In my last post I talked about taking offense – this one follows on from that.
Whenever I read a blog, a daily habit, I am always looking to see if I can contribute in some way to the subject matter raised. Even if that something is essentially to disagree with the writer.
Recently I read a post to do with use of software firewalls and whilst I agreed with the author in perhaps 80% of his post there were one or two areas I wanted to pick up on. So instead of starting a huge response which may or may not have been read or even responded to I decided to write a post on my personal blog that at least allowed me to voice my thoughts in full. On the blog itself I then entered a short comment to the effect that I agreed with 80% but disagreed wth certain aspects and mostly to do with their approach to not providing any backup to their assertions or any links to further reading to perhaps explain their thoughts. I also linked back to my blog so that the author could come and discuss as they felt fit.
That comment was deleted. So was a subsequent one saying exactly the same and needless to say so was the third one. So I tried one more time and invited the author to eMail me and discuss his reasons for deleting my comment. I don’t really expect a response though it would have been nice. Was I out of order in making a short comment an dlinking to my longer post?
But getting to my point :-
- Do you comment on blogs?
- If you do, do you expect it to get summarily deleted if the author disagrees?
- If they do disagree, do you expect a short eMail to explain why – presumming you’ve left an eMail address?
- If you don’t comment then why not?
I would love to hear your responses to the above especially the last.
One of the things about bloggers is how we crave (so I read) the satisfaction of knowing people are reading. How do we know that? By the mere fact you reply as analytics don’t tell the whole story.
Research into complaints about TV programmes (certainly in the UK) has shown that the watchdogs apply a ratio that says something like – for every complaint received we accept that another “x“ number believe the same. I don’t recall the figures now but I’m certain that x=1000’s. I guess there must be a similar ratio for comments on blogs … does x=10, 100, 1000 or more in blog land?
What say you all?
i like to comment on blogs. especially something meaningful or constructive. makes me feel good for contributing
I think it's tacky to delete comments (unless they're obscene or something bad). i've had it happen to me. I think it's pretty self-serving on the part of the blogger — with or without a "commenting policy."
i don't expect an e-mail about a comment deletion. it's ultimately the blogger's prerogative.
the problem with blog posts and comments — and e-mails for that matter — is that the reader is reading through their own lens. Any emotion, sarcasm, snarkiness (made that one up), conviction, passion, etc — it can all be misunderstood.
"snarkiness" – I like that.
And you are right – we all read things from our perspective which is why I try to always read what I'm commenting several times.