Maggie from Cave Walls has written a post with some advice for new bloggers and some questions for current bloggers to answer. You can read her post here.

Questions

Do you respond to every comment, even if it is just an emoji?

I do read all comments and respond to most either with a reply or a like but I don’t reply to all.

Are there styles, colors, or fonts that make reading a blog more difficult?

Some fancy fonts can be hard to read as are fonts that are too small. As many have commented some coloured fonts on dark backgrounds are hard to read. I mostly keep to black on white myself even though I love colours because I think it’s easier for people to read.

Under what circumstances would you block a user?

I would block spammers and anyone who is rude and abusive but fortunately I haven’t had to do that yet. I have blocked a couple of users who were basically copying my posts on to their own blogs.

Are there certain topics you refuse to engage with?

I don’t like conflict on my blogs so although I may sometimes touch on politics to express my own opinions, I don’t write about it often. I don’t really touch on religion often but my feelings are the same. I don’t want to get in a fight with anyone and I don’t want readers fighting with each other in the comments. Respectful discussion is fine.

How do you feel about blogging awards?

When I was a new blogger, I was flattered to get one but as time went on, I felt that although they are often well-meant awards can be the blogging equivalent of a chain letter. I don’t want to have to link fellow bloggers who are probably equally fed up with them. but I will sometimes answer the questions if I find them interesting.

How old is your current blog?

This year both my blogs will be nine years old.

Do you respond to prompts?

Yes, at least half my posts are in response to prompts.

Do the number of your blog followers matter to you?

Not so much. I have real followers who engage with my blogs and they are important to me but I also believe I have followers who follow me in the hope that I will follow them. Business bloggers do that a lot. Some may not even be real people.

What motivates you to follow or unfollow a blog?

I will follow a blog if it is about a subject that interests me, if it is well written and entertaining to read or if I feel I may have things in common with the writer. I don’t unfollow people often but every now and then I cull bloggers who no longer seem to be posting. I do wait a really long time to see if they are going to come back but of course some never do. I occasionally unfollow someone if I feel their views are too incompatible with mine. There was a blogger I used to follow whose photography I really liked. I sensed we had different views about things but it wasn’t until they made a remark in a post that I found really offensive that I decided that I didn’t want to read that blog any more.

What is your blogging pet peeve?

WordPress glitches can be annoying. When I’m trying to upload a photograph and the whole thing just hangs.

My other pet peeve is blogs that are impossible to navigate. I’m talking about blogs where there is no About page, no search box or list of posts or categories. There was a blogger who was reblogging some of my doll related posts. I didn’t mind that. I’m happy for people to reblog as long as they give me credit as the author. However, when I went to visit this person’s blog it was composed entirely of reblogs of other people’s posts. Credit had been given but there was no introduction, opinion or anything from that blogger themself. It was like going to an empty house. The blog existed to showcase the blogs of others. That seems like a lazy way to get views and followers to me. As there seemed to be no way to contact the blogger I stopped giving permission for the reblogs.