What Is There To Like About The Changes To The Persona Paper Homepage?

Wow. I'm so surprised. I haven't been able to log on to Persona Paper for more than a few days (I've been busy and wasn't really feeling inspired to write here) and now that I got the chance to log in, I was so surprised to see the changes to the site's homepage.

It looked pretty odd at first, but I quickly got used to it. I like the changes to the homepage of Persona Paper. It looks quite nice. I like how the articles listed there now include snippets so people can see a bit more of the post in question to help them decide if they want to continue reading or not.

It's also good how we can see the post author's name if we hover our mouse on the image of the article. The carousel in the middle part looks pretty cool too.

But I do have to wonder why the site name "Persona Paper" appears twice on the homepage. I see it at the top, on the header portion, where it should be. But I also see it again a bit further down, right before the site announcements.

Why is that? Wouldn't it be better if it was only listed at the very top? It does seem odd to see it repeated twice. Anyway, what do you think about the site changes? I heard there were more changes to come.

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

allen0187 wrote on September 11, 2014, 8:41 AM:
"Love all the changes. It is the first of many. Can't wait for the rest of the updates."

FreyaYuki replied to allen0187 on September 25, 2014, 6:59 AM:
"I am also looking forward to the rest of the updates and changes. But I do still have to wonder why the Persona Paper logo appears twice on the front page. Has that been explained? Maybe I missed something."

Shadi wrote on September 11, 2014, 9:07 AM:
"I think its still not finished as they have things to improve. I personally would like to see a better and more attractive slideshow header and a more viewable recent posts."

FreyaYuki replied to Shadi on September 25, 2014, 7:03 AM:
"Yes, it looks like there are still improvements that need to be made. I agree with you about the slideshow header and the recent posts. But I'm glad that recent posts actually get the chance to be featured on the homepage so that everyone has the chance to appear on the front page even if it's just for a short while; that's only fair, isn't it? Maybe the slideshow could be moved up a bit so visitors / readers can see some content or articles right away without having to scroll down."

astraldreamer wrote on September 11, 2014, 2:12 PM:
"I'm still getting used to it, not sure if I like it, preferred it the way it was before, I found it quicker to navigate and I loved seeing how many views each post was getting."

FreyaYuki replied to astraldreamer on September 25, 2014, 7:13 AM:
"I think the homepage still needs some more improvement but I like that the recent posts are being displayed there and that we can see many more articles there as compared to how it was before.

"I think one of the Persona Paper logos should be removed though since there are 2 right now and wouldn't it be much better if there was only one? Perhaps the slideshow could be moved up too so some of the articles can be seen by visitors / readers without requiring them to scroll down the page. Right now, you can only see the announcements. If you want to see the articles, you have to scroll down."

Jackah wrote on September 11, 2014, 5:34 PM:
"It is quite a nice layout - although I'd like to see two themes; a light version (the current one) and a dark one (because, I write and use the site at night, so it's easier on the eyes)."

FreyaYuki replied to Jackah on September 25, 2014, 7:25 AM:
"I prefer the light version even though I usually use the site at night as well. I actually think the light version is easier on the eyes. But a dark theme or version sounds like a good idea for all those who might want it. It would be nice if you can just easily change the site look / theme by clicking on a button so you can decide if you want the light or dark look."

LarrySells wrote on September 11, 2014, 7:55 PM:
"I also like the home page, but wish that a few more department were there."

FreyaYuki replied to LarrySells on September 25, 2014, 7:29 AM:
"Sounds like a good idea. I think the homepage is still undergoing improvements. I do like how the recent posts are featured there so everyone has a chance to get their articles on the site's front page."

bestwriter wrote on February 5, 2015, 1:46 AM:
"This site is pretty new and we are bound to see changes if not at a galloping rate but changes are surely in the offing."

FreyaYuki replied to bestwriter on February 7, 2015, 8:40 AM:
"Yeah, I like the changes so far and it's good that the site is improving like allowing us to edit our comments in case we make a mistake, increasing the payment rate, etc."

