The Power of Comments
There is a dropping number of comments across the blogsphere. It hurts our feelings. At first, we thought, you were left speechless by our awesome, spell-binding posts. But this has happened before. Sometimes, I wonder if maybe I should just turn comments off, like Dooce does; but then, I remember, when it comes to blogging, it’s not a lecture, it’s a conversation. And, we’re curious about who you are, lurking behind the page.
I promise not to be too hard on you. I see many of you face to face, and I am quite frankly shocked to know you actually read this stuff. (How did you find out about the blog? Good thing I didn’t say anything bad about you. Pshew!) If you come here and read, and you want to keep it private, that’s fine, I do understand. But it is quite funny that you pull me off to the side, and say, “I just loved that thing you wrote …..?” Really? that post got so few comments, and I thought, hmmmm. I guess nobody likes this kind of stuff. And, I even thought, maybe I won’t publish any more stuff like that. I’ll just keep it private in my own diary. I have an anonymous button that you can use for comments. It’s OK to use that. Comments, as long as they are legit, are still valuable.
I don’t want people to leave a comment just for the sake of leaving a comment. I want them to leave a comment when they have a reaction to the post
The power of comments. It’s like a vote. If I get lots of feedback, even if it’s negative, it really does help the blog.
In no way do I mean to give you one more thing to do, in your already busy lives. I don’t expect you to comment on every single post. But if you read something you like, or you hate, please know that you don’t have to keep it to yourself, and wait until you see me to tell me. Just post the comment and be done with it.
I know that many of you are not writers, and feel funny about seeing yourself in print. But, it’s not about that. I get carried away sometimes when I’m posting, and I make grammatical errors and mistakes too; and I know you think nothing less of me for it. It’s your words, your personality and your style, that we are missing here. And no, your e-mail address does not show up on everyone else’s computer, even though it does show up on yours. Just wanted you to know, you are important, and I would love to hear from you. And, once again, it’s OK to use that anonymous button.
Shelly Batts is a scientist, and PhD student who’s writing her thesis on a cure for deafness. I visit her blog when I’m looking for facts and research. (I spend a lot of time writing researching facts for my posts.) Shelly is pretty cool. It’s my turn to help her out. She has been nominated (1 of 20 nominees) for a $10,000 Student Blogging Scholarship and would REALLY appreciate any help you might give in sending voters her way.The highest # votes wins the scholarship, which is kind of silly, as she says. But, she could really use the money towards her thesis, and paying off undergrad debt. The link to vote is here. Once you vote, you can instantly see the results.
And, I won this.
I got “treated” by Hootin’ Anni!
Related posts:
I’ll go vote. And you are right, it does hurt our feelings. I know my comments have slowed down tremendously. And I can understand why, since I am also very behind in my commenting, I will be the first to admit it. And can I also admit that I can’t add new blogs anymore to my reader? I just can’t. Not right now with so much going on in my life.
But I am here. And I am reading. And so I say “Hi, SusieJ. What’s shakin’?”
I hear ya. I try to remember to comment, but sometimes when I sit down to read, I am wiped out and have nothing to say. It’s kind of sad.
But I’m here. I promise.
{I voted.}
I’m here too. The theory that feed aggregators like Google Reader and Bloglines are responsible for the decline in comments makes a lot of sense to me.
I’m here and I hear what your saying. In fact I feel much the same way. I’ve only ever had one person call me on my inability to spell and I know I screw up a lot. She got me on my toes for sure. Sometimes I let being a perfect writer get in the way of writing at all, including comments…
I voted by the way and congrats on the award.
I TOTALLY agree comments are super important, I try to be good and at least comment on one of the few posts I read when I visit a bloggers website. I have even been known to make a post saying, “is anyone reading this or is it that rubbish you can’t be bothered?” and the first reply back was from me mum who said she was worried if she commented too much I’d get embarrassed & I said NO WAY, I LOVE comments!!! I will try to be better
That’s so funny. I would love to have comments from “me Mum.”
I’m sorry you feel this way….I leave comments when I can, but I could do better, I know.
I’ve never had mammoth commenters anyway, so usually I’ve had to grit my teeth and get on with it! Doesn’t make it not-suck, though!
Karen, I really want this post to be an education about the process of commenting and how it works, and how comments can change a blog tremendously. And I do, take it personally when I have poured myself into a post, and I have lots of readers that day, and I have no clue why they have not spoken. Did they hate it? Do they think I’ve lost my mind? Or were they just blown away, left speechless?! And then, my confusion all becomes clear when I run into people, who have read it, and tell me what they thought. I’m just trying to speed that awareness up a bit.
Plus, Schmutzie did such a great job on the button, and I just had to post it.
I don’t want people to leave a comment just for the sake of leaving a comment. I want them to leave a comment when they have a reaction to the post.
I am all about the comments on my blog. Honestly, if I wasn’t, I’d just write a journal and hide it under my pillow.
I love your blog. (Of course, you know that already.)
treats are better than tricks, but comments are like the very addictive ummm… something… I’m all out of clever things, i guess.
I’m here too!
Thats funny — I thought it was just me that thought ‘well, heck, if they won’t comment, I’ll just turn the damn thing off’. It bothers me when people don’t react, even the few readers I do get; somehow, making it difficult for them to do means that I can kid myself and think ‘well, they would if they could’.
I do like what you write, incidentally.
But “I have an anonymous button that you can use for comments.” Really? I don’t see it….. and the ‘leave a comment’ thing says that ‘name (required)’ thing. I’m confuzzed.
Fortunately for me, thats normal.
Bill, you’re right! There is no anonymous button! It shows up on my admin panel, but you don’t see it. I’ll have to check into that.
I guess, until I get that figured out, people could just make up a name?!
After reading a post (of my blogging friends) it often comes naturally for me to comment - as if I just listened to a stiry and then I have something to say in return.