The Art of Making Comments
One of the beauties of blogging is that it need not be an imposition on the reader. That is to say, the reader can choose whether, when and for how long to delve into the blogosphere. Unlike a mass e-mail which seems to insist upon instant attention when it hits the "in" box (no matter how banal its content), blogs are happy to sit in the background and only step forward upon request. If I am in a hurry, I can simply skim through my bloglines feeds or ignore them completely (ha!) while I get on with other things. The posts will always be there later.
Yet if we are going to realise the full social and educative potential of the medium, blogging etiquette demands that from time to time we leave a comment. Blogging is meant to be an interactive experience and it can be disheartening for bloggers to put themselves out there, watch the sitemeter tick over and never hear boo from a soul. I, for one, have resolved to leave comments on other people's blogs more often. I will also endeavour to more faithfully adhere to the convention of responding to comments on the blog itself rather than sending individual e-mails. Hopefully these steps will help enrich the comments section and your reading pleasure.
Against this background, it is timely to highlight that many browsers allow you to insert html tags when you make comments. This can be very handy. For example, if you want to refer to another link, rather than typing the plain url, you could type the code:
<a href="http://www.brendagaelsmith.com"> <b> my website </b> </a>
And, voila, the link my website is magically embedded in bold in your comment.
16 September update: The code was faulty (I left out the http:// part!) but should work now. Apologies if I caused anyone to pull out their hair!
Yet if we are going to realise the full social and educative potential of the medium, blogging etiquette demands that from time to time we leave a comment. Blogging is meant to be an interactive experience and it can be disheartening for bloggers to put themselves out there, watch the sitemeter tick over and never hear boo from a soul. I, for one, have resolved to leave comments on other people's blogs more often. I will also endeavour to more faithfully adhere to the convention of responding to comments on the blog itself rather than sending individual e-mails. Hopefully these steps will help enrich the comments section and your reading pleasure.
Against this background, it is timely to highlight that many browsers allow you to insert html tags when you make comments. This can be very handy. For example, if you want to refer to another link, rather than typing the plain url, you could type the code:
<a href="http://www.brendagaelsmith.com"> <b> my website </b> </a>
And, voila, the link my website is magically embedded in bold in your comment.
16 September update: The code was faulty (I left out the http:// part!) but should work now. Apologies if I caused anyone to pull out their hair!
posted by Brenda at 8:57 am
11 Comments:
Here is an example of the linking code in action. If including links is still too complicated for you, please leave a comment anyway!
Youre right, I should leave more comments. Since I do enjoy reading youre (and other bloggers) thoughts and seeing youre art it would only be a mather of decency to let you know so.
My only excuse is that I write horrible Englisch, but that's a poor excuse. So I will try to better my ways!
Thanks for sharing youre thoughts and youre wonderfull art!
Kind Regards, Evy (from the Netherlands)
Brenda, I too have thought of leaving responses in the comment section rather than sending individual e-mails...but then I wondered, does anyone ever go back to read the comment sections a second time?
After a session of blogging I would be hard pressed to remember which blogs I left comments on.
Mmm..maybe a combination of blog comments and direct e-mails is the way to go. It's a shame for some of the offline dialogue not to be shared although privacy sometimes demands a more closed approach.
I do love reading blogs but seldom make comments even though I love to get comments on my own blog. I'm trying to get better and and least post an quick comment every few days just so the writer knows I've dropped by. But I rarely go back and re-read comments on a post I've previously read. Just too many blogs to remember where I left what comments. But I also try not to ask a question in a comment that requires an answer. Those questions I generaly take to personal email. Blogging isn't a perfect form of communication but I like it all the same.
I think if you are kind enough to share your thoughts and adventures, a comment is warrented. Even if it is a short one. I enjoy it if I get a comment on my blog. I do go back and see if anyone has left a comment on the current ones.
I agree wholeheartedly about leaving comments - I nearly gave up on my blog becuase it seemed unread but I've just started getting the odd comment and they are so appreciated! I suspect it is because I joined the ring so people can find me. And that's why I joined the ring - to be part of this great quilting community.
As for you commenting on the blog - yes do becuase even if the original authors don't come back. I like to see how you reacted to the comment.
I second Deb Geyer's thought on "does anyone ever go back to read ... a second time". I'm new to blogging, but I'm always checking back to see what's happening (on my own site and some others as well). I'm always disappointed when I leave a question on someone else's comment section, and they don't respond to it. Thanks for bringing this up!
Wow Rosy really took this post to heart! She left seven comments scattered throughout my blog. Thank you!
Judy,
Thanks for the etiquete for blogging I am new to this and thought it might be cheeky to comment. I will in future, love your blogs
Hi Brenda, here's my comment to your art of making comments. I agree that we should leave comments, and I try to leave at least one comment when visiting a blog, unless I think that my comment will be so incredibly boring and useless. I'm not so sure that I agree with leaving comments on your own blog though, especially if you use the comment section, because I don't go back and reread posts that I have already read. So I'm more likely to see your reply if you can post a comment as a blog entry, as an email to me, or as a comment on my blog. I just wish there was a way to search comments like you can search blogs.
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