Novel Thoughts: I suck at commenting

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on September 24, 2014 | 19 Comments


Novel Thoughts

I want to reply to every single comment I get. I really do.

But I just…don’t.

What happens the most is: I look at a comment on my blog. I can’t think of anything to reply other than “thank you” or some lame agreement, not amounting to more than a sentence, so I don’t reply. Instead I go to my commenter’s blog…but then I can’t find anything that I have any thoughts about that are worth commenting either. So I just…don’t….comment. Is that bad? While I want to acknowledge every comment I get, I hate leaving any kind of comment that isn’t meaningful. I think “great review” is worse than no comment at all. I only comment on things when I have a full sentence at the very least. Even when I’m visiting Life of a Blogger posts, I cringe every time I have to just say “Thanks for sharing” or something else generic to show that I do read the posts, because I don’t like leaving anyone out. (This doesn’t happen very often. Usually I can come up with something.)

I also tend to procrastinate on comments. Emails about comments I’ve received (after I read the comment in the email) tend to sit in my inbox for days, sometimes weeks on end, until I feel like replying. How horrible is that?! Life of a Blogger posts are the worst, because I don’t want to go visit the blogs until I have adequate time to sit and read the posts and leave a meaningful comment. I don’t have that kind of time very often.

I love comments and I appreciate every single one of them. So I feel like a horrible blogger when I don’t get around to returning the favor!

Does this happen to anyone else? How do you tackle the issue?

Jessi (Geo)

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19 responses to “Novel Thoughts: I suck at commenting

  1. Omg yes! I’m totally like you! Sometimes, I don’t get back to comments for weeks and weeks just because I can’t think of anything to say. Or the comment is like extremely long and I can’t be bothered to reply. I know, it’s so bad! D: Unfortunately, I have no tips haha. :P

  2. I’m so glad to know that I’m not the only one that feels this way. I always feel terrible when I can’t come up with anything better to say than “Thanks!” I definitely want to interact with my readers and I’m always super thrilled to get comments, but sometimes I have a hard time trying to say something meaningful. I always feel like I’m being a bad blogger. :(

  3. Oh, commenting — great topic! I used to respond to each and every comment on my blog, but 90% of the time, people don’t come back to read the comments, which means I end up talking to myself =P Eventually, I got so behind on replying that I just stopped. Sometimes I’ll acknowledge the comments in a follow-up post about the same topic, other times I’ll stop by and visit the blogger like you do. But there are some repeat commenters on my blog that post only blog tours, cover reveals or reviews for books that I haven’t heard or aren’t interested in reading, so I hear you on having nothing to say on those blogs. And I think that’s okay!

  4. This is actually really interesting! I love commenting on people’s blogs because I find it a really good way of linking with new people and making friends, and it helps me to feel like I’m part of the community more. That said, I do often find that it’s difficult for me to comment on people’s blogs or reply to comments, simply because I have nothing of any great importance or relevance to say. It’s really frustrating because I love talking to people and sharing my appreciation for their content, but I’d never just comment with ‘nice post’ or something, because I never feel like it seems all that sincere. To me, it seems more like a “I’ve commented on your blog so comment on mine” ploy, which is probably not the case at all but I feel like that’s how people will always read it if I write it xx

  5. I guess I’m just an easy rambler, haha. I don’t have much problems with commenting and I like to do it. It’s a good feeling to leave comment love around the blogosphere. I always try to leave something useful, not something generic like ‘what a good review.’ I want to show them that I also READ their post. Perhaps you should just try it; get it over with instead of backing down all the time? You could try to set yourself a goal, like: I’m going to comment on 5 blogs today. That might make it easier for you?

  6. Personally, I don’t have a problem replying to comments (except for now because my wifi doesn’t work), but sometimes I do feel it’s a bit lame if I just say thanks or offer some lame agreement – even when I actually agree! I considered just not replying when the comment is something like “nice post”, but I don’t want people to feel like I don’t appreciate those – because I do like knowing someone read my post and liked it. It also obviously depends on how much time I have. Usually I reply to everything, but sometimes a few comments slip through and I’m not going to beat myself up about that. As someone else has said, often people don’t check back to see whether there’s a reply unless they get an e-mail saying so, so sometimes I feel like no one will see it anyway. I tried to install a plug-in that only sends out an e-mail when their comment has a reply, not every time a comment is posted (’cause that’s annoying as hell), but tbh I have no idea if it works. :D

    That said, I don’t think you should feel obligated to comment! I wouldn’t want people to comment on my blog because they feel like they have to. I mean I also often check out my commenters’ blogs and if I see something interesting I’ll definitely leave a comment. I’ve definitely found some good blogs that way! However, if I don’t see anything I want to reply to, I’m not going to force myself to leave a comment just so I left a comment.

