Do You Respond to Comments?

Comments are wonderful...but....they need to be meaningful. Commenting for the sake of getting your name on the page does not have much meaning. I have some faithful readers (a few) and over the years we have developed a blogging friendship of sorts.

When I comment on something I am interested in I will check back to see if the author has responded.

A canned comment is a bit like being damned by faint praise!

b

http://www.retireinstyleblog.com

If someone's getting over 30 comments on a daily basis, I can certainly understand how responding to every comment and visiting every blog is not really practical. But when one is trying to build readership or relationships with individuals, I think that it is vital. It really doesn't matter to me whether the person comes back to read it or not. I want something to be there just in case. If someone bothers to take the time to comment, I should take the time to respond. Truth be told, if I'm commenting on someone else's blog, and they don't respond, I'm offended. I usually check. I consider it good blogging etiquette ... unless they're getting too many on regular basis, like I said. Great question. Thanks for featuring this post. :)

Getting better at it! It's easy to comment on blogs that are particularly interesting to me. This is one of the biggest "issues" we have had with our blog Illuminate, simply because comments are an easy way to measure "success" and leave you with a feel good feeling that people are listening to what you have to say.

I'm definitely getting better at it. I try to respond as soon as I approve the comment.

I respond when I can. I don't when I can't. It seems that about every 2-3 days I get a couple of hours to sit down and peruse, and respond. However, there are some that are just "hey" - - so, at that point, I just smile. That's my response.

I reply to every comment left on my blog. I comment on the blog, but since I use WP, an email is automatically sent to the commenter with my reply. If I think it warrants further discussion I will also send a private email as well. I comment on a lot of blogs over the course of a day, and very few people that I leave comments for return the favor. I figure it's a personal choice of theirs.

I'll respond to a comment unless it's clearly simply to acknowledge "I was here." Sometimes there's not much to say back - "I'm glad you stopped by!" too many times doesn't sound sincere. Even if I am doing the "happy comment dance" while I type it.

That said, I've never felt like I had to respond through email. If I ever received a comment that was offensive or full of vulgar language not directly related to the post, I would write to the author to explain why I didn't approve it.

I don't always check back to see if my comment has been answered - many times because I'm not looking for an answer.

I respond to comment via email. If someone has taken the time to read my blog and leave a comment, they deserve to have their comment heard and acknowledged. I have some really devoted readers who have become good friends and I would have missed them had I not bothered to reply to them. I know that I've stopped reading blogs, many of them by so called "A-List bloggers", simply because I don't feel as if I matter to them.

If someone leaves a comment on my blog, I'm commenting back. If I comment on someone's blog and they don't acknowledge or repsond back, after a couple of times I don't read their blog again. Same goes for Twitter and Facebook. It's about engagement.. and engagement takes more than one person to make it happen.

I try to respond to comments most of the time. For one, it's just polite, and for another, it's the best way to start a conversation. :)

I respond to every comment and leave a comment on their blog but I don't always remember to go back to see if they ever responded. I've wondered if there is a more efficent way of commenting on sites but I haven't come up with one yet.

I think that truism above says it all. Comments let me know that people are hearing my words - to the point that they proactively say something.

I won't lie - two years into this blogging endeavor, I still do a happy dance every time I receive a comment.

So I respond. To keep the conversation going. And also, to let my readers know I am very much part of the *social* aspect of social media. I also look at the blogs of all commenters. You never know what new gems you'll find.

I look at my writing/blogging as a conversation -- which implies 2-way communication, of course! So I do respond to each and every comment. Unless it's a creepy guy asking if I have supple hands and feet as he only imagines I do...

(Seriously. I do not make this up...)

However, I do notice that by responding to comments, I take time away from my writing. And since I have a pretty active and healthy conversation going on in my comments section, I am facing the reality that someday, I will not be able to respond to every comment -- and also post frequently.

...which means: It's going to be very hard to break that precedent at some point in the future. My readers know I respond (and some -- not all, I have no delusions of grandeur) have come to expect it.

So I do wonder: Will that change my blogging dynamic?

If someone has taken the time to comment on my blog, I comment back. Of course, I don't have 100+ so it is not that time consuming for me :)I do read each comment and like getting them.

I also try to visit their blog too.

I love comments and I also love the chance to respond, even if it's brief. I really appreciate people taking the time to read my blog, so it's the least I can do, I think!

99% of the time I do! However if it's one of those "New follower! Follow me back..blah blah blah." comments, I'll ignore it. Save that kind of stuff for a quick email. -sigh-

I respond to every single one. Comments are the best part of blogging :)

I do for the most part. I only get a few comments a day, so I like to respond hopefully to encourage more. I always make a point to reply if it's a new commenter. (I don't respond to all of my dad's comments ha.)

I wrestle with this issue often. If blogging is supposed to be a conversation and not a monologue, then I feel I should respond to the comments left on my blog -- especially if they are more than a quick sentence. The fact that there is a special space for "Comments" implies that blogging isn't just a one-way street. But I know that's up for debate.

On the other hand, when I wrote columns for print editions of newspapers and received snail-mail letters from readers, I never felt that I had to answer those letters.

The problem, as always, is finding the free time to reciprocate visits to other blogs, as well as responding to comments left on your own blog. It can be overwhelming ...

I do respond to the comments 99% of the time. I *think* I've finally got it set up where an email goes back to the commenter showing I've replied. I do try to go the the commenter's blog as well to leave a comment but am not as consistent in that.

I try but it was much easier when my comment notifications emails worked. I can't figure out why they are not. I need tech support. sigh.