Thing #12

Most of what I read in the different articles about successful blog commenting was common sense, but they were all good reminders. Blogging etiquette is basically the same as the etiquette you would use for carrying on a conversation. It should not be all about you. I was reminded to ask questions and present ideas that will inspire others to want to give their opinions or to comment back. It is also important to show that I heard the blogger that I am commenting on. Those reminders seemed natural enough. I guess the reminder I was less comfortable with was the one that said to draw attention to my own blog. I'm not sure if I'm able to self-promote yet. Maybe if I had something in my blog worth promoting, it would be a different story.

I went to five Library2Play blogs and made at least one comment to each. That was easy to do because I felt like I shared a common bond with these people since we're all in education and we are all working on the 23 Things right now. I even ended up on the blog of someone I know. That was cool.

After reading one of the Library2Play blogs, I went to YouTube Book trailers because the blogger I was reading recommended it. I commented on a book trailer for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Then I started looking at other book trailers, as well. I just couldn't bring myself to make any more comments, though, because many of the people who comment on YouTube do not follow commenting etiquette. Sometimes they would curse or insult people or they often would comment even though they didn't even seem to pay attention to what they just saw/read. When the comments were positive they would often say things like :) or "cute." I enjoyed some of the trailers, but I just did not get much out of many of the comments. I think teens may be making many of these comments. It just reinforced my belief that my students will need to be taught how to blog and comment appropriately and meaningfully. Based on what I read today on YouTube, "meaningful" commenting does not seem to come naturally to some people.

Ahh... I feel better now. I went back to Library Thing to read comments in a YA lit group that I had previously joined. Then I answered a question that was part of a thread. The comments on this site were definitely more thoughtful than on YouTube. I'd like to go back and keep participating in this group.