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The Art And Science Of Commenting On Blogs !!

The Art And Science Of Commenting On Blogs !!

Last updated on: August 3, 2010 at 7:57 am by Dan Wilkinson

The Art And Science Of Commenting On Blogs !! 2010-08-03T07:57:51-05:00 Dan Wilkinson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

First thing first, WE ALL LOVE COMMENTS! Some accept it, some declare it on their blogs and some remain stoic on this issue. But the fact remains that we bloggers love it when someone notices our blog, reads it patiently and leaves a comment for us. Or else, we all would be writing in our diaries!

Jokes apart, Here I am to discuss the Art and Science of Commenting !!

THE ART OF COMMENTING :

DO YOU REALLY COMMENT ?? I have often scratched my head over this question! I have seen a beeline of commentators under a very ordinary post of a young 20 something girl (an established blogger), the usual ranting “oh i have so much work to do, (read i have better work to do than blogging!) and “just not getting time to write in my blog” (as if people are dying to know what did you have in breakfast!) and “you know these meetings and this schedule is getting me crazy” ( ah! i wonder is this a post???!!).

And you have to believe me, there were 30-40 comments saying “Oh girl, take care!” I was aghast!!! As if there were no better posts to read and comment. Why do we comment on such silly meaningless rantings? Just to make our presense felt? Just to tell the blogger, when you are fine, please come to my blog, since I commented here?

Talking about good, informative, funny and thoughtprovoking posts. i like when people think and/or feel and write. The best way to comment there is to READ it, have your opinion, your views, your thoughts put in that comment box, instead of just saying “good post”. What is the harm in showing your ignorance about a topic, ask your doubt. the blogger will love it. Disagree, a mature blogger will handle it well. Give constructive feedback, any blogger will appreciate your effort. And do you know people always, always know when are you honest and when are you saying “pl check my blog also now since i came here” !

THE SCIENCE OF COMMENTING

CHEMICAL REACTIONS OF COMMENTS :

Now if you are a new blogger like me, there will be a strong chemical reaction in your mind and you would go gaga over the comments !

But, If you are one of those established bloggers, where people queue up to comment…. then you would say “well alright, people comment, but I would like to hear something beyond the normal (mind you, normal!) adjectives like “great thought/post”, “Excellent”, “amazing”, “wonderful”, “very beautiful” etc etc.

So it depends where are you on the number-line of the blogosphere. I call it numberline (just coined this term in this context!) because everyone has a space in this blogogsphere, but the more visited and commented you are the higher is your number, and the more people line up to you! (was that funny?!)

CHEMISTRY LAB TECHNICIAN AT WORK :
(DO YOU CATCH BOUQUETS AND BRICKBATS WITH GRACE?)

I have serious doubt on this issue.

Recently, I spotted a post of a blogger (which was a weekly “pick” by a forum, which is supposed to be very interesting). Out of curiousity, I also read it. I found absolutely NOTHING in it to laugh/smile/enjoy/ponder/think/get inspired in it.

Since I believe in being honest (For God’s sake at least be honest in the blogosphere, nobody will stop your promotion, or deduct your marks!), so I wrote a comment saying that ‘I have really not found anything interesting. Moreover, the incident which is the focal point of your post is………. ‘. I cannot tell you the details here, dear reader, as it can reveal the identity of the blogger. The comment moderation was on, so I decided to check her response the next day, and to my surprise, she conveniently deleted my comment!! The question is- Do we have the grace, humbleness and maturity to handle a comment which is not sugar coated?? We should have.

CELEBRITY SYNDROME CHEMICAL LOCHA

Then there are bloggers suffering from Celebrity Syndrome (another term coined by me, catching up with Sarah Palin, I guess!)

OK, you have a nice blog, people like to read it, comment about it, appreciate it, but has it not brought out the celebrity like symptoms in you? Better cure them sweatheart!

Dear reader, two prominent symptoms of this disease is either not reply or replying to comments of all the people in one go, single stroke …… “Hey all! thank you so much….mmuuuaahhh!”; “Hey people! thanks for your comments…. cheers!”. (There can be more, please add if you know such stuff in the comments.)

If you lack the basic courtesy of acknowledging a comment of a reader one to one, then you surely do not deserve to be commented at all. Having said that let me say, sometimes there is a slip also, if you have commented on an older post, it might not catch the attention of the bloggers. So don’t drag me there please!

THE SCIENCE OF DISCOVERING NEW COMMENTATORS : (4 new bloggers)

Ask the reader’s views, opinions and thoughts about the issue. Encourge them to share their story and then reply appropriately. Blogging is about reciprocation. Do visit the blog of the commentor to know him/her better.

Make your comments setting user friendly.
Disable the Word Verfication on comments in comment settings, it wastes time and is irritating for the reader.

Also, a widget or a message saying that you like/love/appreciate/value/look forward to the readers’ comments gives the right environment for the reader to comment.

I may have left out on some points, please feel free to add anything and anything related to this topic.

Happy Blogging!

A Restless Mind With
A Sensitive Heart!

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