Saturday, July 14, 2012

I Don't Understand

Could someone please enlighten me to the attraction for threaded comments on a blog?  Many blogs are using it and many bloggers are great about responding to the comments left by their followers.  However, if you've been blogging for any length of time and follow many different blogs and comment to them, unless you subscribe to their comments, you won't see their response.  If you do subscribe to comments, then you get every comment other bloggers leave, plus the response to every comment the person who made the post leaves in response AND YOUR EMAIL EXPLODES... and you still aren't sure which response belongs to you, unless they type your name in the response, or you go back and check the blog.

I don't have a problem with anyone choosing to use it, it's just that your responses may not be getting seen.  If blogger ever figures out a way to notify you of the responses meant for you, without subscribing, I'd be all over that!  Until then, email response seems so much simpler.   


What are your thoughts on threaded comments?

37 comments:

So. Cal. Gal said...

As you know, I respond to everyone via e-mail but there are 2 problems with that...

1) Some people don't make their e-mail addresses available so I can't respond to them. Does 'no-reply' look familiar? It's frustrating.

2) I think I'm a funny girl and threaded comments can be hilarious when everyone gets in on the action. I miss that.

Mark said...

There was a time I responded to every comment, so I was someone who was happy with threaded comments. Though I do accept the problems with it. Usually when I'm waiting on a response from a blogger on their blog (there are only a few blogs I know where I'll get a response) I just leave the tab open and refresh it after a while. I'm waiting patiently for them being able to tell you only when your comment got a response. Disqus have been using it for a while now, I'm sure Google can do it.

Deborah said...

Google is the devil.

I'd love to respond to my comments, but, as SGC said, not everyone has an email address attached to their name.

I have a few bloggers I love and know they may say something back so I just go back from time to time and see.

Not very efficient.

Anonymous said...

Honestly I am still confused about all of this. i am trying to figure out what to do. I like to answer comments and it would be nice if they actually knew that i did comment back. I thought by checking follow up comment was a good idea. WRONG! Lesson learned :) At first I thought when I replied they were forwared my reply. lol. Such a newbie. Thanks for the great post. Found your blog on Katherine's Corner.

Nancy said...

Due to time constraints, I comment on a person's blog if they leave a comment for me -- I can't possibly comment too via email or threaded comments. I mean, when would I have time to take photos? :)

Liz Mays said...

I know Blogger added them recently but you're right. It only posts the response on the blog, so the original commenter will never know they've been responded to unless they happen to check back. I think that was a miss on Blogger's part!

Gigi said...

You know I much prefer to respond via email. It's rare that I go back to see if someone has responded to a comment I made. There has to be a better way.

mamahasspoken said...

I like it and use it because there have been many times I've read someone else's comment and wondered the same thing or I was going to reply the same thing. That said, I use it not only for that person who comment but for those who might read that comment and wonder the same thing.
Well that and I haven't figured out how to get the commenter's email address yet :o/

Sally said...

I've been blogging for almost ten years, and don't really even know what threaded means. DUH!!

Used to be, when I'd get a comment I'd right into my own comment section and respond. But, have found that not many people "come back" to see the response.

However, I do try to respond by email if i.e. someone asks me a question about the post, or if for some reason I feel they want a response. But, as you said not everyone has a gmail account, and you can't send a response.

LOVE your photo!!!!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

I TOTALLY agree with you... IF most people are like me, I NEVER go back to someone's blog post to see those responses... I have a hard enough time getting there the first time...

I correspond by email... I ask for email addresses (and keep them private) if it is someone I want to correspond with. (Still don't understand why people won't give their email addresses..)

But I also do not respond to everyone who comes to my blog. Again, not enough time. I will answer questions and communicate with them when the comment allows for it.

I've told some of my blog friends that I do NOT have time to return to their blog for responses--but people still respond there... Oh Well.

Hugs,
Betsy

TexWisGirl said...

i agree wholeheartedly. the one or two times i've accidentally clicked the 'subscribe to comments via email' box when leaving a comment, i about started drinking. :)

i really like how wordpress does it. if you have a wordpress account and leave a comment on a wordpress blog, they can respond directly to your comment. the next time you visit a wordpress blog, you have a notification icon, telling you you have responses. the unread ones are flagged with a tiny dot so you can read just those and then continue on your way. really nice feature. very personalized and non-invasive.

George said...

As you know, I respond to comments by e-mail. Although there are a few people I'm unable to contact, it works for most. I don't subscribe to comments since more things in my inbox is the last thing I need.

Betty Manousos said...

couldn't agree more with you.


i'm with george and echo his comment!

happy weekend, dearest!

big hugs!

Ami said...

I respond on my blog. I don't always get email addresses when people comment, but I don't want them to think their comments aren't important to me.

So if my response to THEIR comment is important to them, they will come back to my blog and read it. :)

If not, well, I have this whole conversation going with myself, I guess. That's nothing new.

Megan Adamson said...

