Word Press Algorithm Writing Prompts

Word Press Algorithm Writing Prompts

Herb’s Blog, Herbdate 22261 – 780:

Here’s the haps:

I recently started following the blog of an author and poet named Chel Owens at a site called, strangely enough, chelowens.com. I haven’t read all of her stuff yet but I have liked what I’ve seen so far. She does occasional poetry contests and the posts that I’ve read are really pretty good. She’s definitely worth checking out and perhaps following. Anyway, she had a post with the title “Monkeys, Happy Place, Iceland” which caught my attention.

The WordPress Reader, with which I have a sort of like/hate relationship, generates search suggestions at the top of the page when you open it up and she just took those and turned them into a post. I don’t know what sort of searches she does or keywords she uses but I thought I should give it a try. When I looked at mine, however, I got “Sharks, Colorado, Parenting.” I follow a couple of bloggers who are from Colorado but not really Colorado blogs. I can’t remember the last time I read about sharks on a blog and most of the time the blogs I read are not about parenting, although there are some that relate incidents. It strikes me as odd that even though none of the blogs on my Reader page are about these things, yet I might want to search them?

About halfway down the Reader feed or when you finish reading a post using the Reader they offer you suggestions of recommended posts on other sites you might want to read. Sometimes I have seen these and clicked on them and found nice little-known blogs, and other times I have said, “What in the world did they think I would want to read that for?”

Then I started to wonder about how these things were generated. So I tried opening it and refreshing it. I got a large number of differing results. I did a screenshot of the first one to show its position in relation to the search bar. Here are some samples:

“Writing, Groovy, Inspiration” – I guess I can dig those suggestions, man.
“Flowers, Cute, Woodworking”
“Technology, Hiking, Pride”
“Mathematics, Politics, Sous vide” – I had to ask The Google what Sous vide was. Mathematics? Me? Really? I’m gonna search for a blog about math? Not so much.
“Bloom, Overwatch, Colorado” – Another Colorado. I had to look up Overwatch, too. I’m not the “vibrant, team-based shooter game” type.
“Iceland, Poetry, Community Pool”
“Fashion, Mountain Biking, Cute”
“Parenting, Vegan, Homesteading”
“Anime, Health, Farm”
“Tibet, Zombies, Toddlers”
“Sharks, WordPress, Groovy”

Mostly fairly random although there are a couple in there that would be viable suggestions. Then I made the big mistake. I tried to find out what an algorithm is. Those who know my relationship with math will know that I was immediately in over my head but did find a simple explanation that it is a set of instructions for a computer and used in certain conditions. If you have a WordPress account there is an article that shows all the different data they use to generate these. It was kind of interesting to me. Algorithms, Search, and Recommendations.

“So, um, Herb,” I am sure someone meant to ask, “when are you going to write an actual post using these search suggestions as prompts?”

Well, I’m certainly glad you asked me that question. Yup. Yes indeedy, weedy. Oh, quit drumming your fingers all impatient-like. I’m thinking about it. I’m thinking about it.

I think the problem is the commas. Instead of writing about Iceland, Homeschool, Health writing about Iceland Homeschool, Health would very different. So would Iceland, Homeschool health. Fashion Mountain Biking, cute. That one you could do Fashion Mountain, Biking Cute. You could even combine a couple of different ones. Iceland, Poetry, Community Pool with Parenting, Vegan, Homesteading. Community Pool Parenting? Parenting Vegan? Iceland Community Pool Poetry. Beautiful, Cocktails, Chickens.

I’ve often worried about my writing
Could I, in fact, find groovy inspiration?
Should I quit and study WordPress sharks?
Or Tibetan zombie toddlers?
I don’t drink but what will I do
With beautiful cocktail chickens?
Maybe I should visit Overwatch, Colorado
and see the vegan homesteaders from Iceland
parenting their chickens
It was like funny technology flowers

Meh. That was a bunch of junk, but I may revisit the idea again. Maybe write a story instead. Hmmm…I just need Motivation Sharks. with Flowers.

Remember, the good book says, “If flying is so safe, why do they call the airport the terminal?”

Comments

23 responses to “Word Press Algorithm Writing Prompts”

  1. ellie894 Avatar

    😄 I’m not sure how I feel about motivation sharks but you sure made this look easy and fun!

    1. Herb Avatar

      It was fun.

    2. Herb Avatar

      You should try it. It’s really kind of weird because the suggestions I got were really off the wall for me.

      1. ellie894 Avatar

        I’ll give it a go and let you know what I find! ☺️

  2. Chel Owens Avatar

    Ooh! I likes it! Your messing with commas reminds me of those poetry magnets from years ago. Go with it, groovy Iceland man.

    1. Herb Avatar

      lolol! * tips hat * Thank you kindly, ma’am.

  3. dumbestblogger Avatar

    I ran into someone the other day who claimed that Al Gore didn’t actually invent the internet. “Oh yeah?” I said. “Then would you mind explaining to me why they call them Al Gore-ithms?”

    1. Herb Avatar

      Oh man! I always thought that was the former Vice President’s dance moves! I knew Al Gore invented the Internet. He said so.

      1. dumbestblogger Avatar

        You can’t deny facts.

  4. Shruba Avatar

    Omg. I haven’t read something so relatable and hilarious at the same time in years. This was immensely satisfying! Thanks, you’re really creative. 😂

    1. Herb Avatar

      Thank you so much. try it with the reader and see if you don’t get some off-the-wall suggestions.

      1. Shruba Avatar

        Yes, haha I actually might. Thanks for the suggestion. 😊🥳

  5. Herb Avatar

    I missed a great opportunity because I just got, “Delicious, Funny, Monkeys”

  6. peanutbuttersandwiches_ Avatar

    Bahahahahahaha I’m going to do this now my WordPress recs are Tech, Juno, Books

    1. Herb Avatar

      It’s funny. Maybe a bit weird.

  7. Mr. Ohh's Sideways View Avatar

    Hey sharks have always motivated me especially when I was swimming. So Can three unrelated words really make a succesful blog post? Stay tuned

    Spread laughter with all you do

    1. Herb Avatar

      Monkeys, Travel Backpacks, Beauty

  8. achme24gmailcom Avatar
    achme24gmailcom

    Missing commas do make things interesting…

    1. Herb Avatar

      Oh yes. And well do we know.

  9. AJMcGregor Avatar

    I’m glad to hear you have a math issue as well. I also like to think that only the most intelligent, creative people in the world have major problems with math.

    1. Herb Avatar

      I agree. That has to be the answer.

  10. AJMcGregor Avatar

    By the way, what was the deal with a slide ruler? What a nasty little piece of work that thing was!

    1. Herb Avatar

      I actually did know a guy who could use one but I never got it.

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