Here we have another patient soul who has waited, and waited, and waited, for quite some time, to have a 10 things review, so first I want to say “Thanks!” for sticking around and keeping with me.

The Writer’s Round-About has been around since 2007 which is pretty impressive in blog years. I’ve been a visitor there for about a year now, and like KOME Rocks, I’ve never had the time to delve too deeply into the content. I’ve left a comment or two and am now looking forward to taking a much closer look. So, Writer’s Round-About, here are 10 things I hate about your site:

1. The blocky title graphic and feed icons in the header scream “1999!” (and not in a Prince way).
2. Speaking of your header, there are some alignment/spacing issues across different browsers.
3. Your social networking icons are having an identity crisis.
4. I want <!--more-->
5. I want more.
6. Unicode, like the unicorn, should never be seen.
7. More Firefox problems: the Categories aren’t opening in FF2 on a PC.
8. So many views, so few comments.
9. Contact Rebecca and Services are not the same thing.
10. There is SO much going on here—writing, web design, WP guru—it’s like all the voices in your head are vying for post time.

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Being a music lover, I’m excited that I have to slow down and actually go through this blog. I’ve visited it many times but have not given it the attention the music lover in me would have liked to. I actually can think back several months (give or take) and remember a much different layout than you see now. I’d love to think that Kystorms has been reading every post and paying attention¹.

So let’s get on with the show. Rock Music ~ KOME Style, here are 10 things I hate about your site:

1. There is too much wasted space between the main page post excerpts and the footer.
2. Your pages are all over the place.
3. Your page link text is too wordy.
4. Your font is way too small.
5. Your header/banner is too bland for a rock music blog.
6. There is too much stuff on the sidebar—most of which is repetitive.
7. Thumbnail images are great for adding visual interest to a layout, and for complementing the content. You have a great opportunity to include images but you are not utilizing it.
8. Your Best Vid’s page only has one video, making it singular, not plural.
9. There is no rhyme nor reason to your categories.
10. If you’re not going to keep a page updated, don’t advertise the last updated… date.

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1. KOME’s newest layout is a huge improvement over the last layout. [↩]

Okay, so don’t give me anything obvious to hate and I have to go and get nit-picky. That’s what your going to read in this review for ZenBananas. This blog is so simple, so zen, that I don’t know if I can find five things I hate, let alone ten.

It’s been three days since I started this review, and I’ve only found this. So, ZenBananas, here are: 10 3 things¹ I hate about your site:

1. Why is the RSS feed much lower on the sidebar than the email subscription?
2. Your comment numbering is interfering with my awesome avatar in the Safari browser, on my awesome Mac.
3. It’s a bad week for backgrounds at 10 things. I don’t like yours any more than I liked Tashi’s at the Tibetan Plateau.

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1. Yes, THREE things, dammit! [↩]

Our first review for September takes us to Tibet. At first glance, I was worried that I wouldn’t have many items to critique. Of course if I did reviews based on just my first glance, I wouldn’t get very far. So I clicked around and took some notes. Then I clicked around some more.

So, The Tibetan Plateau, here are 10 things I hate about your blog:

1. There is not enough differentiation between posts—they blend into each other.
2. Your posts don’t have any dates. Posts should always have a date.
3. I love the use of “Read more…”. Unfortunately I hate it when I click on it and I’m not taken to where I left off reading.
4. Don’t tease me and have me click on “Read more…” when there is nothing more substantial to read.
5. The stark white background of your LABELS widget is harsh and in complete contrast with the rest of the layout.
6. Your content is difficult to read because the letter-spacing¹ is too close together to make a good distinction between periods and the start of a new sentence (or commas and the next word).
7. I hope I’m not criticizing a royal Tibetan color, but I really dislike the background color/overall color scheme.
8. Your columns need to be contained—they are just floating sections of text.
9. Your special characters aren’t so special on my PC.
10. I’m confused by this: “Do not click on this link: Read more on this article…“.

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1. Letter-spacing is a CSS property where the space between text characters can be changed. [↩]

First, thanks to all of you who were in the old queue and are still gluttons for punishment requesting a 10 things review. Here is the start of the new queue. The date indicates the target date your review will be published. By giving myself a deadline I hope to stay ahead of the reviews. I hate missing deadlines!

