Preventing WordPress Recommendations being sent by Email
WordPress intend to send their reading recommendations to 
WP bloggers by email (as well as putting them in our WP Readers).
You can stop the emails by:-
- Click on your Gravatar (personal image) at the top right.
- From the drop-down menu select Notifications.
- From the next page, at the top, select Updates.
- From next page uncheck Digests (Reading & writing digests, tailored for you).
Done.
A Lament for The Ancient Code Wrangler at Xmas
Twas the night before Christmas,
And through all WordPress house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Because they’d eaten the mouse,
The code wranglers were nestled,
All snug in their beds,
Whilst visions of fudge brownies,
Danced in their heads,
Then down from the chimney,
All covered in soot,
Came an ancient code wrangler
Who’d chewed of his foot
Up, he proclaimed,
There’s work to do still
There’s a Reader to wrap,
And send them a bill,
The customers heard this,
And thought it unfair,
So they caught the old wrangler,
And pulled out his hair,
He’s a national treasure,
They cried loudly and puffed,
He belongs behind glass,
But first have him stuffed.
😀
I hope you enjoyed that, although it’s not up to the standard of this chap. How did he know about code wranglers so long ago.
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An Ode to WordPress Reader⇐ and more on the subject of the New Reader ⇐.
WP Reader Changes – Wouldn’t This Be Better
It seems WP want the Reader to fit on a cellphone, but wouldn’t the format below be better for all ? It makes maximum use of the available space by hiding the menu (or by spreading it along the top bar), minimizing the white space and fitting all pictures into a 4:3 frame without cropping. Modified 21 Dec 2016. More↓.
There are icons for a full gallery view (pics), plain reader (read) and visit the blog (visit). The gallery icon shows the number of images on the post and changes colour if there are more images than shown by the reader. A click-on the left side larger image will expand it.
This alternative uses a little more height than the new Reader, but far less than the previous Reader, is more accommodating and even looks better on a cellphone than the current new Reader.
The present load speed problem is partly due to the extra data transfer junk (e.g. Google Analytics, Google Ads, Olark, WordPress Public API and many more) and partly due to the larger number of posts (in thin slices) being loaded at one time. Although the number of posts being loaded at one time might be less for those using a mobile application.
The fonts and juxtapositions aren’t brilliant, but it conveys the idea. Next week, I’m teaching it to do singing and dancing.
The point of this exercise being; to show what can be done and encourage WP to consult in future. And, of course, stop WP from pushing their recommendations into our reading lists.
More on the Reader here ⇐.
WordPress Changes – Accessing the Old System ⇐
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WP Reader Changes – WP Test Sending Recommendations by Email – Update
Update: It seems that we will be able to manage our subscription. Please see the WP Reader Changes – WP Test Sending Recommendations by Email ⇐ (Dec 20, 1016) for details.
WP Reader Changes – 2016/2017
↓ Periodically updated list of news/articles/contacts about the WP Reader Changes
and a link to – User Interface Changes ⇐ and Accessing the old System (Stats, Editor etc)
Following the introduction of a new WP Reader format in December of 2016, objections were raised about the layout and the intention to “push” WP’s recommendations into our readers. More recently there have been complaints about censorship and then an intention to “push” recommendations by email.
The WP Forum ⇒ on this topic with members comments (available to all WP bloggers).
The WP Blog announcement ⇒ is still readable but now closed for further comments.
Articles
Articles in reverse chronology:-
Preventing WP Reading Recommendation Being Sent by Email ⇐ Opting out of the automatic email subscription.
A Lament for the Ancient Code Wrangler at Xmas ⇐ 😀 An Ode of humour. Oh alright, taking the mickey. (Dec 24, 2016).
WP Reader Changes – Wouldn’t This be Better ? ⇐ An alternative design that addresses the problems (Dec 21, 2016).
WP Reader Changes – WP Test Sending Recommendations by Email ⇐ Update: It seems that we will be able to manage our subscription. Please see the post for details (Dec 20, 2016).
A Xmas Ode to the WP Reader ⇐ 😀 A little fun at their expense. Well we can’t let them get us down and become dispirited (Dec 19, 2016).
** WP Reader Changes – Worse to Come ⇐ General Information about WP’s intent to put their recommendations into our Readers, problems with the new format and the means to complain (Dec 18, 2016).
WP Reader Changes ⇒ by Cindy Knoke which contains a large number of adverse comments (Dec 15, 2016).
WP Reader Changes – WP Test Sending Recommendations by Email
Update: From Jeff Bowen of Horizon Feedback responding to a suggestion of Opting-in/out for recommendation by email.
“Thanks for the suggestion, Graham. It’s not shown in the screenshot, but you will definitely be able to manage your subscription status for these, regardless”.
So it seems, one less thing to be concerned about.
