I'm new to this active blogging thing, I used to haunt a message board and the dynamic there is different. I think it made some things easier, conversing and interactiveness… for instance.
On a message board, it's like visiting neutral ground, a common room where people discuss or play or argue or improetise...
Blogs, from my recent observations tend to be one person posting on "their blog", a variable number of other people commenting (commenting describes it well) and, for the blogs where the author can be bothered (often the better ones) responses to the comments from the author.
Take Terresa from the Chocolate Chip Waffle, for example, she often ends her posts with a question, which is an opportunity for the readers/commenters to participate, and yet it seems to me that more the 75% of commenters just comment without responding to the question... Or is it just me, are the questions rhetorical? They don't seem to be... "What are good puppy names?" seems fairly straightforward and direct.
Also, it seems that (mostly) only a blog’s most recent post get commented on… And in a way, I understand that if you have an autobiographical blog (as most are), getting comments about something you did 5 years ago might not be relevant to your present self. I also realize that the system encourages this approach (unless the poster systematically subscribes to their posts or RSSs all of the comments they have no way of knowing about old post that receive comments, or turn on full moderation for old posts), but it’s too bad, it seriously limits the depth of discussions (and play).
Another thing I’ve observed is that people are remarkably nice. It seems that there is an unnaturally low number of negative or even just critical voices (to a fault?)… Maybe I haven’t been on the “right” kinds of blogs… That said I’m not made of sugar (or spice and everything nice), I welcome having anything I write being lambasted (wouldn’t be the first time), if it doesn’t stand up to it, then it wasn’t well enough written and will hopefully come through improved. It feels as if I walked through a magical gateway. At my back a gotham city, “Hey, watch it buddy… I’m walking here!”, and in front of me something I’m not entirely sure of yet… Though I suspect I see unicorns in the distance.
Naturally, I’m only describing trends that I’ve observed as I look into an ever widening circle of random and specific blogs. And of course, there are a number of exceptions to each of the points I’ve raised above. I lift my cup of rooibos to the exceptions (both online and off), you all make my day.
So far, this blogging experience, while alien, is proving to be quite interesting. I’ve met some very interesting people, and I’m looking forward to getting acquainted with them.
Cheers.
Ah Blogging. It's description ever changing. What I enjoy most are the blogs that push my thinking, confirm my own, or expand it. I have seen a lot of blog friends deeply hurt by critical comments, and while I don't think every comment needs to agree with the blogger, I do think some common courtesy is nice. There is a way to state your position without smashing anothers. After all....how boring would it be if we all agreed? I'm rambling, but wanted to end with an invitation to be real with me when you visit...nicely real :)
ReplyDeleteHmm. I absolutely agree, I didn't mean to imply that there should be gratuitous malicious commenting... But constructive criticism.
ReplyDeleteI guess it's hard to know who will take what badly. Writers are notorious for being thin skinned beasts. So we dance on those eggshells.
You're invitation is duly noted, and well appreciated. Thank you. Though, I have to admit that I have already been commenting that way on your blog, uninvited. Is your invitation retroactive to cover those comments? ; j
In turn, while I don't think you were rambling, you are very welcome to ramble here however you feel like it.
I have been to the odd blog where the order of the day seems to be criticism. The Sartorialist springs to mind: he posts photographs of people he thinks are particularly stylish and some of the comments are downright brutal. But in general I've found the same as you, everyone is super nice. On the odd occasion I've questioned an opinion or, let's say, use of syntax, the reaction has been less than pleasant, even from those who ask for criticism. These days I pick out bits I admire and stay silent on the bits I don't in the hope that the blogger will wonder what's wrong with the rest and ask his or her own questions of his or her own writing.
ReplyDeleteThe other night over a glass or two at a poetry open mic, friend, poet and fellow blogger JoAnne McKay (Titus on my sidebar) and I were talking about the relative uselessness of posting poems and creative work on our blogs, because everyone just says 'that's marvellous' and no one points out the flaws. On the other hand I know that I need to read something several times over a period of days, or even weeks, to be able to offer any proper criticism. The first few times I read anything that is not horribly written I'm always terribly impressed.
