I had to search to find this. Are you aware of the changes to the WP Reader? They are compressing and chopping posts in the Reader to accomplish what they call “streamlining” so the viewer can scan more posts more quickly while seeing less of your content in their reader. What WP is doing is giving your post much less than half the room it used to have in the reader, sometimes only two lines of text if you don’t have photos.
They are also now inserting blogs they promote in your Reader. So they are taking up the room they are saving by compressing your posts in the Reader with blogs you are not following and they are promoting.
This seems manipulative and non-transparent on WordPress’s part and not in the best interest of bloggers.
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Ugh! Terrible! That’s really underhanded. Why should they decide what we or our readers should see? !
Exactly. It isn’t right and they should stop it!
How funny, Cindy, that I just opened the Reader to find your post about the changes!
At least you were forewarned. I opened it and was trying to decipher people’s posts wondering what was going on!
I read the source you provided. I’m looking forward to the changes and the new look. This isn’t much different from what Facebook is already doing, just to a lesser degree.
Glad you like it!
Well let’s see how it goes. Facebook has a habit of fixing stuff that’s not broken.
Ugh. Posts look awful in the reader, much better in FB where they are not chopped by more than 50%!
I find it annoying too, when WP are changing without it seems to help us to anything else than being frustrated.
I find it hard enough at all to find the blogs, as I’m already following in the Reader and now it becomes even more difficult. Hmmmmm……..
You often cannot make any sense of the content. You get a couple sentences. It just gives each of our posts so much less space, it is hard to imagine how it could ever be in our best interests….
I agree Cindy…
Yes, I noticed this too 🙁 It’s very annoying and frustrating.
It is a detraction from everyone’s carefully constructed posts~
I agree with you Cindy it is kind of a form of bullying and I did see the change and all of their advertised sites and no offence to them I wouldn’t sign on.
I agree it does feel like bullying~
🙁
I just saw the new skimming format, I know the bloggers that are of interest to me, and I visit the blog site, so that I can read it all.. I do agree, making changes without any consultation is rather “poor communication” I do pay for this service myself, so yes. I resent it being done without consultation. thanks Cindy for speaking up..
Yes, me too. I also go to the blog, but it is a dis-service to all of us to publish blog leads in the reader cut in half and indecipherable and I had to search to figure out why this happened. There is no transparency and no opportunity for input.
any suggestions…?
I will communicate with WP tomorrow and ask them if they will consider changing it back. I think the more that do this, the better.
Thanks for the feed-back, Cindy. I have been looking into the link you gave, nearly all comments over there are positive, I only read one showing frustration, saying “reducing posts to 1.75 lines”! I wonder what the 2017 Reader’s version will bring, but in any case we will have to take things as they are, let’s hope for the better. It’s s Christmas time, let’s s be positive as I don’t think we can change WP decision…
I agree. I will not fret about it, but I will speak up about it. I can do at least that.
You are right… Thank you anyway for the info.
You are welcome and Merry Christmas! <3
Joyful Holidays to you… 💕
Yikes
Not a cool Christmas gift to bloggers WP!
seems at all levels
manipulations are
being made, Cindy!
follow the money 🙂
You took the words right out of my mouth. Good for you!
if we all hang together
maybe we won’t hang separately!
anyway, looks like landscape images show better in the reader
than portraits. perhaps a photoshop resize 🙂
The posts that really get dis-served are ones with no photos at all! They get two sentences! I agree, we are a community, we need to join together. WordPress works for us!
Reblogged this on Sacred Touches.
Bless you Natalie. There needs to be an opportunity for input and transparency~ <3
Absolutely‼️ Especially from those of us who PAY for premium themes‼️‼️‼️
Exactly!!! Sometimes I think WP forgets they work for us. We are their customers and many of us pay!
