Thursday, November 29th, 2007
Comments
There are discussion threads on whether not commenting on posts is rude and bad netiquette behavior.
My personal take on it is, it is absolutely impossible to comment on every post that I read. I wouldn’t even have time to blink if I commented on everything I read. Or ya’ll would get only a one-word comment from me. I try to comment as much as I can, but sometimes I’m just not in the right frame of mind, or there’s not enough time to write a decent comment, or I had nothing to say regarding the post. That said, if I comment on someone’s blog multiple times and don’t see any response or acknowledgment whatsoever, or reciprocating comments in my own blog, then it is more likely I will stop reading it sooner or later. The exception to that is if the blog is extremely high traffic and I’m just a nobody to them.
When I get comments, if I have the time or I feel I should respond to it, I do so by replying via email. It is easier for me, and faster as my email client is much faster than a web hosting site with so many requirements (name, email address, URL, captcha, moderation etc). In my opinion, it is also easier and better for the commenter, as they wouldn’t have to keep checking the post for possible replies/updates in the comment section. Certainly one can RSS to most comments now, but I don’t want to fill up the RSS reader just to check for that.
I hardly engage in the comment sections, aside from using it to leave comments. Occasionally I do scroll back to see what others have said, but don’t check it much at all. It’s not intentional if I missed your replies in the comment sections of blogs other than my own. Sorry!
on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 5:04 am:
“That said, if I comment on someone’s blog multiple times and don’t see any response or acknowledgment whatsoever, or reciprocating comments in my own blog, then it is more likely I will stop reading it sooner or later.”
I’m with you on this. I wrote about this before and I realize it made me sound like a complete jerk, but it’s the truth. If I’m really not connecting with the blogger, I get really bored.
I’m guilty of replying to comments in the comment section though. To be honest, I don’t really mind replying to each one through email, but sometimes my reply takes all of 2 sentences, and I feel like I’m just spamming people that way. I don’t feel that way though when bloggers respond to comments I leave on their blog by email. If that makes any sense at all.
on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 11:14 am:
I got confused of what is right and not right to do in the comment department too.
I do agree with Lisa, that when you are not connected to the blogger, it is kinda boring. It’s like talking to your girl friend, but she doesn’t hear your or choosing not to hear you at all. Ouch, that hurts.
on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 11:14 am:
I have 500+ feeds in Bloglines, so it would be a full-time job to comment on all of them. Plus, I don’t like to comment unless I have something to add to the conversation.
I used to comment back in my own comment section, but I’ve switched to replying via e-mail because it’s more efficient (although I really need to switch from Yahoo to Gmail because, grrr).
on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 6:49 pm:
I also tend to comment through e-mail. Unless, it’s a topic that deserves more debate and I feel I actually should reply in my comment section. But I rarely get comments, so it doesn’t come up so much.
BTW, thank you for befriending me on NabloPoMo. You’ve been tagged:
http://callipygianchronicle.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/seven-things-about-me/
on Thursday, November 29th, 2007 at 9:49 pm:
I never even knew that you could comment via email - fascinating. I agree with you though. I’m not always in the mood to comment. Just today I read over 50 posts (most in the past hour or so) and well, I just didn’t have anything to say. I figure if I comment once a week or so then that should be fine.
It does bug me when I comment in blogs but others don’t spend time to visit my blog, even to just say “Hiya!” Then again, I’m pretty bad with following up on comments that I’ve left on blogs or even following through with folks that have commented on my posts. It’s making me think that there must be a plug-in out there that would allow me to track comments/discussions on my blog (I believe typepad has that option).
on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 9:41 am:
What a good topic! Much like the blogroll debate. I like to reply via email too, but sometimes the email doesn’t show up or they don’t provide it so I’m stuck either 1)searching for their blog, finding an email and THEN replying, or 2) just leaving a comment on their blog.
For bloggers that don’t interact with me after I’ve commented a few times, I might still read them if they’re interesting, but you’ll see my comments drop. Why comment if they don’t care? Or if they get like 50 comments per post?
on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 1:27 am:
Hmmm. I sometimes reply to comments, but can’t always. When I comment on someone’s post, I rarely check back to see if they replied to my comment, though it is fun when they do.
It depends… if the blog is interesting or funny I’ll keep going back constantly whether or not the blogger ever replies to me. I’m not involved with them, just reading along with the story of their life, and that’s fine. Other times, comments go back and forth and you make friends.
I do feel like its rude to never reply to comments. I don’t care so much when someone else does it to me - as I said, I rarely chceck back - but I feel rude not commenting back to other people. But good gawd, who has time for all that… every time?