Blogging just got a whole lot less important

I intended to say something about returning from camping. WordPress changed my mind about that. I have my doubts whether anyone will read this post, because I have my doubts about whether anyone will find it now. I have a cool photo from camping, and I'm not including it on purpose. I want to see how this post comes across.

WordPress changed its Reader design this afternoon. I don't like it, and wonder if WordPress continues to hold the value for me now. As of today, they are taking my (your) content and spreading it across a white page. If you decide to read this post it has all the appeal of a typewritten letter. Gone is a link to my site, the one I change the wallpaper on every month, the one that is as individual as I am, the one where my book covers are proudly displayed.

There is no point in coming to my site if you can get the content via reader. Those people will never see my cool covers, and their all important links. They will never see my free paper dolls either. I've never hidden the fact that I started this blog to connect with people who might want to actually buy my books. Future connections are going to be a lot harder to make.

The new Reader is designed around photos and images. I'm not a photographer, I'm a writer. I think a decent image can help out a post, but most of my posts are written words.

I tested my re-blog post of Mae Clair's announcement. The first click was a boring white sheet about my reblog. You have to click again to read more, in fact you have to click three times to get to Mae's site. People will never do this. This could mean the end of any value in reblogging something interesting. Reblogging shows support, but if I reblog something I kind of hope my fans will check it out. Now it's kind of similar to another like button.

The like button remains on the Reader. This means you can like a post without reading it. If you bother to read it, there is no like button. (But you can like comments from there.) You have to click all the way through to the original post before getting the option of showing your appreciation. (Or go back.) I sincerely doubt this will happen. I honestly read your posts before I click “like.”

I have a concern about stats too. If people view content in the Reader, but don't follow through to my site, will I be able to track my progress?

When I clicked through to my site, it was displayed as a single post. I like the fact that people could scroll down and read more, now they can't.

I like having my categories displayed in the sidebar. If someone enjoys one of my Idea Mill posts, maybe they want to open the category and read more of them. I honestly don't believe anybody is going to click four or five times to get there.

The value in WordPress was that I got an original site to display something about myself. WordPress just stripped me away and homogenized us all.

Like I said, I have my doubts whether anyone will find this post. If you're out there knock twice, or something. What do you think about the new Reader?