Last week I wrote the post On Limits and Promises and it made me think about something I’ve struggled with ever since I started blogging. Comments and the proper etiquette when it comes to them. For years now, I’ve asked myself questions on the proper way to handle them because I always feel like I’m letting someone down by not doing it all.
Do you respond to each and every one of them?
Do you comment on the person’s blog that comments, even if you have nothing worth saying?
Do you leave your link in the comment or do you omit it?
Do you comment on the commenter’s blog, even if you have very little in common?
Is there a certain amount of time that you’re expected to respond in before your response becomes irrelevant?
There’s no rule book here. Nothing that tells me to do this, this, and this by x date. So that tells me that it’s up to every blogger to decide how their blog will work. How the comments they receive will affect them. How the comments they leave will be received by others. It’s up to every single person with a blog to decide what’s right for them, their blog, and their time/effort.
So here are my “rules” that I’ve set for myself, in a way that works for my life right now.
Know that I read every comment, but I can’t always respond to them (especially in a timely fashion.) Every comment comes into my inbox and I love seeing what you have to say, I promise. But sometimes time is short when I’m running two blogs, a shop, two networking sites and going to school on top of trying to maintain an active role in my personal life. And when I can’t figure out much more to say than “I agree” or “thank you,” I’m just hoping you’ll know that I do appreciate you taking the time to say a few words here and will do my best to stop by your blog.
Know that me leaving my URL isn’t trying to spam your blog, and instead is my way of making it easy for you to find me. I’ve had my share of times where I’ve tried to get to a person’s blog but the comment box for the URL didn’t work, or it wasn’t included in the way the commenter logged in. By having a URL in the signature of the comment, I was able to find them and return the comment. This is my way of doing that for you if you wish to visit my little corner of the Internet, nothing more.
Know that I won’t say anything if I can’t figure out a decent comment, and it’s not because I’m not reading or dislike your blog. I do my best to leave worthwhile comments on blogs and if I can’t do that, sometimes I just don’t say anything at all. I may agree with your point or entire post, but if I can’t add much beyond that, I usually don’t even say a word. Good or bad, that’s how I’ve always been.
what works for you? how do you decide how you respond to comments?
Two dogs, one cat, and an urge to live remarkable lives. This is our place to share our dream to travel the country through RV living and running our business on the road. We've got crazy ideas and a will to take on the world.
Agreed!! :)
((You don’t have to comment on this comment that I am commenting on your post about commenting on comments.))
Great post! I’ll be sharing it… And I copy/pasted this from Kristen :)….You don’t have to comment on this comment that I am commenting on your post about commenting on comments.
Shasta @InTheOldRoad
I don’t respond to everything. I wish I could, but unless someone figures out a way to add several more hours to the day or figures out how to make it so I don’t need to sleep… Not likely.
These days, I tend to write emails back to people the people who have wrote comments that inspire me to say something back, and every so often (usually on a slow day) I go through and visit all of the blogs of people who’ve commented on me.
I do try and reply to the comments left on my posts with their comments, sometimes if it’s just really short comments i’ve got then I just do one big thank you comment at the end. Other times I’ll go through and reply and answer questions etc. To me replying and leaving comments is half the fun of blogging.
I don’t really like getting email replies to comments I leave, i don’t know why though.
I don’t have a ton of readers and, as per usual, only a small portion of readers leave comments – so – as it stands, I reply to almost every comment. I do agree with your assessment though. Assuming my readership continues to grow and I get more and more comments, I will continue to read each and every one but will probably use your “more than thanks or I agree” rule of thumb.
Since I don’t get many comments, as Jen W. said, I feel like I should make connections by either commenting back or visiting the person’s blog and leaving a comment there (where I know they’ll see it.)
Pretty much the same. I reply to most comments directly on my blog, but if I’ve got a lot of comments and they all just need the response “Thanks!” I feel daft typing the same thing over and over again and sometimes just decide not to. I do click through to new commenters’ blogs, though, but I still haven’t figured out what the etiquette is on those occasions when I don’t feel drawn into them.
This is a great post. I get stressed when there’s a lot in my inbox, so I try and clear it out every time I have a moment. I will first respond by email (if I can) and also click on the person’s name (if there’s a link to their blogger profile or site). Once I go through three email responses, I will then go to each blog and comment. I will even follow if I like them! But, I am a pretty new blogger so I can’t imagine how time consuming this might get once I start to get more followers!
I usually go through about once a week and answer comments. I read every single comment as well, and generally try to answer them all, too (I don’t have quite the volume of comments that I’m sure you get). I’m the same way about commenting on other blogs, though – if I don’t have something beyond ‘nice post’ or ‘I agree’ I don’t usually say anything.
I reply to everyone. I have a plug-in that I use that makes it easy to reply *but* I only get like 2 comments every few posts. Once (fingers crossed) I get more comments, that may change. I know most people read their comments, even if they don’t reply.
I sometimes include an interactive question at the end of my blog post to give something my readers can respond to in case they have nothing else to say about my post… but I don’t always respond to every comment I get. I used to try, and it was just too much to keep up with. My blog has to take a backseat to “real” life! It definitely makes it easier if people leave a link in their comment- especially on the Disqus platform (which I have installed).