Blog Comment Etiquette

Can anyone tell me how this works? If someone comments on your blog, is that implicitly an invitation to go comment on their blog? And if you go over, and you read some stuff, and it's cool - should you only comment once? And that completes the dance?

I don't know. Most of the people who mention to me something that they read on here, don't really seem to comment. I'm like "don't you want to comment?" They're like, "not really." I guess they just read. Anyway, praise from strangers rings truer than the kind indulgence of friends, in the starving heart of the cynical artist. Not that most of my comments are literally what you might call "praise"! And you will note, that I do not specifically identify myself as the aforesaid cynical artist. In fact, I admit that I personally tend to take all comments as praise. Even the insulting ones. It's nice that they they took the effort!

Or would that be, "it's nice that they made the chance!"? Nice that they took the...opportunity? Took the...I'm not really feeling "made the effort" for some reason. I mean, I know it's right, but the sense isn't what I'm after.

So. Anyway. Moving on in my conversational style: "From time to time, people I don't already know will comment on my blog, and I'll go over and read some of theirs, and like I'm saying above, what is the expected etiquette? A lot of the time I'll read and enjoy immensely, but not have anything particular to say in response. So in that case, I don't comment. I wonder if that's considered a slight?

Conversely, I may see two or three posts of theirs that spring potential comments to my mind. And I want to know, if somebody posts one innocent comment on my blog, and then suddenly within weeks I'm over there posting three comments on their blog like a maniac...is that going to cause them a little consternation? Am I coming off like some kind of blog-stalker? I always worry about that. It hinders my free and expressive nature.

I'd like to point out for the record that on my blog, ALL COMMENTS ARE WELCOME. I mean all comments made by an actual human and not by some advertising auto-posting e-thug are welcome. I will only delete your comment if it's clearly some kind of form letter blog-for-money come-on, and most of those post within seconds of when I update anyhow.

So like I'm saying, that's where I stand, but I'm not sure about the community at large. There may be some etiquette out there I need to keep being wary of. We'll see how it works out."

Comments

Cassie said…
Wow! This was the best post of all on the greatest blog ever!

Love, from
a friend
(with a blog)
blue said…
Just curious, how do you know if someone made a new comment on a post that might be older? Like, maybe one from January 10th? Would they have to call your attention to it in some way?
dogimo said…
That's a good question. I think the only way you would know is if you have it set up where any pending comments must be pre-approved by you. Then the comment would come up for your approval.

Otherwise, you'd only see it if you checked your back posts.

I always toy with the idea of doing that pre-approval thing, but it's kind of sad for the commenter to not see the comment pop up all happy and fast.

Isn't it?
blue said…
It is, it is. But I think with a blog as. . . hm. . . as exclusive as yours could warrant the comment approval thing, just so you can see when people comment. Because even though there may not be tons of comments, there are a heck of a lot of posts, so unless you planned to review all the posts to look for comments, some might get posted that you'd miss. Of course finding those in a later reread of archives might be nice. I don't know. There also might be an option for a blogger to read all comments posted, or all comments by certain commenters, or something like that.
blue said…
Hey! Didn't you get my reference to the January 10th post comment? Was that too subtle? Maybe you DO need the comment approval thing. ;P
dogimo said…
I got it, I got it! I went to the link, and I saw the lovely picture of the Loch, and was mightily soothed.

But, I couldn't think of anything relevant to say about it, so I thought, I'll let that one stew a bit.
blue said…
The picture was only an add-on. I was directing you there so you would listen to the song. I wouldn't have used a cumbersome, annoying myspace page if it was just a pic of the Loch I was after.

The compilation that song is on was a staple of mine as soon as it came out. Damn good stuff.
dogimo said…
How wrong to post this on "Blog Comment Etiquette"! For shame, pradeep nagar.

pradeep nagar has left a new comment on your post "Blog Comment Etiquette":

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