really a good kind of surprise though, unfortunately. It's kind of really sad. Disappointing even :-(. Traffic still seems to be really super low at the moment. I noticed this was especially the case on Daily Two Cents. Writedge is doing far better compared to DTC, at least based on my stats.

Low Earnings on Writedge and Daily Two Cents?

Unfortunately, the earnings are still really super low on both sites. Writers there only get like $1.50 per thousand views :-(. I wonder if they'll be able to increase that amount soon?

Thinking About Moving Posts From Writedge and Daily Two Cents to Elsewhere?

Am actually seriously considering moving some posts there to elsewhere. Maybe the ones on DTC since the traffic is really bad there. Don't really know yet though. We'll see, I guess.

The other issue here is that if I do decide to move some posts, it's gonna be an inconvenient hassle because of all the other stuff you have to do before actually being able to publish the article elsewhere.

Latest News, New Blog Posts, and Plans on Writedge and Daily Two Cents?

Also, I didn't even know that there were new posts on the Writedge and Daily Two Cents blog. I only found out 'cause I just logged on to the site. Huh. I thought they would have sent news about that via their newsletter (I did sign up to get said newsletter).

So, it seems like they have new stuff planned or something? New sites, maybe. There weren't a lot of details on those new blog posts. There was a poll and stuff though. I dunno. Maybe those in the Facebook group have more news about this? Didn't get anything via the newsletter though.

So, anyway, how are you all doing on Writedge and Daily Two Cents if you are writing there?

Disclaimer/note: this is IMHO and based on the stats I saw on my Writedge and Daily Two Cents account so your mileage may vary. Maybe/hopefully others are doing much better.

Edited to add: this is sad, but, according to this post, it looks like there are others who are also experiencing the low traffic and earnings on DTC: http://personapaper .com/article/32493-persona-paper-or-daily-two-cents

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

HappyLady wrote on June 9, 2015, 4:38 AM
I do have an account with both those places, but I dislike the feel I am somehow back at school with their moderation process and am not so keen on the editor they use or writing the posts. Maybe its just me, but I prefer a less officious approach.

FreyaYuki replied to HappyLady on June 10, 2015, 2:39 AM
I also don't like that new editor that they have. I prefer sticking to the familiar-looking WordPress dashboard. And I don't like how you have to have a featured image on your posts, but it's not easy to actually add a pic to your articles there. I used to write a lot there, but now traffic is really low and even the earnings have been cut. I hope things can improve soon.

peachpurple wrote on June 9, 2015, 5:06 AM
You know I earned one cent per month at writ edge but I earned five cents per day at pp, I thought the traffic there would have increased

FreyaYuki replied to peachpurple on June 10, 2015, 2:35 AM
I thought the traffic would have increased with the implementation of the new theme too. It's still really low though, unfortunately. I wonder if other people are doing better there?

Nar2Reviews wrote on June 9, 2015, 9:02 PM
I gave up with DTC a long time ago; the process of submitting content was too much of a hassle. Too much "grammar correctness" and ruling with the editing just got all too much. Good luck to them though; I just find the process on PPaper so much easier.

FreyaYuki replied to Nar2Reviews on June 10, 2015, 2:42 AM
I stopped being so active there after they lowered the amount that you get per thousand views. It's really low plus the low traffic is not helping either. It's why I haven't been there in a while.

I thought things might have improved by now especially since I haven't been able to be there in quite a while, so I was disappointed after logging on to both sites and seeing my stats. I wonder if others are doing better there?

I think I prefer the process here too since it's easier to post articles plus you're not obliged/required/forced to add pics to your articles. There's quite a long process involved in posting articles on those sites.

Lovebeingmummy wrote on June 14, 2015, 6:45 AM
I tried daily two cents but earnings far too slow

FreyaYuki replied to Lovebeingmummy on July 9, 2015, 4:35 AM
Yeah, the earnings are really very low right now. Traffic is super low too as some others have said. The pay rate used to be pretty high, but now they lowered it :-(. Hope things improve there and on Writedge.