_____________________________
Original Post was
On December 19 2016 at 2:43pm I asked Horizon Feedback if they had been asked to test the new WP Reader (using their “Call for Testing: Image Editor” post). The answer of “No” was published as a comment on the same post at 10:19pm on the same day.
Subsequently, Dandelionslad ⇒ kindly gave me a heads up that a new post of “Call for Testing: Recommended Reading Emails” had been published. Please click here ⇓ to view.
https://horizonfeedback.wordpress.com/2016/12/19/call-for-testing-recommended-reading-emails/
!! There is a comments section !!
It seems that WP intend to send us unsolicited recommendations by email (straight into my junk folder) in addition to placing them in our Readers.
A Christmas Ode to the Word Press Reader
Twas the week before Christmas,
And through all WordPress house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even a mouse,
Then up jumped a code wrangler,
And shouted with glee,
Let’s cause a nuisance,
And I’ll do it for free,
It’s just before Xmas,
They will all be so busy,
We can mess with the Reader,
And make them all dizzy,
So they worked hard through the day,
And they worked hard through the night,
It was so very unusual,
That it gave them a fright,
Then the bloggers complained,
And made the wranglers feel sad,
So the the bloggers said more,
And drove the wranglers quite mad,
Then up spoke a blogger,
With “that’s well deserved”,
Let’s put them in aspic,
And have them preserved.
😀
You might also like the original poem Twas the Night Before Xmas ⇐ , or A Lament for the Ancient Code Wrangler ⇐ 🙂 or more serious comment/news on WP New Reader ⇐
We do need a sense of humour to cope and keep our spirits up. Meanwhile Sam’s Song is brilliant and Sam the Eagle is my hero:-
Appalled and shocked, but we have been here before. Making an effort does make a difference. Imagine how bad it would be if we didn’t.
More News and Articles ⇐ on this subject.
WP Reader Changes – Worse to Come
The Lesser Known Problem: According to the Announcement ⇒, WordPress will be putting their recommendations into our reader lists. From the WordPress Blog announcement:-
“There are millions of amazing posts flowing through WordPress.com every day that you never see, and we want to bring a few of them to your attention, so we’re adding a bit of serendipity. We call it Recommended Posts.”
“This new section will show up in Reader intermittently — more for new members, less for existing members who already follow a lot of sites. You can also see Recommended Posts on the Search page.”
If this is allowed to proceed, how long before we start getting emails of the recommendations which appear in our reader.
From the WordPress Forum on this topic.
“Recommendations will hopefully work to help to connect more people with more blogs they like. More are shown to people who are new to using the Reader and less are shown to people who already follow a lot of sites. if you don’t like a recommendation, click the X icon to dismiss it and we’ll keep that in mind.”
That is, we are coerced into following more blogs in order to reduce this intrusion.
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Update: It now looks as if WP will try to push their recommendations into our emails. Here ⇐. The Fix ⇐
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Further:-
There are many bloggers who do not like the new format which misrepresents/distorts/crops pictures, minimizes samples and lacks respect for their work.
For those without super-fast broadband, the reader has become much slower.
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Why Push Content: One can only conjecture. There seems to be a need to stimulate activity. (i.e the number of recorded views). This may be an attempt to retain the WordPress image in the face of those blogs which have been abandoned or are rarely used. I think this approach is likely to make the situation worse.
Another possible reason, for the new format, is so that it fits cell-phones and creates more space for the “recomendations”.
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Censorship: There are a number of complaints that adverse comments have been excluded from the WordPress Blog on this subject and at least one from the WordPress Forum on this topic. That will be another post later, with screen-shots of the items reinstated on the forum after complaints.
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Solution: For everybody to enter a comment on the WordPress Blog ⇒ and the WordPress Forum ⇒ (which every WordPress blogger has a right to use) and thus spill outside of those forums to the ears of those who bear influence. There is a further mass of dissent at Cindy Knokes post ⇒.
The WordPress Blog seems only to accept very short comments. Please report anything short that is rejected.
Complaints are numerous, these are mine. Pick as you will or add you own. One does not need to justify or argue, only state.
As a paying customer, I (also) object to:-
The intrusion of unsolicited posts into my reader.
The intrusion of my unsolicited posts into the readers of others, causing them annoyance.
Any prospect of unsolicited emails from the reader.
The misrepresentation/distortion/cropping of my photographs and lack of respect for my work.
The reduction in sample size.
The slower reader speed.
The high-handed manner of this action without any prior consultation.
The poor competence in its implementation.
Any form of censorship, being contrary to the stated views of WordPress, the precepts of the free-world and the free-press. Particularly of dissenting views and the marginalisation of dissenters.
The more we accept without protest, the more we will be used without respect.
“Merely exist on our knees, or take the chances of being fully alive on our feet.”
Making an effort does make a difference. Imagine how bad it would be if we didn’t.
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More News and Articles on this Subject ⇐
And, on a lighter note, A Christmas Ode to the WordPress Reader ⇐ 😀
Freed From Time 