Commenting challenge takes off
Today is the first day in the new 31 day commenting Challenge. Hmmmm, maybe it’s actually the 2nd day and I’m behind the 8 ball? Anyway, we are starting with a little self reflection - the answers to 3 simple questions.
- How many times a week do you comment?
- Do you track your comments and how?
- Do you comment on the same blogs, or try and add new ones each week?
Okay, this isn’t too introspective yet, I can manage this 
.
- I have been commenting a lot less since I returned to classroom teaching. I used to have a lot more time and energy available for edublogging. I have fallen behind in both my reading and writing, and the blogs I keep up with and comment on are as likely to be friends or related to my artwork, than education related. I probably comment a handful of times each week, but few of these are on edublogs at the moment.
- No, I have never tracked my comments. This challenge requests us to register for cocomment, so this will be a new process for me.
- At the moment, I really only comment on the blogs already in my reader. I don’t make a conscious effort to seek out new blogs to comment on, or even to comment a specific number of times. Basically, I comment when I think I have something to contribute - either adding to the discussion, or supporting a friend etc.
We were also asked to checkout the Lifehacker ‘Guide to Weblog Comments’ and have a think about the issues discussed there. There are 12 main issues to consider, and I think I come off pretty well in most of them. I consider myself to be a thoughtful, courteous commenter. In some of the artistic or personal blogs I read, I may be guilty of repeating earlier comments, or commenting for the sake of it, as I think that people do like to read positive feedback about artwork, or words of support about personal issues. But on the education blogs, I am quite careful to only comment if I have something to add to the discussion, I have realised since I first became part of the online world the danger of posting when emotional, so that’s not a problem.
So, I’m quite happy with my personal audit, but I am definitely looking forward to the opportunity to focus on my blog reading in a concentrated way.
Bring on the next 30 days!
Hi Suzanne - Welcome to the Comment Challenge! Well I’m a lot further behind than you so your doing well
As I’ve mentioned on other people’s posts while I liked her post I didn’t totally agree with all her points. Now I just have to make the time to reflect on my thoughts.
Thanks Sue. I will certainly consider all her points in more detail in my own reflection - I didnt want this post to get too long.
I think there are some very valid points, but I can certainly think of some exceptions (such as the one I mentioned, about supportive comments perhaps being repetitive). Sometimes it’s nice to know people are ‘listening’.
Thanks for joining the challenge Suzanne!
I stopped tracking my comments for a while (something with the coComment extension was slowing down FF to the point that I couldn’t stand it anymore, but I’ve discovered that clearing the cache solves that problem - thanks to @sue for that one), but now I’m back into it.
The reason I love tracking comments is because it enables me to see commenting as a conversation. I don’t just leave a comment, then forget about it. I see anytime anyone else commented on the same post, and with the new “@-style” reply so popular from Twitter, I can now see how all the commenters can have a conversation with both the author and the rest of the commenters on a specific blog post.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on comment tracking as the Challenge progresses
Thanks mscofino! I usually click the box to track comments that i think will be an ongoing discussion. But, now I think about it, that’s not a regular occurence. Often I comment and never look back… I guess thats another aspect to consider when commenting - whether it is furthering a conversation.
This sounds really good - I started some of the WEB 2.0 activities last year and now cannot remember what I was doing. Does this mean I will get an email to track my comments? Again not sure what I am doing but want to learn more.
Hi Sue - great to see you back in the blogoshpere. I have emailed you some info about the wiki for the comment challenge - hope to see you there! Once you join cocomment, you can go and read the ‘conversations’ you have become part of. let me know when you have signed up and I can give you a hand.