I’ve been wanting to touch on commenting for a while now. WordPress ate a really good post that I had written and I am just now getting over that enough to try and write about it again. Let me tell you, that was an awesome post. Its gone now. Lets have a moment of silence for it because this post? Will probably suck.
Moving on… I’m a big blog reader. As of right now, I have 207 blogs in my fancy Google Reader. That sucker is a life saver because there is no way I would be able to get through blogs without it. Out of 207, only about half of them update enough for me to be interested. Overnight, I usually have about 200 + things to read in the morning when I get to work. Keeps me busy. Along with work. *cough* Of course some of these are those celeb blogs that update throughout the day, or the funny cat pictures, you know! I know you know! Out of all those updates, I comment on maybe 15 blogs.
Out of those 15, I usually comment on about 5 on a regular basis. No matter what they post. Anything else is because something they wrote made me laugh, I could relate to, or pissed me off. (That last one is rare)
Just to be clear, I am not bashing ANYONE who comments here. I am overly thankful for anyone who visits and finds me interesting enough to leave me a comment. I totally understand that not everything I post is comment worthy. I’m down with that peeps. Fo Sho. So I’m not actually talking about my comments or complaining about them in any way. Trust me. Although it will probably come across that I am, I’m not trying to. So forgive me ahead of time.
I follow this very simply:
Easy enough right? If you leave me a comment, I will visit your blog and leave one back for you on one of your posts. If I like you, I’ll be back and you will end up in my reader.
What really frustrates me is that this doesn’t happen very often. I get that people are busy. I totally GET THAT. And it frustrates me. There are so many GOOD bloggers out there. There are so many POPULAR bloggers out there. I feel so stupid for leaving them comments. Especially when mine is comment number 152 or something insane like that. Please tell me you hear me on this. I mean, 150 comments, what the fuck is mine going to mean? There are a couple awesome “popular” bloggers that live around me and I would just love to meet up but they are like untouchable. Do I sound crazy?? If you are funny, a good writer, and I can relate to you, why shouldn’t I want to meet you? But its freakin 2007. I would be the crazy stalker for suggesting that. And to even attempt to relate to these bloggers is impossible because hello? #152 right here. Oh and by the way, I’m #152 about 10 minutes AFTER they have posted their blog. Yea, that shit is sick yo.
Mainly, I am all about good bloggers. You have a good story to tell, I want to let you know that I think you’re funny. And lets be honest here. How many of us don’t like comments? Seriously. I can tell you I write for me and there are times when I have. But I write for anyone reading too. Anyone who denies that is a big fat LIAR.
Oh and by the way? Bloggers paid to write? You know who you are. You SHOULD be responding to those comments. I don’t care how. Email, visiting their blog, responding in your comments section, WHATEVER. If you make a dime off that blog because you have people who read it, you owe your readers. That may sounds crazy, but I believe it. If I got paid based on the number of clicks or visits, I would feel obligated to say thank you by at least acknowledging those readers.
I’m getting worked up. About comments. Yea. I’m a psycho. Give me your thoughts though. In the form of comments only. Ha.
Need I remind you? ARK Sunday… only 3 days away! Go be nice!
Rura and Miss 
although i always want more hits and comments, i’m pretty satisfied with what i have with my blog now. i’m blessed with some regular commenters and my hits hover around the 100-hit mark. i almost always respond to each comment personally by inserting my reply in their comment itself (edit their comment, then enter my comment there). so i expect the same treatment in return mostly, which is why i won’t ever comment in popular blogs with 100+ comments, unless i know what i have to say would attract the blogger’s attention! i try to return the favour when a new commenter visits my blog, but i won’t force myself if i can’t find something interesting in their blog…
i totally understand what you feel about this issue. 🙂
Miss – you’re my girl! I’m honored when you comment, you were my first commenter that I didn’t actually know. And I’d hang with you if I lived in CA =)
I don’t comment on every blog I read. I usually only comment when I think the post is funny or if it hits exactly what I’ve been thinking about. To be honest, I’m always kinda surprised when someone comments on my blog. And then I don’t know what to do. I try to respond, but I almost never know what to say. So I type out something stupid and just erase it all and hope they’ll still love me. So if I’ve done this to you, I’m sorry. I’m just dumb and insecure. I never comment on popular blogs (ok, I did once) for the same reason as you. Anything I might contribute could be said by everyone else and I’d just get lost in the shuffle.
Concernining the paid bloggers, I realize youre talking about Dooce most likely, but Im also a paid blogger with way fewer comments. Id like a little more than what I get, but still Im glad I can manage them all, and that I have a small enough audience that every comment made is personal. Those big time bloggers get lost in the madness, because theyve been told that they’re great by so many people. Know what I mean?
