Do a Commenting Self-Audit
Day 1: Do a Commenting Self-Audit
One of the goals of the 31 Day Comment Challenge is for us to improve our commenting skills and draw more people into blog conversations. So to kick off the 31 days of activities we’re going to start with a commenting self-audit. You can use this to get a better picture of your blog commenting skills and strategies.
For this activity, do the following:
- Answer the following questions:
- How often do you comment on other blogs during a typical week?
I am NOT a good commenter. That is why I am challenging myself to grow in that area. I am embarrassed to admit, that if I comment once or twice in a week, that would be a lot. - Do you track your blog comments? How? What do you do with your tracking?
I track the comments on my own blog. WordPress sends me a notification e-mail when there is a new comment. I also track other people’s blog comments, if they have a plugin enabled to subscribe to that particular comment thread. - Do you tend to comment at the same blogs or do you try to comment on at least one new blog per week?
Since I have such sad statistics on commenting, I can’t answer this question accurately. I do read mostly the same blogs over and over again, since they are part of my Google Reader, hence show up while others do not. …So, I probably do leave comments on the same blogs over and over again … now that I am thinking about it…
- How often do you comment on other blogs during a typical week?
- Now review Gina Trapani’s Guide to Blog Comments and ask yourself how well you’re doing in each of the different areas. Are there any specific areas where you think you need to do some work? What do you want to do to address these issues?
- Stay on topic.
I feel that I do stay on topic, when I comment. I am aware how annoying it can be when the comment has nothing to do with the post. - Contribute new information to the discussion.
I feel that this point is actually the stumbling block sometimes when I do want to comment on a comment. Others have beaten me to it and all that would/is left for me to say is "I agree with so and so" and "that is exactly what I was going to suggest". Besides that those kind of comments can be an acknowledgment for the others that contributed before, it does not add much to the value of the discussion - Don’t comment for the sake of commenting.
I have not been guilty of this point. I am disappointed when I see a comment like "Good point" or and am immediately thinking this might be a spammer. The comment shows nothing that the reader has actually read the post or has anything to contribute. Let’s not start doing that either during out comment challenge, just to get your numbers of comments higher. - Know when to comment and when to e-mail.
Again, with my poor commenting record, I am not guilty of this faux-pas. Only personal comment I wrote was as a response to my mother’s first comment ever (on my own blog). I even wrote it in German :0. - Remember that nobody likes a know-it-all.
I think it is a valid point to mention a dead link or when a typo might make the meaning of a post be misunderstood. I surely appreciate it when others let me know on my blog. But I always appreciate it being done in a respectful way. When we are blogging or commenting, we are exposing ourselves. It is nice to feel a little safety net, when one does make a mistake… and we all do
I am writing in English, my third language. I am bound to make mistakes that a native speaker would not. Be kind to speakers of other languages who are trying to communicate with you in your language. - Make the tone of your message clear.
I am notorious for using emoticons . Maybe I even sprinkle them too much in my posts and comments. - Own your comment.
I don’t believe in leaving anonymous messages. PERIOD! Or as I tell my students and own children: "No buts, ifs, whens, or…" - Be succinct.
Probably guilty of this in the past. Will keep that in minnd - Cite your sources with links or inline quoting.
Always! Since the blogosphere is so much about sharing, remixing and building upon the work of others, giving credit where credit is due is a must. - Be courteous.
Treat others like you would like to be treated.
- Do not feed or tease the trolls.
Not really in my personality.
- Stay on topic.
Excellent review Silvia of the comment audit.
The biggest thing that changed me from low to high commenting was the ability to track the conversation and respond back if I wanted to. I definitely do comment on some blogs more than others because there are some people (not well knowns) that write posts that engage me.
My thoughts on:
“Contribute new information to the discussion”.
Well sometimes I will take the time to write encouragement that may not add new information – but that is because the blogger does need the encouragement to know what they’ve written matters and people care. Saying that I do keep this point “Don’t comment for the sake of commenting” in mind when writing the comment and try to think of something that will add to the conversation by asking a question.
Don’t totally agree with “Know when to comment and when to e-mail” – I think this gets back to the type of blogger – sometimes if you know the person and you’ve noticed something it’s okay to say hope you are okay?
I also put lots of emoticons in my comments to tone them down
Definitely fail this one “Be succinct” — even with this comment. The trouble is I read lots of great posts that I want to comment on. The better etiquette if you want to write a long comment is to write a post but I don’t always have the time. So whats the answer? No comment? Or long comment?
I won’t engage in comment conversations that have trolls.
Sorry Silvia I need to test cocomment so have to leave another comment – delete if you want
Hi Sylvia,
Thanks for pointing out Gina’s recommendations for commenting, well worth considering when posting. Had me thinking though, what are the responsibilities of the owner of the blog? For your blog do you filter comments i.e. if a comment does not ” Contribute new information to the discussion”, do you still approve?
I’m thinking it probably depends on the traffic your blog attracts, if you don’t have many comments left, then you’d be inclined to approve all.
Chad
@Sue
I agree with you that longer comments should probably be turned into a separate post. I think it is better to write the comment if you don’t have the time for a longer post.So many times, the moment seems to pass by and I never go back to writing the comment, if I don’t do it immediately.
I have also copied the link to a post and a particular quote that struck me into a draft on my blog, so I would have a reminder to get back to it at a later time.
Just hint in your comment that you have more thoughts on this issue and you will have an upcoming post soon. Then use the trackback function and maybe part of your comment as a quote in your new post to refer to the shorter comment you left earlier.
@Chad
I am not aware of any official responsibilities of a blog owner, except the ones they place upon themselves. Everybody decides on their own “filters”, I guess.
On Langwitches, I do not delete any comments, unless they are Spam, anonymous or link to a questionable (porn, ads, etc.)website.
I never thought about that some blog owners might actually filter out comments that do not meet their “standards”. I am not aware of any edublogger that is filtering comments with such a criteria.
You bring up a good point though…
I would like to hear other blog owner’s thoughts about their “Comment filtering” criteria. What are they and do you even have them?
Hi there, I don’t have any comment filtering criteria other than to delete spam, of which I have only had 2 or 3. I have had just 2 posts that have been ‘disagreeable’ but I haven’t deleted them because they have been good learning opportunities for me. I hope that my replies to the comments have shown that I have learned from them. Sometimes a degree of humility is required.
[...] I am participating in the 31-Day-Comment Challenge, I figured I should follow Langwitches’s instructions for a [...]