Whenever I receive a comment on my blog my virtual tail starts-a-wagging and I rush to see who has commented and what they have said. Comments can tell me a few things, they indicate that firstly someone is reading my content (a good thing) and secondly that someone has something to say about what I have written (a very good thing), and thirdly it can act to educate myself and fellow readers/commentators (sometimes).
Do you reply to your comments? I shouldn’t see why you wouldn’t. I have often seen the comments on Matt Cutt’s blog hit triple figures and I understand that it would very difficult to maintain any type of reply to those comments, but he still gets stuck in there with the ‘little people’. For the most part the comments on his blog seem to spiral into discussion between the various commentators anyway and so him being an absentee bloglord isn’t that major an issue.
However, if your blogpost receives a tidy number of replies, such as seven or eight, then why would you not at least show that you care about the people going to the effort to reply to your thoughts? Why bother blogging about something if you’re not going to respond to comments? Do you think you’re too-cool-for-school or do you simply think that the buck stops with you and that you’re right no matter what questions may be raised via the comment form. Maybe you’re too opinionated to reply? Maybe you’re too busy installing software on laptops or something?
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thank you for visiting! Cormac
27 responses so far ↓
1 Gavin // Mar 25, 2007 at 1:13 pm
It can be very annoying leaving a comment on a blog and it going ignored.
I noticed how Richard & yourself reply to every comment which does keep visitors coming back to interact even more. That is one of the reasons I installed the follow-up comments plugin.
2 David Rooney // Mar 25, 2007 at 1:18 pm
I agree with both of you, if someone takes the time to read what you have to say and comment at least have the manners to reply. If you where in a pub talking to someone and when they try to put in their 2 cents and you ignore them, you going to get slapped! So why is blogging any diffrent?
3 David Rooney // Mar 25, 2007 at 1:19 pm
But the people installing software on some laptop could be to busy arguing a credit card account because the hamster died!
4 Gavin // Mar 25, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I guess some bloggers *cough* have their head stuck up their own backside and think they are above everyone else.
A certain IT blog comes to mind…
5 David Rooney // Mar 25, 2007 at 1:23 pm
A certain one comes to my mind as well. But I cant go into it right now, I didnt back up my podcasts and I deleted them from my server….. I got to find someone to blame and cry to!
6 Gavin // Mar 25, 2007 at 1:28 pm
It really a good way to stop visitors from coming back. I have lost count on how many blogs I have stopped reading because of the lack of interaction from the blogger.
7 Gavin // Mar 25, 2007 at 1:32 pm
No comment interaction from Cormac on this one. Hmmmm makes me wonder..
8 Eliot // Mar 25, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I, like most I expect, have commented on SO many blogs I’ve lost count.
Every time I comment I sign up to the comments feed or email to track replies, and Cormac is one of a very small proportion of bloggers who has ever replied with a quality reply that in itself has generated a decent conversation by email.
Because of Cormac’s response he’s got one more reader here - a lot of bloggers wanting to build their community could learn from this.
9 Cormac Moylan // Mar 25, 2007 at 5:24 pm
Oh great, not you feckers again.
Eliot, thanks for the handsome comment.
David, maybe you should sack your webhost?
Gavin, my friggin broadband kicked the bucket for a few hours this afternoon so i was in limbo. There are only so many Top Gear repeats you can watch in the one day
That subscribe to comments plugin is fantastic. I actually asked Donnacha O Caoimh at the last barcamp why it isn’t a default feature of WP and he said that adding things like this increases the code that needs to managed and opens up the door to more errors. The more code the more potential errors.
Mm, not sure on that one. It is a feature that should be default since blogging is meant to be a social interaction, plus I can’t imagine the code is that complex!
10 Gavin // Mar 25, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Dublin Broad Bandband eh? Been there, done that and wore the T-shirt.
The comments notification should be built in as you said, blogging is meant to be a social interaction.
11 Dave Davis // Mar 26, 2007 at 8:47 am
Cormac, I completely agree. It does my head in commenting on a blog and not being notified of replies. Most times, I will never return to that blog. I never subscribe to comments through RSS as my feed reader is cluttered enough.