AudreyHowitt wrote on June 16, 2015, 11:36 AM
I have an account there, and have heard good things about the sites in general. But I have not been there very long and am interested in people's opinions and experiences there

stbrians wrote on June 17, 2015, 4:19 AM
I have noticed that too

cheri wrote on June 30, 2015, 5:25 AM
I am not familiar with those you mentioned. I think I will be checking those later.

AdGoggleKo wrote on July 10, 2015, 2:50 AM
I didn't join neither of the two though the owner was a good bubblews connection of mine before. I just cannot attend to many. :(

cmoneyspinner wrote on September 17, 2015, 1:47 PM
Still write at both sites. I'm doing OK. Just got a payment in my PayPal a few weeks back. For the posts and articles that are there, I've already shared links. They started at $5 per 1000 views, then reduced it to $1.50. Just noticed when I signed in a few days ago that the rate is up to $2 per 1000 views. The ladies who own the sites are hustlers. They work hard to make their sites work! Some folks don't like these sites. But me? Got no reason to move my stuff or complain. It's working for my purposes.

@FreyaYuki - Don't know how many posts you have but check to see if you have a minimum of 6 tags. Found out that excessive tagging is viewed as spam by the search engines. Don't know about you but my posts had lots of tags. Second, check your SEO for the green dot. If you see a green dot, that 's good. You really should share your links wherever you can and use good hashtags.

Jeramey wrote on November 1, 2015, 10:47 PM
Any updates that anyone has had on these two sites? Are they worth it for new writers? Thanks!

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Persona Paper on June 9, 2015, 3:59 AM
- Image is by FirmBee (Public Domain) from Pixabay

Feeling Kind of Disappointed With Writedge and Daily Two Cents

2018-12-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

What's going on? What reason do you have to feel disappointed about these 2 writing sites ~~where you can earn a bit of passive income~~? What happened?

Edited to add: both sites have changed their payment model from pay per thousand views to Google AdSense's revenue share.

In an earlier post here on Persona Paper, I wrote about upcoming changes to Writedge and Daily Two Cents. I said that I welcome the plan to change themes and that I look forward to it (it was a long time coming, IMHO).

But changing themes also means more work since writers who used videos on their Daily Two Cents and Writedge articles will now be forced to move these videos unless they don't mind losing them.

The Hassle and Inconvenience of Moving Videos

That's 1 reason to feel disappointed (yup, still not done moving the YouTube videos from my posts there. Still have a lot more posts to get through, so am glad to be making a bit of progress. It's also good that at least we get a bit more time to do this since they're planning to change themes on the 23rd of March 2015), but it's not all.

Another Reason to Feel Disappointed With Writedge and Daily Two Cents

I just found out that they've already decided which theme they're planning to implement on the 2 sites. It's called the Hot News Viral theme, and I can't say that I'm all that fond of it at all.

Actually, out of all the 3 choices, this was the one that I disliked the most (no offense meant to anyone, just my personal preference/opinion).

I know I'm not the only one who doesn't like this theme though since there were votes for the other 2 themes as well. It just so happened that this one won :-(.

Some of the Things to Dislike About the Hot News Viral Theme

Note: this is based on the preview of the theme that I saw here http: //demo.mythemeshop. com/s/?theme=HotNews.

