Wednesday Weevils #2 : Comment Conversations
- Wednesday Weevils #1 : Really Salty Slugs
- Wednesday Weevils #2 : Comment Conversations
- Wednesday Weevils #3 : Search Forms
- Wednesday Weevils #4 : FooFoo
- Wednesday Weevils #5 - :-)
[I realise the title and date are snuggling together right now, due to the need for sleep I will have to fix this tomorrow].
It’s that time again, Wednesday has arrived, as have my weevils. Are you ready?
This week’s weevil has been conversations in comments.
Most owners that have open comments will read the comments you make, but rarely respond or act upon what you’ve said.
It’s probable that maybe 80% of the time (at least) that there is nothing to respond to - with the normal ‘generic’ comments made. By this, I mean those where the comment author clearly hasn’t wanted to spend that much time thinking up a full response either because they don’t wish too, or they haven’t got the time to.
But I thought the whole point of having comments is to receive:
A statement of fact or opinion, especially a remark that expresses a personal reaction or attitude.
Well yes Emz, well done for stating the obvious.
Hang on, just stay with me a little longer before you get bored… Look at it this way:
If I said something to you in the street, you know, if I made a comment, then generally most of the time you’d reply, right? (Yes blah blah not if I said something nasty etc etc…). But if I said something constructive, or something that made you think and challenge your brain cells then you would respond. I would hope.
So if you’ll do it in the street, why not on your blog/website?
Yes yes yes. Back in the ol’ days of when I originally started blogging I didn’t respond, even if I really wanted to. Why? Well, I didn’t think people did that on blogs, therefore, I didn’t.
Which was silly. I know. Even still, it’s only recently that I’ve started replying.
Yes, you can leave your reply via a comment on their blog, but I don’t know, for me, that just seems a rather… strange way of doing it. Not quite the proper way of doing things.
But that’s me.
I personally tend to ask a lot of questions within my comments, and I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t interested in the answer. The amount of times I get an answer? Well, very rarely to be honest. Which I think is sad.
Comments don’t have to mean simple one-liners that you don’t actually mean, and the blog author knows you don’t actually care for, they can spark whole conversations.
Surely, that’s what conversations in the ‘real world’ are sparked by? Someone making a comment about something?
So, with this weevil, I have made this site ‘conversation friendly‘.
- I now comment within the comments.
- I comment to your comments directly, and my responses are emailed to you at the email address you supplied. Kudos to Joana for having this on her site, and inspiring me to do the same on mine.
- You can now visibly quote anything I’ve said within my post by selecting the text, and then clicking ‘quote selected text’ near the comment form.
- You can now visibly quote each other by clicking ‘quote’ near the date displayed on someone’s comment.
- As a side note, I’ve enabled gravatars, just so you can ’see’ who you are talking to. Although many people don’t yet have one.
So I implore you to start conversations on people’s blogs, and if possible, to encourage conversations within your own posts.
What kind of Internet world would we have, if we could all openly and informally exchange thoughts fully amongst one another?
A beautiful one, wouldn’t you say?
Replying to comments is something I really need to work on. I do reply to most, but I don’t know… I just forget or feel that none of the commenters is actually going to return to my site and read my reply, especially if they haven’t asked anything. BUT I have decided (partly due to your post :P) to answer to each and every comment I receive, even if I just thank the person for commenting
Mari needs to install that plugin and start responding to comments. That has to be the single most useful thing Mari has seen as to getting people to respond to your responses to their comments.
Mari has been half of her commentors since…January? Mari forgets when she started responding to commentators.
Gravatars are also good. It gives you an idea that you’re talking to a person. It kinda bothers Mari when people use anime pics or a graphic, but then Mari reminds herself that when she didn’t have a camera, she did the same thing.
Mari always takes time to write her comments, but sometimes the post is so STUPID that Mari can’t leave her normal mile-long comment in response. Diary-bloggers need to stop writing about eating toast and start writing what they’re really thinking. It’s much better therapy.
