After reading today 10 Tips That Will Make Anyone a Better Commenter a... I started thinking about comments on blogs. I try to leave them as much as possible. To me, it’s one of the interactive aspects of blogs that sets them apart from websites.
Jan at Circular Communication gives some really well thought out advice on how to be a better commenter. I wanted to tell you about her post and her site since I think it is a great value to read in terms of blogging well and communicating in general. It’s rare to find a blog concerned with both in these days of “tip” blogs that show how to increase your page rank without improving your content by way of writing prowess. Jan’s blog attempts to do the latter.
I’ve developed a sophomore list of my own with regards to comments. As I have said in other posts relating to networking, bloghopping and blog commenting are the best ways I know of to “expand the coast” of Riley Central. If I find a great post in my travels, comment on it, and get a response on my blog, I find that I have a solid networking “branch” if you will based on my interests and blog style. I can think of no better way to branch out other than through this method. That being the case, commenting “smart” is crucial to networking my blog. After being inspired to think about it through Jan’s post, here are my 3 comments on blog commenting:
- As Jan says: “Have something to say.” One of my requirements before I leave a comment is this: “Will my comment bring something new to this thread?” Of course now and then there are times when a “here here” is appropriate, but avoid the terse canned comments whenever possible.
- Say a positive thing about the post. I catch myself going right to my agreement or disagreement sometimes and forget the fact that the primary audience for my comment is the author. Most people who deal with psychology in interpersonal situations know that you make a bridge for your point to be received by offerring a compliment. I have written about this in more detail with rega..., but nowhere is it more true than in comments.
- Be short but not too short. While I said you should not be terse in commenting, you should also not be too wordy. This can be construed as self aggrandizing and you should save that, of course, for your own platform ;)
For an excellent article on becoming a better blog commenter, try 10 Tips That Will Make Anyone a Better Commenter a...
Hi. I'm Damien Riley, MA.
17 Comments
Speaking of comments…
Nice blog, Damien!
Both you and your wife seem pretty cool, based on your writings.
Keep on Keepin on!
Joel Libava/Cleveland
Your points are right on.
I rarely leave very short comments– I tend to be long winded.
Longish comments are the best. That said, I have tried to train myself not to leave extremely long ones. If a comment explodes to 4 paragraphs, it may be better to write a blog post and drop a link.
This has many benefits, including the one you mentioned. Other benefits are….. (I am now tempted to write a bulleted list of the benefits and explain. Clearly, I should write a blog post and drop you a link? Yes, I think I will! :) )
@lucia: Thanks so much! I will go over and read your post asap.
@Joel: Thanks for the cool words brother, I appreciate it!
Blogging really seems to be coming of age when we see that people are now moving beyond simply having a bloggers code of conduct (look it up, it is everywhere). Now we have guidelines for commenters too :) Am I the only one who finds it (useful but) funny? :)
AMEN to your sentiments!!! May this never be a voice that adds all kinds of rules for being cool! At the same time, some people like to have all their comments tied up in bows and so I’ve listed a few suggestions :)
You’re not the only one who finds it funny. But it is inevitable there will be some sort of rules of etiquette. Blogging has strong social elements, so there end up being “rules” to avoid stepping on toes. Most won’t be totally rigid, but still, there are things that will be seen as rude.
Personally I find the whole blogosphere quite fascinating. I am quite new to blogging and by nature I am introverted and not particularly communicative, and I find the blogosphere a strange place where you need to have a reason for leaving a comment and there are rules to follow, like joining some sort of club. I say if you’ve got somehing to say then say it, if you’ve got nothing to say then say that too, it’s not as if there was a shortage of pixels in the world !
Well said. Don’t mistake my posts on comments as elitist. There really is no right or wrong way to chime in after you read a post. However, while you may not be one of them, a lot of people just go a round commenting just to get attention for their blog. That’s part of what my post is against. the other part is just from a writing perspective trying to leave a valuable point as opposed to something that just, as you said, takes up pixels. Maybe you’ll start to see as people leave crap comments on your blog like: Nice stuff . . . I totally agree etc.