No navigation bar or menu links - this refers to links to the other pages on the site. For example, on Persona Paper, at the top of the page, you can see links to "home", "rules", etc
Fake infinite scroll feature - already wrote a post about this here on Persona Paper, so let's not get into that now. LOL
No footer section - by this, I mean the columns that appear before the copyright section. You can put text (like disclosures and disclaimers) or links here. For example, on Persona Paper, you can see "site links", "ideology" and "legal" on its footer section
Search bar - I don't know if this can be moved, but its current location is at the bottom of the site right before the footer section. Usually, you see search boxes at the top of the page, right? For example, the Persona Paper search box is located on top of the webpage
No read more link on the "stories" and "other stuff" categories on the homepage of the theme preview. You can just see a pic, the post title, and a very short snippet
The "latest" posts is located near the bottom of the homepage, and it's in 3 columns - there are read more links here, which is good. However, everything looks quite cluttered and messy thanks to the 3 columns. It looks like everything is being squished together, and the short snippet has the potential to look like 1 huge block or wall of text
Back to top button - I actually like this, but its current position is too near the top of the page. I think it should be much, much lower
The box - I don't know what to call this, but, if you see the theme, you will immediately notice this box with a gray/black border. All the content of the site is inside this box and it's on top of the background. Behind it, you can see 2 black bars (one on top and one on the bottom). It looks- eh, I don't really like how it looks
Author information - I don't know if this can be changed, but, if I look at a sample post on the Hot News Viral theme preview, I can't see any author information, which is not good for a site that has multiple authors

So, what about you? What do you think about this theme? Like it? Dislike it?

(Note: this is just my personal opinion of this theme based on my preferences, so no offense meant to anyone who likes this theme. If you like/dislike this theme, feel free to say/explain why)

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

LeaPea2417 wrote on March 20, 2015, 11:05 AM
Some of these sites are true scams. You have to be careful in studying which ones are good and which ones are not.

FreyaYuki replied to LeaPea2417 on March 21, 2015, 1:20 PM
Yup. It's best to read a site's terms and policies first and make sure they contain the standard or the usual words that you see in the TOS of legit sites.

j2jworkz wrote on March 20, 2015, 11:22 AM
I have been watching these two sites from afar, now waiting till they change the theme. Totally subjective, I think this theme is better than the current, but not my personal preference.

FreyaYuki replied to j2jworkz on March 21, 2015, 1:28 PM
I agree. It's definitely better than the current theme, but this new theme is definitely not my preference either. It still looks pretty bad when you compare it to the other 2 choices. It's kind of messy and cluttered.

But, yeah, people have different opinions. I just hope that readers and visitors will actually like the theme so traffic on those sites can increase at the very least since it's pretty low at the moment. If this new theme can bring us more traffic, then it wouldn't be so bad and you can just learn to live with it. LOL.

crowntower wrote on March 20, 2015, 3:49 PM
I never write on those site... I think there i a bit of disappointment, but I guess changes of those things is not a major problem, as long as they are still paying and good to all of its member. God bless.

FreyaYuki replied to crowntower on March 21, 2015, 1:30 PM
Yeah. If the theme can bring more readers and traffic, then it wouldn't be so bad. They do pay, but they've recently lowered the amount you get and traffic is low there at the moment, so have't got a payout recently. I hope the new theme can at least breathe life back into the site.

crowntower replied to FreyaYuki on March 23, 2015, 9:00 AM
Do you earned from it? I visited the site and read how it works... and I have read that your post every in every views... but what if no one view your post? How can a blogger can earn from it?

FreyaYuki replied to crowntower on March 24, 2015, 11:22 AM
Yes, the sites pay. You can earn something if your post gets views. But they recently lowered the amount that you get per thousand views and traffic is kind of low there at the moment so I haven't been all that active there.

Maybe the new theme can help with the traffic problem. You're also allowed to add your own affiliate links to your posts. You get 100% of the revenue if someone uses your affiliate link to buy stuff so that can help with earnings too.

luisga814 wrote on March 20, 2015, 10:57 PM
I am not familiar with those two sites. Actually, after my failed accounts in Bubblews and PAA, I concentrated here in PersonaPaper only.

FreyaYuki replied to luisga814 on March 21, 2015, 1:33 PM
Ah, I see. Good luck then. I actually found the other 2 sites before this one.

CalmGemini wrote on March 21, 2015, 1:08 AM
I am not writing in these two sites. I read your well researched post above. As I have said earlier I do not like the infinite scroll feature. The theme too. But one thing. There is the site C P G Gallery where the format is good and it is easy to navigate and write there.

But there is only one complaint from its members. They are not receiving any payment. Well,what about these too sites? Do they pay?

