The world is crazy. People are obsessed with throwing away proven successes or improving things until they no longer work — or are far harder to operate than before. MS Windows is a case in point.
Note the thin blue line above inviting one to dive into archives for future inspiration. Is that progressive?
Now two of the most successful features in the world of blogging, The Daily Post’s Daily Prompt and its Weekly Photo Challenge, have been dumped on the feeblest of explanations. I didn’t adopt the prompts personally, but I did observe a number of bloggers making brilliant use of them. As for the Weekly Photo Challenge, I really enjoyed the opportunity of taking or finding a photo that would fit the subject of the week, and that would point me to a wide cross-section of other entries that appealed to me. In that way I discovered a number of like-minded bloggers that I followed and who followed me in return.
As I say, the excuses are inadequate-to-nonexistent, and what is offered in substitution too feeble for consideration.
Pooh. Bah. Tush. And other expressions of disgust and disapproval.
Colonialist's Blog 
This reminds me of another example…my grandfather had a rubber stopper for the sink and bathtub. These plugs *worked* and they cost about 5 cents at the time. Eventually, they would wear out (after about ten years) and have to be replaced with another one. NOW, we have these elaborate plugs that operate by a handle. When (I don’t say “if”) they break, you need to hire a plumber and replace this entire mechanism hidden behind the tile! It’s INSANE. It’s a more complicated, more complex and much more expensive solution to a problem that was already solved a hundred years ago. And, so far as I can see, the new solution has zero benefits.
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To add insult to injury, if you run a test on the ‘lever’ types after a month or so, you find they have developed a major leak. This only gets noticed when the water runs out before one can wash/take a bath. This, when water is an ever-scarcer commodity!
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My partner and I developed a new site. Still in the early stages, Front page is still under development but we launched anyway. https:weeklyprompts.com we will announce a photo challenge and a word prompt each week and we accept a combination of the two.
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yes many broken hearts who have posted about this kidnapping .. it’s gruesome and with no actual explanation 😦
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I think one of these happiness guys was suffering from severe colic. So instead of doing the decent thing like jumping off a bridge, he inflicts this on us.
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it had to be a group decision, I’m guessing it too big … their input seemed nominal, the huge benefit was having that one place to find and read like minded people … there are loads of challenges/prompts about but the energy is scattered .. there is no one place with such resources as the host has 🙂
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Be like me, don’t take photos just go visit that bloke in Hawai’i, then you don’t have this problem 🐻 😀
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He is klick krazy and has enough for all of us!
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I hope he just checks back on your reply to realize that I’m not the only one who thinks that 😀
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‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’
So they cancelled it instead. Pity, as I’d only just signed up.
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And the idiotic invitation to dive into past challenges for inspiration. Part of the whole fun was up-to-the-minute interaction with other participants.
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The June challenge is “on the move” . . . pretty good entries so far.
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Wikipedia has a weekly challenge and you can contribute to their store of photos (look to the right side):
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
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I write for Wiki, anyway, so I don’t feel the need to stock their photo store.
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Not sure what it means . . . “I write for Wiki” . . . are you an editor? Do you do editorial duties? Do you mean as a job or volunteer?
Just curious.
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Wiki is all volunteers. Technically, anyone can add or subtract from Wiki articles but there are moderators to see they don’t muck it up. There is also a kind of acceptance procedure for contributors. I have corrected English, and added information on things like moths, bats and old organisations.
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I guess what I’m asking is this:
are you writing/correcting in any official capacity? Like a moderator? Or just strictly out of interest in accuracy?
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I am disappointed too. I came upon many fantastic blogs because of those prompts – and saw some amazing photos.
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Indeed; it attracted blogs and bloggers I’d never have come across without it.
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You know, there are other popular challenges . . . by bloggers.
I wonder if the thinking was that WordPress itself was undermining other people’s efforts to establish communities.
It could also be that the “features” have run their course and fewer people are interested in them.
However, if truly missed, why not formulate a habit on your own?
For instance, the four most popular types of photography are landscape, portrait, macro, and B&W.
You should be able to easily find places that have challenges in each . . . pick one (or all four) types and cycle through them, one per week.
For instance, this is just one of the many Landscape challenges:
https://loadedlandscapes.com/52-week-challenge/
Or, just create your own challenges and go to town. You know, if you want to go to town and if there is a town nearby.
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I was comfortable with the setup there and really don’t have the time to go exploring new territory!
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That seems counter to what you found attractive in those challenges . . . finding and connecting with different bloggers.
The effort to finding a new challenge is no more than what it took for the WordPress challenge . . . pick one at random and participate. That I know of, there was nothing special about the WordPress one.
Here’s one that a number of people seem to embrace:
https://ceenphotography.com/cees-challenges/fun-foto-challenge/
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I hate change for change sake. If something works, doesn’t cost anything then why change it? Inevitably they will end up losing. The Established may be reluctant to leave and start again, but New bloggers have nowhere to go, no one knows they are there. The potential for new earnings has diminished, loss of sales for new themes and upgrades to Premium to name a few.
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One can only think they hate success. ‘Quickly, let’s head for obscurity and failure!’
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I agree with you, Col. Why do away with something which was so popular?
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Makes no sense to me. Change for the sake of change.
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