CT Biz Blogs

The comment feature on blogs is the main way that readers can communicate with the blogger (and each other). I’ve written before about the amazing community that’s sprung up in the comments on Joel Achenbach’s Achenblog.

A post a few days ago on Successful Blog, about comments on posts, prompted Shirley Frazier to make the comment that bloggers shouldn’t make the assumption that readers know about the comments, and know how to comment.  So, I wanted to make sure that my readers know that comments are most welcome!

Comments are useful for a number of reasons. For the blog, they add more information or ideas to the topic. If I hadn’t read the comments on the Successful blog post, I would never have found the comment that inspired this post.  For the commenter, they represent another way to network, and get your own site linked to.  If I hadn’t read the comments, I’d have never have found Shirley’s site, which I’ve subscribed to. It looks very helpful and I recommend you check it out.

Here’s my comment policy, and a quick “how to,” if you’ve never left a comment before.

Policy:
All comments are welcome, if they are on-topic (or close).  I do reserve the right to delete anything I consider spam, obscene, or offensive to my readers.  I have no problem with links to your site, in fact, that’s part of the form. If you enter a URL in that field, it will create a link to your site when you submit the comment. If your comment isn’t appearing, and you don’t think it’s for any of the aforementioned reasons, feel free to email me. It might just be a bug or an oversight.

I do check out all the URLs, so you’re guaranteed a visit from me, at the very least.  But, if you’re URL links back to a “splog” or spam blog, I’ll either delete the link, or the comment, if there’s no other value in it.

But feel free to challenge, question, or scold me, if you feel like it.  Praise is always welcome, too — on the internet, no one can see you blush.  Let’s just keep the conversation rolling.

How to comment:
If you don’t see the form at the bottom of the post (after you click “more” to see the rest of longer ones) click on the “comments” link at the bottom that entry.  Scroll down to the end of the post (and any other comments) to the form where you’ll enter your comments. Enter your name (a nickname or first name will do) and an email address. Even though the form asks for your email address, I do not save them except as part of the comment, and you won’t get any email spam from me.  It isn’t published with the comment, so you won’t get spammed by creeps who “harvest” addresses from web pages, either.

Simply type your comments in the field. If you know it, you can use HTML.

I’m currently testing out different WordPress plug-ins that will provide a WYSIWYG editor for comments, as well as a way to subscribe to comments from individual posts. I’ve seen the latter on several WordPress blogs, and I think it’s a great feature.

And that’s it!  Try it on this, or any blog you come across, and you’ll see how much fun it can be to join in the conversations.