Why Are Videos Showing Up Instead of Photos in the Reader?
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Just noticed that the videos are showing up in the Reader instead of the photo I’ve used for the blog post.
WP did this in the past and I complained about it then, too.
Putting the videos in the Reader will only get us less views on our blog posts!
I object strongly!
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Another complaint about the Reader, now the full post is showing up instead of the excerpt.
So why would anyone bother going to the blog post now?
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If you set a featured image (a screenshot from the video or something else) for the post, that will be what is shown in the Reader.
Another complaint about the Reader, now the full post is showing up instead of the excerpt.
Are you using a retired theme that no longer supports all wordpress.COM features or one that does not have featured images?
Themes are retired when they no longer support all wordpress.COM features. They can only be used on sites that have used them previously. The recommendation is to select another theme. https://theme.wordpress.com/themes/features/two-columns+white+featured-images/?sort=free
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No, I don’t use Featured Image but it is available on my theme.
I use photos from Flickr’s Creative Commons’ list.
Are you saying if I choose a “new” theme, both of these issues would change? Or would I still have to use Featured Image and not Flickr’s CC photos?
Both of these happened rather recently, so why the changes in Reader?
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No, I don’t use Featured Image but it is available on my theme.
Try using it please because from what I read it is required unless you want the video to display in the Reader instead of the featured image.
I think you already know this but you can type modlook into the sidebar tags on this thread for a Staff follow-up. How do I get a Moderator/Staff reply for my question? https://en.support.wordpress.com/getting-help-in-the-forums/#how-do-i-get-a-moderatorstaff-reply-for-my-question Please subscribe to this thread so you are notified when they respond and be patient while waiting. To subscribe look in the sidebar of this thread, find the subscribe to topics link and click it.
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Or would I still have to use Featured Image and not Flickr’s CC photos?
Can one make a Flickr image into a featured post? The answer is no.
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Thanks, timethief for your help and suggestions.
Yes, I did put “modlook” as a tag on this thread.
I’m very unhappy about this. It’s a move backward as only a few days ago, the photo I used in the blog post showed up and an excerpt was posted in the Reader instead of the full post.
Hey, if views get too low, WP will lose me after over 9 years.
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Hello –
We’re currently conducting a test of full text posts in Reader to improve the experience for readers. I’ve provided your feedback to the team.
Thank you for taking the time to reach out about your concern.
Adding a featured image to your posts will give you control on which image displays in The Reader.
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It’s not exactly a concern but a strong complaint. And on both issues, the video showing up in the Reader list, and the full text and video showing up in the Reader view.
Thanks for passing this complaint along, Liz.
Why bother having a nice theme if our WP followers are never going to see it?
Why not count views on the posts from the Reader?
Forcing us to use a Featured Image only uses up our free space for our so-called “free” blogs at WP. It’s deceptive advertising, imo. Not to mention the ads that ALWAYS show up unless one purchases a “no-ad” upgrade.
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Hi @dandelionsalad,
Thanks for the feedback. We’ve passed it along to the reader team.
For what it’s worth, we count full views from the reader. We don’t count views if the user only saw an excerpt and did not click through.
And, once you have added a photo to a post or even to the site, setting it as your featured image does not take up extra space. You would be welcome to use the same featured image every time if it suits you.
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Hi Supernovia, thank you for the additional information. I didn’t know about the views being counted from the Reader, definitely a good idea.
I’m not very familiar with the Featured Image as I use Creative Commons photos from Flickr as I also upload my own photos there. I do use some photos more than once as I do have some favorite ones, but it would definitely take much longer to have to download them first, then put in a link to their Flickr page in the URL and add a caption saying who took the photo each time.
Another problem with the Featured Image is the size, the shape actually, doesn’t fit for Facebook dimensions and it’s location is at the top of the blog not within the actual post.
I may be able to learn work arounds, of course.
Thank you again.
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If you want to use the same photo over and over again as a featured image you can, without downloading. Just choose set featured image and pick from previously uploaded images.
Here are Facebook’s recommended image sizes:
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/sharing/best-practices#images -
Thanks again, Supernovia.
So, if I set the same Featured Image at least there will be an image on the Reader instead of the video showing up?
But I still can add a photo within the blog post so it shows up when shared on Facebook?
I may try doing that as most of the traffic comes from Facebook, not WP’s Reader.
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OK, for my blog posted yesterday, I set a Featured Image and it shows up in the header area of the blog and I still have a photo within the blog and Facebook shows the photo with the link, all good. But, in the Reader, the video still shows up instead of either the photo or the Featured Image.
Is it because my theme has been retired? I really do like my theme and changed it only a few years ago when my other theme was retired (I liked that one, too). It takes a lot of time to change themes.
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OK, I changed themes today. So, when shall these changes take place? Only for new posts?
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Why is the video showing up in the Reader list, and the full text and video showing up in the Reader view? I’ve reluctantly changed to a new theme yesterday.
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Hi @dandelionsalad, I’ve given that feedback about showing featured images instead of videos to the developers. They are taking it into consideration as they work on an update.
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Thanks for passing that along, Supernovia.
What I don’t understand is I thought I did what I needed to do to prevent this by changing to a new theme, and still the exact same problems with videos showing up on the Feed and full blog post instead of an excerpt in the Reader.
So this is happening to everyone now, regardless of new or retired theme?
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