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?

    … 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