It’s that time of year again as the 2nd AniBlog Tourney commences in a few weeks. During the first one, I looked at the participating blogs and gave constructive criticism to help people improve for the future. This time around, I will do the same, but a little differently…
For those who don’t know what is the AniBlog Tourney, it’s a competition where the readers check out blogs and then vote for the one they are most likely to read. (Image Source)
When I take a look at a blog, I’ll focus on following based on the criteria below:
Content – This section focuses on the content of an Anime Blog. I will only focus on the overall content and not so much on grammar/spelling mistakes. Also, posts should have some originality. It should consist mostly of your thoughts rather than the synopsis. Some summary is fine as long you use it to support your argument. Otherwise, most readers will stop reading your post and therefore, they might miss some of the points you are explaining.
Frequency of Posting – This section measures the activity of his or her blog. Infrequent blogging (e.g. only writing 1 to 3 posts within a whole month) will result in a lower score. However, this is not indicative to the post quality, so it will get graded separately. At the bare minimum, you should at least post once a week.
Design and Accessibility – Unless you use WordPress.com as a host, there is no excuse not to have an original design. This means that you should make some changes to the theme so it looks unique. In addition, you must have archives and categories accessible through a widget or archive page. If you are missing these, haven’t done some customization to the theme or its poorly designed (clashing colors, hard to navigate, etc.) will result in a point deduction. For those who use WordPress.com, you will get exempted from the theme customization. Instead, I will check the header image instead.
If you are interested in customizing your current theme, you should consider taking a look at this.
Bonus Points: Mobile Site– If your site is readable without zooming on a smartphone, these points will get added to the total score. Otherwise, no points will get awarded.
Since I received some feedback, there won’t be any score for future critiques. Instead, I will only share my thoughts on the criteria above without revealing the blog I voted. Everyone will have an equal chance to get a good review, which means no favoritism. If you are uncomfortable on having your blog reviewed by me, contact me either my email or on Twitter so you can opt out. Otherwise, I will just review it.
Good Luck for those participating! If you have any concerns, make a comment below. ¶
Oh, that started already? Had no idea, even though I was invited to participate this year and this my first time being introduced to it. Declined it though, since my site is not quite where it needs to be yet or worthy of any publicity I can not get on my own.
Looking at your rubric, I would say it is fair assessment, although frequency of posting to me seems like null for points. Granted some people do not have time to post all that often (me as I prime example) does not seem like that is worth grading – but then again, this your rubric and not mine. Everything else seems fair game (maybe I care for accessibility more than design personally). Wonder if I can still vote even though I am not participating directly…
Actually it officially starts in April, which is next month… But yeah, I reduced the amount of post frequency since I know that not everyone can update on a frequent basis. Depending on the feedback, I may be lenient on the grading of that as quantity does not always mean it’s good content.
Just around the corner then. Guess it will be fun to watch and see how things pan out. I am not exactly a good person to give advice, but just suggestion maybe 😀
(BTW: I was going to send you an message if twitter showed the direct message option, but for some reason your site will not allow me to register with my current wordpress address. Is it better just to leave comment normally like I am now?)
Just contact me via email. You can get it from the contact page.
Critique my blog when the time comes! =)
I will in my weekly critiquing. Since I have 14 blogs to review each week in the preliminary rounds, I’ll try to keep it concise as possible. Out of this, I will only review the first two rounds as the third doesn’t really need the construction criticism because they are already up there.
I’ll be looking forward to your critique posts!
I will and good luck!
By the way, I’ll write them ahead of time so people will have a general idea to vote for.
Having good grammar and spelling is great, but what you’ve done here is not something to be proud of. Actually it feels counterproductive in the sense that your comment and rating is not a constructive criticism for the respective blog writer. As someone who makes a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes I can say that the only way to fix it in your blog posts is through diligent proofing, and that’s not something you have offered any help with in your critiques. I would rather you critique more on diction, syntax or style rather than just say “hey you can spell better.” You might as well just say “hey you can write better” or “blog better.”
It’s a double edge sword considering that I have been criticized in the past for my grammar issues. I admit that I still make grammar mistakes, although it’s not as apparent. I think you are right at that aspect since criticism won’t help much in fixing that since it depends on the person, which is why I won’t focus on it in future reviews. Instead, I’ll focus mostly on the content itself and this should make reviewing easier to do.
But thanks for bringing it up. I don’t want people to think I’m a grammar police or something, which is looked down upon greatly.
That’s cool man. I know you mean well so let’s get that idea across.