Absolutely‼️
<3 <3
OMG Cindy check this out! Over 300 people have LIKED it so far! A Refreshed Reader for 2017
Reader now sports a simplified design, new post layouts, spiffed-up tag pages, and recommended posts.
reader, WordPress.com Reader
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2016/12/14/reader-refresh-2017/
PS: I was just checking out the reader on my phone when I found that and the reader is the same on my phone so far! So why didn’t it change?
That is interesting and somewhat hopeful. Either it is another infamous WP glitch or they haven’t fully rolled out the new “streamlined” reader.
👍😊❤️
That does seem sort of shady. I will pay more attention to how I set my email notifications. I don’t have instant notifications for all the blogs I follow because my inbox gets inundated, but maybe that’s what we need to do so we don’t miss valuable content. 🙂
It’s just too much too much inundation for my email so I rely on the reader. People without photos get basically no visibility.
I don’t mind the idea of change so much, but it seems like they’ve just tried to look like Facebook. I really hate it when they jam carefully formatted text together, it looks very amateurish and potentially changes the meaning.
Some of the format ideas have potential, but as it is I’d call it a step backwards. This place isn’t Facebook, and shouldn’t be treated like it is.
I love change. I move constantly,
The biggest wp reader change disservice is to writers, they get two lines, not even a full sentence. This offends me. I know what talent sentences take to construct.
In the new wp reader, I cannot see what writers are even starting to say, and the blogs with photos in this new format overwhelm them, which I don’t like one bit.
Blogging writers are brilliant and importantly different, and as I scan the wp reader i want to have a sense of what they are saying, so I can figure what to read, and now I cannot do that.
And that is sad to me.
I don’t normally use the WordPress Reader myself, Cindy, as it makes me dizzy scrolling through. Some of the bloggers who I follow don’t seem to appear as an email notifications when they post, despite me setting them up that way. So I DO look at the wordpress reader every few months and noticed last week some odd inclusions were there. I also noticed that blogs I discontinued following show in my WordPress Reader still – another reason not to use it. I don’t have the energy or time to work around WP’s idiosyncrasies or scroll through old blogs.
I did discover once, that if you’re a photographer (or include photos in your new posts), its best to place them first, before any writing.
I use WordPress because, apart from having some free templates, it is supposed to be better for sharing photography online.
I do wish WordPress would test their software updates more thoroughly before uploading though. Seems to me that often their new software updates are more convoluted than is necessary. I am pretty much technology-challenged in retirement these days.
In retirement, I expect my online time to be easy to read and efficient to process. My working life revolved around the computer. I want my retirement to focus on Photography and walking outdoors.
I am just going to quote you, because you said it so much better and could not have spoken more accurately how I feel.
“In retirement, I expect my online time to be easy to read and efficient to process. My working life revolved around the computer. I want my retirement to focus on Photography and walking outdoors.”
You must know how much I understand and appreciate you.
Je n’approuve pas du tout la nouvelle presentation du reader de WordPress.
On ne voit plus l’entièreté de la photo de chaque personne que l’on suit et c’est franchement desagréable pour l’oeil
Exactement! C’est une présentation visuelle terrible qui offense l’œil. Il semble aussi bondé et laid!
cette presentation coupe l’image qui sert de reference à l’article en question
Je pense qu’ils ont voulu donner plus de largeur (une bonne chose, mais qui coupe come je le dis l’image en deux)
c’est moche, vraiment et surtout tres gênant
“c’est moche, vraiment et surtout tres gênant”
Exactement! Merci beaucoup mon ami~
PS. WP no longer show which WordPress template each of us uses. I like to change mine occasionally and can’t find out what the template name is when I see someone has an interesting one. Annoying to say the least.
It is. And I don’t get why. But it bugs me.