Yes, I can see what you mean. Strange to say I’ve not had many of them, but I have switched on comment moderation nonetheless as I was getting some cheesy comments with links to questionable places.
But it seems to me that you are battling against human nature. If people decide making comments is a good thing (and let’s face it, beginners are told by most bloggers who’ve been doing it for a while that it IS a good thing for increasing links etc…) then they will go out and do it. If they are also told that they can’t just say “cool post John you’re sooo right” then they will find something else to say, which fits the parameters of an “interesting and useful comment” . I think the only way you are going to stop that sort of thing is when there is a system in place which does not reward links. If people get no personal benefit from leaving comments then a lot of them will just disappear (I suspect even the ‘useful’ ones). It seems to me also that there is already such a system - the ‘no follow’ system, but that bloggers don’t like it and they are by-passing it by removing the ‘no follow’ and changing it to ‘do follow’ so that everybody can get more backlinks . Perhaps there should be an easy system in place where the owner of the blog can decide which comments get a backlnk and which don’t, although then I suspect you would get people selling there backlinks for real money (which already happens I think). Or perhaps there should be a big notice at the top of the blog saying ‘comments on this blog will not increase your pagerank !’.
Sorry, this got a biit longer than I had intended ! Vic
@Damien Riley: There is one related set of rules that I want you to come up with (because you clearly rule on that front). Give us your comments on managing comments on your blog. For one, I think that the blogger should participate in the conversation that (s)he initiates. You do a really good job of it. My greatest respect for a blogger is reserved for those who respond to comments on their blogs. Thanks for that.
I’ll go ahead and reply to this in a post. Thanks for the nice compliment by the way!!! Too bad i’m not all that into Real Esate. Did you ever consider starting a personal blog? Them is me favorites!!! Anyway . . . great comment, watch for the post on it in a few hours. Peace. -d
Cool. I can see that you posted it at: postcardsfromthefunnyfarm.com/2007/08/26/comment-m...
Oddly, I kept visiting this post to see if you had an update. Only much later, I saw your bloghomepage and saw the new post. Hence the link here.
Good post. But, only a starting point. I am looking for the authoritative to-dos for managing blog comments. Incidentally, we are almost the same age. I was born in 1970. :)
Tracking your comments with coComment (www.cocomment.com) is also a great thing as it allows you to stay connected to the conversation and be notified as soon as someone else comments, so that you can respond.
Also, if you are a heavy commenter, it makes your life a lot easier. Last, you can find commenters and conversations on topics you are interested in via the aggregated comments already on the site. Check it out!
Kristina, thanks for your comment. I try to avoid creating yet another free service username if I can. Using the RSS comments feed on every blog you want to follow does the same thing. Also, most blogs have feature that will email you when new comments are posted after your (like mine for example.) Your comment reads a bit like spam. Maybe you could reply to this comment to prove you are real ;) If you are, maybe I’ll go check out your service . . . and review it here! Thanks for the comment.
Well folks . . . it’s been over a day since I asked her to reply . . . assume its spam . . . don’t know about the company but if it walks like a duck . . .
I guess you could go ahead and delete her comments then :)
The casual passer-by commenter is not a rare breed. I mean, I leave so many comments on blogs that I might never visit again (unlike this blog). I hope that they are not all going to delete the comments.
But, Kristina made a reference to a URL, that increases the chances that it is actually a duck :)
I think I’ll leave ‘em. One day when I’m bored I’ll go check out her site. It could be useful . . . for example, my wife’s template doesn’t support the “Subscribe to Comments” plugin so her readers have no easy way to stay in the loop with comments. Maybe that service could help her out with that. Until I get over there though I have no clue :) Thanks Ajeet!
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[...] one is for my readers who blog and all those who take the time to comment. Comments are the vehicle of the future for blog communication, networking, and yes: making money. This is [...]