Just post a link? It must be Wednesday. I’d hate to miss a day of posting because I am not a failure. Like all these people.
I hate that sometimes the meanest stuff makes me laugh, but it does. Aaron, there’s even a Star Wars item in there for you. Oh, and your Bloglines did not fail the other day. I accidentally posted a link with no text on Sunday and I didn’t realize my mistake for a couple of hours, and it stayed posted. When I realized I had done that, I re-set it to draft status and edited the post and then re-published, so your reader didn’t pick up the update because it already had the original. I was also wondering why I only had one comment for most of Monday morning. (thanks, Mickey!) (My apologies to anyone who didn’t understand that combination of words.)
Man, I hate being so dependent on comments. Once I reached 10, any day under 10 is a bust. Once I reached 20, any day under 20 is a bust. Looking through my archives and seeing days and days of posts with no comments is so eerie. Like the beginning of Vanilla Sky. And people who used to comment and then stopped for a really long time, but I know they are still alive because they’re blogging or I just saw them last week, make me wonder if I’ve offended them or something. Brando? Bossy? Tucker? (Oh, Tucker, I kid, I know you prefer to be a lurker, and that’s swell.) Also, I have this totally specific and arbitrary rule for myself when I comment on blogs, like how many times I’ll comment on a new blog before I’ll give up if that blogger doesn’t comment on mine, and how many comments it takes for me to go to your site, add you to my RSS feed, add you to my blogroll. Of course, I can’t remember what those rules are, so I usually just keep reading and commenting on blogs I like, and adding sites to my RSS feed and blogroll when I think of it.
Whoops! This “just post a link” entry just turned into a full-fledged blog post. So tell me, oh commenters and lurkers that I love so much, how do you handle the commentation?
Posted by Laurel on January 30, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I have been having a hard time keeping up with blog reading and posting and comment reading lately, which has been a really good thing because I don’t obsess. Then it’s nice to look back to a post a few weeks ago that got a record number of comments and be like, “Oh, wow! Yay!”
In other words… being totally overwhelmed by the rest of your life may be the only cure.
I wish I could not check for comments every second, but in a way that I wasn’t overwhelmed.
Posted by martysue on January 30, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Sometimes what hurts us is for our own good.
Think on that for a while!
In every ‘bad’ event, if we look openly/honestly, we will see the ‘good’ in it too.
And if it’s ‘really bad’, then that means there MUST be (equally) the same opposite, or ‘really good’.
We are often to quick not to see this, because we focus way too much on the ‘bad’, and don’t take time to look for the ‘good’.
These are usually the best lessons in Life.
Don’t miss them!
I think this is a life lesson. I think I need to read it again, or something. Also, I will now check out your blog for the first time.
Posted by nancypearlwannabe on January 30, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Yeah, I’m pretty much a comment whore at this point. I collect them like Garbage Pail Kids. I like to look at them later. I didn’t really tell anyone I had a blog or start reading many others until about a year in, so there’s a whole big section of time where I had 0 comments.
Now if I only get 10 by noon I’m bummed out. Once you start hitting thirty comments it’s all downhill. I also have to remind myself that I am writing because I enjoy it and not because I am in some sort of competition, but it’s a hard lesson. I want every person that reads my blog to come back every day and comment and if not, WHY THE HELL NOT?
I just got an email today from a random guy who informed me I skipped his RSS feed and went right to his blogroll. In my crazy head, that meant some kind of success.
Oh NPW, you should have seen me on Monday when I still only had 1 comment by lunchtime. I was a wreck. Now that you’ve told me about the RSS guy, I think I feel competition bubbling up. I just have to stay calm and repeat, “you have many lurkers, and that’s great, and sometimes you write things that are good, but just don’t call for group discussion.”
Posted by EvilKate on January 30, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I hear you on the comments thing. I usually am in such a rush to read everyone’s posts that I don’t always take the time to comment. I try though (side note: I still comment to the FC even though they are lame statements more than comments, just to let Ace know I’m still alive and reading).
I love getting comments for no other reason than it reminds me I’m not writing to no one. By that I mean, if I didn’t want to share, I’d keep a private journal. For the things I do want to share, blog and it’s nice to know when people are reading what you have to share.
Anyway- I’m always in the “enjoy” line for your blog check out, I just don’t always leave my two cents at the register.
Yeah, there are some posts I don’t comment on because of time crunch. Or I really have nothing to say. Or I think they have too many comments already. Love the metaphor.