FreyaYuki replied to CalmGemini on March 21, 2015, 1:42 PM
I don't write on CGP Gallery but have also heard of non-payment issues there. As for these 2 sites, they do pay. However, they recently lowered the amount that you can get per thousand views and the traffic is low there at the moment, so it can take a while to reach the payment threshold.

Haven't got payout there recently, so I'm not very active there at the moment. Am hoping that the new theme can help bring in more traffic and revenue, in which case it wouldn't be so bad.

valmnz wrote on March 21, 2015, 6:02 PM
I did join up once but never made any contribution. If there's ever a case of an inactive user, that's what I am there, and intend staying that way. But I do enjoy reading your posts about these other sites.

FreyaYuki replied to valmnz on March 22, 2015, 9:56 AM
Thanks. I'm not very active on either site for now since traffic there is kind of low at the moment. They even lowered the amount you get per thousand views. I do hope the new theme can help increase the traffic.

agvulpes wrote on March 23, 2015, 7:49 AM
I also joined the site and have never posted at either one. I don't think I have the time or the inclination to try after reading that they have lowered the rates!
It is getting tough, on all sites to make a dollar. At this stage I am doing best over on HP!

FreyaYuki replied to agvulpes on March 24, 2015, 11:18 AM
I haven't posted much on either site too since they lowered the rates and since traffic there is pretty low at the moment. I hope the theme can help increase traffic at least. I'm trying to be more active on HubPages too though my account is pretty new, so I only have a few hubs at the moment.

MelissaE wrote on March 27, 2015, 9:25 PM
Thanks for the info as I just registered an account with Writedge.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Persona Paper on March 20, 2015, 9:52 AM
- Image is by GraphBerry (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

Reasons Why Upcoming Changes to Writedge and Daily Two Cents Is Both Good and Bad

2018-12-20T20:12:00.000-08:00

Writedge and Daily Two Cents are writing sites (using WordPress.org) where you can post articles ~~and get the chance to earn some passive income~~. If you write on these 2 sites, then you must have heard about the planned and upcoming changes.

In the case of Writedge and Daily Two Cents, this change is both welcome and unwelcome, good and bad. Why is that?

Changes on Writedge and Daily Two Cents

First, what are these changes anyway? The sites in question plan to change their theme to a responsive and mobile-ready one.

Responsive Theme

This is definitely a welcome change. Nowadays, having a site or blog that is responsive and mobile-friendly is very important since a lot of people use their tablets and phones to access the internet and read stuff online, so if your site or blog doesn't cater to these people, then why would they bother staying on your website, right?

They'd have a hard time reading the posts on your blog if it isn't optimized for mobile, so they'd prefer to go to sites that make things easier for them.

Appearance of Writedge and Daily Two Cents

So the fact that Daily Two Cents and Writedge are planning to update their theme is wonderful news. Besides, well, what do you think about the current layout of those sites? IMHO, it could really use a lot of improvements.

Sometimes, it can even look- well, you know- kind of spammy? Not nice at all? Anyway, it's definitely a good thing that they're planning to change the theme 😃. Besides, having a responsive theme is like all the rage these days, ne? LOL.

New Theme Choices for Writedge and Daily Two Cents

There are three possible theme choices, and they're all much, much better compared to the current theme. Of course, that doesn't mean that those 3 themes are perfect or something 'cause they're not, but that's normal. After all, we have different tastes and opinions, right?

After reviewing all three themes, I ended up voting for the third one (the Building A Better Me one) even though it has the annoying infinite scroll feature :-(. It's just that the theme in question looked better overall, and I suppose I'm just hoping that the endless scroll can be turned off or something.

So, What's the Bad or Unwelcome Thing About This Change?

Well, you see, in the current Writedge and Daily Two Cents theme, there's this box where you can place YouTube URL links. The video then automatically gets added to your post.

The 3 new themes do not have or support this video feature, which means that, when the sites change themes, all the posts that use this feature will lose the videos unless the authors move the placement or position of these videos.

