I hate blog snobs...
I've just spat the dummy (what's new?) in the comments section of another blog. Why? Well, it's about a matter of blogging etiquette...
Call me simple-minded, naïve, whatever, but the way I read it, if someone leaves a comment on your blog which is clearly replyable-to, then according to the general rules governing discourse between people, to give such a comment the silent treatment is tantamount to a blatant snub.
This happens to me a lot. And I've had enough!!!
So, in future, if I leave a comment on your blog and you decide to think your "supercool" readers might ostracise you if you actually reply to my comment, or if you think it's beneath your dignity to do so, I'll tell you what I think of such (in)action and totally diss you from that time onwards.
I knew you'd be excited by this...
..
Call me simple-minded, naïve, whatever, but the way I read it, if someone leaves a comment on your blog which is clearly replyable-to, then according to the general rules governing discourse between people, to give such a comment the silent treatment is tantamount to a blatant snub.
This happens to me a lot. And I've had enough!!!
So, in future, if I leave a comment on your blog and you decide to think your "supercool" readers might ostracise you if you actually reply to my comment, or if you think it's beneath your dignity to do so, I'll tell you what I think of such (in)action and totally diss you from that time onwards.
I knew you'd be excited by this...
..
posted by The Editor at
12:52 AM
15 Comments:
Hmmm...I better run quick and read all them comments I get. Oughta take me a minute and a half.
Gerry, I think the response to comments falls off for two reasons. [1]your blog is so damn busy and you are so damn famous you really don't have time [in which case,as some blogs in that stratospheric, near journalistic state have done, they ought to turn off the comments. [2] shallow and shoddy self advertisement does not really want comments except as a kind of tallying scheme for self importance. not all such blogs gush about themselves and some bait their trap with hot topics of the day. No real reply? No real blogger!
ih? Does this mean I'm doomed?
I ALWAYS reply, Gerry. Leave me a comment and I'll come straight back at you.
Greetings.
Whoa back there, Gerry. I've had this discussion with somebody else, and the no-reply thing doesn't necessarily mean a lack of respect towards you. I've always looked at it from your point of view (no reply = rudeness, leaving me the commenter feeling hurt) but the person I was whingeing to had a different view: he doesn't expect replies to his own comments, and so doesn't feel the need to give them either. Nothing to do with snubbing commenters, just a difference in expectations.
Ron, that last-comment-on-a-thread thing... I hate that too! It feels like you've said something so stupid everybody else has slunk away in alarm or embarrassment :D
I used to respond to every comment, and I always read every comment, but sometimes it's unnecessary - if someone make a good point, they hardly need me to come back and say "yeah, that's right". Automatically responding to every comment as if they're just there for my judgment is more arrogant than reading and agreeing with a good comment but not necessarily responding.
Actually, I tend to respond more to the commenters with whom I don't agree, not because I like their comments more, but because disagreeing with them sparks a response.
It would be a more arrogant blogger who thought that commenters were just pleading for his/her attention and therefore always required a response out of common politeness.
I just think most bloggers are extremely grateful for - and take great pleasure in - all the comments they receive, whether they actually comment in response or not.
I tend to agree with Mr Lefty that good comments stand alone. But then I admire the boynton's of the world, who as far as I'm aware never let a comment however inane go unnoticed. I guess it has to do with manners too. (And as we know, boynton is a Paragon of manners.)
Aside from comments left at boyn's I don't necessarily expect a response. Engaging in a dialogue of sorts on a blog, takes a helluva lot of time, and to do such a dialogue justice, means reading every single comment. I'm not sure what the 'right' thing to do is, but I suppose its a matter of personal judgement dependent on the type of comment. I certainly think I have indeed been snubbed on some blogs, for reasons I will never know, because my comments have always and consistently been ignored.
In my case 'the ignore me and I'll go away'?maxim simply doesn't work and I go on to take a certain delight in being annoying!
Thanks for a very comprehensive set of responses, guys.
Yes, I over-reacted. Yes, I'm too insecure. Yes yes yes...
And there are also different blogs. Some are more conversational in their comments than others.
But...
There are blog snobs - bloggers who ignore one person's comments repeatedly whilst being quite chatty with others. It's this kind of "IN crowd" and "OUT crowd" schoolyard bullshit that gets to me and elicits the "up yours" response from me. Only fair, I would have thought...
It's this kind of "IN crowd" and "OUT crowd" schoolyard bullshit that gets to me
Exactly what I feel. It's there in quite a few blogs... And I think I'm catching the disease.
Ron, to quote Graucho Marx, I wouldn't join any club that would have me as a member...
I'm still searching for an element of the Australian Left I would bother to join. I think maybe The Left has left town...
Take Labor for instance... They have no problem with the globalisation of capitalism. They will not stand up against the Yanks. They will not stand up against the WTO, the World Bank, or the IMF.
They, under Bob Hawke, happily went along with the Yanks in suckering Saddam Hussein to try to get their mits on Iraq's oil and killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in the process.
Beazley is an Yankophile wanker who loves the military industrial complex and can't seem to say no every time Big Business asks him to bend over... A trollop for capitalism. They all are. What absolute blowjobs Labor politicians have become!!! Traitors to the workers - that's Labor.
A truly left wing Ozzie blog? I'm still looking for one... Then again, what do we mean by "left wing" ???
Ranting Human, yes. I think in the end we just have to figure out if we feel welcome on a particular blog, and if not, ask ourselves why we are posting there...
I mean, if the frigging blogger won't even acknowledge your contribution or do anything to make you feel welcome, why keep going there?
Bloggers need commenters more than commenters need blogs. Supply and demand, old son... Supply and demand...
Time to adjust the prices... :-)
Link, I think I'm talking about whether or not the blogger conveys to the commenter a general feeling of being welcome. Not just intially, but including regular upgrades. It's the least one is entitled to expect when commenting on a blog. Is this asking too much?
And yes, other issues enter the equation...
Like insecurity and timidity.
Lack of confidence.
Lack of egocentricity.
Dare I say lack of narcissism...
Humans... Quirks... Foibles...
gerry,
i can relate to how you feel. i don't always get a personalised answer to every comment i leave at people's blogs either and to be honest. is it malicious? nah, i don't think so.
i'm always conscious that i'm probably offending someone by not properly acknowldging their contribution and i feel bad about it. but i guess i never signed up to be a forum moderator. and i just run out of time and sometimes i even ignore comments from loved ones let alone strangers.
don't take it so personally eh?
and i'm sorry about my faulty computer clock. it bothers you more than it does me, that's all.
Oh Gianna... You got caught in the crossfire. You were not in my sights...
"...I'm probably offending someone by not properly acknowledging their contribution and I feel bad about it..."
Well, if you feel bad about it, why not do something about that...
"...don't take it so personally eh?" Yes, that's good advice. I know at least 50% of this issue is to do with my own insecurity. But then there's "the other side" as well...
Thanks for daring to come here and sticking your head up whilst the bullets are whizzing all around the place. I respect the courage and integrity behind such a move.
I love reading your blog by the way.
First I lurked, then I commented on the few blogs I felt comfortable with and now I am celebrating my first month of blogging. I was so pathetically grateful for my first comment I burst into tears. Which now makes me more pathetic because I've told the blog world.
JahTeh, you're not pathetic. You're honest enough to expose your real feelings to the whole world. Many wish they had your courage...
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