Posted by tinetastic on January 30, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I’s on ur blog leavin’ mah comment.
good to see you’re still around.
Posted by tinetastic on January 30, 2008 at 1:21 pm
oh damn there was supposed to be kitteh pic. . .
Yeah, this blog host doesn’t do that for comments.
Posted by courtney on January 30, 2008 at 1:52 pm
The number of comments I get is a large determinant of my mood that day. I feel so loved when I get lots of comments and utterly shunned when I don’t.
I dream of one day getting dozens and dozens of comments on every post, but I am not a blog celebrity just yet. How do they do it? Become a blogebrity, that is?
I’m sorry I didn’t comment on your blog for a while. I thought you were a different Courtney. I think the blogebrities get lucky in some way, and I don’t know if I can get there, or if I want to anymore. I’m okay being on the C-list, it means I can actually respond to comments.
Posted by mickey on January 30, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I was a whore from day one, which was just about three months ago. I’m hovering around 10 regular readers but usually have to throw my own comments in to get to double digits. Considering that I’m still trying to find my blog-voice, I’m thankful for what I do get.
I do go hunting though, and when I find a blog I like (such as this one) I bombard it with comments. I’m currently trying to cast my line outside the Tannenbaum/NPW sphere of influence. The Waitress is going global but don’t worry, I won’t forget where I came from.
I’m such a whore.
That’s pretty great. I was blogging for a year before an outsider (Hope) found me. Sometimes I think about digging through other circles to find new readers (and new things to read) but nothing great has surfaced yet.
Posted by 3carnations on January 30, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Well, I think I’ve only reached 20 comments once. 10 is fairly typical, and if it’s less than 10, I know it wasn’t a very interesting post. You know, because most of my posts are SO fascinating.
There are some blogs I comment on that rarely, if ever, comment on mine, and I’m cool with that. If I comment, it’s because I have something to say…not necessarily to have something said in return. Although I do love comments to comments… I think I READ all the blogs of people who comment on mine, and comment on most, as long as I have something useful to say. (Yeah! = not useful).
So, to you who thinks a day under 20 is a bust, from me, who had 20 comments once EVER: Aren’t you so cool?
I honestly can’t believe I ever got to 20. And I don’t think that comments come from interesting posts. I think they come from commentable posts. There are some times that I read something quite well done, but don’t have anything to say. Although, I’ll usually leave something, just a note to say I was there. But you’re right, “Yeah!” isn’t up there on the quality scale.
Posted by Jennifer M. on January 30, 2008 at 2:41 pm
As a commenter as opposed to a blogger I have a weird internal formula that makes no sense on how much I comment on various blogs.
Like the “general” blog written by someone I think is awesome but have never met will get lots of comments because, hey we’ve never met, probably never will and she’s writing about product crushes and movies she saw over the weekend as opposed to personal stuff and I want to get in my two cents about OPI nail polish and cheesy teen movies of the ’80s as much as anyone.
“Personal” blog by someone I’ve never met is more judiciously commented on because, dude, I don’t know you, but when you put a question out there for all the world to see and ask for answers, you take what you get.
“Personal” blog by someone I do know is super tricky. Don’t want to comment all the time because I don’t want to interject myself into every conversation just to hear myself talk, but do want to stay connected to friends.
And therein lies a fascinating look at my creaky mental state.
And it all makes sense because I know you!
Posted by The Dutchess of Kickball on January 30, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I have no real plan on comments/ blogroll addition etc. All I know is that I am completely addicted to checking my comments. Every single break in my work, I’m hitting the refresh button. I am currently very very bummed because I’m only gotten 1 comment in the past two days, please go to my page and comment. I’m about to cry.
I will as soon as I figure out what to name your cat.
Posted by Allie on January 30, 2008 at 3:00 pm
My blog isn’t personal (although Mickey kind of put a bug in my ear last week about starting one, so maybe soon) and I don’t get a ton of comments, but it’s like Christmas when I do (thank you!).
Unless I’m super busy, I comment on what I read. I think it’s like signing a guest book — Hey, I was here, I read your blog and I think it’s great, damn it.
Yeay, start a personal blog! I love your eco blog, but I don’t always have something to say on it, which doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s great.
Posted by lizgwiz on January 30, 2008 at 3:02 pm
I try not to make myself crazy checking comments, ’cause let’s face it, I just don’t get that many. I love the commenters I have, though, who are all pretty regular. And I do get a weird little thrill when someone new comments.