*Notes:
- Image is by FirmBee (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere

How To Find Persona Paper Articles To Read?

How do you find articles that you want to or are interested in reading here on Persona Paper? What’s your process to help you easily find posts that you actually want to read about?

For me, there are a number of ways that I make use of to help me find interesting articles. For starters, I look at the Persona Paper homepage. You can see a short list of the most popular and most recent articles there.

I also take a look at the site categories though you're only limited to one single page so you can’t really search for or see the much older articles.

Aside from that, I also take a look at a person’s profile page where you can see a list of all the articles that they’ve submitted to the site.

I know there’s a search box here, but I haven’t tried using it yet. So, what about you? How do you discover new articles to read about?

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

melody23 wrote on August 1, 2014, 2:45 PM:
"I usually stop by the home page a few times a day to read new articles that are posted or welcome new members as I come across them."

FreyaYuki replied to melody23 on August 2, 2014, 5:21 PM:
"I also refresh the home page a few times to see if there are new articles submitted or if the popular section changed a bit so I can see if there are any interesting articles to read."

elitecodex wrote on August 1, 2014, 2:49 PM:
"We are working a way to better explore the articles on our site... that is lacking at the moment. Shortly after the redesign I hope to get that up and working."

FreyaYuki replied to elitecodex on August 2, 2014, 5:28 PM:
"That's good to know. It would be nice to be able to easily find more articles on the site. Looking forward to this upcoming feature then."

Scorpie wrote on August 1, 2014, 3:12 PM:
"The browse members from the header menu works also."

FreyaYuki replied to Scorpie on August 2, 2014, 5:31 PM:
"I haven't tried that since I'm new here and don't know many people yet. Also, the members list only lists the usernames so you won't know which of the people there have written articles that you might be interested in reading unless you can recognize the username from somewhere."

LoudMan wrote on August 1, 2014, 4:20 PM:
"I haven't had much luck with search engines yet, unless I'm doing a site specific search on a topic. And I'm grateful for your entry in the contest. :)"

FreyaYuki replied to LoudMan on August 2, 2014, 5:35 PM:
":) I've tried looking for Persona Paper articles via search engine too. If you can't think of a specific topic, you can limit the search results to only include pages from Persona Paper. It's hard to find anything though so it's better to have a topic or subject in mind but even that might not bring all that many relevant results."

AngelSharum wrote on August 1, 2014, 5:46 PM:
"I go through my activity list first and read stuff from people I follow, then I go to the front page and see if anything catches my eye. I sometimes go through the categories."

FreyaYuki replied to AngelSharum on August 2, 2014, 5:57 PM:
"Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the notifications list. I also make use of it but mostly I go with checking out people's profiles or the homepage and sometimes the categories too. The problem with the categories though is that we're only limited to seeing one page so you can't really explore and look for older articles that might be interesting to you."

BarbRad wrote on August 1, 2014, 11:45 PM:
"I mostly use my notifications, people's profiles, and the Browsing menu at the top to look for subject that interest me."

FreyaYuki replied to BarbRad on August 2, 2014, 6:00 PM:
"Yes, I make use of my notifications list too; I forgot to mention that. The notifications make things easy because the list is so detailed and organized. But it would be nice if we could have more options with regards to searching for articles to read here. For example, if you check the categories, you'll only get to see one topic page and you can't see the older articles anymore."

*Notes:
- Image is by kaboompics (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere

Reasons To Check Out A Persona Paper Member's Profile Page

What gets you to click on a Persona Paper member’s username, which will take you to their profile page where you can see a list of all of their articles?

As I mentioned in one of my articles here, one way for me to find new articles to read on the site is by checking out a person’s profile page and seeing what kinds of articles they write about.

But what will get you to check out the profile pages of these people in the first place? For me, there are a few ways that this can happen.

If I'm reading an article that I find interesting, sometimes, I’d find it interesting enough to want to check out the author’s profile to see if they wrote any more articles that I might want to read.

Another is when I encounter a comment made by a Persona Paper member on an article I'm currently reading. It doesn’t matter if it’s on my article or someone else’s.