I'm still not quite sure what I'm doing blogging never mind anything else!
My e-mail is on my profile, but I have heard that this is not a good idea. I get loads of advertisements posted, but I carry on as best I can.

Love the photo of your moth, you are getting quite clever with your new camera. ;)

Chana Meddin said...

i don't understand what threaded comments are since i have so few followers but YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY IS STUNNING, that much i DO KNOW! WOW,
KEEP IT UP SO I CAN SAY: "I told you so!"
P.S. the newspaper i blog with in India has these things you speak of and they are experts in this sort of thing and so are the bloggers but we have inboxes and PM's (private messages) to notify us right on the site. if you care to look (and good luck getting on the actual part I'm talking about since you aren't logged in) the address, i think, is www.speakingtree.in/public/chana.meddin
Did i mention YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY IS AWESOME?! (when do i get to say "told ya so! told ya so!)???

Outcast said...

As I'm sure you know Ms A, when it comes to comments I very rarely like to reply and if I do so, like if I find it important I'll probably end up addressing it in a future post or something, I don't know, it's certainly easier because I have way less readers.

At the same time I completely understand what you're saying which is why when I want to tell something something in response I'll either drop a comment on their own page or mention them in a future post so I can understand your frustration, primarily it isn't for me though.

lotta joy said...

I used to use Fridays as the day my post was all my answers to all the comments. TEDIOUS!

Now, I comment on each comment, but I have no idea if mine are "threaded" and don't even know what 'threaded' means....so ignorance is bliss!

Lori G said...

Thread is for sewing.
Threading is for screws.
Screw the rest of it?!
;)

Peggy K said...

I don't visit a lot of blogs, and the "comment on comment" is new on blogspot. So I don't know how this will affect me. But I must say, when you reply to mine and it shows up in my email, and then I reply to that, it's kinda nice. It's more personal. But I never go back to see if anyone commented on my comment.

momto8 said...

things are working for my blog the way I am doing whatever it is I am doing so I am not messing with it.
that moth is so stunning...wow.

Life Unordinary said...

agreed. I leave responses to any important questions on the blogger's blog, not my own.

baygirl32 said...

they look like 2 big old eyes on its back... but how did you get so close to it?

I seldom email responses, but they are more personal

Anonymous said...

I try to reply to every comment but an inbox of comment threads? Who has time for that?

Farida said...

It's like acknowledging the response made by the other blogger with even a simple "thank you."

Anyhow the butterfly reminds me of my great uncle who died many years ago. After he was buried, the same butterfly was seen outside our house as if to appease my great aunt who lived with us then that he is alright.

Rose said...

Kind of ironic that the first time I visit your blog, you have posted about something I have wondered about. I do well to remember my name, much less to remember where I seen something, unless it is someone I communicate with a lot. I actually accidentally clicked on the subscribe to comments button, and I swore never again.

Karen thisoldhouse2.com said...

I have the same problem with the No REPLY thing... very frustrating, especially when you'd like to answer a question or say thank you for a kind comment but can't.

Practical Parsimony said...

I comment and sometimes subscribe to comments. One day, I opened my email to see 100 or so comment emails. How did I know this guy had 10,000 subscribers? I got that fixed quickly and don't ever want that many emails from one place to appear overnight in my ibox!

Vicki Lane said...

Don't have an answer to the comments question but that's a nice picture of a Polyphemus moth!

Help! Mama Remote... said...

I like when you comment via email because I can comment back easily.I didn't know this happened with Blogger.

family Fun said...

Well I do not subscribe to all the blog, I am pretty selective about it so it would not flood my email.

Lynn Proctor said...

i haven't thought about that--interesting question!

NCmountainwoman said...

Interesting take. I rarely return to look at responses except for a few blogs. On those few blogs, the responses are often as funny as the posts, especially when readers respond to other readers. I do not subscribe to any blogs.

Pat Tillett said...

I have a comment on your comment! I think that some people do it to increase the number of comments and/or hits their blog gets. Every time they do a response to an individual comment, it counts as an additional comment and/or hit on their blog. Did I say and/or and and/or enough.
FANTASTIC butterfly Ms. A!

Barbara said...

I've gone back and forth on this. I used to just reply via email but then starting replying on my blog, but I'm with you on not checking that little box.
I wish Blogger would be like Typepad - I can reply via email there and the commenter gets it via email plus it shows up on my blog.
So my answer? Still wishy-washy and wishing they just improve the system.

Ms. G said...

I like the threaded because I enjoy seeing comments and the bloggers responses. I like using them because some people use no-reply and I can't answer and also because I like it when the comments become part of the post and add continuity. I usually reply by email as well if I have something to say that I definitely don't want the commentor to miss.

ain't for city gals said...

I don't thread...I don't reply by e-mail or anything...I love reading my comments and hope that by leaving a comment on other people's blog that will do...there is only so much time. I do go back on such a few blogs and read the thread...but it has to be someone that I have read for a long time. Personally, I think most do it because then it shows they have a lot of comments...is that just cynical or what??...ha!