Musing Monday: Blog Comments
by Jenners • 04/13/2009 • Blogging Experiences, Book Talk • 23 Comments
Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about blog comments How do you respond to the comments on your blog? Do you try to email individually or comment on post yourself answering the comments above? What do you think is the best way to respond to comments and do you respond to all of them? Do you feel slighted if you don’t receive a response back from the blog owner? (question courtesy of Jenn)
I’m interested in everyone’s responses to this question because I am hoping to get some good ideas about how to be more efficient and to see what everyone thinks about this topic.
For me personally, if someone takes the time to comment, I want to take the time to acknowledge it in some way. If the commenter has an e-mail address, I will write back and comment on their comment (unless I really don’t have anything to say). If they asked a question or brought up a good point, I will respond at length. If they don’t have an e-mail address, I will go and visit their blog. For blogs that I visit regularly, I just respond via e-mail because I know I will get to their blogs at some point during the week. If the comment is from someone I’ve never “seen” before, I try to visit their blog and return the visit. I think this is probably the most effective way of “growing your blog” and finding “like-minded” individuals.
However, this takes a TON of time! I have this blog and my personal blog. I’ve really been struggling with the time management aspects of blogging and trying to be more effective. One thing I realized was that I cannot visit every blog I like every day and read every post. So I divided up my blogroll into different “levels.” Some are blogs that I try to read every post. Some of blogs I really enjoy but read maybe twice a week and comment only on 1 or 2 posts that catch my eye. Some blogs are on my “obligatory” visit list. This means, I don’t really “like” the blog but I feel like I owe them a visit every so often because they visit me often.
I finally did switch over to using Google Reader because that makes reading blogs much more efficient. However, I still struggle with feeling like I need to comment and visit everyone whose visits my blog. Where do you draw the line?
As for the other questions, I usually don’t go back to check for comments on a blog because I just don’t have the time or the memory. So if you comment back to me in your own comment section, chances are I’m going to miss it. I prefer people send me an e-mail.
Also, I don’t need every comment I leave to be “acknowledged” but if I visit your blog day after day after day and leave you a bunch of comments and you never visit my blog or e-mail me back, chances are I might stop reading your blog. There is definitely a “quid pro quo” type aspect to it in a way. There is a social element of blogging that cannot be ignored — especially if someone is a regular reader of your blog.
That said, I don’t mind lurkers now. I’m happy people are reading my blogs, and if you really have something to say, please leave a comment. But if you are just commenting but don’t really have anything to say, it is OK to just skip the comment part. I often read a bunch of posts and then just pick one to comment on because I don’t really have anything of value to say on the other posts — especially when I am trying to visit and read 100+ blogs every week! So if you ever wonder if I’m reading your blog, chances are that I am swinging by, checking out your posts and leaving you one or two comments on the posts that really caught my eye and I had something to say about!
Finally, if you are using Blogger and don’t have an e-mail address in your profile, please consider adding one. It makes it so much easier to respond to your comments. If you need more info on why and how to do this, please visit this post for a very easy-to-follow tutorial!
To see more answers to this question, visit Rebecca’s wonderful blog Just One More Page!
Those are good comments on commenting. I don’t always visit everyone who leaves a comment, but every few days, at least, I go through and visit people, leaving comments on their blogs.
I left you an award at Poetry and Hums.
I love the idea of organizing your reader with the different levels. I just have a folder for book blogs and some days it’s huge and overwhelming.
I respond personally if I really have something to say or to answer a question. If I want other commenters to see my response (e.g., responding to an author comment), I’ll respond through the comments.
I do appreciate responses when I’ve commented on someone else’s blog, but I’ve never expected them. I think I need to be a lot better at visiting those who are first timers at my blog. But, I always get annoyed when someone asks a question in their comment, but then their email is hidden and you can’t respond that way. I wish every blogger would have their email listed in their profile. It’s so much easier to respond to someone personally.
As you know, I love having the email option! It’s great to be able to reply to comments via email. I very rarely lurk around blogs. But now that my blog roll is growing, it is getting difficult to check everyone’s blog out each day. Thanks for writing about this today!
Thanks for the food 4 thought.
Gr~8 post.
Here’s mine:
http://thebookresort.blogspot.com/2009/04/musing-mondays_13.html
Jenners, Great post, I was nodding my head yep, yep, as I read it. We think alike.
Ever go to the comment box and not have a clue what you were going to say? anyway, great post! I try not to by into the obligation side of blogging but I do like to be courteous – if you visit me, I try to visit back. I admit I do have some favorite blogs that rarely visit me back but I still love em and try not to get all annoyed by it all. I know we are all busy and we do what we can. Blogging is supposed to be fun – is my motto.
Jenner,
What a well thought out post and I agree with you on a lot of it. I have the same feeling about the quid pro quo. If I’m treated as invisible to the blogger and get no response after several comments, I don’t comment anymore and usually don’t go to their blog anymore. My post is up now and explains my feeling about comments.
here
I can’t say that I have ever e-mailed a commenter in reply that i remember. Unless it was something very specific…
the more I think about this topic, I think maybe the best reply is to post on the commenters on blog if they have one.
but there is just so much time in the day…lol
Wow Jenners! I think you touched on each and every aspect of what I was thinking when I submitted the question. I read a lot of blogs also, and know I neglect some of them(unfortuantely it’s been my knitting buddies lately).
