Commenting in chains that you're participating in

I think I've posted in every thread in the comment chain, as that's the whole point, but I don't always comment in every blog chain post. I read everything, but sometimes I just don't have a comment.

I feel silly making a "great post!" type of post because it's obvious I'm posting to just to put my mark down.

XThe NavigatorX said:

I think I've posted in every thread in the comment chain, as that's the whole point, but I don't always comment in every blog chain post. I read everything, but sometimes I just don't have a comment.

I feel silly making a "great post!" type of post because it's obvious I'm posting to just to put my mark down.

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I agree that sometimes it's hard to know what to say, but I try to say something because then it shows the blogger and others that you've read it and that it was interesting. And yes it is better to put a personal comment, but anything is better than nothing.

As to quid's question. I do think it is an issue. I know I am still catching up on the blog chain but I'm pretty certain I got everyone on the comment chain. I think signing up requires a commitment of active participation - that way we're all helping each other!

I've just caught up! Yay!!

There were four blogs which I hadn't commented on. I'll try not to let myself get that far behind again.

I think the comment chain is a great idea, as I've said before. I've discovered blogs which I might not otherwise have ventured towards - which is fantastic!

I haven't finished reading the rest of Chain 6, so that's why I haven't commented there. I didn't comment on a few during the first half of the chain because either 1) I couldn't think of anything to say other than "nice post," which sounds hollow to me, or 2) I tried posting a comment and received an error in return, so I gave up and moved on.

I try to comment, I really do, but I don't always have something to add. Are "nice post" comments appreciated, or would bloggers rather I just didn't comment? I'm curious now.

sometimes nice post is all that is needed, or qoute something that you liked..really it is just to show that the traffic is there. some have counters so they know people have been by, some don't...even a tag like BK was here will work sometimes LOL

quidscribis said:

...it would be nice to know that I'm not just talking to myself. I'd like to know that others find my posts interesting or helpful or something.

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I agree. A meaningless little 'nice post' comment is better than no comment at all.

quidscribis said:

...do you see the lack of commenting a problem? If so, why? If not, why not?

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I think it's a problem. Not on the scale of global warming or world hunger, but a problem nonetheless: those who put in little effort are reaping the same benefits as those who put in a lot. It's not fair.

quidscribis said:

What suggestions do you have for resolving this? What can we do differently?

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My thoughts are more comment chain-centric, because I don't really know much about how the other chains (the post-chains?) are run...

One solution might be to cap the number of participants in a given chain (e.g., a 10-person comment chain). That way, things don't get out of control and there's more accountability. And anyone who tried but didn't make it into the first chain (just based on whoever responds to the call for participants first) would automatically be part of the second.

Another would be to change the structure of the chain. For instance, instead of tagging blogs, we tag people. Say there's a list of 15 blogs participating -- person A has to comment on all 15 on the first day of the chain (Wednesday). Then person B comments on all 15 on Thursday. So you know ahead of time when your day is, and every participating blog gets a comment a day for two weeks.

interesting

nancy02664 said:

Another would be to change the structure of the chain. For instance, instead of tagging blogs, we tag people. Say there's a list of 15 blogs participating -- person A has to comment on all 15 on the first day of the chain (Wednesday). Then person B comments on all 15 on Thursday. So you know ahead of time when your day is, and every participating blog gets a comment a day for two weeks.

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that's an interesting idea. can't see any reason why it wouldn't work, and it would soon be evident who is/isn't fully participating. plus it means comments would be "spread". as it is, you get 15 people commenting on 1 blog entries and the rest have nothing. this way you could get comments over several (assuming you post new blog entries and people comment on the latest)

food for thought... of course all food provokes me into thought, or does all thought provoke the need for food? (or something anyway)

Just keep in mind that some people don't have the time to comment on fifteen blogs in one day.

another option is for the tagger or poster to send a PM to everyone on the list either:
- announcing that they have posted to the chain
- stating who is next to be tagged

this would be time consuming but it has the advantage of reaching people who haven't logged into AW for a while and don't realise that the chain has progressed without them. there are some people who are conscientious commenters but for one reason or another haven't checked into AW for a while.

it does mean that people will get inundated with PMs...

on the plus, those of us that do comment get to read interesting stuff and learn new things, so it's not all bad. occasionally i get to a blog that is hard work to read but most are interesting and have something that i enjoyed reading or learned from

also, thankfully the commenting hiccups on blogger beta are (mainly) fixed so it's not as hard as it was a few weeks ago when i kept losing my comments when i tried to submit them. i still find that there are some problems with the hybrid blogger commenting system

Towerkel said:

Just keep in mind that some people don't have the time to comment on fifteen blogs in one day.

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It doesn't have to be fifteen -- it could be 12, 10, 8, whatever. Or, it doesn't have to be one day -- maybe each person gets a window of 2, or 3. I was just brainstorming.

quidscribis said:

For me, I know what my traffic is like, but it would be nice to know that I'm not just talking to myself. I'd like to know that others find my posts interesting or helpful or something.

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THEY ARE.

How do sign up for this chain gang?

Towerkel said:

Just keep in mind that some people don't have the time to comment on fifteen blogs in one day.

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agreed. for that system to be workable you'd either need a smaller number of participants (up to 10???) or bloggers with short, easily readable blog entries. people who post chapters of their WIP have long blogs that take longer to read, as do blogs with a lot of facts or technical data. it takes much much longer to read those and make meaningful comments

that sounds workable. We could commit to a set period of time and say we will all do it in the first week of November, or something like that.

I'm flexible, so long as everyone participates. Sometimes a short burst is better as people lose enthusiasm or get sidetracked, busy, etc etc

quidscribis said:

Denise, check out the thread for AW Comment chain #2. It's still going on, about halfway through. Not sure if we're accepting new participants for it or not - that's up to the dude who's running it.

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nancy02664 started Comment No. 2 and it looks like 18 people signed up. A limit of ten might work, but there always seems to be more interest than that. I try to comment in all the blogchain posts, I don't track how many others do as well. The latest Blogchain No. 7 seems to be moving fairly well.

quidscribis said:

Another idea I had last night was, again, with a limit to the number of blogs, say 10, and have a one week period where everyone comments on everyone else's. No tagging, no turns. Just a rampant free for all for one week.

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This could be fun.

Blogforall No. 1

Sure - worth a go. If there is a time limit we will soon know if it works...

Although it doesn't solve the blog chain problem as we have to wait until each person puts their post up. I guess we could have a few days at the end to review all the post and make comments

TaliaMana said:

Although it doesn't solve the blog chain problem as we have to wait until each person puts their post up. I guess we could have a few days at the end to review all the post and make comments

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If I'm understanding right, it quid's idea doesn't really have that limitation, because people could comment on an existing post. Do I have that right?

BUT... we are meant to comment on the specific entry that is made e.g. for blog chain #7 we comment as people put up the next blog entry in the chain. I guess it would mean changing the "rules"