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Thursday, February 03, 2005

Blog Etiquette

Now that people are actually reading this thing (and commenting!) I’m not quite sure how to reply to the comments. Do I reply in the comment feature, do I e-mail them, reply in my next post, or just take for granted that they know I appreciate the comments? I think that if someone asks a question I will reply in my next post, because you never know who might be wondering the same thing, plus it gives me blog content! I guess I am just debating on whether or not to reply in the comments feature or in e-mail. But blogger does not require people to leave e-mails. So I guess that decided it. I will reply in the comment feature. I don’t want people to think that I don’t appreciate their comments. I LOVE comments! If the day ever comes that I am getting tons of comments I probably won’t reply to each and every one. But I seriously doubt that day will ever come.

Another thing is that I read a lot of blogs that I don’t comment on. Especially if the person already has a lot of commenters and I would just be repeating the exact same thing. Being a relatively new runner and knitter I don’t have any advice to give or a comment beyond “Way to go!” or “Beautiful.” And I won’t post that if they already have lots of people saying exactly the same thing! I guess I just want people to know that I am reading even if I don’t speak up very often.

Thanks for “listening” to my blathering. Any unofficial "rules" I should know about?

5 comments:

  1. i guess most if it has to do with what level of anonymity you want to maintain. if you'd rather not have people emailing you directly, post your response in comments. sometimes, though, an email response will generate a lengthy corespondance that wouldn't really suit the comments section. i don't think there are any hard set 'rules'.

    oh, one other thing, since lots of folks use blog readers rather than hitting the site, they may not be check back to see if you responded. blog readers usually don't monitor comments.

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  2. Anonymous10:14 PM

    I hear you. It's hard to know how to handle comments. If it's a comment which poses a question I always reply directly to their email or blog. If it's just a shout out to me, I may leave a comment the next time I cruise their blog. Or I might shout back on my next post. It can get tricky and take up time. But I try to acknowledge their comments when possible.
    Chrisknits
    PS. no reply to my "comment" is necessary! :)

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  3. That was the big question for me too. I used to reply in the comments, but now I reply in email because some people don't go back and reread the comments after they have commented.

    But like you say, there's lot of different ways to do it. I know alot of people that don't reply at all and that's ok too.

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  4. Anonymous10:24 AM

    Jeff, Thanks for the feedback. Length of reply is something to think about. I'll handle that on a case by case basis, but generally reply in the comments. And I figure if they don't check back then the comment wasn't something that important to them anyway. I am putting WAY too much thought into this!!

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  5. Anonymous10:34 AM

    Jon, I think if replying in comments becomes too tedious I probably won't do it that long. I'm just now getting used to the fact that people actually read this on a regular basis and I want them to know that I appreciate it. So, Thanks!

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