Last week someone came up with a cool idea. After hearing about a blog retiring it's comments options due to lack of participation...PIE inspired a Wednesday activity. Post 20 comments on different blogs and then e mail him the list and he'll post it with the links.
I also noticed, after being away from computers for a week...that one of my favourite blogs has closed shop. I was so shocked and sad. I was often the only person who commented on his blog...but it was such a cool place and he was a great writer and thinker. He is sorely missed already( it was pebbeleculture...and if you stop by here and I hope you do...know that I miss you! and if you're just re-grouping please let me know if you're back!)
I look at blogging as my virtual living room. I don't have one theme, like many blogs do...I often post about remote topics that I happen to find interesting and I like to think about. In a lot of ways, I am amazed if someone does take the time to come here and visit. I am not the life of the party...but I sure like sitting next to the life of the party...if you will. I am a person who responds more to the people around her. I love my blog list. When Desert Oddysey suggested in his "HUMP" reviews that bloggers make less links,less links visible, I think thats ridiculous. I also think he is wrong. I think links and comments are what make or break a blog in many ways. Obviously we want to be interested in the content of a blog...but the dynamic atmosphere of linking and commenting is what makes them so much more fun than a web site. I love visiting other blogs and responding to their thoughts, actually more than I love posting my own posts! Weird huh? but I do, I'm a listener in a lot of ways. I like other peoples talking and thinking. It revs me up.
Ever notice how some people are stingy with their comments? They tend to be stingy with their linking too...as if they are too tight to share. I am suspicious of folks who hold linking to their blog as some kind of "acheivement " or "honor". No, stingy with blogs and links is stingy with compassion and niceness too. Bitter folks should be avoided at all costs in life, they are toxic!
Not only do I think blogs show a persons temperment and spiritual and mental attitude...I think they are not some foreign space they are like any other social situation. Freewill. We can't force people to visit or comment. Sometimes bloggers that are too controlling or needy can be offputting. I find it a spiritual ailment to desire to be popular...which is why I teased Guy Kawasaki about his wanting to be technorati top ten. Kawasaki says quite honestly he likes to be popular. And I guess as much as I've had fun making his portrait and trying to sell it on eBay...he is honest, and everyone likes to be loved or shown some curtesy. Bloggers are people too! heh heh.
I think Pie's idea about saying hi on Wednesday is a great concept.
Anyways...I thought I would make a post here about The Pie Shops idea for 20 comments Wednesday, TODAY, so others reading this might join in by Wednesday. You can go to his blog and he has made some "html button" for the concept( you can see it in my sidebar)...which I think is so cool and ambitious. Instead of waiting till Wednesday...I am jumping in here now to list 20 blogs I commented on today and I will do so again in conjuncture with Pie's blog on Wednesday. I think this is such a cool community concept...and also if you think about it, it's almost like it would be if we were at a party together introducing one another.
So here are the blogs I have commented on today in anticipation of this coming 20 comments Wednesday!...thanks The PIE Shop!!!!
William Foxtrot
High Class Jack Ass
Blog About Nowt
Fat Fiz Brain Drain
English Ranter
Anti-Crapitalist
The Pie Shop
Watch My Loss
Individualist Spiritualist Anarchist Barbie
The Healing Room
The Emancipation of Alyas
Hair and Heart
Heavy Mentalist
Reds Page
Apperceptive Journey
Minj's Picnic Site
I've Made A Terrible Mistake
Four Dinners
Things That Make You Go Hmm
Wandering Coyote
This idea for 20 Comments Wednesdays also inspired several discussions about
Why blog?
What do you want from blogging?
How important are comments?
How important are visitors?
How important is a sense of community for you blogging?
I think the season has slowed down peoples participation at least in several even vastly popular blogs I visit. Is it the World Cup? Is it the kids home from school?
Is it the fine weather getting people outside doing other things?
14 comments:
WOOHOO i'm on your list...
Wow, now i'm wondering what my blog looks like on a mac!
Yea i spent ages trying to "pimp" up my blog lol, glad you got a chance to see it up close and personal...i always change videos every time i get a chance lol.
