Sunday, August 11, 2013

I’m Guilty, are You?

I often visit a blog… read all or part of the post and then leave without leaving a comment.

Its rude. Its unkind. Lacks courtesy and respect. Someone took the time to write, share or express an opinion…. an experience…. we should respond often. Maybe not all the time or every time, but often.

Part of the reason, (for me anyway and maybe others) is when I use a reader, it frames the page…. minus the comment form, so you have to go to the page to leave a comment. Or it really wasn’t what you expected to find based on an Internet search, or sometimes, I read on a tablet (I hate typing on the virtual keyboards), especially in a Blog Reader, (where the comment you have written disappears with the slightest of ease). Or as in the case of Google and Wordpress, I was having major errors when trying to leave a comment… and often left multiples of the same comment or no comment at all! I discovered that for the Blogger errors it was a setting I had in my own blogger dashboard and I think I fixed Wordpress by enabling a Gravatar.

I would often only read the blogs regularly that I had in my Blog sidebar… and leave comments there because the whole Blog page would load, comment boxes and all. Whereas, when I would use a reader (Google Reader-now defunct, Bloglovin or Feedly) I have to go to the actual Blog to leave a comment, and often I would not read those blogs as regularly and let them stack up so there were many to read!!! So yes I am guilty.

I thought a reader would make things easier…. but not if you want to leave a comment… The Readers all behave differently on the various devices…. (computer, tablet, phone). Some devices are better than the others. I like using the readers, because adding or deleting content is so much easier than using the Blog sidebar, but I want to comment… which completes the circle of my guilt!!!

I am going to have to come up with a better way… so I can come clean and comment more regularly on blogs that I read, especially if I like the content, or have a suggestion, or experience, or….maybe even completely disagree. I’m sure the author would like to know- who I am, or what I was doing on the blog, or what brought me to it…. Good or bad.

I know I would love feed back, good, bad or indifferent!!! Did you like something, hate something, have a different perspective, want to correct an assumption I’ve made or give me some background/history, or identify a bird? a flower? or ….  If, it is too personal to relate in the comment field, I have added an email button, which will only appear in my inbox… not on the blog…

Are you GUILTY too? Why don’t you comment on blogs you are visiting?

cr-southern-hornbill-042

    … and because a picture is always needed. This is the portrait of a Southern Hornbill taken at the Satara Rest Camp, Kruger National Park on our first visit to the park in 2010. I have been revisiting my pictures. Doesn’t he have a fierce expression?

More Later- Beth

6 comments:

  1. With the old Google Reader you could read the whole post there but with Bloglovin you only get part of the post and now I am going directly to the blogs all of the time. That makes me more likely to leave a comment.

    I always love your photos even if I don't leave a comment though!

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  2. I'm on my second day with a tablet and not loving the keyboard . And yes, I often don't comment when I should. But as a fellow blogger, I know how important those comments are. I hope you will come up with a solution for me!

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  3. I love your blog. I have followed you for a few years now, since you lived in Chicago. Your pictures are wonderful. Your adventures are exciting.

    Diana in NY

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  4. How did you manage to get the bird to sit so still ;-)

    Otherwise I have no clue about different readers, I use Safari on my Mac and that's about it. But I do agree on the commenting aspect and to top that of, I think that quite a few blog owners are negligent as well.
    The thing about commenting is that far from always it triggers a reply.....and say you have given advice or post a question and you hear nothing, at least I tend to give up.

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  5. I'm totally guilty! I know what you mean about not being able to leave comments on blogs when reading on a tablet. I think I've seen somewhere that there's an app that allows you to leave comments easier. Not sure what it is though. I still "read" most of mine from my desktop computer. Thanks for all of the lovely comments you leave on my blog!

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Please leave a comment- big or small.... I love hearing what the pictures say to you too.