Let’s Discuss: What blog features do you actually use?

Yesterday, I posted this question to Twitter:

I’m curious, have you ever actually used an archive list to find a post on someone’s blog? Do you find them useful?

The general consensus was, as expected, that people turn to search first and use archive lists infrequently, if at all. Yet they are pretty standard for blog design.

Which, of course, begs the question: what “standard” blog features do you actually use, and which are just a waste of space?

I think there’s a very fine line between features that help and ones that just distract from what’s important. The argument could really be made for or against almost anything! Take related posts, for example. On the one hand, there have definitely been times I’ve stayed on a site longer than I would have because a related post caught my eye, then another one, then another. But on the other hand, most people use an automatic install, so related posts appear before share buttons and the comments section, and readers move on to another post before they have a chance to comment on or share the original post. That’s not necessarily a good or a bad thing — it just depends on your goals.

So, tell me: what blog features do you actually use? What features do you miss when the blogger has chosen not to make them available? What features could you do without? Do any flat out annoy you?