Thing #12: Creating Community Through Commenting

I enjoyed reading the articles about commenting. I've commented on blogs before but never really thought about WHY I was commenting. It just seemed natural, as if it were "conversation." I guess I'm a basically nice person because it's never occurred to me to be less than courteous when commenting on others' posts. Most of my commenting has been to encourage others or to share my similar experiences with the blogger. Doug Johnson at Blue Skunk says, "Don't be a troll." I'd never heard the term before, but I don't know why not. Now that I think about it, I've seen trolls in my travels through the blogosphere.

The two things that stuck out to me as I read about "commenting conventions" is that 1) comments should contribute something to the discourse, and 2) they should be courteous. I panicked a bit when considering the first one because I've left the "You go, girl!" kind of comments that don't add anything new. I think it was Cool Cat Teacher who advised staying away from those. After I reconsidered, I felt a little better, though, because I came to the conclusion that CCT didn't mean that we can't leave simple words of encouragement. She meant that we shouldn't just leave it at that. We should be specific. Just as in teaching when we give students feedback. "Good job!" is not that helpful. It needs to be followed up with "You recognized every pattern correctly on your first try!" or something like that. When I was helping students develop their writing, I would say things like, "You've captured the moment here perfectly with your vivid verbs and the sentence structure you've chosen," (and I'd name that structure). It WAS a good job, and I admired the way they'd crafted their work, but I had to tell them specifically what made it work. It's the same if I leave a "You go, girl!" I need to point out exactly why I agree or feel the encouragement is deserved. As for the second thing that struck me, courtesy...well, even when we disagree, we can do it constructively. I hope that with this group of people, I don't have to explain that one much.

I have a question about time. What time frame is considered "still okay" when commenting on a blog post? For example, let's say I happen upon Blog XYZ and see a post that was made two weeks ago that I'd like to respond to. Is it too late? What's the "expiration date" on these things? Or maybe it doesn't have to do with time but how many posts have been made since then. What if there are 2 or 3 newer posts? Does it mean I shouldn't comment on the older post because it's lost currency? Help!