One thing Mari sucks at unless the person that comments is on her blogroll is replying to comments on people’s websites. Mari needs to do that more.
Buwahaha! I have infected you with my commenting-replies disease…which I actually picked up from Mari.
I love it when blog owners respond to my comments and I often try to remember their urls to check back and see if I got a response when I don’t get an email reply, but normally bloggers don’t respond to comments and I find this to be very sad. Why not, these are people who are interested in what you wrote, why not continue discussing things with people of similar interests?
That’s why I love that plugin, for those that might not check back they get their response regardless AND people following the thread will also see the answer to the question that they might have had as well. Either way, I get to meet some great people.
While I am grateful for responses I find it irksome when people come to my blog and leave a comment regarding a comment I left for them and they make no effort to comment on the current post. It looks out of place and confuses the hell out of everybody! Because some are so slow in responding I have absolutely NO IDEA what they’re talking about by the time they do that. Besides, I have a contact page. Now if they comment on the post and add their response to my comment I don’t mind that so much because I feel like they took the time to read and use the comment form for what it’s for, to comment on the entry.
BTW Emz, which quoter plugin are you using? I like it and want to add it to my blog! XD
[quote post="85"]Mari needs to install that plugin and start responding to comments. That has to be the single most useful thing Mari has seen as to getting people to respond to your responses to their comments.[/quote]
LOL! I seem to recall you saying something similar when I first installed the plugin on my blog. XD I hope you do get a chance to install it hun, it’s awesome.
@Joana
And Mari picked it up from older bloggers like Photomatt and one twenty-something lady that had an article about how Cingular sucks…Mari thinks she linked to it once.
People don’t check back for replies to their comments because people are self-centered and lazy. They only care about their site, and screw everyone else.
It’s the ultimate conversation starter. Especially if you’re like Mari and thought it was a solely-email response plugin at first. Until Mari thought to click the links and see that it’s posted in the comments below hers, it seemed really…weird to get emails responding to her comments.
Mari used to viciously delete those sorts of comments. The comments for a post are not a !$%^!$#-$%!$ing guestbook, so visitors should not use them that way. Mari always, always says soemthing about the post and then says her off-topic bit (unless her comment just got deleted by a CAPTCHA. Then Mari doesn’t care anymore.) It’s common web courtesy to say SOMETHING about the post you’re commenting on if you’re responding to an earlier message or have something off-topic to say.
But then again, common sense and courtesy are the best oxymorons around.
Emz actually has a plugins used page. Mari wishes Joana used the plugins used plugin. *hint hint* So many sites have these wonderful functions that Mari just can’t name/find the plugin to, so it’s disappointing when there isn’t a plugins used page. But when there is, Mari goes a-poachin’! *sticks pirate hat on and pulls a Captain Morgan* To Emz’s plugins page! Yo-ho blow the man down…
Mari is AWFUL lazy and scatter-brained. Mari gets distracted while surfing and what do you know it’s been a week since Emz told Mari where that plugin was and she still hasn’t installed it. XDDD
Mari,
Hint noted. lol I’ve actually been considering doing something like that, hell I know there is a plugin that will display the stuff for you, but from what I understand and read at the WeblogToolsCollection blog it’s also a security risk. By tellin others all of the plugins you use any person who knows the weaknesses of that plugin and how to exploit it know that your site is vulnerable. Since I’m typically slow on updating my plugins I thought it best to err on the side of caution.
Grrr, captchas. I hate those things. Don’t even get me started on them!
@ Kaisa[quote comment="352"]Replying to comments is something I really need to work on. I do reply to most, but I don’t know… I just forget or feel that none of the commenters is actually going to return to my site and read my reply, especially if they haven’t asked anything. BUT I have decided (partly due to your post :P) to answer to each and every comment I receive, even if I just thank the person for commenting :)[/quote]
Sometimes I don’t answer to every comment, generally because such comments don’t really have anything to reply to!
Although thanking each person is a good idea! I guess it would make each person feel that little bit more ‘worthwhile’ for commenting!