Blogging is indeed social interaction and is becoming the “New Forums”. What I am starting to look into is maybe adding threaded replies like on Jeremy Schoemaker’s blog. THAT is a real conversation and interaction rather than the “@postername: Reply…”
I can see why more code can clutter the wordpress software, but some things are just essential. The majority of bloggers have the notify/subscribe plugin instlled anyway and it’s only a matter of time before the software evolves.
I also find it funny that before David mentioned the Podcasts, we all knew the blog/person in question.
What was the dogs name in Bosco? The little white one? (I’m probably thinking of something else).
12 cormacmoylan // Mar 26, 2007 at 9:04 am
Woof said…
Don’t talk to me about RSS readers. It’s a job and a half trying to get thru them all especially after taking a weekend off. It’s gotta be done though..
I will have to check out Shoemaker’s blog, it’s blocked within work at the moment.
The other code I mentioned to Donnacha at Barcamp was code which can enable you to change the order of your categories and pages.
So you can put category G ahead of category B on your list. But he gave the same answer as before.
Thanks for the comment Dave
13 Jennifer Farley // Mar 26, 2007 at 9:05 am
I haven’t had any comments AT ALL on my blog (sniffle) but when I do get one I will certainly reply. I have left comments on lots of other blogs though and it is nice when people give you a hi back or thanks for visiting.
14 cormacmoylan // Mar 26, 2007 at 9:10 am
Christ, no comments but excellent content, that will change…not saying that you will get zero content and excellent posts..but you know what I mean!
I must try my hand at some of your tutorials, my PS skills are seriously lacking, I\’ll drop you a comment once I have finished one of your classes.
15 Dave Davis // Mar 26, 2007 at 9:13 am
Haha, no problem Cormac. I’ve been subscribed for quite a while. You were actually one of the first Irish blogs I was subscribed to.
In fact, it was your blog post on “The Knife” that made me subscribe. You made me fall in LOVE with that band and go on a “Jose didn’t write it!” spree in the bar. One of my mates even went out and bought The Knife CD because you told me and I told him.
@Jennifer: No offense, but I have never left a comment on a blogger blog. I don’t have a blogger account and I doubt I ever will.
16 cormacmoylan // Mar 26, 2007 at 9:17 am
Dang, why didn’t you click on my Knife referral link? ha!
Decent band alright. The vocalist does a lot of work with Royskopp. She features on track 7 on The Understanding, an absolute gem of a song.
Dave you don’t need a blogger a/c to leave a comment on blogger.
17 Grandad // Mar 26, 2007 at 10:31 am
My only problem with comments is that I tend to be away from the blog for a while. When I get back to it, there are five or six comments that deserve individual replies and I get tied in knots trying to reply to a load of points in one comment.
But comments are the lifeblood of a blog.
Without ‘em I’d feel like I was shouting in the desert.
18 Cormac Moylan // Mar 26, 2007 at 10:40 am
Or in a mute’s ear. Boom Boom!
19 Grandad // Mar 26, 2007 at 10:59 am
And what’s more, I have just installed a “Subscribe to comments” which I’ve been meaning to do for ages….
20 David Rooney // Mar 26, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Cormac, I got to hand it to you. You made a great post with alot of response back! Keep up the good work!
21 Dave Davis // Mar 26, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Spot on David. Almost like a mini “Comment bait”.
22 Cormac Moylan // Mar 26, 2007 at 1:28 pm
I know how to play the game!
23 Niall // Mar 26, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Hadn’t seen the “Subscribe to comments” plugin. Had presumed it was default behaviour in Wordpress and since I am usually logged in on my blog when replying, I hadn’t spotted it was missing.
24 My comment form is acting up a bit | Cormac Moylan // Mar 26, 2007 at 7:18 pm
[...] So if you have replied to any of my latest posts and your comment is missing then email me via cormac@cormacmoylan.com and I’ll see if I can resolve the problem from here. [...]
25 M Buckley // Mar 30, 2007 at 11:55 am
I do not always respond to comments.
This should not be misunderstood. Often a comment stands alone and does not need a reply.
Replying to “Anonymous” seems to be the equivalent of going out into society and adding graffiti to a very large wall.
26 10 Common Blogging Mistakes // Sep 26, 2007 at 11:21 pm
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27 10 Blogging Mistakes // Jan 30, 2008 at 5:01 pm
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