I agree, I don’t like these sudden changes and I think it really compromises the content and aesthetics of our blogs. It seems that nothing good stays good for long. I am glad you pointed out the changes – some I wasn’t aware of. The advocate in me has been activated and I think the only way to stop this (or hope for change) is to direct my concerns directly at WordPress via whatever method is available. I’ll let you know what sort of response they have. Ugh! Well, it’s beginning to feel like a lot like Christmas, blah, blah, blah. Hugs, Harlon
Thank you Cindy for having informed us about these ” nice” changes!!!😀
Thank you Martina for reading & cheers to you~
I love that there is an advocate in you Harlon! This is the best thing any human being can be, or can do. Thank you Harlon for being you~❤
My response to your comment has been deleted twice. I applaud the advocate in you. Being an advocate for what is good is the best thing a person can do. Thank you Harlon. I of course agree entirely with everything you are saying and appreciate it too. Tell WP we would like to return their Christmas gift! Ho Ho Ho~
I notice that they put other blog posts that “considered” relevant to my blog posts. But I guess it is based on tags – but it won’t guaranteed there will be similar or relevant to mine. I find that annoying too – especially I already paid for free advertising in my blog but now there is a new thing that they can put anything on WP reader instead!
It is fundamentally disrespectful to bloggers and the love we put into our posts which matters alot to all of us.
I get a suspicion that with this new format then in the future the bloggers can pay to get their posts promoted in the WP readers, just like in Instagram. I am afraid it will go that way.
Oh my God, I didn’t think of it, but you are obviously right!
That is not good, they need to go back to the old way or they may lose bloggers!!! Hugz to you Cindy
You know I feel about you and bear~ <3
It would be so cool to meet you someday
I would be so wonderful to meet you and Bear! <3
I’ll have to check it out now see what the change looks like, doesn’t sound that good really.
Just look at bunch of posts in your reader. Res Ipso Loquitur~
Hmm, thanks for sharing the link Cindy…
Thank you for acknowledging it~
Reblogged this on Musings on Life & Experience and commented:
All should read this.
Thank you Patricia! All us bloggers want is a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t! Now I’m singing it…… 😉
I didn’t know. When I first started blogging, the reader was useless to me as I had a slow internet connection. Then when I got a faster connection I still preferred to visit the blogs after looking down my email list. But none of what I’ve said changes the fact that you should have control of what you see in the reader. WordPress never seem particularly interested in the views of bloggers when they make an unpopular change though, which is strange as they’d be nowhere without the content written by bloggers.
I think they assume we are captive audience. I definitely pick up that they think we are not all that smart. They need human relations training which covers the theory of multiple intelligences. They could then understand that working at technical support is great, but not the apogee of human intelligence. Emotional intelligence is important too.
Hmm. But it does make us actually visit
That is a good point. If it does force the click to open the blog then maybe it has at least one thing going for it. But how does one rationalize taking up my reader’s space with the blogs I choose to follow with blogs WP is shoving down my throat?
One doesn’t. You may like to know that your work is of such quality that I always opened in anyway because I didn’t want to miss anything 🙂
Oh that is so incredibly kind of you and touches my heart. Thank you Derrick~
Spot on Cindy! And the dozens of comments already made amply demonstrate the strong feelings of the WP community. Saw the WP notice and immediately felt rebellious. WP users are well-informed (make a random pot-luck search if you doubt me) and perfectly capable of deciding what blogs they want to follow. So something to WP’s advantage is on the loose. Something you probably can’t opt out of. Something markety.
Maybe they could just offer the ‘facility’ of being fed their algorithmic choices as an opt in. I didn’t see that choice in their email. RH
“So something to WP’s advantage is on the loose. Something you probably can’t opt out of. Something markety.” BINGO! And something they will not be transparent about.
That’s not good – thanks for the heads up Cindy – makes one wonder why the ‘follow’ button is still available…
They will get rid of our right to follow who we choose next and WP Big Brother will just tell us which blogs to follow. They are already doing the latter bit…….
I had read WP’s post about this while I was at lunch and using my phone. But I hadn’t noticed any changes yet. I’m curious as to ‘who’ and ‘how’ these change decisions are made by. Is it anyone who actually uses WP?