So what are you doing in T.O...relatives?? Isn't Canada so much better than the States lol, kidding. You should come up to Edmonton :) Then we can go out and "chillax" ;)
Why blog: because i'm too old to have a diary now
What do i want from blogging: have my opionions published so the whole world can see what's going on in my brain...and get feedback from them :)
Comments: very important
Visitors: very important, can't have comments without visitors ;)
Sense of community...and amazing feeling, it's very important, to make you feel a part of a world away from home :)
Time for pizza g2g, hear from you soon :)
Hey Candy.
Cool post. And I'm glad you're on board with the 20 Comments Wednesday thing. Weasel commented on my blog after England went out of the World Cup, so it's great to see he's up and about.
Why blog? Does this cover it?
What do I want from it? It's partly for me to keep a diary of things I've done; partly a letting-off-steam place; partly somewhere that I can bore other people with the stuff that Wife's already bored of hearing!
Comments/visitors/community? All pretty important, I'd say. I've been really lucky with my readers. Like you, I write about lots of diffrent things (I think), and I never know if that's a good thing. Maybe people like consistency... But I can't change what I am!
I think it’s so cool that you’re managing 20 comments on any given day! I’m still in my blogging infancy and last Wednesday I struggled to make any more than six comments. * suggested that I steal links from other people’s blogrolls... and I might do just that next time. (Though that goes against the very core of my being... I even hated stepping on *’s toes and “stealing” his regulars... and I’m married to the man!)
sorry if I've been stingy with comments! I've been so wrapped up in my own shit that I've negelected pretty much everything else.
This will change, I promise!
Oh Angelina, I didn't mean you...and I DO realize that tons of people are super busy and it is a miracle they have time to keep a jounal/diary/blog or however you want to treat the activity. I hope you are doing okay, I worry about you! And love your blog! I hope you take care now!
But see, there is a kind of underlying ettiquette...because as Red said she tries not to "steal" links from Asterisk. Now, I love going to links I find on other blogs...and I went to "english ranter" I think for the first time yesterday and really enjoyed myself, heard some new things etc. But I got his link from someone else...I think it's fair...
I link people for a couple reasons...one because I think they are saying something valuable, two I like em, three I hope other people will check out their blog...and four because I use my blog as an access for my links for me to easily get to them. Boy, a whole value of a blog has come to me this past week...when travelling and blogging the blog really works like a home base for net surfing, it's great.
When I first started my blog, I added just a few links, thinking the idea was to tell people what sites you like and what they ought to check out. And to some extent, I think that is totally valid. But, like you, I see it now as a one-stop shop of most of the blogs I want to read. And three or four times a day I run thru the whole list to see if there's any new content.
And when away, like you are now, that sort of resource must be invaluable. It's like a mobile Web-bookmarking system. And I think it's great that you put everything you need on there. Not all of Lucky's comments need to be implemented. Some would argue not any, but I did get a few valuable pointers. :-)
Yes, very good points, and Lucky did make some valuable points and gave me some insight. I am really glad I got humped...it doesn't mean I agree with him, but I really enjoyed the experience...even though I got the LOWEST rate he has ever given ha ha ha. It still brought people to my blog, and I found some blogs I really dig through him. Besides, he loves mommy blogs and that is so not me. Lucky is gay. (sorry Pup, I just wanted to noogie a big military bloke, he doesn't read so I can get away with saying anything about him, such fun! Honestly, I'd love to go for a beer with him and SW)
Yes YES!!! Being away from my computer is almost as bad for me as being away from my boyfriend(HI BABY!!! XO) and these links have been incredible to me and actually going to visit all my blog pals while dislocated and travelling has been a stable influence believe it or not. And comforting. I look forward to when I meet my blog pals in person, and trust me I will get over to England to see ya and around America. I totally need to be in aBritish pub and go to the Tate.
I also have a whole list of blogs with my nerdy resource links. They are so great to have while out and about. and then my notes I've saved in "draft" mode here at my blog have all kinds of research information. It's a really incredible tool is correct!
Hi Candy,
Good post. As you know I have just started blogging due to your inspiration.
