Idea – May Be Time To Update Instructions?
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I assume that the removal of the admin page easy access button is so that we will be more or less forced to visit and accustom ourselves to the new “My Site” links. I think it’s a good idea. The new system is still missing some key elements but as you’re working on it you need folks to use it and tell you what’s not working. We all end up being ummm beta testers more or less. LOL but I bet it works once you get past the headache from all the whiners who hate everything new.
I recently had questions about how to’s and why isn’t it workings etc for things on my blog and in searching the help items I quickly realized that it’s time someone went through them and fixed all those “go to your dashboard” and do XYZ steps.
Since we no longer have an easy way to access the admin page for our blog that instruction is a bit confusing. I noticed by surfing through the forums that many of the newbies are getting confused when instructed to follow instructions that don’t actually work because nothing is where it’s supposed to be and consequently everything is where is wasn’t and what should be isn’t. It can leave a newbie feeling a bit like they fell down the rabbit hole when they leave a note asking for help, some kindly moderator auto refers them to a standard link and the instructions on the link aren’t working.
One example is “Why aren’t my tags showing up on the WordPress Explore Search.” Members are repeatedly sent here = https://en.support.wordpress.com/topics/ where step #2 reads “Your blog is private or hidden from search engines. Check the Settings -> Reading tab of your dashboard. You must choose the first option, ‘Allow search engines to index this site’, for your blog to be included on tag pages”
How are they supposed to get to dashboard? Yes, you can quick solve it by directing them to type in /wp-admin/ at the end of their blog name but the whole point is to teach them to use the new page, right? Soooo It might be better for someone in charge to take five minutes or so and edit the instructions to read “Go to the my site tab -> settings -> site visibility and choose allow search engines to index this site.
Another idea that might help avoid this question popping up so often is to add a sentence to the other options on site visibility that reads “Choosing this option will remove your blog from the WordPress tag search on the WordPress explore blogs menu.”One of my favorite things about this site is the way you are constantly seeking to upgrade and improve. I agree that sometimes you have to force folks to use new features, however I think if that is the goal then the instructions need updating along with the features.
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Thank you so much for this post! I’m
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new to this blog stuff. I’ve been stumbling around here for a while, trying to figure out the instructions and why I can’t find what the heck they’re talking about. I thought I just wasn’t going to the right spot. I’ll keep looking for answers here on the forum and maybe figure it all out.
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@carabiensplash the folks here are really helpful the forums are a great place to get answers to questions too. Most of the time if you have a question someone else has already had the same one. Welcome to WordPress, I’m not an expert or an admin or anything like that but I’ll help you with whatever I can.
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@faeriefiles It’s very kind of you to offer to help me out. Thank you for that. I would really hate to drag you into this swamp though. :) I’m slogging through a bunch of Support pages and finding bits & pieces to fill in the blanks. I don’t know how long the WordPress site has had their system change, but I really wish they’d have updated their support to coincide with the changes or at least mentioned to us newbies that there was a gap (I didn’t see anything). Hopefully I’ll get it figured out & it’ll be smooth sailing soon!
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