Question.

26 July 06 | 14 comments

I’m never sure of my own preferences on this, so I’m asking you:

When you leave a comment on someone’s blog (like, say, mine) do you want the person to reply via email or via a comment on the original post? (Assuming, of course, that a reply-comment/email makes sense..)

  1. Lala’s avatar

    Lala on 26 July 06 at 9:08 pm

    i don’t expect a reply generally.

  2. Lala’s avatar

    Lala on 26 July 06 at 9:09 pm

    sorry, there should have been a comma in there somewhere. i don’t expect a reply to this either.

  3. Dana’s avatar

    Dana on 26 July 06 at 9:12 pm

    Okay, but what if you asked a question pertaining to something I wrote, or, say, if you expressed an opinion about something I wrote?

    My mind says that if someone posts a comment, rather than emailing me, the response should also be in the form of a comment – sort of carrying on the ‘conversation’ and the ‘dialogue’ from the post.

    But some people never ever leave comments on their own blog, and simply reply via email (since WordPress and other blogging interfaces generally email the comment to the author).

    Hrmph.

  4. Melle’s avatar

    Melle on 26 July 06 at 9:25 pm

    I don’t expect a reply, either. Typically if I ask a question in my comment it’s rhetorical. I would think an emailed reply would be better, since, given the way I read blogs, at least, I may never actually see the reply comment otherwise.

    If I reply to people who comment on my site, I do it via the email that arrived to notify me of the person’s comment. Ideally, my reply to the comment would go to the person’s inbox AND be posted to the site as another comment, but as you mentioned, WP and others don’t work that way.

  5. Jo’s avatar

    Jo on 26 July 06 at 9:34 pm

    I am spolied on LJ with my LJ email alerts thingy. Whenever someone replies to one of my posts or one of my comments, I get an email alert. I love that.

    I have very few friends who use WordPress, and a few Blogger bloggers, and in those cases I just tend not to read the comments. If I reply, I know I won’t get an answer unless I go back and check and more often than not I don’t think to go back and check. It’s not on my radar the way the LJ thing is.

  6. Kelly’s avatar

    Kelly on 26 July 06 at 10:03 pm

    I don’t expect a reply, but if the blogger wished to reply, I’d prefer it via email because otherwise I might never see it.

  7. Shaney’s avatar

    Shaney on 27 July 06 at 9:06 am

    I think either way is fine.

    If I leave a comment, I usually go back to see what other people have said in response to my comment the next day. I think of it as participating in a conversation — an open conversation — with the blogger and her “chorus”.

    So, if the blogger posts a comment back to me, as long as it is within the next day or so, I will see it.

    However, if you have something private to address in a comment that someone has made, or if you want to be 100% sure that the person will see it, perhaps email would be better.

    On my own blog, I like to post replies to comments to let people know that I am reading them. Then, if I have something specific to address to that person, I might send an email.

    Not helping, am I? :)

  8. Nicole’s avatar

    Nicole on 27 July 06 at 10:45 am

    If I reply via comment I usually expect the person to reply via a comment as well. I figure if I’ve left a comment, which I don’t normally do, I usually go back to see if other comments have been left. But that only usually lasts for a day or two.

    Although I do like the way that LJ has their comments set up as well. I think I’ll have to find some sort of plugin that will do that for WP.

  9. mamaloo’s avatar

    mamaloo on 27 July 06 at 11:17 am

    I’m with everyone else: comment in the comments. That way, the rest of the readers can benefit from the blogger’s remarks as well.

    Whenever I get or give email replies to bloggy comments, it’s usually a very personal thing or a friends thing as in, “thank for your comment, it really touched me at a sensitive time in my life and I wanted to let you know that” or “hey girl, funny comment, how’s the kid today?” Gettit?

    Now, for anyone who is interested in tracking the comments they make (and are replied to) in the billions of blogs they read, I found the coolest tool. (I use the tool but I’m in no way affiliated with the tool or getting perks for talking about it.) It’s called CoComment and you sign up, download a little widget or some tiny voodoo thing for your browser and everytime you leave a blog comment (some very few blog tools aren’t yet compatible, but most are, even this one) you click a little button, press the normal “submit comment” button and then that conversation gets tracked on a page back at CoComments. You can go to the page months later or 3 hours later or whatever, and see all the replies/other comments in that blog post. It’s really cool. I use it constantly. I even have a running banner of my latest comments and conversations embedded on my blog. Good times!

    If anyone is interested, you can check out my blog (linked via my name) or go to http://www.cocomment.com to check out the tool.

    Sorry for the hijack, Dana, but I thought it was relavent.

  10. Steve’s avatar

    Steve on 27 July 06 at 11:43 am

    If I have something I want to ask you about one of your entries that requires a reply, I’ll send an e-mail to you through your e-mail link.

    The comment section is for public (and obviously your) viewing only, as far as I’m concerned. But it doesn’t mean that when I see an entry with a whole pile of comments, I don’t go and look at it, because I know there’s probably a thread going on, and I like reading them, because lets face it, we’re all cool here, because we’re friends with you. :)

    (Yeah, I know, I’m a suck-up)

  11. R.’s avatar

    R. on 27 July 06 at 1:55 pm

    Since your blog format doesn’t allow for thread nesting I’d say email would be the most practical way to reply. BTW are you going to conduct the experiment I sent you?

  12. Michelle’s avatar

    Michelle on 27 July 06 at 4:21 pm

    I expect you to reply via carrier pigeons (you LOVE pigeons) and smoke signals. Mmmm’kay?

    Actually, I always reply via email. But that’s just me.

  13. Robyn’s avatar

    Robyn on 27 July 06 at 4:24 pm

    I agree with your comment –

    My mind says that if someone posts a comment, rather than emailing me, the response should also be in the form of a comment – sort of carrying on the ‘conversation’ and the ‘dialogue’ from the post.

    But, like others, I don’t typically expect a response.

  14. Merideth’s avatar

    Merideth on 27 July 06 at 5:14 pm

    Same here…don’t expect a response.

    But when I do comment most folks who do respond (not that they need to, mind you) it’s always been in the form of another comment to the original comment. (Whew! that wasn’t easy to say!)

Comments are now closed.