Who are they? How do they make these decisions? Why isn’t there customer input? Why isn’t there transparency? Who decides which blogs they now force into our readers that we aren’t following and how and why do they choose them? Enquiring bloggers want to know!
Perfect questions Cindy!!!
Wouldn’t it be nifty to get some answers!!!! 😉
It would be a WP Miracle! 🙂
A Christmas miracle!!!!! Here’s hoping…… 🎅
This how automatic works. No consideration.
Sad, but very true. Discussions with an automattician feel patronizing.
I honestly wondered what was going on. They keep tweaking these things that it just gets tiresome at times.
Yes. Indeed it does. It is like the Big Brother of bloggers.
Thanks for the info, I didn’t know this was happening. 🙂
We are being edited and manipulated.
I don’t understand why WP – when they have something that works – they insist on changing it!! Pictures are distorted now, the preview is smaller, Recommendations stuck in aren’t in my interests at all! I’ve complained before about their constant manipulation, but nothing happens of course.
Yes. Yes. Yes. There are significant problems in the land of wordpress. Maybe it starts with them referring to their workers as automaticians. Let’s call them human and start over wp.
Way to go, Cindy!!
<3
WP are very reliant upon their image of being a thriving business but, it seems, more and more blogs are being abandoned. Instead of addressing the actual problems they seem intent on the same high handed approach that contributed to the disillusionment.
This time, if this is just the beginning, it may be necessary to complain to the investors about mismanagement. Perhaps Matt Maularug 🙂 has gone all Gerald Ratner. 🙂
It is a bad business model. WP seems to operate under the assumption that we are a captive and not very smart audience. So they take away space from blogs I chose to follow in my reader, and cram blogs they promote and I don’t follow, in the freed up space? Shame on you wordpress. Forget Ratner, this sounds Putinesque~
Thanks for the info Cindy. I usually read blogs from emails. I hadn’t explored reader, (still learning as I go along) It’s sad that wordpress is not interested in the views of it’s bloggers. Great that you are standing up for us!
It takes awhile to get a sense of how things operate. It’s probably a very good idea for you to stay on the email notification plan. This way you have control of what you see.
Ok, thanks for the advice Cindy! 🙂
<3
I noticed this a few days ago as well as a few other little changes that I am not happy with.
December and WP rolls out our annual Christmas gifts……sigh~
I started on Facebook this morning and picked up your eagles there. When I got to WordPress, the reader did a chop job on your wonderful photos.
And everyone else’s too, but it is even worse for blogs with no photos. They are allotted two lines in the reader, basically no visibility at all.
I regularly post without a photo. Being a writer, I’m trying to sell the idea that the words matter.
Exactly and giving you two lines in the reader is grossly unfair. Plus I want posts in my reader that I FOLLOW, not posts that wp wants me to follow. WP calls the reader, “your wordpress reader for the blogs you follow.” I want my reader back!
I made a list that I call “Must Reads.” It filters down the the stuff I want to read. You might try that.
I will thanks for the idea!
Thanks, Cindy – that’s an awful change. It certainly isn’t helpful to those of us with limited time to spend checking the blogs we follow. It makes it more likely we might miss something that we actually want to see. 🙁
That is exactly the case. We want to follow and see the blogs we choose. Is this so hard for WP to understand? They can follow the blogs they want but please don’t force your choices on us WP.
Oh, how I agree…they continue to make changes that are NOT in in the best interest of their customers.
Precisely!
Surprise! This doesn’t bother me too much, Cindy, to be honest, but it was a bit disconcerting. I get my favorite bloggers’ posts in email, so I won’t miss those. 😀
You are smart to operate this way and you avoid all these problems. It would overwhelm my email so it is not an option for me.