I’m not sure if I agree that just because you’re earning money from your blog, you should be obligated to respond to every comment. It would be nice if every blogger whose blog l left a comment on responded by stopping by my blog at least once and leaving comment (if they find something there that is worthy of comment, of course). If I don’t recognize a commenter, I’m always curious to check out their blog because, hey, it could be my next favorite.
I don’t expect everyone who I read to read me, as well, but I do think that bloggers, no matter how “big” they are, should at least attempt to acknowledge new commenters in some way, even if it’s just one stop by their blog to check it out. Of course, this may be easier said than done, what the hell do I know, right?
One thing that really bugs me, though, is the sense I get that few “popular” bloggers seem interested in expanding their blogging circle past what they’ve already established ages ago.
I’ve been lucky – the three “big” bloggers I’ve ever commented on (one of them pretty regularly because she’s going through something I’ve been through) have all responded to me in one way or another. They’ve either checked out my blog, left a comment or sent me an email. One even quoted one of my comments in her blog, which made me dance a jig for a whole fifteen minutes and then I was back to feeling insecure and unpopular.
Sheesh, confidence is fleeting, isn’t it?
Anyway, I kind of agree with what everyone is saying, in some way. I don’t have enough time to read and comment on as many blogs as I would like. But I fear that the dirty word is this: commenting leads to readers. And if you want your blog to be successful, you’ve got to “give back,” which means reading and commenting on other blogs.
Like you, I also have a regular route that I travel, making comments. I’m trying to expand that. Not only because I want others to check out my blog. But because I want to be out there, connecting and supporting other writers. If I had known about this world years ago, two relocations, hormones and a whole rollercoaster of other crap would not have felt so isolating.
If it’s just a personal, creative outlet for the blogger, great. If you want to pave a wide road with lots of traffic – I think the path to it is pretty organic, which is why I love this world. Write well and give to other bloggers.
And for the sake of this argument, I think most of us are women… It becomes a popularity contest, unfortunately. Women can be the most amazing segment of the population with our love and support – or we can be the most petty, unforgiving and judgmental.
Good post, Miss!
Yeah, ditto on the non-expanding blogging circle. WTF is up with that? Just because I didn’t stumble across someone’s blog ages ago, does that mean I’m not worthy of a “hey, I noticed your a new reader, welcome!” The blogging world is full of snobby bitches. Self included.
Holy hell, 207 blogs! I have 15 and I still get overwhelmed.
And by the way, I appreciate you religiously commenting on my blog. I can always count on you to love me!
You are welcome to come hang out with me any time! If you’re willing to travel eleventy billion miles to the frigid Midwest to stalk me… I owe you!
what a great post.
i’m a shitty commenter.
mostly because i race to get through my bloglines at work before anyone sees me.. 🙂
Girl you know I always got your back!
Yeah since I started blogging i’m much better about commenting. Never used to comment but now I realize that if I’m enjoying someone’s writing I should let them know. Something like “comment unto others as you would have them comment to you…?” or something like that.
[…] I mean, opinionating) 9 11 2007 I’m going to go ahead and reply to your comments from yesterday’s postright here. Unconventional? Maybe. But that’s how I roll. And I think we have a good subject […]
Hey, look at me! You commented the other day and I followed you back here!
Phew. Glad I did that. 😀
I have had the HARDEST time with comments these years. Should I email back? I don’t know, that feels so intrusive to me. 😦 I do like to comment on the commenter’s blog, but some haven’t updated in months, some won’t load, some just don’t even exist. My comments {from everyone} mean the world to me and I don’t say that often enough, I know.
I have NO idea how to properly do the comment thing. 😦
Hmm. I spend the majority of my days worried that people think I don’t appreciate their comments. I’m not exaggerating when I say I have about 200 emails to go through, either by responding via email or visiting their blogs. I have about 190 blogs in my Google Reader, I add and delete almost daily. It’s not possible to comment daily, even weekly on most of them.
I try to make rounds. I try to leave comments because they mean a lot to me to get.
As for paid bloggers, I don’t think they are responsible for responding to every commenter. I’m small potatoes with my average of 250 visitors/day and barely keeping my head above water. The big guns get THOUSANDS of visitors a day. Visiting every new reader or responding to every comment via email would literally be impossible.
I enjoyed reading this.
I am a relative newbie to the blogging game and I always try to respond in kind to anyone who takes the time to come see me!! But, it is extraordinarily intimidating when they have tons of awards and 7 billion comments, because really, why would they look at mine 🙂
Thanks for letting me know there’s someone else who feels the same!!!
[…] I think I’m just about beating a dead horse here, but I wanted to talk about the whole commenting/paid blogger thing. […]
I came here specifically to visit and leave a comment. Great post by the way. I hope to see you at my site and I have bookmarked your site. have a good day.