May 15 2007
Comment Confessions
And now, a post about comments. And no, Gentle Readers, it’s not me fishing for more comments. Honestly! Just some questions and observations, nothing more.
Do you judge a blog by its comments? Really? I gotta know.
When you click on a new blog, does your eye scan the most recent post and then settle on the number of comments the blogger has received for that particular post?
Do you wonder what’s wrong with the blog that consistently gets one or two comments per post?
Do you feel out of your league when you see a blog that consistently gets thirty+ comments per post?
I have to admit that I judge sometimes. Not always, though. I read a few blogs that rarely get any comments at all, and I think it’s some of the best writing on the internet. And then there are those blogs that seem to get thousands of comments, but are entirely worthless as far as I can see. But there are other times where I have to admit that I judge a blog too soon, good or bad, based simply on the number of comments it receives.
This is a hard thing for me to admit, because I am still a new blogger, so I certainly shouldn’t be talking like a seasoned snob. My little blog is not yet two months old. And so it wasn’t all that long ago that I remember being so excited to get more than three comments on one post–something that didn’t happen all that often at first!
I now average about 18 comments or so per post. I remember the first time I reached that 20 comment milestone and I thought I would die of joy!!! It then became a rather common occurrence to burst through the 20-comment zone. So, when I reached the THIRTY comment milestone, I spit rootbeer all over myself. Seriously. And it was on a post that I NEVER expected to get that kind of response from!!! I remember just sitting down and writing what was on my mind–no overthinking, nothing artsy fartsy, just writing what little was in the ol’ noggin. And then I checked back that night and discovered thirty comments. You can see that I’m still a bit starstruck by that moment, because it’s still the only time I’ve gotten that many comments. haha.
I find that in my own writing, Meme’s or shameless plugs for votes get the least amount of comments. Then the serious, darker stuff gets a similarly small amount of comments, but people continue to comment on them and revisit them over time and eventually the numbers go up. The other stuff, like soap opera sundays, and flashback fridays and just my average daily posts all get a medium amount. And then every once in a while, I’ll write something that will touch people for some reason and my comments will go way up, and when that happens, it’s a big surprise!
I have some amazing bloggy friends–friends that I know, no matter what I write, stupid or poignant, they will comment. They are my security blanket. They are always here, rain or shine.
Others a bit more picky. Sometimes they comment, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes my writing speaks to them, sometimes it doesn’t. And that’s okay! I have multiple personalities here, after all, and I can’t expect everyone to have something to say every time I write something!
And then, I see the lurkers. You might not think so, but I do. I see you. I’ve got sitemeter and google analytics and mybloglog. I see you. You come, you read, you leave. At first it kinda concerned me. Why aren’t you commenting? Don’t you like me? But then I realized that not everyone is a comment-hag like myself. Some are content to just stop in, read a little, and get on with their lives. Why should they have to validate me by leaving a comment? And so, dear lurkers, I welcome you too.
But you know what I’m learning? You just can’t blog for the comments. You can’t take the comments personally. This is what I’m learning, slowly but surely. Sometimes the stuff that I’m most proud of gets the fewest comments. Sometimes the mindless fluff gets the most. If you let the comments control what you write, then it’s not your blog anymore, but everyone else’s. And oh my goodness, I need it to be MY blog, not a popularity contest!
(Don’t get me wrong, though! I love comments! Oh, how I love comments! It makes me feel like there’s someone out there who cares about the crap I want to say! I just won’t write specifically to receive the comments…)
How are you on your blog? Do you feel that you are validated by the number of comments you receive? Do you think one post is better or worse than another, based on the comments each generates?
And how are you at other blogs? Is there a certain kind of post that you are more likely to comment on? Are there blogs that you comment on, no matter what the subject, simply because you love the blog? Are you scrupulous in your comments, commenting only when you actually have something to say? Do you use comments as a form of manipulation, to drive traffic from someone else’s site to your own?
I’m not actually sure that it’s fair to call that “manipulation.” It’s a game we all play and I think it’s fair. If I see a comment that I really like on someone else’s site, I’m gonna click on the commenter’s name, read their blog for the first time, and generally make a new friend. I’d say that I “met” at least half of the people in my bloglist that way.
And I love, love, LOVE to read (at other people’s sites) “I found your site through your comment on Brillig’s blog.” I see people meeting each other–meeting each other through me and I can hardly contain my joy. Let the blog-love abound!!!
Anyway I’m interested in your responses. It seems like there’s an unwritten book of blogging rules, and commenting has a whole section to itself. I’d love to know what others think of these things.
(Do you comment on posts that are way too long and contain too many questions? I guess we’ll see…)
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