Well, I’m 100% certain that I won’t be using Vocal.
I tried to publish a story but there weren’t enough words in it. Minimum number of words is 600. That kind of means that there would be no picture posts.
Next, once I got the minimum number of words and submitted my story for publication, it took them 24 hours to tell me that there was a “technical issue” and that they would be contacting me within the next 24 hours.
They contacted me and said that due to the “technical issue,” they had created a new draft and asked me to re-create my post. Well, I did. I was extremely fortunate that I had created it in Word, and saved it.
After pasting everything into the new draft, I submitted it for publishing. It was approved. Unfortunately, here’s what they approved:
Seriously? They couldn’t even be bothered to removed ‘NEW DRAFT -” from my title.
Unfortunately, one cannot edit one’s stories. One has to contact Vocal and ask them to edit it. Well, I have requested them to edit it twice now. Today I got an email stating that their offices are closed for the weekend and will re-open Monday.
So here I am with a published story—my first—that makes me look like an absolute idiot.
Nope. Vocal is too onerous for me to try to do something with it. Amazing that in today’s world with all this instantaneous stuff we do, there still is a site that makes you wait 24-72 hours for appropriate service.
Nope, nope, and nopitty nope.
Russel Ray Photos 
Ugh…if they are serious about curating the articles that get published then they have to do it in a professional way. 😦
Thanks for the info. Russel. I won’t be wasting any time on Vocal either. 😦
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Thanks for the real-life review of the platform. I try to aim for less than 600 words in a post, because I don’t think people read anything longer. That sounds like way too much interface is needed with the content police. Yuk.
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Hello Russel, I’m sorry that Vocal worked out badly for you.
I can’t remember at what point we last communicated on here or whether we’ve already had this conversation. So, do accept my apologies if I’m repeating myself and/or teaching my grandmother to suck eggs.
I’m assuming one of the reasons for wanting to leave WordPress is because you lost your usual WordPress dashboard including the WP Admin classic editor.
If so, take a look at how to return to to the WP Admin sidebar included in my How-To Guides from my other site Weekly Prompts. For good measure, as you already use Word, you might also like the instructions for the Microsoft Blogging Template.
https://weeklyprompts.com/how-to/
Apologies if neither are of any use. 🙂
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Thanks for sharing your experience – Vocal hasn’t been on my ‘radar’ at all, but I’ll add it to the list to search and see if they are still around, next fall, sometime, when I’m cleaning out bookmarks – LOL
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Well, you just saved me some time.
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