Which brings me to your point about only commenting on the latest posts. I agree it would make things much more interesting and in-depth if people commented on older posts and the blogger responded. I think I might just go back through all my old posts and click 'subscribe by email' so that if anyone does comment on anything I'll know about it.
Now, how does one filter blog comments in gmail? Now my son has left home I am left flailing around in tech no mans land.
The only really negative comments I usually get are when I state my political views. There is usually a dissenter or two or three. And then there is my blog stalker. She visits my blog up to 40 times a day and usually writes about what an uppity bitch I am. (Yet still she comes back FORTY times? A DAY?) She is the main reason I put an approval wait on all of the posts.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to be as clear as possible, if I don't succeed in walking you through just comment and I'll make you a step by step with screen caps if you'd like
ReplyDelete______________
Start by creating a label
- in the tool bar click on "labels" the labels button (between "move to" and "more actions/manage")
-click on manage labels from the pulldown menu.
-Type "blogmail" (or whatever) in the empty field next to "labels", then click on the create button
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-Go back to your inbox
-Open an email you want to create a filter for
-Click on "more actions" in the tool bar above the body of the email, click on it to get a pull down menu.
- Click on "filter messages like these"
- You should have the prefilled parameter "from: noreply-comment@blogger.com", meaning emails from that origin will be filtered.
-Then select how you want to filter it, for instance what you could do if you don't use the star function is to tick the boxes "star it" and "apply the label" (select blogmail or whatever)
this means that all emails from "noreply-comment@blogger.com" will have a little star next to then and a colored label pointing them out.
-The click on create filter
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How is this convenient?
Well, under the tool bar above the inbox you have a line called select, now if you click on "starred" then you automatically select all the blogmail for deletion or archiving. Archiving stores emails out of your inbox and in your labelbox (in case you were wondering, if someone sends another comment to an archived thread, it will appear in your inbox)
If you click on the label, then you will only see the blogmail (both archived and current).
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Sorry that took so long to write, these aren't functions I actually use so I had to figure it out and try it out.
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Well, you're welcome to say anything you like on anything I write. It can't be worse than some of the insults I've had before...
The worse you can expect from me is polite interrogation and debate. But if it's a bother, than don't bother.
Yes, that uselessness is exactly what I am referring to.
Sure trying has value, but if everything is fine and dandy then there is no reason to try and improve unless one is so inclined.
Hello Maria, welcome!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I can see religion and politics, as ever, being touchy areas. And clearly, as with all groups there will be extreme cases of any given type you might care to mention. At least you have an easy means of curtailing such an assault.
Filter in place, thanks for that very handy tutorial.
ReplyDeletePolite interrogation is always very welcome, more so than anything because it makes me think about what I've done/tried to do or said/tried to say, and often I have no idea what I'm trying to do/say with any piece of writing. And knowing is key to improvement and development.
Oh and Eryl, I wish you had decided to go back through your "old posts and click 'subscribe by email'" a few days ago... I just finished reading through your archives (all the way back to 2007). Had I known, I would have dropped some comments along the way. One question though... Whatever happened to the bitter lemon VW van? Did I miss a post, or was its ultimate fate never revealed?
ReplyDeleteYou're quite welcome, I'm now using those functions too... So it was to our mutual benefit.
ReplyDeleteHmm... Knowing? Or understanding?
Flippantly I'd say that not knowing is the key to improvement, because then all you would need to do is learn in order to improve. But as any craftsperson knows (I include wordsmiths in that category) there is a significant hurdle between knowing and doing.
I suppose it all adds up: you need to know where you want to, understand why you aren't going then, and figure out how to get there.
I just need to make sure I'm holding the blasted roadmap the right way up this time.
You read my entire archive, blimey? I can't remember how far I got with the VW story, I'll have to go back and check. But, I can tell you the whole thing was a fandango: we had it for about four years and in all that time we got to spend one week in it. The rest of the time it was in the workshop being not fixed by what turned out to be a rather tragic mechanic who sabotages people's cars. We eventually sold it (for the price of a stamp) to someone who could work on it himself. The week we spent on it, though, on the isle of Arran, was really good if rather hairy at times. I must get round to writing it properly.
ReplyDeleteIt will take me some time to go through my old posts, so it's probably just as well you didn't drop any comments, you may have died waiting for a response.
