First
A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL MY READERS
Second
THE WINNER OF BOOKS
Mieke!
(email me: yascribe(dot)angelina(at)gmail.com)
Sophie Chang left an interesting comment and gave a link to three brief, but thought-provoking tips for bloggers. THE WINNER OF BOOKS
Mieke!
(email me: yascribe(dot)angelina(at)gmail.com)
We all agree that our time is precious, right? And reading blogs takes time. Commenting takes even more. Curious as to how many of the pretty faces on my sidebar used their precious time on my blatherings and would confess to it, I asked you. My unscientific experiment showed about 10%. Thank you all for helping.
I've often pondered whether blog readers return to posts to see if the author replied to their comments. Sometimes I respond to your comments, but do you ever return to read them?
In her post, Sophie discussed the concept of blogger reciprocity. Rather than responding to your comments, I would leave a comment on yours. She also raised the issue of word verification. When I removed it, I received LOADS of spam. So I put it back on. I don't like word verification. It annoys me. But it never stops me from commenting.
So what are your thoughts? Should a blogger reply to your comments on their own blog, or would you rather have them hop over to yours? Do you ever subscribe to comments or revisit blogs to read them? What about word verification? Friend or foe? What makes you stop reading a blog? Anything else you'd like to say on this subject? Now's your chance. ^_^
Yay! I won! I'll e-mail you in a bit.
ReplyDeleteI usually return to blogs I left comments on to see if they responded. I find that I comment more on blogs whose writers respond either through responses to comments or by blogger reciprocity. To me, this means that the blogger is willing to make a connection with me as I am willing to make one with her or him.
I tend to stop following blogs that really don't offer more insight or that isn't inspiring to me. I rarely stop following blogs because the blogger doesn't respond to comments. If the writing is great, and provides the information and inspiration I need, I'll keep following and commenting.
Sometimes word verification is necessary. For now, I've disabled mine, but if spam comes in, I'll turn it back on, if I have to.
I don't have the time to go back to read comments on a specific post. I read too many blogs, which is why I don't leave comments on my posts. I usually will email the commenter, when they leave an email address on thier account or I'll hop to thier blog.
ReplyDeleteI've struggled with the captcha. I get do many spam comments, I have to go on daily to delete them, but I want to make it easy for others. Like you, the captcha doesn't stop me from leaving comments though.
If I remember, sometimes I will subscribe to follow-up e-mails but often I forget. Sometimes I go back to see if I've been responded to, not always. I do try and reciprocate when someone comments at my blog.
ReplyDeleteI tend not to leave comments on book reviews - and honestly, I don't really read them. I know what interests me, or if the buzz is good, I'll pick it up. I'm far more likely to read a book based on someone saying "Oh that was good" than a lengthy review. So when scrolling down through my blog roll, I don't generally go to the ones that are reviewing books.
Word verification does not bother me a bit.
Sometimes I'll return to a blog to see if there's a reply, particularly if I left a long comment or if there was some kind of discussion going on among the other commenters.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind word verification. I actually think it's fun, sometimes. :P I took it off my blog for the A-Z April Blogging Challenge since a lot of bloggers had warned against using it; I find Blogger's spam filter catches a lot of the comments I don't want.
Sometimes it takes me a while to get to it, but I always return to blogs I've commented on to see if the blogger has replied. I don't mind if they don't, I just don't want to miss it if they do. I reply to everyone who comments on my blog.
ReplyDeleteI read a lot of blogs so the word verification thing irritates me, but I get why some people need it, and it doesn't put me off reading a blog.
At this time of year, many people suspend reading blogs, or catch up with them much later (case in point, here I am commenting on this 3 days after you posted it!)
ReplyDeleteI often do go back to see if someone has replied to my comment. One thing I like about LiveJournal is that replies to my comments (and only my comments) are emailed to me, so I don't have to go back and check the blog to see responses. (With Blogger, you have to see all replies or none, rather than just seeing your own.)
I do appreciate responses and am more likely to comment on blogs where the person either responds to me or comments on my blog, but I don't stop reading if they don't reply. I don't view it as quid pro quo.
I read far more blog posts than I have time to comment on.
On my own blog, I reply to all comments except spam, or comments left during a giveaway/challenge where there are just too many to do an individual response.
I loathe word verification. I don't use it on either of my blogs; instead, I screen anonymous comments on LiveJournal and I screen comments on posts older than a few days on Blogger. A one-step word verification isn't too bad, although I prefer not to do it, but when people have multi-step verifications, I sometimes give up during the process. (I'm not trying to break into Fort Knox, just trying to leave a comment!)
Generally what makes me stop reading a blog is that the person stops posting for a long while, or goes off in a direction that doesn't interest me, or posts nothing but promo. I don't mind some promo--in fact, I want to know when someone's next book is coming out--but I want other content too.
Thanks everyone! I'm going to take the word verification off again and deal with the spam.
ReplyDeleteI realize I conducted this experiment during the busiest season, so thanks even more for your loyalty and support!
The word verification doesn't bother me at all. I have it in place on my own blog, but I will take it off now and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteI generally revisit blogs to reread comments if the topic was interesting and generated a lot of discussion. I also comment on my own blog if someone asks a specific question.
Thanks for posting that link, Angela. Great tips!