The Humor-Blogs.com Blog

I've gotten the Smiley Count ('gigg') widget working with new Blogger! Instructions are on the Widgets page.

On Monday we had a little database glitch that affected the scores of many blogs. Our database ran out of space so I had to delete a bunch of older posts. The effect was that votes on these posts are no longer being counted in the scores. Fortunately, it affected everyone more or less equally, so the rankings didn't change much.

Note that the score is a rolling 30 day total, so eventually the votes on older posts get dropped from your score anyway -- this little glitch just caused them to be dropped a little earlier.

I've developed a workaround for this problem to prevent it from happening again.

In other news, I've gotten a lot of requests for instructions on plugging in the new smiley count widget (or 'gigg', as Lord Likely has named it) for other blogging platforms. I'm working on it. Check the Widgets page in a day or two.

I've added two cool new widgets.


The first one displays your current rank in the Humor-Blogs listings. It's super-easy. Just paste the code into your blog template. It will work on any platform that allows javascript.

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://humor-blogs.com/scripts/rank.aspx"></script>



The second one is slightly more complicated, and I've only tested it using Blogger. It displays the number of smileys a post has been given, and allows readers to rate it. There's one bit of code that you have to put at the top of your blog template, and another that you put in the post part of the template, where you want the rating widget to appear. Full instructions are on the Widgets page.

You can see both widgets in action on my blog.

I've also made some optimizations to the site that should make the pages load much faster.

Stay tuned for more cool stuff....

Welcome to the first post on the newly relaunched Humor-Blogs.com Blog! This blog was where we used to post blog reviews (which we stopped doing back in March, so STOP ASKING).

I decided that with all the new features and exciting changes happening at H-B, it would be a good idea to start a blog to help people keep up with it all. Check back here often for the latest news, bug fixes, and other info.

What's happening right now:

• First off, a lot of people (including myself) have experienced delays with their posts appearing on H-B. These seems to be related to the use of Feedburner to generate the rss feed. If your posts aren't showing up right away and you use Feedburner, I recommend changing your rss feed url setting to your source rss feed url (for example http://www.mattresspolice.com/rss.xml rather than http://feedburner.com/mattresspolice).
• Second, after getting feedback from a lot of members on the new rating system, I have decided to kill the smiley. This smiley was supposed to be a way of noting that you liked the post, but not enough to give it an LOL smiley, but mainly it just confused the hell out of people because it didn't actually help the post's score. So I got rid of it. Nope, it's gone, no matter how hard you beg.

I'm working on a lot more cool stuff, so check back here soon. If you have ideas for new features or other feedback, feel free to leave a comment. I promise to read them.

Oh, hi, everyone! It's Madmad, still giggling over some of the funny comments the reviewers had about Senior Citizen Humor. But I'll do my best to get myself under control - it's serious business, this reviewing gig, you know. Especially since it's one of the last ones before the new system goes into place. Unfortunately, Senior Citizen Humor is taking us out with a whimper, not a bang - it didn't do all that well with the readers:

Category	Score	Points
Content	4.73	33/70
Writing	4.27	2/5
Web Design	5.14	3/5
Intangibles	4.5	2/5
Read Regularly	0.91	1/10
Frequency	8	4/5	Total	45

Percentile Rank: 15


The biggest problem cited by most of the reviewers was the lack of originality:

Yet one more blogger who gathers pictures and jokes off the web and passes them off as their own.


There isn't much writing. I recognize most of these pictures and jokes from e-mail forwards.


I had a hard time with this one, basically cause it's lacking on originality.
1. Go to internet.
2. Search old people jokes/pictures.
3. Post findings.
4. Repeat daily or as necessary.


Reminds me of stuff my friends send me on facebook. It's cute more than it's funny.

But the reviewers tried to make up for it with their own funny lines:

About as funny as a "Hang In There, Baby...It's Almost Friday" poster. With an old cat hanging. From a noose.

Funny, but all of the jokes feel old, and I'm not sure that's a good thing.

I tried, honestly, out of respect for my elders at least.
It just didn't tickle me testies.

If I hadn't had my catheter in I would have dribbled into my pants with mild amusement.

