There has been a very interesting phenomenon taking place on this blog for the past few weeks, and it has left me a bit a bit flummoxed. According to my official Blogger statistics, I am in the midst of the largest surge of visitors and readers in the 4 year history of this endeavor. I can remember a time when I was excited to receive 25 page views in a 24 hour period. More recently, an excellent day featured 300 visitors. But for the past few weeks, the numbers have way up, including several days with over 1000 page views and more than 500 visitors. While it is exciting to any blogger to think that their posts are being consumed by more people, it has left me wondering about a few things. Who are these people? How did they find this particular blog? And perhaps most importantly of all...why aren't more people leaving comments?
I have several theories about the answer to that pressing question. I realize it is possible that my writing doesn't move many people to respond. I choose to ignore that possibility and keep searching. It is also possible that many of these new visitors arrive here by accident or computer error and therefore never actually read anything. I can live with that one. Or that there is some malfunction in the cyber world that allows only certain people to leave comments here, but that theory fails because spammers seems to have no trouble at all leaving their thoughts. My favorite theory is this- there are many people checking out my blog for the first time who want to respond and give me the encouragement every writer craves, but simple don't know how! So as a service to those newbies, here are some simple instructions. This is how to leave a comment on this blog.
First, scroll to the bottom of this post. Depending on how you have arrived here, you should either see the words NO COMMENTS, the word COMMENT followed by a number, or a box that says ENTER YOUR COMMENT HERE. If you see either of the first two, simply click the word COMMENT and the page will reload and you will see the COMMENT box. Then click inside the box and type in your comment- preferably something wonderful and glowing about the post or its author! Then comes the tricky part. You will see a drop-down box that says COMMENT AS. Click the arrow, and the choose the identifier of your choice. If all of that seems confusing or like I am speaking Hebrew, the simply choose ANONYMOUS. Make sure to include you name at the end of your post when taking that option so I will know who to thank. And then click publish. Follow those simple instructions, and you too can be published on the old world wide web!
One final warning- because of the spammers mentioned above, I moderate all comments before they actually appear- so don't panic when your comment doesn't show up for a while. I promise I'll get it published for you- unless it's mean and nasty, in which case I will send a virus straight to your phone, tablet or PC. :)
All kidding aside, comments are a wonderful way to encourage not just me, but every blogger you read. Hearing your responses, and then having others respond to those responses, helps give us a sense of purpose as we write each day. So here's your homework- leave a COMMENT today! Even if it's just "Hi, Carl!" test the process and let me know you were here. You'll feel a sense of accomplishment, and I will be really, really grateful. Love you guys!
Because of Jesus,
It works! It really, really works! - Kathy Coulson
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy! I feel like a major breakthrough has been made here today. :)
DeleteHello my friend.
ReplyDeleteHello to you too, Ms. Duke. :)
DeleteIs this thing on?
ReplyDeleteOnly for some people, Jamie! I have been told that people trying to comment from I-Phones have an awful time with Blospot. Oh well... but glad you find a way to comment on a regular basis!
DeleteComments? We don't need no stinkin comments. Love ya man.
ReplyDeleteRobert....you disappoint me. No Monty Python? I may have to turn you into a newt... Thanks, bro!
Deleteleaving comments here, CJ, because you always seem to inspire me! Thanks for what you do! ~ Chris Cooper
ReplyDeleteAnd I do appreciate it, Chris- although part of that comment seems to be missing! :)
DeleteIt is nice to get comments and/or interactions, but I must say that sometimes I'll read a blog post and because the post is so complete in itself, there is nothing that I can add to it, so I don't leave a comment. On other occasions, there are things that I want to say to express my views, or participate in something or even ask a question, so I leave comments. I always try my best to encourage others too because I know how hard all of this can be.
ReplyDeleteI don't use comment moderation, and stopped word verification because people complained that it was too hard to verify the word/number thing. When I took it off, it also was easier for people to leave comments as well. Most of my spam goes into the spam folder but I did have one or two go directly on to my blog so I check my comments regular, but as soon as I see spam, I delete straightaway. If I ever feel that I'm being spammed too much I will switch word verification back on for a week or few days to stop it.
I totally agree on the word verification, but I have often been thankful for the comment moderation. There are some strange folks out there. Like me!
DeleteHow to learn how to comment is easy. You just need to read the whole topic and type on the comment area whatever opinion or ideas you have on your mind about what you read.
ReplyDelete