Possible related posts on Free WordPress.com blogs
I was surprised to see this on the bottom page on one of my posts:
WordPress.com users now enjoy having the Possible related post feature in their free wordpress blogs (as opposed to having your own domain).
BUT…..
Its not only the posts in your blog that is shown/linked…. as Matt explains…
In a feature we’re calling possibly related posts we’ll now try to show posts related to yours a little section at the end. If we find any posts on your blog that are related, we’ll put those at the very top and in bold. Next we’ll show other posts from around WordPress.com, and finally we’ll check if there’s anything in the mainstream media.
another BUT…
A lot of wordpress.com users have cried foul (while some enjoyed it) over this new feature and called it the worst feature ever by wordpress.
Why? based on the comments, here are some issues they’ve raised:
- It seems like the author was the one who wrote the linked posts - deceptive and misleading to the readers of the blog.
- Some “related posts” are entirely not related (well its still new.. do you expect it to be flawlessly working?)
- You end up linking to any of these: 1) your hated blogs 2) Rival/competitor blog 3) Your enemy #1 blogger (hahahhahaha)
Good thing you can disable possibly related posts in your blog. Go to DESIGN, then EXTRAS, then put a check mark on “Hide related links…”
A lot of concerns have been raised here. It’s not not bloggers are selfish and only wants their readers to see the related posts within their own blogs… but there are issues linking to other blogs without your knowledge or consent. It’s a great feature and i have longed wanted to have it on my free wordpress blog.. But hopefully owners will have some control over it and not just rely on automatic linking.
So the key word here is CONTROL.. control on possibly related posts.
UPDATE:
Here are two links related to this post:
No title is linked to an OWL PARTY blog. ” where the lovely, the whimsical and the curious gather…feel free to peruse around and say hello!”… Why oh why does this post link to that blog?
So I’ll turn OFF the possibly related post - for now.
It might drive my readers away from my blog and instead of checking out my other entries, will wander away. Definitely not for me.
It might drive readers to other entries on your blog - it depends on how related they are.
The internet isn’t a walled garden, and sites that try to make it into that always fail.