And a few found the humor offensive:

Look, I'm all for taunting the elderly as much as the next anonymous internet jackass, but making jokes about elderly women with rotting intact hymens attracting fruit flies seems a little excessive to me. Just a tad, you know?

If I was going to show someone a good example of WHY NOT not blog, I'd probably forward them to this site. I award this blog no points and may God have mercy on it's creator's soul.

And while one reviewer called the blog "aight" and another "cute and funny," most felt the jokes fell a little flat.

... this blog, based on a very funny premise, is a bit of a one-trick pony. Old people ARE funny, but for more reasons than the fact they might not have sex and/or look hilarious when photo-shopped with silly props or an ass-kickin' physique.

I think the stuff featured on this blog is a poor excuse for true humor related to folks over 65 (and counting). If this blogger has nothing truly original, perhaps he should check out some of George Burns' material, and borrow from that? To quote but a few of George's one liners infinitely more clever/hilarious than the jokes I found on "My Senior Citizen Humor Blog": "You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there." "I'm at the age now where just putting my cigar in its holder is a thrill." "Sex at age 90 is like trying to shoot pool with a rope." See? Old age IS hilarious, when seen through the eyes of someone who did it rather brilliantly.

The template and ease of use of the blog earned its author some points, but the fact he also has a website, and links to it from his blog, confused some of the reviewers, who felt it was unnecessary and duplicated his efforts.

Why does he need a blog for exactly the same stuff again? Ok, the blog looks better than the website. I had a quick look at the website and fled right back to the blog for the nice calm template ;-)

But even if not everyone found Senior Citizen Humor to his or her liking, it had a few fans who enjoyed the collection of pictures and jokes about aging, even if they were left wishing there was more original material.

the frogster here, taking a look at the reviews of The Nifty Files. The Nifty Files posted a respectable score.

Category	Score	Points
Content	5.88	41/70
Writing	5.42	3/5
Web Design	4.58	2/5
Intangibles	5.17	3/5
Read Regularly	4.17	4/10
Frequency	8	4/5
Total		57

Percentile Rank: 59

The template had admirers and detractors:

The design is simple and effective. Perfect.

The site itself is way too stark...white on light blue. And there's way too much white space.

No excuse for the 1995 layout.

Design is good and easy to navigate. Don't like the turkey pic in the logo though, kinda low rent.

I don't really like the layout. It looks too home-made to me, with the black serif-font on white. I guess serif-fonts are a pet peeve of mine... I really don't like the way the calendar's in serif. And the italic serif links... But maybe it's just me. Honestly, if he just used Arial or something, I'd probably have given him full marks for looking good and navigabilty.

Some of the reviewers took points off because of the lack of original material:

(If I'm mistaken, my apologies; but as I've seen so many of the posts 'everywhere' I'm rather certain I am correct in my beliefs of recycling -- and improperly at that.)

It seems that despite putting their own website url on the images, the content is not their own and they don't credit where they found it. That's even worse than a pet peeve -- it's a HUGE No-no. I respect blogs with originality more.

Funny discoveries by the authour including hilarious packaging, newspaper articles and adds and videos. In that sense it's not original, but the short text with the graphics are well done and definitely bring out the humour. The authour has an eye for the strange and captures it well.

Not much writing involved here. Just some straight forward posts that are funny stuff found on the net.

While some of the reviewers were completely turned off by the incorporation of recycled material, but most found the site entertaining. Except for the occasional sour grape reviewer.

Very funny.

The text for each entry is short, to the point, and effective.

Yay! Short funny posts. Good eye for funny bits off the web. You can come and go and not need to learn this guy's (or gal's) life story (or sex).

I really enjoyed visiting The Nifty Files and I will be returning.

It's just okay. There isn't much writing to judge and the template is very plain.

Good job of separating things into categories of topic.

That said, the brevity of the site, humorous photos of signs, ads, etc. make for quick reading, and most everything draws a smile. The blogger obviously enjoys pointing out the humor in the everyday.

Too many pics, too many links, not enough funny.

It's bookmarked and I will be a regular reader.

haikus of funniness, but like mental cotton candy, it left me wishing there was more substance.

