You're going to want to subscribe to my RSS feed. It's the greatest thing since sliced bread - even better, in fact. You know you want to.

The VVIDE logo. It’s… uh… blue, I guess.

(short synopsis at the end)

VVIDE almost confused me with its title. Almost. But, alas, I was too clever for its tricks. It is not actually “Wide,” but is V-V-I-D-E. Nice try, you evil blog! But your dastardly schemes are foiled again!

WHERE AM I?
VVIDE doesn’t feature too many navigational choices. I don’t see recent posts or popular posts, no sir. I just see archives and categories (+1 point). Even the link that leads back to the homepage is a ninja - it hides until I move to a page other than the homepage and, once I am there, stealthily turns into a shade of inconspicuous clickable orange from a static black (+1 point). The header is not clickable either. At least the design of the blog matches this theme of desolation - the stark grey background combined with the blurred header makes it look like an inhospitable tundra (+1 point).

NO, SERIOUSLY, WHERE AM I?
VVIDE writes about a fairly large amount of topics. I mean this seriously. On the front page are articles about subprime mortgages, angels crying, and people marrying goats. I can’t even make a joke up for that. That is the joke. Still, I have no complaints. Visiting this blog is like reaching into a mystery box.

I THINK I’M LOST
If you want to subscribe to VVIDE’s RSS, then good luck finding it. It’s buried deep underneath all of the content in an unattractive link format (+1 point). By the time you get there, you’re already wondering what you were trying to accomplish.

WAIT, I RECOGNIZE THESE LANDMARKS
Widgets! Lots of them! Lots of widgets I don’t want (+1 point)

1. Some sort of TopSpots widget. I’m supposed to pay to get on it. There are way better ways of monetizing your blog than this service, seeing as how it doesn’t even provide any link love. It’s empty, by the way.
2. BlogCatalog recent visitors. It’s great seeing my avatar on your blog, but who really cares? It seems like it’s just filler.
3. Total visitor counter. Although less obtrusive than others I’ve seen, it seems unnecessary. But hey, if that’s what you like, sure.

IN SHORT…
Lets tally up the points:

1. Wha? Where do I go?
2. How do I get to the home page? Why can’t I click on your header? Arghh!
3. The colors seem desolate.
4. I want to subscribe. But how? Where? Why don’t you have a generic shiny graphic?
5. Whats up with the pointless filler widgets?

VVIDE gets 5 thumbs down. It’s halfway good and halfway bad. It’s like Humpty Dumpty sitting on his wall. VVIDE just needs a nudge in either direction to get going.

This has been a Bad Blog Review. Want a review of your blog? Just contact me at moneymoose.com@gmail.com or use the contact form. All I ask is some recognition for it. Click here for more details.

Posted by Max Miroff | 3 Comments »

The Wakish Wonderz Header. I didn’t know Bubble Boy left his ball out in parks while renting it out to a cursive letter W!

(Skip to the end of the post for a short synopsis)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Wakish Wonderz (Sounds like some sort of candy company. The “z” at the end really seals the deal. +1 point) is a blog about everything, apparently. That was made clear to me by the mission statement written at the top of every page of his blog (which, combined with the header, takes up pretty much all of the space above the fold. +1 point for that!).

“UNCOURAGING” CONTENT
The actual blog content is hidden under two lines of text ad and “Ten Recent Posts” and “Top Ten Posts” lists. After scrolling for what seemed like ages (1.554 seconds, actually), I finally reached his actual content. His most recent post was about how one of his articles got selected for a blog carnival. Apparently, it was very “uncouraging” (+1 point!) for him. I’m not quite sure what this means, but perhaps it signifies that his courage was taken away. I believe the Lion in Oz was in the same situation.

GRUMBLES ABOUT GRAMMAR
The rest of the posts range from things like writing GP essays (in one of the steps he mentions masterfully using a chosen language. This was accompanied by various grammatical/spelling errors [+1 point] [uncapitalized English, tense changes, etc. etc.] but HEY! This is Web 2.0! No one cares anymore. Right?) to hookah. While these two topics seem unrelated, I believe they could easily be combined for interesting results.

STOP! WIDGET TIME.
In addition to this content, his sidebar is packed with useless widgets (+1 point). He has:

• A little box with various fancy SEO terms and rankings (what the hell is AUV?)
• A map of where his visitors come from
• A total visitor count
• An e-gold sign up button (???)

SOMETHING THAT SHOULDN’T EVEN MATTER
And, finally, he has quite an odd little thing on his footer: “customized by _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _”. I’d love to meet _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (he makes great cluttered designs, apparently), but the link just leads to the main page. This confused me (+1 point)

Oh, and I also have to include this little tidbit in my review. For some sort of diabolical reason that Wakish has developed.

Wakish Wonderz welcomes discussion about writing on any topic. Get a FREE linkback from his PR4 blog by simply reviewing his blog now!

IN SHORT,
Blah blah blah. Anyway, here’s the final tally of points…

1. The name of the blog sounds like a candy company.
2. Bad usage of above-the-fold space.
3. “Uncouraging” content.
4. Spellcheck anyone?
5. Useless widgets.
6. Odd “_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _” thing.

Which, if you can count/read, is 6! Wakish Wonderz receives six on the Blog Badness meter! His blog is just beginning to get to the stages of Bad Bloggerdom. If he can continue raising his score, then he may very well be featured in the soon-to-come Blog Badly Hall of Fame. Until then, here’s a fancy graphic to make everything better

This has been a Bad Blog Review. Want a review of your blog? Just contact me at moneymoose.com@gmail.com or use the contact form. All I ask is some recognition for it. Click here for more details.

Posted by Max Miroff | 3 Comments »

 DISCONTINUED… for now.

Do you have a blog? If so, it is most likely horrendous. Want a detailed critique of it? Of course you do! You’ll even get a nice graphic detailing just how bad your blog is - perhaps even a space in the soon-to-come Blog Badly Hall of Fame.

The points system will work as follows: anything I find bad will add 1 to your point counter. There is no limit to how many points you can get. At the end, I’ll tally up your score. Each point = one thumb down.

If you want me to review your blog, then leave a comment or contact me using the handy dandy form on my contact page! Or just e-mail moneymoose.com@gmail.com, whatever works for you. All I ask in return is that you give some mention of my review. A simple link at the end of a post saying “Blog Badly reviewed me!” is more than enough. Expect the first review shortly!

Posted by Max Miroff | 8 Comments »