The new format is HORRIBLE! It’s part of the snippet, fragmentation, reduction of data to digestible, and unfulfilling, size. It’s the ‘why can’t we all just be the same?’ logic (even though we are NOT) so let’s reduce everything to the most generic, plain-vanilla, lowest common denominator. Let’s make EVERY post EQUALLY unappealing. Let’s show photo snippets of headless people, birds, or animals. Let’s show a patch of blue sky from a landscape. EQUALLY… UN… APPEALING! Good job WordPress! NOT!!!
Amen! They seem to have so little respect for bloggers and they practice this unilateral favoritism. They are like BIG BROTHER and we are being manipulated and I don’t like it one bit and it seems many other bloggers feel the same.
Why are people comparing this to Facebook? This ISN’T Facebook. This is blogging and that’s a different thing. I’m not on Facebook for a reason. This is a terrible change to WP and it’s definitely a manipulation that hurts us all. They tried to give us different blogs by adding them to our posts and now this. Nasty thing to do.
Reblogged this on Rethinking Life.
Thank you for the point about FB. I am not a big fan of FB because I think it is trite and too often weightless, but that is more of a user contributed content issue than a platform issue. That said, blogging is very different than FB and hopefully will remain so. We aren’t seeing 1000’s of blog posts of one person’s face on different days. God save us from this……laughing. WP’s problems are core platform host issues. It isn’t blogger content that is the problem, it is WP that is the problem.
Where the heck have I been. I haven’t noticed this but I don’t think I ever clicked on the reader button. I usually just get an email and read from there and click where it says 500 more words etc..
It figures I wouldn’t notice this. I hope you all are getting all of my posts. :o)
You, and the the bloggers that get your posts by email are smart. You avoid all of wordpress’s editorial shenanigans this way.
Annoying, isn’t it?
Very.
I saw it. It’s hard to follow.
It is.
I suggest we deluge them with complaints. If they are not taking their blog sites interest first why continue to promote them by using them for our web site.
Bingo! I agree 100%! And I am forthwith commencing the complaints…..
Gigi says they are not approving our complaints…laugh out loud!
Our complaints will get magically deleted. Just another wp glitch…. 😉 😉
yes, amazing how that happens. I think we are stuck with the new reader…🙄
Thanks for the heads up, Cindy. They seem to slip things by without much notice.
Leslie
They certainly do and it takes awhile to figure it out.
It sure does!
I’m not sure yet how I feel about it. I’m not on my regular computer now. I want to see how I feel when I get my laptop back. I’m not opposed to the suggestions, but there isn’t a lot of clarity on which ones are promoted and not my “regulars.” That does bother me.
I think it is good that it bothers you. Blogging should be a fair and free exchange, not manipulated and influenced by WP automaticians.
On a tangent, I love/hate that word “automaticians.” 🙂 Yes, it’s just more hands in the pie of my life. Not sure if that’s a mixed metaphor . . . .
Reblogged this on The happy Quitter! and commented:
If the new reader format bothers you as well. This one is for you!
So, it’s not just me and my reader and I don’t have to throw my computer out of the window. That’s the good news. The bad news is I don’t like the new reader at all. Very confusing not, reader friendly at all.
I rely on the reader to scan and get a sense of what I am seeing. I can then click on blogs to read and see more. Some blog posts were complete in the prior reader, a photo and a quotation for example. Now the reader is just a gimmish with WP promoted blogs being shoved down our throats. I always avoided WP “recommended” blogs because it seemed unfair to me. Now I can’t avoid it. They have taken away content from the blogs I follow to put in blogs I don’t follow and they promote. Shame on you WP.
I don’t like it a bit, that’s why I rebloged your post. The promoted blogs bother me the most.
Anything that un-levels a fair playing field has always bothered me. Favoritism, hidden agendas, I dislike all of this. I like fair and transparent, nothing to hide, everyone equal and given an equal chance.
“…and that’s why I love you.” 🙂
It is why we love and recognize each other! <3
The three dots give you the chance to blog a site, so it should not show up in your reader anymore.
Thanks for the heads up. I will check this out~