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Understanding, I think.
Sometimes holding the roadmap upside down can get you to interesting places you wouldn't otherwise have discovered.
Nah, I'm rather patient that way. I wouldn't have held my breath: "Expect nothing, are you are never disappointed; expect everything and you are never surprised. Do both and you have either a case of enlightenment or a H.O.U.S. (headache of unusual size)"
ReplyDelete-
You had gotten as far as trying to bring it home under its own power, two of the speeds dying, then the engine dying in the middle of the road, and the AA guy showing up...
It makes for an excellent story and your style of writing, at least one of the ones I've seen, suits it.
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I suppose so, so long as you can go at your own pace.
I also suppose that the modern equivalent (and I know some people who actually do this) is to pick a random set of geo-coordinates (lat/long) on their GPS and to go there... The results can be surreal but are sometimes wanting in warmth.
Two funny related XKCD's in case you don't know this webcomic (another one for the treasure chest)... Hover the cursor over the image to get the punchline/author's comment.
http://xkcd.com/407/
http://xkcd.com/201/
Wow, look what I missed while I was busy hitting the wall. I'm exhausted and poetically dried up, but I think I will get back on the horse soon.
ReplyDeleteI really like the people who have constructive criticism on my blog. Psychologically, blogging has been really good for me because I tend to be quite sensitive and codependent. Someone mentioned they didn't like my insomniac eye at the top of my blog and the old me would have changed it immediately. Oh no, I've offended someone, I would have thought, but now I just go OH WELL...and I always know I can avoid the computer for days, weeks and be so detached, nothing hurts me because I'm not reading it. Wish I could be more like that in real life.
Besides, I read the comment about the eyeball... I don't think the commenter meant that in a bad way.
ReplyDeleteI think it was just a flip throwaway line, not to be taken seriously.
Yeah, I noticed "Mother's words" as soon as you posted it... Still haven't decided or figured out how to react to it. I don't think I can say anything about it you aren't already aware of. I'll think about it when I get home.
If you don't feel like writing you shouldn't force yourself. This monthly poetry month is artificial... You don't owe anyone anything in terms of poetry, well, no one but yourself. Incidentally, have you read this "http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/044106.html"? I found it on a new blog (only two posts to date): http://famouslibrarian.blogspot.com/...
So I haven't yet told of the most frightening journey of my life, getting it up to Scotland? Lord, I should rectify that. I'm sure I've written it all down somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI would never have thought to do that with GPS, I tend to think of it (GPS that is) as the work of the devil. My husband can't find his way home without it now, so there's now way I'm going to willingly give brain cells away. Anyway, I quite like getting lost, unless I have a funeral to get to.
I'll have a look at the webcomic now, haven't come across it before, as far as I remember.
If you put it up, I'll be very interested to read it.
ReplyDelete_
Agreed about getting lost, but I don't have a car, or a cell phone, let alone a GPS. I tend to fly everywhere I go... my pinion feathers need changing at the moment. Still its great fun to go soaring around lost in this big ole city.
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XKCD is a gas, if you like I can put up a couple I think you would like.
It's quite varied, some are specifically tech oriented, computer oriented, wordplay oriented, some or social commentary, some are love stories, others are just playing with social phenomena, there's something for everyone and it has been going on for goodly while, in webcomic terms....
What a photo.
ReplyDeleteYou make some keen observations. Everyone does come off as pretty nice. I'll be in trouble when people actually meet me and find out how sarcastic I am.
I think answering the questions is optional. Joanne from "Whole Latte Life" pretty much only posts and picture and a question. Then she continues the discussion by becoming the first comment, and answering her own question.
I don't like blog owners don't comment back. It makes me feel like they don't read the comments. I like the give and take of it.
Hmm... Sarcastic eh? : j Sounds good!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure a number of bloggers don't read comments... In some cases, I don't see how they could, or why they would want to (when they the number of comments goes up into the triple digits and nearly all of those comments are impersonal).
Like in most things, I suppose everyone finds their own rhythm and their own way, the one chosen by the majority defining the norm... I like being able to speak to three or four people I appreciate on my own blog. I don't think more is better... But that's another can o' worms right there. ; j