Thursday, April 19, 2012

Receiving Comments



How do you like to receive comments on your blog? How do you prefer to leave comments on others’ blogs? I’m always trying to find a happy medium with how people like to interact in the blog-o-sphere.

Way back when I used to respond to every comment on my blog right after it was posted, but I found that somewhat cumbersome. Now I make a single post with comments specified to each person at the end. On the one hand I don’t want to overburden people with lots of fluff, but I do respond to each and every comment by week’s end.

How do you typically respond to comments on your blog? One at a time, en masse, some other way? How do you balance it all on your blog?

17 comments:

  1. Hello Mark:
    We do think that it is important to respond to each comment on an individual basis as this creates the personal dialogue which we find the most satisfying aspect of writing a blog. The new Blogger format which allows each comment when published to be replied to directly underneath we find much more satisfactory than when previously we had to write the name of the commentator to whom we were replying.

    We do appreciate the fact that you take time and trouble to both reply to comments and to comment on the blogs of your readers.

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  2. I comment via email (for those commenters who have emails attached to their profiles). I rarely go back to blogs to see if they commented on their comments, but I do get email responses sometimes and appreciate that. I agree with the above poster that the new blogger format is great, through I haven't figured out how to get it on my blog since I have a non-standard template.

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  3. I usually do it en mass about ten to twenty comments at a time.

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  4. I like to respond on my blog in the comments section. I respond to every commenter, whether they come back to read it or not. And sometimes, depending on the comment, I'll respond via e-mail. I like the new "reply" feature they've added to the comments section, but I don't use it for every comment.

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  5. I do it en masse in 1-3 reply comments. I used to reply individually when there were fewer commenters, but now it would take a lot of time and space to publish a comment for each one received.

    I'd use the new "Reply" button instead, but my comment format is on a separate page that doesn't allow for replies.

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  6. I like receiving email notification that my comment has been commented on, and I wish it was a feature I could add to my own blog. Sadly I do not have this technology, or else I would use it.

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  7. I like to see the dialogue in the comments section, rather than hide it in email.

    I usually respond with a single comment, containing personal responses to everyone who's commented.

    On blogs I frequent, I usually return at some point to see if the blogger responded.

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  8. I change it up so it doesn't sound "cookie cutter".

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  9. I try to reply to comments within the comment section of my blog, but sometimes I forget. I do read all the comments, but I've never been convinced people come back to read my responses. Instead, I make it a point to visit their blog and comment on their posts.

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  10. I'm trying to entertain a dialog with my commenters, but sometimes it's hard. I get a lot of those anonymous people who are:

    1) Sarcastic

    2) Try to prove me wrong with a huge text I don't want to read, about a post I made two years ago.

    3) Just flat out mean.

    This commenting function is a little awkward, but allows friendships to form sometimes, you know?

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  11. I used to have the comments show up in a separate window, but now I have them embedded below the post and I comment on each one as I find the time. Works for me!

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  12. Earlier I used to respond to comments few at a time. Nowadays I reply in the comments section if someone has asked me a question or just leave one reply for everyone.

    I just ensure that I visit the blogs of people who leave a comment.

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  13. Now that blogger allows direct replies, I try to respond to each individually (unless there's not much that can be said).

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  14. I like to follow the commenter's link back to their blog, read what they have up, and comment back that way. My favorite part about blogging. :)

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  15. I'll do a little of this and that. I normally comment in groups of 5 on my blog. But I always go to my commenter's site and I might bring up something on there as well.

    So we get to trade back and forth! It's fun.

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  16. If I reply to each comment, embedding them, it looks like my post has lots of comments. I like that.

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  17. Sorry, I've been so swamped lately, but I will start trying the reply option to each comment in the future. Great ideas everyone!

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