Sunday, May 25, 2014

The Dreaded "No-Reply Comment"

Hi all. This is a short post about blogging.

When you leave a comment on someone's blog, would you like sometimes to hear back from them? Especially if you ask them a question? :) Do you go back to the blog comments, hoping they've replied to you there, only to be disappointed? Girl, you're out of the loop!

Some of you, when you leave a comment on my blog, I often reply to you with an email. That's because your comment comes to my email, and I simply click "reply" there, and shoot you an email. It's fun! It's one of my favorite parts of blogging, this short, personal conversation afterward. Recently I've really enjoyed getting to know some of my newer blogging friends that way.

However, some of you never, ever hear from me that way, and it's because you are a No-Reply Comment blogger. And you may not even know it! Here in my blog-land, I know that Pom Pom, Kezzie, Lisa, and now Lori (I think), and GretchenJoanna -- all of you give me the "no reply" when I'd love to email you. I often wish I could converse better with you!

You need to fix your settings to get email replies. Go to your blogger dashboard. Look up in the top right hand corner. See your name/photo, with a little arrow/drop down option. Click the arrow. Choose "Blogger Profile." You'll see your familiar blogger profile page. Click "Edit Profile" (the orange box you can't miss). The second item under "privacy" says "show my email address." CLICK THAT BOX. Also, look beside it to make sure you've got a real email address there that will reach you.

Simple! If you've sadly switched over to the dark side Google +, here's a great link to a blogger's page that tells you how to fix it in that case.

Perhaps you don't really want your private email address out there in blog-land, and that's fine too, of course. You might want to consider getting a new email address just for this, for lovely conversations with other bloggers. We often talk about how the real value of blogging is in the relationships that are formed with like-minded ladies flung around the globe, and it's true. Relationships are built on conversation, and conversations are so much more rich and meaningful when they're not awkwardly trying to happen in a comment thread of 20 comments.

Recently some of my old buddies with whom I've emailed regularly have somehow slipped into the "no-reply" category, probably because they've switched settings somehow, changed up their blog, or switched to Google+. It's worth it to check. Love to you all! Here's to better blogging!

5 comments:

GretchenJoanna said...

The other thing one can do, is to put an e-mail address on your blog somewhere, so that people can use it if they want to communicate off-blog.That's what I use a special separate e-mail for.

Kezzie said...

I'm just a bit wary of having people being able to access my e-mail address via the internet, particularly as my URL is my name (stupid, stupid, stupid me when I set it up!) and as a teacher, I really don't want people being able to access my e-mail addresss. That said, next time, (if) you leave me a comment, I will try to reply to your comment so you can have my address!!! x

Mary Ann Potter said...

I have my e mail on my blog's "Who Am I?" page. I really enjoy reading your e mails, MK. I don't get much blog traffic, but I enjoy the contacts. Sending blessings.

Dasha said...

One of my pet hates actually is when people reply to comments on their own blog. They don't reply to me by email and so I never hear from them. I actually think it is rude to expect your readers to return to your blog to see if there is a reply to your comment. Apart form anything else, I can't remember where I have visited 10 seconds after I leave the page!

GretchenJoanna said...

Dasha, you have me wondering how many people might think me rude, because I thought that was the customary thing, to have responses and conversations happen in the comments section. That's why I always sign up for the successive comments to come to my e-mail in case people want to engage. But because you obviously don't do that, you likely aren't seeing this comment, either....

Kezzie, I feel the same way about my basic e-mail address, so I created a new one just to put on my blog. Then I set it up so that if I get mail there, it gets forwarded to my regular more private account.