Because I’ve been buried in editing my latest book — not to mention keeping up with emails, notifications, social network pages, and life in general — I hadn’t noticed that several blogs I’ve been following for years had disappeared from my WP reader. Don’t know why I caught sight of it today, but I’m glad I did, and I’m not a happy camper at the moment.
It took me half a day to reconcile “followers” with “following” — needless time spent that could have, and should have, been put to better use.
I don’t know how the rest of my fellow bloggers feel about following a blog that doesn’t follow back — especially when dialogue takes place within comments — but I don’t have time to keep up with bloggers who show no interest in, at the very least, following me. This has nothing to do with ego and everything to do with how and where I spend my time, which, at present, is spread thin.
However, given that the WordPress Grinch seems to have been very active of late — wreaking havoc with many of our blogs — I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt for a reasonable amount of time.
I went through my followers list and, hopefully, refollowed all blogs that were removed from my reader. Unless a blog advocates violence, in either text or image, I will always give the courtesy of a follow-back.
If any of you notice that you are following me and I am not following you, please leave a comment so I can rectify this; because, I assure you, it was not intentional on my part. And I’m sure it wasn’t intentional on the part of WP, but they really need to clean up all the program glitches that have been causing so many headaches of late!
End of Tirade
Hoping all of you had a far more productive day than I did. And since I don’t like ending on a sour note, I’d like all of you to know how much I enjoy your blogs. Because I’m so pressed for time right now, I don’t always leave a comment when I visit, but I do at least click “Like” as well as a share button or two.
Here’s to better days on the WP 🙂 Namaste, my friends ❤
TINA FRISCO 
It’s happened to us all, I think, at one time or another. Incredibly frustrating. Have a lovely Tuesday!
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Thank you, Sarah. You do the same 🙂
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Great post T! That has happened to many of us. In fact, I think Sue Vincent recently wrote about having your exact experience.
I,on the other hand, am back to not being able to comment on several blogs! So annoying. We are writers, not Weirdpress fixers. 🙂 ❤
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Thanks, Deb. WP might end up making us the latter by default 🙂
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Lol 🙂 xo
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Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
As I approach my night time shutdown.. time to share a post from Tina Frisco who has been noticing some glitches on her blog..I have had to do some work arounds for some time now because I do not like the new editing function… and I notice more and more bloggers finding themselves in spam folders and notifications not going out.. I am not a luddite but I come from the school of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. There is a tendency to develop platforms for the geeks and forget that in blogging most of us are average when it comes to technical functionality and really like it kept simple… and user friendly. Free is great but we all do provide platforms for paid advertising and as such are contributing to the health of WP.
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Thanks for reblogging and spreading the gripe, Sally. Maybe WP will get the “simplicity” message as more disgruntled folks air their complaints. And your final point is one that WP should pay heed to. There are other free platforms that might become alluring as the discontent grows…
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I am seeing hardly any of my usual “friends” i don’t know how to tell if they stopped following me or if it’s a glitch. I am glad I’m not on my own. 😇
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You’re definitely not alone! WP has not only been removing blogs from our “Following” list, but also has been turning off notifications, sending comments to people’s spam folders, and locking people out of their websites. And these are just the ones I’ve heard about; could be, and most likely are, more. My burning question is: How many people have they removed from my “Followers” list?
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Ellen 🙂
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This appears to be an on again-off again occurrence.
Sigh. Grr. Eke. 😦
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You left out the most satisfying choice words, Tess🙂
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I DO t.r.y. to control myself. 😀 😀 😀
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It seems to happen at times and then for a while it doesn’t happen at all. Now that you mention it, I should probably check to make sure I’m not missing anyone I normally follow closely!
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That would probably be a good idea, Linda. I discovered the problem by accident and was utterly astounded. For all we know, it’s happening all the time and we’re just not aware of it.
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One way to spot check is to click on who “liked” your post in the notifications. It gives you at least a partial list, and beside each name it tells you whether or not you follow them. I’ve caught a few this way over the years. And it has been years.
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Thanks, Linda. Hadn’t thought of that one…
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It’s happened to me twice, where WordPress have turned off all my WordPress notifications when a blog I follow publishes a new post. Fortunately, Sue Vincent wrote a post about the problem and how to fix it. Unfortunately, although you can turn the notifications on again, WordPress somehow manage to turn them off again! It’s very frustrating, Tina, and I too joined Debby the other week and was taken hostage by the spam monster.
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Makes you want to scream, Hugh. Especially when they actually delete the blog from your “Following” list. I follow so many blogs ~ as I think most of us do ~ that I didn’t notice it right away. And being relegated to spam has got to get on your last nerve. If we didn’t put in so much time in fostering relationships, it wouldn’t be so aggravating. It’s times like this when we have to remember to breathe…
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When I was captured by the spam monster, all the WordPress happiness engineers were off on a two-week conference, Tina. There was nobody there to help. I screamed a lot. 😱 Fortunately, for me, it happened during the middle part of their second week of being away. I don’t know what I would have been like had I been captured on their first day away.
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Fortunately, you didn’t have to find out, Hugh. Let’s hope it stays that way 🙂
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I think I’ve been hit by this. Many times I’ve had to go back and kick start the ‘follow’ and some have had trouble following me. Very unsettling particularly as a new blogger trying to build a rapport. Clearly, this is a bigger issue. Thanks for your post.:)
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You’re welcome, and good to have your support. Thank you for stopping by 🙂
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I get unfollowed from people all the time and I find out only when they visit me and I realize I haven’t heard from them. I wonder how many I miss? Terrible~
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So much falls through the cracks, Cindy. It’s anyone’s guess how much we’re missing. The good news is that our community is very understanding. No one is exempted from a visit by the WP Grinch 🙂
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I have missed so many of your posts. I haven’t seen them in my reader and I am following you.
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I don’t know this for certain, Cindy, but it might be because I own my domain name. “WordPress” doesn’t appear before “.com” in my site title, so when you click on my site link, it has to be redirected back to WP. But then, there are so many glitches in WP’s system, who knows! For this reason, I made a file of blogs I visit regularly, with their name and link. Then all I have to do is click on the link, and I’m there 🙂 ❤
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