That's definitely a hassle, not to mention inconvenient, if you used that video feature a lot. And that's the problem. See, I used said feature on most of my articles on Writedge and Daily Two Cents.

So, now I have to go through the process of moving those videos, so I don't end up losing them when the sites change themes. This wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have over 200+ posts on each of those sites. Most of those posts have videos :-(.

Your Thoughts and Opinions

So, what about you? Do you write on Daily Two Cents and/or Writedge? What do you think about the fact that they're planning to change themes? Which theme did you vote for?

Do you also have videos on your posts there? Have you moved them already? I've started, but I have a long way to go. Not really looking forward to it. LOL. How 'bout you?

Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

nbaquero wrote on March 18, 2015, 11:50 AM
FreyaYuki I am not an active member of any of those two sites, I think I applied and got approved for WE but never posted anything. What do the owners say about this issue? Are they offering any support or every user has to figure it out on his/her own?

FreyaYuki replied to nbaquero on March 19, 2015, 6:32 AM
I asked how much time we have to move our videos in the forums but haven't received a response yet. I think they are offering to help members with this issue.

I just hope we get enough time to move them before the sites change themes. It's easy enough to move the videos, it's just that it can take a lot of time especially if you have hundreds of posts with videos.

nbaquero replied to FreyaYuki on March 19, 2015, 7:18 AM
Right, probably some sort of script would make the task easier for those like you with hundreds of videos to move, but I don't think that is available, unfortunately.

CalmGemini wrote on March 18, 2015, 1:49 PM
I am not an active member of these sites. Some time back I joined Daily Two Cents. But I have never posted there. So I do not have much to say, except I do not like infinite scroll feature. I think you had posted a poll about this. I voted-I do not like it but can live with it I think

FreyaYuki replied to CalmGemini on March 19, 2015, 6:38 AM
Yeah, I posted a poll about that. I really don't like the infinite scroll feature 😃. Sometimes, I still write for these sites, but traffic is kind of low there at the moment, unfortunately.

cinnafire wrote on March 18, 2015, 3:12 PM
Change is inevitable with how the internet works. I am guessing everyone will adjust.

FreyaYuki replied to cinnafire on March 19, 2015, 6:41 AM
Yes. I just hope they give everyone enough time to move the videos in their posts so they won't end up losing them.

valmnz wrote on March 18, 2015, 5:55 PM
I did initially sign up for Daily Two Cents before I landed here, but never used it. I think I'm happy to bumble on with wat I'm doing for now.

FreyaYuki replied to valmnz on March 19, 2015, 6:44 AM
Ah, I see 😃. I was on Daily Two Cents before I found my way here, so I already have a lot of posts on that site.

bestwriter wrote on March 18, 2015, 7:12 PM
You are truly an asset around here always writing to help the community. emoticon :cool:

FreyaYuki replied to bestwriter on March 19, 2015, 6:59 AM
Thanks for the kind words. Appreciate them 😃.

iimouto wrote on March 19, 2015, 5:14 AM
I'm not on those sites, but the reason I'm not on there is because of their layout/theme. I'm glad to hear that they're changing it now. If they do a good job, I might just have to go and see if they're worth the time.

FreyaYuki replied to iimouto on March 19, 2015, 7:20 AM
Yeah, I wasn't too fond of the site themes too, so I'm really glad that they're planning to change said theme. It's just that, it's such a hassle to have to move all the videos on my posts. It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have hundreds of posts on those sites.

scheng1 wrote on March 19, 2015, 8:28 AM
I just have an article in Daily Two Cents, so I am not really affected by any changes.

FreyaYuki replied to scheng1 on March 20, 2015, 9:44 AM
Ah, I see. Am currently still trying to move my videos. Have a lot more to go since almost all of my posts there have videos. It can be such a hassle and so inconvenient too.

*Notes:
- This was previously published on Persona Paper on March 18, 2015, 11:14 AM
- Image is by kaboompics (Public Domain) from Pixabay