Commenting Self-Audit

Ok, I am a bit late to the party (hard to keep up, man! I’ve got a busy life!), but seeing as I am participating in the 31-Day-Comment Challenge, I figured I should follow Langwitches’s instructions for a Self-Audit.

For this activity, do the following:

Answer the following questions:

1. How often do you comment on other blogs during a typical week?
   Hmm. Probably on average, twice a week.
2. Do you track your blog comments? How? What do you do with your tracking?
   I track comments made on blogs that I comment on, usually via the e-mail subscription or an RSS feed. As for what I do with them, well, I basically don’t “do” anything with them. I just read, follow, and follow-up if necessary. I try to always respond to comments left on my own blog. However, I also realize that at some point a conversation has to end, and not everything needs a reply.
3. Do you tend to comment at the same blogs or do you try to comment on at least one new blog per week?
   I pretty much comment on the same blogs. So, I think it’s time to branch out a bit. There is so much out there!

Now review Gina Trapani’s Guide to Blog Comments and ask yourself how well you’re doing in each of the different areas. Are there any specific areas where you think you need to do some work? What do you want to do to address these issues?

1. Stay on topic. I am pretty good at this, though often I make references to other issues that are related.
2. Contribute new information to the discussion. This is often what holds me back from commenting. I often feel like I simply agree with what has already been said, so I say nothing. Or I say, “I agree with so-and-so” which I realize is not useful. I guess I need to think more carefully about what I am adding that is new.
3. Don’t comment for the sake of commenting. Yeah, I’m okay with this. Mostly just because I don’t have the time!
4. Know when to comment and when to e-mail. I think I am pretty good with this area, too. I understand the boundaries, especially with those whom I know very well.
5. Remember that nobody likes a know-it-all.  OOoh, I think I have been guilty of this at times. Perhaps I need to tone things down a bit. I will admit that there are times when I need to address things more diplomatically. Often I should re-draft comments before hitting “submit”!
6. Make the tone of your message clear.  I think this is related to my problem in #5 above. 🙂
7. Own your comment. I am very consistent with this, but I will admit that I have left the WRONG URL on a couple of comments. oops!
8. Be succinct.  Again, the re-drafting thing. Hmmm… I do this in my e-mails… why do I think I don’t need to in my comments? Point taken!
9. Cite your sources with links or inline quoting. Yes, I try to do this as often as possible. But it’s hard sometimes — again, a time issue.
10. Be courteous.  I think this goes without saying. Just because it’s the blogosphere and written in words does not mean that there are not people behind those words.
11. Do not feed or tease the trolls.  I have no tolerance for this online, really.

Like this? You might also enjoy these:

• Connecting with Comments
• I Am Epiphany-less