If I see a comment that is detailed, that I agree with, that is significant, meaningful, or relevant to the article in question, then that might get me to check out that commenter’s profile page as I think something like, 'hey, I agree with this person’s words.

'It sounds like we have something in common. I wonder if this person writes about things that I'm interested in reading about too'. So what about you? What gets you to click on a Persona Paper username?

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

acelawrites wrote on August 2, 2014, 5:13 PM:
"I agree, profile page will give the reader some information about the author. It can widen our networks of friends on the net too."

FreyaYuki replied to acelawrites on August 3, 2014, 3:12 PM:
"Yeah. The profile page is where you can really see the kinds of articles that a person writes, what subjects or topics they like to write about, etc. It's a good way to see if you have anything in common with the author based on the kinds of articles that they write or based on the comments that they've written."

Fractal wrote on August 2, 2014, 8:12 PM:
"After reading a couple of articles from anyone, I will check the Profile page just to ascertain 'who' it is that writes. In most cases I gain little. I just learn the geographical location of the writer... whoopee! Does it help? No. :)"

FreyaYuki replied to Fractal on August 4, 2014, 4:41 PM:
":). When I look at a person's profile page here, I mostly pay attention to their list of articles to see if they write about things that might interest me or if we share the same interests. Their geographical location, if it is listed, is just a plus."

BarbRad wrote on August 3, 2014, 12:30 AM:
"I click for the same reasons you, do, but I usually click on the profiles of those who follow me to see if I want to follow back. I'm much more likely to do that here than on that other site, since everyone here is literate in English and is not likely to be a cheater."

FreyaYuki replied to BarbRad on August 4, 2014, 5:29 PM:
"I take a look at the profiles of those who follow me as well to see if they have any articles that I might want to read. Yeah, I noticed the same about people here being literate in English. I haven't even seen any spam so far, which is great."

*Notes:
- Image is by kaboompics (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere

Can't Unlike A Like On Persona Paper

So, apparently it's not possible to unlike a like on Persona Paper. Huh. How do you feel about that? Why would you want to unlike a like that's already been given anyway?

Accidentally liking a comment on Persona Paper

I hope it's okay to like your own comment on Persona Paper because I accidentally clicked on the like button on my own comment and I just found out that I can't unlike it or get rid of it. Clicking on the button again just says that I already liked this comment, not that I meant to like said comment in the first place.

Wanting to edit a Persona Paper comment

Actually, I wanted to edit a comment that I had just submitted, and, at first, I ended up clicking on the reply button. I was surprised and I wondered- when I saw the textbox popup- why I was seeing a blank textbox with my comment on top.

I was like- wait, what? How am I supposed to edit my comment if I can't get to it? And then I realized, oh, wait, looks like I clicked on the reply button instead. So, I closed that box and went to click on the edit button.

Only, that's not what happened and, man, all I can say is- it really shows that I haven't been here in a while as I seem to have forgotten where the edit button was. I ended up clicking the button beside reply and was then surprised to see that I ended up liking the comment instead of being able to edit it.

Slow, unresponsive site

In fairness, the site was being slow and unresponsive again (I'd forgotten about that too) and I even had to reload/refresh the page just to get to my comment and finally get the chance to edit it. I'm not sure, but maybe I ended up clicking the like button on other people's comments too.

Delete Persona Paper comments

I can't delete my comment either - when I realized that I couldn't remove the accidental like, I thought about just deleting my comment and then submitting it again, but, unfortunately, I can't do that either :-(.

So, anyway, does anyone know if it's okay for us to accidentally like our own comments? If I remember correctly, we don't get paid for likes anyway, right? Or is that from some other site?

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

MaeLou wrote on June 5, 2015, 10:54 AM:
"No big deal. I don't even think we keep track of who likes comments and such, and if we do, we don't pay attention to them since likes aren't paid for in comments or posts anyway."

HappyLady wrote on June 6, 2015, 8:28 AM:
"I don't think would worry too much about an accidental like. I do think the site seems slow today thought and I got something telling me to enable Java Script on the log in. Hopefully things will pick up soon."