    Good post! :p

  7. It doesn’t bother me when the only reply I get to a comment is a generic thank you. It still makes me feel appreciated, and I like that someone actually took the time to read my comment.

    Same as with the “great review” type of comments – sure, they hardly ever spark discussion or anything, but it’s still nice someone took a second to tell you that, right? (:

    But I agree with Vlora, you shouldn’t feel obligated to comment. Another great alternative is to just send someone a message on Twitter if you enjoy one of their posts. Takes away from having to say anything meaningful about the content of the post ^^

  8. I definitely struggle with this. I feel like one-word (or two) responses are a bigger punch in the face than nothing at all, ha ha. I just figured out that when an e-mail comes in for a comment posted on my blog, I can REPLY TO THE EMAIL to leave a comment back! Ha! I’m a bit slow sometimes. But that makes it easier when I’m at work and I can just sneak in a reply back pretty easily. Unless I’m super busy, then I forget about it. :p But it doesn’t make you a horrible blogger! Sometimes you just gotta “be in the mood” to comment back on stuff, which is sometimes what I do.

  9. I’ve become really adamant for myself that if I don’t actually have something to say, I won’t comment. For a while, I thought I should think about it all very carefully and come up with some sort of response to everything (even just blog posts I read), but I’ve realized by now that that’s just not realistic. I’m not always going to have something constructive to say. I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with the more generic comments where you just say thank you or something, but I do think that leaving them wastes time you could spend doing something more productive. I think other people understand that too, and they don’t have much use for those more generic comments either. Once I started thinking about that, I felt a lot less guilty about not commenting all of the time.

  10. Saaaaame!! I only like replying to comments on my blog if I actually have something to say back. Just saying “Thank you” to 10 comments in a row feels lame…

    Then the same applies on other peoples’ blogs. Some posts inspire me to comment because I have thoughts I desperately want to share. But other posts don’t inspire me. That doesn’t mean the post is bad, it just means I don’t feel like I have anything to add… so I don’t.

    I feel bad, but at the same time, I would never want to force myself into commenting, you know?

  11. I’m definitely not in the habit of commenting unless I have something to say—especially on other people’s blogs. I do usually reply to all comments made on my own posts, and then try to visit that person’s blog. But I never ever say something unless I feel like my words are important enough to bother typing out. I know a lot of commenters really like it when they get comments back, but I don’t like policies like that personally, since I’d rather have no comments than generic “great review!”/”great blog!” comments.

  12. Yes, this is basically me!! I suck at commenting. I just suck at it. Literally I usually end up saving a bunch of posts via Feedly and commenting on 1-5 every day. I’ll never catch up, but it’s a nice thought. Also, I try to reply to the posts that are on my CommentLuv from people that comment on my blog. I’m pretty good at responding to the comments on my blog though and I only don’t reply if I can’t come up with more than 1-2 sentences that aren’t useless or mean nothing. Great discussion!

  13. It’s really difficult to find the right balance sometimes. I try to reply to every comment even if it just a thank you for stopping by, but I also believe in only commenting when I have somethign to say. Although sometimes I have to force myself to have something to say when commenting back. I usually try to comment back and reply as soon as I receive the e-mail, so they don’t pile up. I hate ti when it feels like a chore because I have so many comments I haven’t replied back yet. I try to make time each day to do some blog commenting, so i don’t often have the time issue.

  14. I’m kind of hit-and-miss at commenting. I actually used to never respond to comments left on my blog. How awful is that? I just much preferred going to their blogging and returning the gesture that way. And, if I know I won’t have anything to add to a conversation except for a “oooh…neat!” or “great review”, I won’t bother. Sometimes I’ll even type up a comment, and if it sounds too much like the other comments already left, I’ll leave without posting :(

  15. I’m of the different mindset-I’d rather leave/receive a generic comment, so at least I/they know someone has stopped by :) And sometimes a ‘great post’ comment really is accurate!

  16. Sam

    I soooo get what you mean! I also do what you do and leave my comments in my email inbox for days to weeks before deciding what to do with them. The worst for me is trying to comment back to all the comments on a particular post. Sometimes I want to comment back to some comments (the ones that say more or that I just have something legitimate to comment back), but not others (the ones I just don’t have much to say back). I feel so bad only commenting back to some, but leaving others out, ya know? It’s so hard and I feel bad! So, I usually end up commenting back to all comments (if I decide to comment back to one or more) and some end up just being forced comments.

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