Advice: How to be a Good Commenter

Advice: How to be a Good Commenter, from Lifehacker The following is from Lifehacker, and written by Gina Trapani. Leaving a comment on someone’s weblog is like walking into their living room and joining in on a conversation. As in real life, online there are some people who are a pleasure to converse with, and some who are not. Good blog commenters add to the discussion and are known as... [more]

Advice: How to be a Good Commenter, from Lifehacker The following is from Lifehacker, and written by Gina Trapani. Leaving a comment on someone’s weblog is like walking into their living room and joining in on a conversation. As in real life, online there are some people who are a pleasure to converse with, and some who are not. Good blog commenters add to the discussion and are known as knowledgeable, informative, friendly and engaged… to become a great blog commenter, keep these simple guidelines in mind before you post: Stay on topic. Bloggers enable comments on specific blog posts to hear more about the content of the post. Don’t change the subject… Contribute new information to the discussion. Twelve people saying the same exact thing in one comment thread is useless and irritating. Before you comment, read the entire thread and make sure your comment offers something new to the conversation. If you don’t have the time or patience to read an entire thread, then don’t comment at all. The longer a comment thread the more likely someone has already said what you’re thinking, and the less likely it is to be read by future visitors anyway. Don’t comment for the sake of commenting. Commenters who only say “First!” or “Nice site” on an open thread have no business hitting that “Post” button at all. Further, only spammers comment for the sake of adding their name and URL to a web page. Useless comments will gain you the reputation for being a useless commenter. Remember that nobody likes a know-it-all. The best kind of comments come from thoughtful, knowledgeable people who add more information about a topic. However, tongue-lashings from condescending smartypants will go over as well on someone’s blog as they would in that someone’s living room… Be succinct. Longwinded lectures are for college professors, not blog comments. Stay short and to the point. Everyone appreciates brevity. Be courteous. Chances are something someone says in a comment or post is going to irk you. Still, personal attacks are unacceptable, useless and can quickly degrade a discussion to a third grade “Yo Mama” flamefest. Resist the urge, and be respectful and objective at all times. [less]