Monday, August 03, 2009

Calling All Bloggers!

Time to sound off! What do YOU consider good Blogger etiquette? What are some pet peeves? And who among your followers is a good Blogger Buddy?

When it comes to Blogger etiquette, returning comments is high on my list. I think that if someone is following your blog and making comments, you should return the gesture once in a while. Leave an occasional comment, follow that person's blog - something!
I see this most often with small blogs. Guess that's why they are still small!

Pet peeve? I understand some blogs receive spam often. (Darn those people - do they have nothing better to do with the day?) So for some, it becomes necessary to install a catch phrase or only allow comments after blog owner approval. However, utilizing both features seems a bit like overkill...
Spunky only gets spammed once a year, so I guess I'm just trusting!

And my vote for great Blogger Buddy? Helen Ginger! She's very generous with her comments and never misses a day in the virtual world. Plus her site Straight From Hel features great posts that are snappy and informative.
No wonder she has so many friends!

Now - YOUR turn!
What manners do you love and what drives you NUTS?
The good, the bad, and the ugly!

14 comments:

Marvin D Wilson said...

I love comments as well, but can't stand the quick little, "Great blog!" or "Wonderful post!" or "Nice Job!" comments that have no content and usually mean a blog-hopper is zipping around leaving two word comments without bothering to read the post and leaving a comment with any meaning or content to it. Usually they also leave two or three links under their signature as well - promoting themselves rather than having a real interest in my blog.

The Old Silly

Missy B. said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Missy B. said...

Had to delete my first comment...too many typos. Lets try this again. I am guilty of leaving two or three word comments after reading someone's blog. That does not mean that I am a Blog Hopper. If I read someone's post and don't have a lot to say about it, I at least want them to know that I was there and read it...and when I say "GREAT POST" I mean it! It takes a lot of time to read blogs, and even more time to comment on them. Everyone is appreciative of comments. I don't think that "lengthy" comments are necessarily the mark of a Good Blogger, so to speak. I do agree that if someone posts a comment on your blog, you should find the time to visit their blog and comment back. I try to do that with mine, as often as I can.
Best...Missy
PS Thank you for your response to my Sunday Salon post. Things will get better with time. :)

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

Like Karen, I too am guilty of leaving short little messages at times but usually it's only because I can't think of anything more creative to say or can't add anything that hasn't already been said.

I don't really have anything that drives me nuts except trying to figure out some of the squiggly letters in the security boxes.

I really enjoy and learn so much from the blogs I frequent.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Missy, glad you are doing better!

And I don't mind short comments. Acknowledging my post is akin to confirming my worth as a human being. Okay, that's a bit deep, but all people need affirmation!

Helen Ginger said...

Hi Diane. Wowsers, thank you for the compliment.

Like you, I try to visit the blog of each person who leaves a comment on my blog. I always leave a comment on theirs. Sometimes it may just be a "great post" or something along those lines, if I don't have anything to add to what's already been said. And I try to scan through the people who left a comment on their blog. If I have time, I'll pick out someone who left a comment that was interesting and click over to their blog. It's nice to meet new people. Also, when I have time, I'll tweet the posts of the blogs I visit. Like this one. I'll be tweeting it as soon as I leave.

Helen
Straight From Hel

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

So far, I don't have any real peeves except for word verification on blog comments. Sometimes those are hard for me to read.

As a blogger, short comments don't bug me. I leave short comments on book review sites frequently--if I haven't read the book I have nothing to add, but want to let the reviewer know I appreciate the review and would like to add the reviewed book to my "to be read" list.

Elizabeth
Mystery Writing is Murder

Adele said...

also responding to Marvin's comment. i follow a lot of blogs and I love them all. Sometimes I want to let people know I am enjoying there blog or a particular post but having nothing to add to the conversation, so i give it a two worder. I think that's ok. Especially if it's someone i read often but comment on rarely.

Connie Arnold said...

It's always so enjoyable to receive comments on your blog, a confirmation that someone cares about what you have written enough to read it and say something about it. You and Helen also are excellent at doing that! It would be so great to have time to visit the hundreds of blogs I've found and enjoy, but it's definitely a priority to visit the ones who've visited and commented on mine.

Anonymous said...

For some reason, I get spammed daily on my two blogs, sometimes numerous spam messages in a single day. This despite (or because of?) not generating a lot of comments on either one.

So, I have the blogs set up such that I must approve any commenter's initial post. After that, it goes up right away.

It's easy to know how many people are visiting your blog and how many subscribe by email, but there is no way to know how many follow via RSS. That's how I follow most blogs (about 20 total) and rarely have time to visit and comment. Only so many hours in a day.

I do delete comments that are laced with obscenities (yup, several times per week) or that are little more than ad hominem attacks. No patience with such things.

And I really don't like those captcha spam-stoppers, either. Far too often, they are so difficult to decipher that I just give up.

By the way, you are my most faithful commenter on the View From the Publishing Trenches blog. Thank you!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

And thank YOU, Walt!

Guess I am lucky - I only get spammed about once a year.

And thank you, Connie - that was sweet!

Carolyn Howard-Johnson said...

When possilbe, I like to see visitors leave a little more than a cursory not. Now, mind you, I'd rather a cursory note than none at all, but in terms of marketing, it would be better for them, too, if they really added some idea, some tip, some dimension, to the conversation. I think it discourages visitors from reading comments when most of them say something like "Amen to that."

Best,
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Blogging at Writer's Digest 101 Best Websites pick www.sharingwithwriters.blogspot.com

Creative Chronicler said...

I don't mind short comments but that may be because my blog is very new, so any comment at all makes me happy. I have had one or two comments that I couldn't follow back to another blog and that was disappointing, since I would have loved to check out their work.

My only pet peeve would be not having enoug time to read and comment on all the blogs I follow. Diane, you are wonder woman. I don't know how you do it all, but I love that you do!!

Chris C.
http://cc-chronicles.blogspot.com

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Chris, some days I don't know either! Just got home from doing a leadership seminar and I'm looking at my to-do list with fear...