In the spirit of yesterday’s post, I post the unofficial rules for commenting on blogs.  These are not my rules (or suggestions).  I’m blatantly stealing them from Immoral Matriarch’s post.  You can read the whole thing, along with her insightful, witty, hilarious comments HERE.  She also has posts on Blogging 101 and Blogging Etiquette that are worth your time.

I’m listing her basic rules on commenting, along with my comments on each of them.  I’d love to hear what you think.

1. Do not jump around from blog to blog commenting on posts in the hopes that everyone will pay you a return visit. – Although it is a good way to try and build up your reader base, it’s also kind of silly.  I do jump around (my Google Reader is growing to the point of being out of control), but I only comment on posts that have really interested me, for the most part.  Before I had any readers at all I would comment all over the place.  I don’t do that any more.  I agree with Immoral Matriarch that this tactic is a little tacky.
2. Do not feel pressured to reply to every comment you get. – Now that she’s given me permission, the pressure’s off!  I will visit the blog of anyone who posts, like I always have, and I’ll most likely respond via e-mail if I have something I need or want to say to the poster.
3. READ the post you’re commenting on. – You should at least read the whole post if you’re going to break Rule #1.
4. If you reply in the post’s comment page, fine, but not everyone remembers or has time to check back.  E-mail might be better. – See my comments on Rule #2, although some people (Romi, The Leaky Brain) have thriving comments and Romi and Leaky’s responses to the comments are as much fun to read as the posts themselves.  Mine…not so much.
5. Don’t talk too much about yourself in other people’s comments. – Of course, if your personal experiences or situations call for you to comment or share insight, then by all means talk about yourself.  Just don’t write a comment longer than a typical blog post in someone else’s comments.
6. Do not go to someone’s blog as a thanks for visiting yours and say ‘I just wanted to thank you for stopping by my blog! Bye!‘ – While Immoral Matriarch thinks this is rude because it makes it sound like it’s the only reason you stopped by.  These types of comments don’t really bother me.  They probably only DID stop by because you commented at their site.
7. State your comment policy up front. – My policy is that I have no real policy.  I very, very rarely delete any comments.
8. Don’t post anonymously, it’s annoying. – It doesn’t bother me personally.  Does it bother you?
9. If you must, enable either comment moderation or CAPTCHA, but not both. – Captcha is that annoying thing that makes you type in a word or a series of letters that are usually very hard to read.  I agree, Captcha needs to go.  It’s a real hassle and it could turn some people off to commenting.  Also, it’s almost impossible to decipher the letters on a Blackberry.

Do you have any other rules that you’d like us all to live by?  Anything that especially annoys you?  Share it in the comments, but be sure to follow the rules above! 

Tags: Blogging, Comments, Rules, Tips

How do you respond to comments on your blog?

I’ve always tried to respond to every comment I get within the comment section itself.  Does anyone ever come back to read these?  I’ve never (or at least very rarely) ever seen a reply comment to my reply comment.  Maybe I’m wasting my time.

It looks like I have the following options when responding to comments:

1. Continue to respond to all comments within the comments – although I don’t think many people come back to read them.
2. Respond to SOME of the comments within the comments – I don’t know how useful it is to respond to a comment like “Great post” with a “Thanks!”  I respond to everybody because I don’t want to slight anyone, but maybe people don’t care.
3. Respond via e-mail - I get the occasional e-mail response from people when I leave a comment on their blog, usually when I’ve asked a question or been particularly clever (rare!).  I’m kind of leaning toward this method of responding.
4. Respond by leaving a comment on one of their posts – I do this from time to time now.  I don’t start out my comment with “Thanks for leaving a comment on my blog….”

Which option do you prefer, and what do you do yourself?

Thanks!

Tags: Blogging, Comments, Rules, Tips