Why Do I Care?
If you are a Wordpress blogger, you no doubt know that WordPress has a feature on the homepage called “Freshly Pressed.” On the top of this page it says the blog posts featured there are: ” The best of 382,141 bloggers, 468,361 new posts, 310,678 comments, & 187,062,601 words posted today on WordPress.com.” (Note: These numbers change each day, but this is representative of the Freshly Pressed intro.)
I’ve been blogging on WordPress for over a year now, and have posted 421 posts to date (this one is 422). I’ve received some great comments and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of sharing the love of Christ and being an inspiration on my blog. I’ve also followed the suggestions for being Freshly Pressed, except that I don’t always include a photo or other visual. I’ve had over 19,000 page views, so someone likes my blog. And yet, I’ve never been Freshly Pressed.
I also read quite a few excellent Christian blogs that follow all of the suggestions for being Freshly Pressed, but I’ve never seen a single one of them features on Freshly Pressed either. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Christian blog be Freshly Pressed, though I admit I have not checked the Freshly Pressed page every single day.
I have, however, read some really stupid blog posts that have been Freshly Pressed. I’ve read ones that have numerous grammatical and spelling mistakes. I’ve read ones that are not inspiring or uplifting, and though they might entertain someone they didn’t entertain me. I’ve read ones that didn’t have very catchy headlines at all (one even had the headline “342”), and I clicked on them only out of curiosity to see why something with such a boring headline would be Freshly Pressed.
This Easter weekend, as I looked over the Freshly Pressed blog posts on Friday and Saturday, I wondered to myself, “Why do I care?” It seems quite clear that whoever chooses the 10 blog posts per day that are featured is not looking for or interested in Christian blogs. I did find a few that mentioned Easter, but none of them had anything to do with the true meaning of Easter. One titled “Just in Time for Easter” was about hatching chickens. Another was about how to make handmade bunnies and Easter eggs, with the headline “Easter Eggs, Bunny and Bunting!” A third titled “My Easter Decorating Woes . . .” was about various egg and bunny craft project failures. There was also a post titled “Celebrate Earth Day“, which happened to fall on Good Friday this year. Finally, on Monday there was a post-Easter post titled “Peeps: Can They Be Trusted?” in which the words “Easter” and “hell” were three words apart, but there was nothing in the post about how to avoid hell through the power of Jesus’ Easter resurrection.
I guess for some people chicks, eggs, bunnies, Peeps, and the recently created Earth Day are more important than the death and resurrection of the Creator of the Universe. But for me, the Divine Love of Jesus revealed on the cross and the awesome power of God declared by the empty tomb are more important than anything. It’s just too bad the editors of Freshly Pressed don’t believe that a single post about the grace and love of Jesus deserved to be Freshly Pressed on this Easter weekend 2011.
But I guess I still haven’t answered the question, “Why do I care?” It is not so much that I personally haven’t been Freshly Pressed that bothers me. It is that all those who subscribe to the Freshly Pressed feed or who visit the Freshly Pressed page each day are not being told about any of the awesome Christian blogs that are posted on WordPress. It seems I find a new one at least once a week by following the link in a comment on one of the blogs I already read. These Christian blogs are filled with inspiration and encouragement to live a life worthy of our Creator. These Christian bloggers look at life from a Christian perspective and find in it hope and faith worth holding on to.
So I have decided to add another theme to my blog. Starting next Tuesday, I am going to write about posts from other Christian blogs that have inspired me and given me hope during the previous week. I know I don’t get the same exposure as the Freshly Pressed page, and being mentioned here won’t drive nearly the traffic to another blogger’s post as being Freshly Pressed would, but I believe it is high time the work God is doing on WordPress be showcased somewhere.
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Great post! I found it just searching through the blogs. Have a great day!
Michael, Thanks for stopping by and leaving such a nice comment. Peace, Linda
Hi Linda,
I was reminded of this post you wrote a while back when I read a “Freshly Pressed” post today which has been featured for about a week now on the WordPress main page.
I usually ignore the featured posts, but my curiosity got the best of me and I finally clicked on “The 20 Most Rewatchable Movies Of All Time” (as of today, it is still on the main page). Freshly Pressed?? This post was dated February 14, 2010!!! Right now it says there have been 491,297 posts written so far today (it’s not even 1 PM P.S.T.). So, basically with nearly half a Million posts to choose from, just from today, not to mention the half a million or so from every day this week, they felt the need to feature a post that’s a year and a half old.