I comment pretty regularly on several blogs, sporadically on others, and I always try to comment at least once when someone new comments on mine.
And now I have typed/heard in my head the word “comment” so many times it has lost all meaning, so I will shut up.
Everyone, go to Liz’s blog right now and enjoy the wonderment. And I hear you about the “c word.” I wish Firefox would recognize it in all its conjugation.
Posted by Erikka on January 30, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Posted by Erikka on January 30, 2008 at 3:05 pm
that was supposed to say HUG but because I put it in html brackets, it thought it was some code or something…i hope i didn’t just blow something up by accident…
You didn’t! But now I have one more comment… Still waiting for someone to say something about the “Fail” link…
Posted by -R- on January 30, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I don’t have any rules about commenting or blogrolls or anything. I was really hoping to just steal your rules and use them as my own. Too bad you forgot them. I don’t worry too much about comments, but I love getting them. Some days I get 30, some days I get 5. Oh well! Ok, that’s not really true. I am crazy about comments.
Every time I try and tell myself I’m not ruled by things, well, it’s just not true. I want to just love them.
Posted by Aaron on January 30, 2008 at 5:31 pm
It’s redundant to add my two cents at this point, but since you crave the comments as much as I do, I will throw in that I, too, am completely addicted to comments. In fact, I wrote an entire post about it a few months back. When I don’t get “enough” I feel like a failure; especially when my blog is particularly funny and/or I sent an hour photoshopping my head onto Tom Cruise or something. It also bums me out when people start commenting on my blog for a while, and then stop. Nine times out of ten, they’re still reading it. Lazy bastards.
*cough*funkycarter.com*cough*
Also, I think I mentioned this before, but you were the first “stranger” to ever come and comment on my blog (almost a year ago!), so that has pretty much earned you comments for life from me.
Changing topics, that link, I confess, did make me laugh out loud. Particularly (as you no doubt surmised) the Star Wars one, as well as any picture that involved some sort of sports person getting a ball in the face.
I know, I was thinking about that post when I wrote this one. It’s funny, I just wanted to post a link of people getting hit in the face, and look what happened.
Posted by Aaron on January 30, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Bonus comment: I’ve only had ten today!!!! WTF?!? I actually tried. There’s nothing about zombies. Grr.
Like I said, there are some people in the world who actually don’t want to talk about peeing. Good post, though.
Posted by stefanie on January 30, 2008 at 9:08 pm
I had a blog for nearly a year with no comments (I told almost no one about it and only lurked, never commented, on other sites and therefore no one knew I was out there). I was so excited when I started getting comments, and now, I’ll admit it, I’m actually jealous when people who seem comparable to me routinely get way more comments. Um, not YOU, I mean. You are far more awesome than I am and deserve every one of your comments and I’m not the slightest bit jealous at all. Really.
Sometimes I feel all guilty if I don’t often stop by the sites of people who read mine, but dude, I already spend waaaaay too much time reading the 60 or so blogs in my feed reader! How do people find the time??
As for your link… I’m just glad that picture isn’t YOUR cat!
Oh, I feel that jealousy as well. It’s hard to not think of the number of comments as some kind of rating. I have the time to read lotsa blogs, but not time to comment on all of them.
Posted by freeandflawed on January 30, 2008 at 9:39 pm
I wanted to give you your 20th comment haha
Thanks!
Posted by Anika on January 31, 2008 at 12:53 am
Laugh! I’m ever so happy if I get 8 comments!
When I first started reading blogs, I was so paranoid to comment – I’m not sure why. Now, I try to comment every time I read. And I must say, it bothers slightly when people tell me “I read your blog today, and I liked/hated it,” but never leave a comment. Why not??? I need proof!
I don’t mind lurkers so much, but I like to do the drop by to say hi thing. Although sometimes, I just have nothing to say.
Posted by sadieandleo on January 31, 2008 at 1:40 am
My favorite is the one of the cats who took over the dog house.
I’m def. an infrequent commenter. It’s kind of how I’ve always been about most things… infrequent.
I think that’s cool. Say it when you have it, hold it if you don’t.
Posted by gregorymeyer on January 31, 2008 at 9:34 am
Blogging = seeking validation and/or connection
Comments = receiving validation and/or connection
No/few comments = Why does no one love me? [Insert any other personal baggage here]
That’s what I have to say about that.
Posted by gregorymeyer on January 31, 2008 at 9:39 am
Also, my personal commenting is all about me. When I’m not commenting, I’m probably in a mood. I will lurk more when I’m moody.