Most of the negative comments were aimed at the site's "cutesy" feel.

Very funny.

Let's just say it ain't just a clever title. I don't like being constantly ordered by EVERY post to "be nifty". I am not nifty. Will not nift. Have never nifted. I don't even know what 'be nifty' means, and I just had a hard time getting past it.

I think this blogger has a clearly "cute" sense of humor, too bad he/she feels the need to tell me why the various pics/videos are so darn hilarious in a way that says "I want you to laugh for the exact same reason I am. Also, I think you might not be smart enough to figure out what's going on unless I tell you. Here's hoping I get a job writing for The Family Guy, because they constantly over-expalain jokes, too." (This, in my mind, is what separates true funny from so-so.)

Here's a case where, in my humble opinion, the "intangibles" rank higher than the other categories. I have to say I laughed at the actual pictures, but the commentary left something to be desired... something... Oh yeah... finesse.

I'm sorry to say that I didn't find this blog funny. And the "Be Nifty!" at the end of every post annoyed me. I also found the template to be generic and kind of boring. Sorry!

Good job of separating things into categories of topic.

It's bookmarked and I will be a regular reader.

haikus of funniness, but like mental cotton candy, it left me wishing there was more substance.

Blogs in the review queue, check out the following comment and consider yourself warned:

I sooooo dislike the suck-up "I'm being reviewed" post. At least there were links to our recommended reading, but honestly, I really, Really dislike that play. This was reflected in the 'pet peeve' portion of the score.

The Nifty files faired pretty well, and many of the reviewers expressed their interest in becoming regular readers. Well done, Nifty! Keep on blogging!

the frogster here. Today I'm crunching the numbers for Armadillo Trader. Armadillo Trader got strong marks for his posting schedule, but got dinged a bit for his overall content.

Category	Score	Points
Content	5.38	38/70
Writing	5.94	3/5
Web Design	5.25	3/5
Intangibles	4.5	2/5
Read Regularly	5	5/10
Frequency	10	5/5
Total		56

Percentile Rank: 52

Templatewise, the reviewers' opinions ran the gamut:

Please change the font of your posts! I don't want to be blind by 30! Otherwise, not bad!

The site itself was laid out very professionally. It was easy to navigate and I love the category break-downs that are available. When I read his writings, its as though I am having a conversation with him. He writes the way he speaks, or at least it seems so. He also has a sarcastic cynicism that I find refreshing.

I don't like the layout. The middle column is much too narrow, the outside two are each almost as wide again. It distracts from the content. Given that the posts are all very long, you really don't want to be giving people any more reason to get distracted... I also don't like the font. I prefer sans-serif, especially when the page is already crowded and there's a lot to read. It just makes it a lot easier on the eyes.

Widening the middle column woould go a long way towards fixing the layout.

Some of the writers were enthusiastic about the writing:

This guy is a great writer. I didn't think that his blogs were hilarious but they were kind of amusing.

There's some great humor here, but the blog is all over the place in terms of tone, themes, etc. I think it should find a niche and stick to it, whatever that might be.

Very funny blog -- writing is top notch.

The posts are very long and sometimes the humor gets drowned in the details. I kept wishing he'd break it up a bit, to allow for pacing. I did appreciate the originality of his material, it is clear he put a lot of time into these columns.

The reviewers found the site funny, if not hilarious:

This is a fun little blog. Often, I'm not entirely sure where he's going with a few of his anecdotes (and the payoffs don't always work.) But he warmed my cold heart nonetheless by ridiculing Rachel Ray.

I'd check back from time to time to see what he's writing, but hope for a tightening up of the writing style, it would punch up his humor lines more.

Not a bad blog. Still too little material to tell how he's going to grow. Most of the stories are amusing and occasionally he really gets a good riff going.

While it didn't make me laugh, it did keep me amused and interested enough to read his older posts. I'll definitely come back!

The general consensus seemed to be that Armadillo Trader is a promising blogger with a bright future ahead of him once he finds the voice that brings the most out of his writing skills. Well done, Armadillo Trader. Keep on blogging!