Regardless, I also make a point to visit a new commenters blog and leave a comment. I feel it’s the right thing to do.
Excellent post!
WOW…that’s a long post…gee I hope that I visit enough because I do comment back to readers on my post since I hardly have time for that nevermind emailing everyone. I try my best to keep up with everyone, but with nearly 300 blogs that I read, its tough. I will get back to most everyone at some point.
Thanks for the clarifications on this post. I generally don’t use email to reply to comments unless someone is asking a question that doesn’t necessarily need to be answered on the blog.
I love receiving comments because then I know someone has actually looked at my blog. I want to personally answer their comment, with a comment back of my own, but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet. I have been commenting back on my own blog page, but would rather send the comment directly back to them.
I write my blog mostly for myself. I am a writer, artist and photographer, so it is a way of publishing memories, short stories, art or photos publicly —which means I work harder to make them better than if they merely sit on my computer without an audience.
I don’t live off comments. I appreciate them and enjoy reading them, but I don’t feel slighted if none are left.
I usually look at the blogs of those who have left comments for me, but I don’t feel obligated to leave a comment unless I can write something sincere, honest, positive, and heart-felt.
I have one private and two public blogs, so I already spend more time on the computer than I should. As you can see, I tend to be wordy. It might take me 2 hours to write 10 comments, but sometimes I simply write something like “Great post,” “Lovely photo,” “Interesting take on the writing prompt.”
I am probably biased becasue I don’t have children, but frankly, little Tommy isn’t as cute to me as he is to Mom or Dad. I have a hard time commenting on photos or stories about children. On the other hand, I am a sucker for a furry face, so I sometimes comment on pets, although I also know they (including my own) aren’t as cute or interesting to anyone else either. But that is true of anything that interests or does not interest me. i can’t comment on that reality show you love because I have never watched it. I won’t comment on football or basketball because most sports bore me. I may comment on a book or movie because reading and film interest me.
I’m also very right brained, so i am easily distracted. i might start out deciding I will visit and comment on my favorite posts or blogs, then I remember I have to pay a bill online and never get back to commenting. So I am not a good nor steady commenter. I tell myself I need to do better because many people feel comments are more important than I do.
I don’t know how you have the time to read and comment on as many blogs as you do! It’s got to be so time consuming. I think the effort you put forth is valient.
I try to comment on most of the blogs I read, but rarely get a chance to respond to comments left on my blog, unless they’re asking a specific question or something.
Nice answers! I don’t think there’s only one way to answer to comments and I’m not sure every comment requires an answer. Sometimes I comment just to let the blogger know I’ve been there!
Now I’m off to follow your link.
This has been a great topic and I’ve been enjoying reading everyone’s take on the subject. I try to respond if a comment asks a question or if a response sounds needed, but overall, I’d rather visit other people’s blogs. It’s all about the time for me…there’s just not enough of it in a day.
It depends on the comment. If I’m being asked a specific question, I will email the commenter. One time, I had several people ask the same question, so I left the answer in the comments. I just play it by ear.
I usually just return the visit to the commenter’s blog.
My post is up musing
My life is easy in this regard, because most of my readers don’t have a blog.
You don’t have to comment on mine…I know you are reading it occasionally. You can’t keep away. 
Also, since you are the first blog I “found”, I will keep reading you and commenting, just because I can. And I enjoy it so much. I like it when you email back, though. 
I don’t see how you have enough time to write on both of your blogs, read all your blogs and comment everywhere. You have much better time management than I do.
I tried at first to follow every blog of someone that followed me but to be honest, if I don’t jibe with them after a few posts, I will drop it. When they come to comment on my site, I will go back to theirs and find a post to comment on but I don’t feel obligated to read what they write just because they read me. That helps keep the numbers of blogs I follow down.
I’m so glad to know your opinion on e-mailing back. I prefer to answer comments that way. Having said that…I also don’t get slighted for someone not replying to my comment. so…no worries. LOL
I followed your link to sneaky momma – very helpful…thanks for that!
I like your response to this question. I’m not as good a commenter as I’d like to be – mostly because I’m just catching up on posts in between other things – but I think you’ve got a pretty good system going.
The main reason I started a comment moderation on my blog was not so much to moderate comments, but because sometimes I would scroll through my posts and find out I missed a comment from like 2 weeks prior, especially for posts where people pop in on a post from months ago or on a specific topic. for example, today, I got a comment on a blog posted almost a year ago, and the comment that you posted, I probably would not have noticed it if i had not had it set to comment moderation. also I was finding myself wasting time looking at comments only to find i ‘ve already read them.
So the moderation is my way of making sure I don’t miss any comments. Now (as I mentioned to you earlier this week) I can’t email people back without logging out of my blog because i have a different log in email than the one I’m using for emailing with my readers. I wish I could figure out how to change my log in email (not my “email me” email). Thanks for trying to help me with that. But usually most comments don’t really need a response but I regularily visit all my commenter’s blogs, so I need not reply to their comments unless they’ve asked a specific question. However, when I get a comment from a new reader, I always go to their blog and take a peek and thank them for their comment, welcome them to my blog and invite them to return.
If someone emails me, I usually reply to their email.
I guess that’s the basis. My readers come back because I communicate with them. I hope they also have some interest in my blog too but … lol