AliCanary wrote on June 9, 2015, 12:42 PM:
"We don't get paid for Likes, so I can't imagine it would be a problem. Even if we got paid for Likes, it would be the ones on our articles, not comments, so don't worry. I understand about clicking the wrong icon--I'm sure I've hit Reply before when I wanted to hit Edit!"

Ruby3881 wrote on June 14, 2015, 4:35 PM:
"There is no pay for likes here on PP, and no way to see who liked. If I remember correctly, I think the owners can't even see who liked a post (not sure if it's the same with comments.) I can't see why it would be a problem to like your own comments, as you automatically like your own posts when they publish :-)

As for deleting comments, that might be because we get paid for the comments we post on others' content. It also tends to disrupt the flow of conversation, if a comment is removed after someone replies to it..."

*Notes:
- Image is by geralt (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere

How Accurate Is The Persona Paper Character Counter?

I like how Persona Paper has a character counter so you can easily make sure that your article’s character count is way past the minimum requirement of 500 characters. However, when I hovered my mouse on the character counter, I saw something that made me wonder exactly how accurate this character counter was, how it worked and how we can tell for sure if our articles are over 500 characters.

The text that shows up when you hover your mouse on the character counter is "how many characters are in the text". It further reiterates that a qualifying post needs 500 characters. The last one is what I'm concerned about.

It says "this is an estimate but not the official count as it is counted on the server when submitted". So how do we know for sure how many characters our article has and if it passes the minimum character requirement? How accurate is the estimate of the Persona Paper character counter?

When we see the estimated number of characters that our article supposedly has on the Persona Paper character counter, how much can we trust that the amount displayed is near what the server will count as the true number of characters that our article really has when we submit it to the site?

I usually write long posts so this isn’t much of a problem for me, but, sometimes, I might write short articles. I always double-check my article’s character count before submitting the article (I write my articles elsewhere then just paste them on the site’s submit page text box), but I’m wondering if it’s possible for a mistake to occur.

What if you thought your article met the minimum character requirement when you counted it elsewhere or in the Persona Paper character counter, but, apparently, when you submitted it, the server counted it differently and it turns out that you counted wrong and your article is actually below 500 characters?

Can something like that happen? What about if we use the Microsoft Word character counter? Can that give an accurate count of Persona Paper’s 500-character minimum requirement for articles?

Here are some of the comments from this article, back when it used to be posted elsewhere:

LoudMan wrote on July 26, 2014, 5:51 PM:
"From what I understand, the one we use only counts the Arabic letters and numbers and not the punctuation or spaces and special characters. Altogether, the 500-character requirement is only about 120 or so words. As much can be typed in just a passing thought."

FreyaYuki replied to LoudMan on July 27, 2014, 12:49 PM:
"Thanks for clarifying that. It's great that the Persona Paper character counter automatically doesn't count the spaces and the other things that aren't included in the 500-character minimum.

Yeah, I know it's not that hard to come up with 500 characters. As I mentioned, I usually end up writing articles that are longer than that. Sometimes, my comments end up around 500 characters or more as well. I was just wondering about the accuracy of the Persona Paper character counter."

bestwriter wrote on July 26, 2014, 9:09 PM:
"It is always better to go for posts that are a little more than 500 characters. There is yet another way. Paste your contents on msword and there at the bottom you will find the number of words. Click on it. You will get all the details."

FreyaYuki replied to bestwriter on July 27, 2014, 12:36 PM:
"Yes, that's what I think too. I wouldn't want to write an article with exactly 500 characters only. As I mentioned above, I usually write long posts. Even my short posts are still over the 500-character minimum. I was just wondering about the Persona Paper character counter and how accurate it was.

Yes, I know about the MS Word character counter as I mentioned in the article. I write my articles on MS Word so I count them with the word processor's character counter before pasting the article on the Persona Paper submit page and then double-checking with the provided character counter."

*Notes:
- Image is by StartupStockPhotos (Public Domain) from Pixabay
- This was previously published elsewhere