I definitely love the sense of connectedness and communication. I love comments!
As for lack of participation, I am definitely stepping outside more often these days, far less time at the computer than in the winter.
Hey Red, you can link to me! I welcome linking and would like to link others......and I will!
I have dropped by a couple of the blogs I linked and told them about this 20 Comments business and wondered if they would let me know...or The Pie Shop know if it and how it affected their blog or expereince. did their numbers pop? Healing Room...did you notice any difference in your blog visitors since yesterday?
Actually, the best way to get visitors is to be a vistor...okay, and to be linked by someone with an insanely popular blog. I was linked by a popular blog last month and it was crazy the hits that came to my blog.
Hey Candy, thank you for the comments on my blog and link. I think it's a great idea and hope to get more time to visit my favourite blogs.
Why do I blog? I've always liked to write and I thought it would be a good way for my friends that live in different cities keep track of what I am up to or thinking about.
What do I want from blogging? Not sure. I love the friendships that I have made through this medium and perhaps that is it.
How important are comments? It's nice to know that other people glean something from your post, even if it is an opposing point of view. I realize that sometimes it's hard to think of something to say and possibly why at times there are no comments. It's funny because many of my personal friends visit my blog all the time but never, ever comment. Fear possibly. Not sure.
Visitors? Visitors make it interesting. I love finding out where the people come from that visit my blog, especially if they found me from another blog. It makes the world a much smaller place.
Community? Love the feeling of belonging to a community of bloggers. I have become virtual friends with many people from other countries and despite the fact that we live far away, I feel like they are there close at hand and it makes me feel good.
Wow, thats a beautiful comment Suzy and am so glad you articulated here. It is really exciting to see the list of locations where people visit from isn'tit. I was like Dubai? Washington IRS office? Cayman Islands? Hawaii and China? China?
If a blog link shows up I always go to the blog...and usually leave some kind of insane "hello just passing by" or something.
Candy I found very very few blogs that I can call trashy, most of them are pretty serious. What ever blog I visit and comment I click on Next Blog and the next, just two or three new ones every day I am at home. As I am traveling a lot now, I find it difficult to visit new blogs, but have to reciprocate to those visiting my blog.
Comments are important, but I hardly find any active debate emerging out of comments. Bloggers I think, expect only positive comments that leaves no room for any debate. Most of the time people are too polite. I used to receive comments from one gentleman, normally I reciprocate in a day or two, but found the blog too religious for my liking. I had to avoid commenting for the fear of hurting him.
I ruined my template once, while trying to add links. the page developed errors and was not loading. Had to delete the whole blog. I have very little computer knowledge. I thought of calling some friends to help me out but realised that I can't have all the links and I have to keep calling them again and again as the readership increases. I can't afford to add some favourites and ignore others. So I decided not to have links at all.
Rauf, I think that is very fair. You are correct that many bloggers do not like nasty comments. Or a discussion or different view point. I find those kinds of discussions online very stimulating. I think people are also too sensitive sometimers about comments. I visit a couple of blogs regularily that are anthropological and pop culture...the discussions are often heated, exciting and funny.
I think it perfectly fine for people to disagree and think about our differences. I like it that we are not all robots.
i am sorry for your troubles with template, I am terribly ignorant of html etc...and wish I could make my blog look like how I see it in my mind. I made a web site when i started my blog on my mac...so it was easy...and very pretty but stagnant. Blogs are way more dynamic.
Ultimately, we all find our own energy level we can or can't give to being online and also...who says we're set ins tone, right? In a year you may get savvy...so may I and jazz this baby right up to the planets...or just keep it simple. You and I post a lot of artsy and detailed photos so I think simplicity suits our art work.
thanks for sharing Rauf and every body...gave me much to think about this week!
Candy
This is a great idea -- I agree that comments make a blog, making it more of a discussion than a piece of exhibitionism. Thanks for the link and your comments! (which are always positive - but not in a superficial way - and keep the ball rolling.)
I tend to be lazy about keeping up with my favorite blogs and lazier about commenting, so this inspires me to put in more effort. Give some to get some, right?
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