[quote comment="354"]Mari needs to install that plugin and start responding to comments. That has to be the single most useful thing Mari has seen as to getting people to respond to your responses to their comments.
Mari has been half of her commentors since…January? Mari forgets when she started responding to commentators.
Gravatars are also good. It gives you an idea that you’re talking to a person. It kinda bothers Mari when people use anime pics or a graphic, but then Mari reminds herself that when she didn’t have a camera, she did the same thing.
Mari always takes time to write her comments, but sometimes the post is so STUPID that Mari can’t leave her normal mile-long comment in response. Diary-bloggers need to stop writing about eating toast and start writing what they’re really thinking. It’s much better therapy.
One thing Mari sucks at unless the person that comments is on her blogroll is replying to comments on people’s websites. Mari needs to do that more.[/quote]
I know when I first commented at Joana’s site, and got an emailed response it just felt… good! I was totally impressed!
Which is why I was so eager to do the same here!
Of course, participation by me more frequently wouldn’t go amiss! *winks at self*
(Is winking possible, to yourself?).
@ Joana
[quote post="85"]While I am grateful for responses I find it irksome when people come to my blog and leave a comment regarding a comment I left for them and they make no effort to comment on the current post. It looks out of place and confuses the hell out of everybody! Because some are so slow in responding I have absolutely NO IDEA what theyre talking about by the time they do that. Besides, I have a contact page. Now if they comment on the post and add their response to my comment I dont mind that so much because I feel like they took the time to read and use the comment form for what its for, to comment on the entry.[/quote]
I know what you mean, do to my excessive question-asking-in-comments sometimes people do answer, but via leaving their answer in a comment here.
When I get those comments I am just totally confused! I would have probably visited in excess of 30+ other blog posts by then and I don’t have the brain capacity to remember each and every one!
[quote post="85"]BTW Emz, which quoter plugin are you using? I like it and want to add it to my blog! XD[/quote]
Strangely enough, the quotes aren’t currently being powered via a WordPress plugin *gasp*!
I have toyed with a few, but none feel quite as right as the old Codegrrl script I’m currently using. I do need to switch soon though.
@ Mari
[quote post="85"]Emz actually has a plugins used page. Mari wishes Joana used the plugins used plugin. *hint hint* So many sites have these wonderful functions that Mari just cant name/find the plugin to, so its disappointing when there isnt a plugins used page. But when there is, Mari goes a-poachin! *sticks pirate hat on and pulls a Captain Morgan* To Emzs plugins page! Yo-ho blow the man down [/quote]
I created the plugins used page because, like you, I see these smack-tastic sites with amazing scripts/plugins/poofy lions yet they don’t let on where these things come from!
Which I think is actually mean, somewhat.
I like sharing. I’m the sharing sort of person, so wanted to share my fant-a-ba-do-zee plugins rather than keep these miracles hidden!
@ Joana
[quote comment="357"]Mari,
Hint noted. lol I’ve actually been considering doing something like that, hell I know there is a plugin that will display the stuff for you, but from what I understand and read at the WeblogToolsCollection blog it’s also a security risk. By tellin others all of the plugins you use any person who knows the weaknesses of that plugin and how to exploit it know that your site is vulnerable. Since I’m typically slow on updating my plugins I thought it best to err on the side of caution.
Grrr, captchas. I hate those things. Don’t even get me started on them![/quote]
Oh crappers I didn’t really think about the security side of things.
But surely it would take a lot of brains to hack via a plugin?
I would hope no one would even want to meddle with my site - it hardly compares to big-assed popular blogs!
I hate that security has always got to be in question, rather than other general enjoyment or sharing. It just doesn’t create a truly ‘open’ world.
[quote post="85"]BTW Emz, which quoter plugin are you using? I like it and want to add it to my blog! XD[/quote]
For some reason I thought you were on about the quotes - not the quoter thing.
Man, I have a stupid brain, anyway it’s Quoter.
Sorry for being, well, stupid!