Should You Post or Should You Comment?
Since my post on the benefits of commenting I have been asked this question a few times so I thought it must be something bloggers puzzle over. Here is the question as asked by “Haacked” in the original thread:
Sometimes I find I am writing a loooong comment in response. So I abandon the comment and write a blog post instead linking back to the original.In your opinion, do you like that better? Or would you rather (hypothetically speaking) I leave a short comment anyways, along with the blog post?
My approach to this is always
- If what I have to say is short and to the point, submit a comment
- When I start to go on a bit I cut my comment down to the bare essentials and put up a post on my own blog
- Either way, I almost always comment
The remaining issue is should you post a link to your longer comment post?
In actual fact I have found it is rarely necessary to actually link it. Just say you are making a brief comment but your thoughts will be in full on your blog. They can click your name link to see it in most cases. Some people put the URL to their post in the address field in case the post goes off their homepage before the reader gets to see it.
Where some people go wrong is to do this just out of attention seeking (e.g. trolling, snark, irrelevant arguments, taking off-topic, etc).
I feel strongly that blogging is half about joining the conversation and adding to it. Most people are glad to read your thoughts and would be even more glad that you took the time to flesh out a full post, but the key is to add to the conversation and not hijack it.
Posted on March 15th, 2007 by Chris Garrett in Blogging
I often do this sort of thing. My blog posts are actually full versions of my comments in other blogs.
Instead of putting a link to the comment I made back to its equivalent post, I use trackbacks instead.
This week, Darren Rowse asked for reader’s top 5 blog tools over at ProBlogger. I left a comment on the post and then got thinking about how that could be expanded. I wrote my own post, “What’s in My Blogging Toolkit?” and Darren picked up on my post and added to his Speedlinks for March 14. It ended up being a beneficial process for me.
@jhay, trackbacks are great unfortunately not everybody has them setup (I turned off mine because waaaaay too much spam)
@Ian, great stuff, I bet you got a truckload of traffic
Nice thoughts, Chris. I just did a post the other day on whether we’re lurkers, commenters or trackbackers. I know all three behaviors have their place - it’s just interesting to think about how many ways this cat can be skinned.
I agree, if you link to your post you also run the risk of a plugin thinking it’s spam and deleting it or sticking it with 500 other post that the author never goes through.
I tend to post very short comments, and if I think that the comment can stand on its own, even when somebody does not read the original post, I will trackback to the original blog.
I prefer not to make posts that need somebody to read a post on another blog in order to understand them.
I can’t agree more. I often do the same thing. I’ll leave an appropriate comment and make my own post about the details. Its also nice to advise your reader at that point that you were inspired and where the inspiration came from. That way, the original post gets the link juice and credit, as it should. The expansion post that I’d write would also benefit, as the original author’s readers would read my stuff. New traffic for both. Its a win/win. I write for the discussion. I’m not in it for financial gain and my visitors are aware of that. That lends credence to anybody I link to.
This stuff obviously works. I followed a link to get here.