February 9, 2010

To Recomment or Not to Recomment?

Thanks for all the supportive and funny comments this morning. I was giggling to myself as I scanned those poems, thinking, 'Is this endearing, or totally embarrassing?' I was perfectly at peace with Dorky, with a capital D, then a bunch of you thought it was endearing. Awww! Ya mean I'm not as big a geek as I thought? I love you guys!

Now that I'm in the 100 Club (I'll be getting my lapel pin in the mail, right?) I have a couple of questions. The more I read & write, the more I learn about this medium, and there are still a lot of little things I'm not hip on. Like giveaways. If anyone wants to give me the lowdown on how that works, that'd be great.

But let's talk COMMENTS.

I love the whole concept of commenting. I think it's fabulous validation for putting yourself out there, and a big motivator to do it again tomorrow. And I love that sometimes, it's a topic-specific, insightful, sympathetic response, but sometimes, it's just a little high-five for being brave enough to read your paper out loud to the class. I don't mind the "Great post!" comment one bit. It makes my day to know that someone out there stopped in and said hi.

What I'm a little unsure of, though, is the commenting back to the commenters who've commented to you. The ReCommenting. Some people do it, some don't. Is there an etiquette to this? I rarely recomment here because I think it's a touchy area.

You kinda have to recomment to everyone on the post, don't you? Like when it's Valentine's Day in elementary school - if you don't bring a card for everyone, you can't bring cards at all. You can't just recomment to the comments that warrant recommenting. Someone is bound to end up in the coat closet tucked in between the smelly lunchboxes, crying her eyes out. And she'll grow up to find herself running from therapy sessions to AA meetings and back, and ..... I'm just guessing that's how it would turn out.

So, are you a ReCommenter?

Do you have a policy? Or am I neurotic and no one else gives a shit?

And what do you say to "Great Post!" ?

At some point, doesn't it become akin to writing a thank you note for a thank you note? I mean, when does it end? How do you know if you're done?

To everyone who has been kind enough to visit, read, and comment - or not - for now, I'll just throw out a big blanket thanks.


Yeah, I know, some of you deserve more than that.

It's ok, I won't go to recess without you.

6 comments:

  1. I recomment to almost every comment(can't with those that have noreply@blogger- oh, that drives me nuts), even if it's just a "thanks!"

    ReplyDelete
  2. I check my post a couple times a day and respond to the comments. But once that day is over, I don't go back. Occasionally I respond via email. It may be my imagination, but I seem to be getting more comments since I started responding. But it could be just a coincidence and totally unrelated. Who knows?

    ReplyDelete
  3. You need to take another hit of your magic potion. Seriously.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ok, since Shell and Eva are both recommenters, I'll come back with this: Thanks for the input!

    Shell - That's why you have a bazillion readers, probably. Love the new header today, very cute.

    Eva - How is it possible for you to get any more comments than you already do?!

    And J, who just thinks I'm a nutbag - Aren't I way more fun, now that I'm on the voodoo juice?

    ReplyDelete
  5. My crit partner just wrote about this too! She doesn't re-comment and wondered if she's rude.

    i don't know that I have a "policy." I try to respond on my own blog if I have something to add because I like the idea of a conversation. I have no idea if anyone reads them, but I write them. Usually. Unless I don't.

    I do try to get to the blogs of those who comment, though. Otherwise I feel like I'm ignoring someone. But that's my own neurosis.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I wondered about this too -- I have no idea how to comment via email back to some folks I would comment to -- so I usually don't comment and hope my readers aren't annoyed with me -- I am so computer illiterate, it surprises me to be on here at all, sometimes!!

    ReplyDelete