1. http://tibetanplateau.blogspot.com/ (9/5)
2. http://zenbananas.com/ (9/9)
3. http://kome-rocks.santacruzdreamz.com/ (9/13)
4. http://www.writersroundabout.com/ (9/18)
5. http://www.rarst.net/ (9/24)

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That’s right! You thought you’d heard the last of me back in May, didn’t you? No such luck. Today is the 1-year anniversary of 10 things I hate about your site so I thought today would be a good day to make a comeback. I even have a victim blog requesting a review.

So don’t fret. Your favorite review site is back and better than ever. You can expect one review per week (assuming I have that many requests) as well as more “Things of the Week” and “Resources of the Week”. So stay tuned, because the bitch is back!

Hey, that sounds good, doesn’t it? Let’s all go to the movies! Wait, in this economy when a movie ticket averages $9? Let’s rethink that. Maybe we should just rent one, or see what’s on cable. But first, let’s see what’s been reviewed lately by, no, not me. This is actually a different type of review.
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Holistic Serums is providing 10 things with another first. Back in August of 2008, Holistic Serums (or Holistic Healing, as it was back then) was my first review.

A half a year later (almost to the day), Holistic Serums is my first Where Are They Now? follow-up. There are two reasons for this: 1) Esther came to me and asked for a re-review after making changes a while back, and 2) this is a feature I had planned on implementing. I think it will be interesting to see what has changed, not changed, or gotten worse at some of the sites and blogs I’ve previously reviewed.

So, Holistic Serums, here are some things I hate about your site now:

1. The color scheme, still.
2. The use of too many colors, still.
3. Inconsistent links, still.
4. Inconsistent navigation, still.
5. Your look-and-feel is very dated.
6. Something is wrong with your blog when viewed in Firefox.
7. Your font is a little small.
8. What is going on with the Aromatherapy Website link?
9. Why is there a huge chuck of blank space at the top of the “Safety” page?

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I’ve mentioned before that I try to walk a fine line between being honest & helpful, and being a [insert appropriate negative term here]. I’m not one to be dainty and sweet, but I also don’t want to be too harsh. That being said, this review may come across as brutal.

First off, with apologies to InfoCreek’s free premium WordPress theme – Aspire, I will not be accepting any further review requests using this theme. As this is the third review request I’ve had using this theme, most of what I have to say has been said.¹  I would have actually denied Atul’s request, except there are quite a few more things about his blog that I hate other than just the overused theme.

So, Planet Atul, here are 10 things I hate about your blog:

1. It’s obvious by now. I have come to really hate this theme.
2. Pop-up ads.
3. Ads at the top. Ads at the bottom. Blinking ads. Annoying ads. Google ads. Ads, ads, ads, ads.
4. Show me the content.
5. Feedjit strikes again.
6. Email subscription, but no RSS link at the top of the page.
7. Page links at the top, and page links in the sidebar.
8. The sidebar calendar. No one cares on which day of the month you posted.
9. The green image border.
10. You all knew it was coming. IF YOUR BLOG WILL NOT VALIDATE, DON’T ADVERTISE IT AS XHTML VALID!

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1. Enter the term ‘aspire’ in the search function at the bottom of my sidebar to find the related posts. [↩]

I was contacted by Abelle the other day, inquiring about her position in the queue. Admittedly, she is towards the bottom, however, since her blogoversary was coming up I told her I would complete her review sooner. Today is the day, so Happy Blogoversary OiS!

I’m not sure this is the gift I would have chosen, however, it’s what was asked for. So, Only in Silence, here are 10 6 things I hate about your site.

1. Your blog theme is overused.¹
2. One word: Feedjit.
3. RSS. Where is yours hiding?
4. Load time.
5. I like symmetry. Your sidebars are lacking it.
6. Don’t advertise “Valid XHTML & CSS” if you’re not.

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1. I don’t like to duplicate content, however, this theme was used in the last review I completed–Willem’s Internet Blog. As a result, there are some repeat issues. [↩]