I thought you might find this as interesting and ironic as I did 🙂
Loren
Loren, I am laughing right now because I was compelled to click on that very post yesterday and noticed the date. I wondered the very same thing. If I brought bread that old it defintely wouldn’t still be fresh. Neither is that post, which mentions a sequel that is supposed to come out in 2010!
I have been having fun with My Tuesday Three theme that was started from this post, though. It’s moved beyond blogs to whatever “three” God leads me to. So far He hasn’t led me to the Freshly Pressed page. 😉 Peace, Linda
That’s funny because it was that exact statement (about the “upcoming” sequel) that made me look up and notice the publication date in the first place. Guess I assumed it was more recent before I got to that part 🙂
I am glad that this inspired you to write your excellent “Tuesday Three” series…it’s introducing us to a lot of very wonderful resources!
You rock Linda! I love it that you are not so chicken to air your observations with the freshly pressed. Anyone mention there that chicken could have came from easter eggs? 🙂
Uggggghhh!!!! Don’t get me started 😡
I have wrestled with a lot of these same issues. What bothers me even more than the “freshly pressed” page is the “tag” pages (like when you click on the tag “Bible” or “Christianity” on a post and get a list of other posts with that tag). To WordPress’ credit, they have gotten a lot better since I first started blogging here, but I still wonder what criteria they use to decide which blog gets “promoted” at the top of the list (the “featured” post, the “big” one at the top, not the most recent).
For a long time, there were two or three anti-Christian bloggers who would upload maybe 20 or 30 new “posts” a day — usually just little 200-300 word attacks against Christianity — and these would inevitably be the “featured” posts in all related categories. So, anytime you would search for blogs related to “Bible”, “Christianity”. “Jesus Christ”, “God”, etc., you would be met with a huge “featured” post that blasphemed God (more than once the “F” word, unedited, would be right in the title).
I understand that WordPress wants to remain religiously neutral and not “offend” anyone, so I can kind of understand their approach to the “freshly pressed” page, but come on, if someone is searching for posts related to “Christianity”, I don’t really think they are looking for the profane, blasphemous vitriol of those hostile to the Faith. Everyone has a right to say what they want, but I know I would appreciate it if WordPress would at least not exclusively promote material that mocks Christianity. Like I said, though, they have gotten a lot better since I first started writing here 🙂 Like you said, it’s not that I want my blog to be featured, but something positive and well written would be nice.
Now that my little rant is over, let me say that I think your idea about “freshly pressing” other blogs is a great one. A co-blogger I met on here when I first started used to do the same kind of thing and it was a wonderful way for people to find out about great Christian blogs. One word of caution: you might want to be sure and contact bloggers with whom you don’t have a lot of interaction and make sure they are OK with you endorsing their blog. The person I mentioned who used to do this had a couple of problems with people thinking she was trying to solicit an endorsement from them, or a “link exchange.” I know it sounds crazy (we should all be grateful when anyone shares our writing with others), but some bloggers actually got angry with her!
With that said, I, too, look forward to learning about some great Christian blogs that I am unaware of when you start this. Like Deb, my time is pretty limited and I don’t have the chance to read or comment on half of the blogs I wish I could. But it is nice to be able to show support for others sharing the Gospel through their blogs and maybe put them on our own blogrolls and keep them in our prayers. We all know this is not an easy effort and we gotta stick together and encourage one another!
God bless you, Linda, for all you do. May the Lord continue to bless you as you serve Him 🙂 Sorry about such a lengthy comment!
To God goes all glory,
Loren
Loren, No need to apologize about the length of the comment. I appreciate the feedback. I actually chuckled at your rant because since I wrote and posted this I’ve worried the post itself was too much of a rant. I don’t want to seem overly critical. So I appreciate that I am in good company with my frustration. I will keep in mind your advice to contact other bloggers before I post anything about their articles with links back to their blogs. It does seem that no one could possibly mind, but if they are the type of people who would be so upset as to become angry, perhaps they aren’t the type of blog I want to promote anyway. Thank you for your encouragement! Peace, Linda
God bless you, Linda . . .for caring. For wanting others to at least have an equal chance to read something more eternally worthwhile for them. They may not search out Christian blogs . . .but if one was freshly pressed, they might read something that would change their lives forever. I’ll be praying for you as you search out and share other blogs that share Jesus. 🙂 Can’t wait to see them too! I just have so much time, so don’t get to read and comment on as many as I’d like to.
Deb, Thank you for the encouragement. This post started out as just a frustrated rant and I almost didn’t post it. But then God gave me the idea of something positive to do with my frustration. I don’t have as much time to read and comment on blogs as I wish I had, either. There are just so many good ones. But I never miss yours! Peace, Linda