[LET’S CHAT] The Complexities of Blog Commenting

I’m going to assume that most bloggers love comments.

I know that I love comments! Nothing can put a smile on my face faster than replying to all your thoughts and hearing your opinions and seeing if we share any of the same interests. And the feeling you get when someone who hasn’t commented before finally does is like a small victory.

In the short time I’ve been on the blogosphere (it’ll be five months on May 20. WHERE DID THE TIME GO???), I’ve noticed that there seems to be a sort of commenting etiquette for book bloggers. This is another one of those things that we as book bloggers always talk about, and it seems like no other niche-type blog does. But, I wanted to talk about some of the “commenting etiquette” rules it seems like have been established and dissect them a little!

(Also, the people who voted on Twitter voted for this post, so yeah! Don’t worry, the other post is slated for a week from now, so it shall arrive in due time.)

Rule #1: Commenting is key to growing your blog.

I can confirm that this one is definitely true! Reaching out and commenting on blogs was what got me my first couple of followers (shout out to Janel and Chelsea!) and I continued to grow time and time again because I commented on so many blogs. I know that I definitely find a lot of people through the comments sections of posts, which is probably how I started following most of the bloggers I follow today! Or maybe I’m the only one who stalks the comment sections of old posts more often than I should.

Basically, the more effort you put into your comments and into commenting on other people’s post, the more your name is out there, and the more likely people will probably end up checking out your blog if they see your name everywhere. This doesn’t mean you have to comment on ALL THE POSTS OUT THERE. I know for sure that I get busy or I’m just straight up lazy and don’t feel like commenting on all the posts of ever, which is totally fine. Hopefully, people will understand you have a life outside of blogging.

Rule #2: Bloggers MUST reply to comments.

This is somewhat true, I’d say. I know there are some people who can quickly get irritated if a blogger just refuses to reply to comments – there’s a difference between a late response and just never getting a response ever, after all – and it’s sort of weird having a public blog that anyone can comment on, and never bothering to actually interact with anyone or start a conversation, because why keep the blog public at that point, but who knows what everyone else is thinking?

I will say, as someone who frequently stalks the comment sections of old blog posts, I HAVE seen comment sections where the blogger only responds to about six or seven of the eighty comments they get and they’re still super popular. Who knows, that blogger might choose to just to go to a commenter’s blog and comment on one of their posts instead of replying to their own comment sections, which is fine as well! It might help downplay the amount of stress and work you have if you just choose to go to their blog instead of replying to all the comments on your own.

Rule #3: Commenting back is compulsory and advised.

I was honestly quite confused on what “commenting back” meant when I was a smaller blogger. I thought it meant that I replied back to comments on my own blog, which I already did, but then I learned that what it really meant was visiting the blog of someone who commented on your post!

And, honestly? I’ve never intentionally done it and I feel like I should start doing it??? I’ve never done it mainly because a large majority of the people who comment on my blog are people I already follow, but I know there are some people out there who have been loyally commenting and I’ve just never visited your blog before, which totally sucks! I’m hoping to try and improve on this over the summer when I have more time and I’m just basically lazing around and doing nothing.

I’d like to say my blog is still growing pretty well and people still comment on my posts even if I’ve never commented back ever, so I wouldn’t say it’s something that would be detrimental to growing your blog, but if it’s something you want to do, I suggest you do it! I’ve heard it’s good for blog growth (but I wouldn’t know, though, so, there’s that).

Rule #4: Comments meant to promote your blog are rude.

I can agree that I really don’t like these types of comments. You know, the ones that are some variation of a generalized comment that could go to any blog, and then, “Check out my post!” with a link. Nine times out of ten I don’t click on the link because why should I when most of the time, promo comments are just straight up spam.

One time, I actually got a comment where it was literally just a link to their site – nothing more, nothing less – and, thankfully, since I turned on the feature where people who’ve never commented before have to be approved by me, I just marked it as spam and moved on with my day. I do always feel a bit awkward when I get a comment, and it’s basically just, “Nice post! I tagged you in this thing!” and then a link to the post they tagged me in. You can tell that, in a way, it’s genuine, but it’s just so awkward when you’d rather they just linked you in their original post so I could get a ping-back.

Overall, I think I’d just rather have no links in my comments section unless I ask for them in some way, but everyone’s different!

Rule #5: Short comments aren’t really good enough.

I feel like most people seem to prefer longer comments than shorter comments, which is perfectly fine, because who doesn’t like receiving so many long comments because your post inspired them to talk that much! But then I also see people say that they don’t like short comments or that short comments aren’t as meaningful as long comments, which I don’t think is true.

Though there are definitely people who comment on my blog that prefer to start their own mini discussion, which I absolutely love, I do cherish the shorter comments I get! I personally don’t see shorter comments as meaning that the blogger who commented doesn’t care, but maybe they’re just not a wordy person. In all honesty, the fact that anyone even bothers to comment on my stuff totally astounds me, so long or short comment, I’m grateful that I get any at all!

And those are just some thoughts on blog commenting and how damn complicated it all is! 

Obviously, we all have different systems of commenting and commenting back and which types of comments we prefer because we’re all different types of bloggers. But I definitely do love and appreciate all the comments you guys leave me, and I love responding to them!

 I’m going to promote Project Big Blogger, Little Blogger once again!  Right now, I’m needing some more “Big Bloggers” to line up because I have more “Little Bloggers,” so feel free to sign up if you haven’t! The link to the Google form is right here, so fill it out if it’s something you’re interested in! And if you want to learn more about the actual project, the post is right here. Feel free to share or join in!

What are your opinions on commenting and commenting back? What are your favorite types of comments to receive? What’s your commenting system?

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