Comments on Comments — Here in the Bonny Glen

April 6, 2008 @ 1:27 pm | Filed under: Blog

After more than three years of blogging, I still haven’t figured out the best way to respond to comments. When you ask a question in the comments, do you keep coming back to that post to check for an answer?

Or is it better if I pull both question and answer into a new post?

Obviously there’s no one best way. Some questions are not directly solely to me but rather are parts of ongoing discussion, and in those cases of course it makes sense for me to respond in the comments as well.

Other times, my response to a question turns into a whole post in itself. And in still other instances, I might make a short response in the com box, but newer posts and comments push that reply down the page and the person who posted the question might never know I replied.

I’m glad many blogs are now providing the option of subscribing to comment notifications so that I can follow com box discussions I’m interested on other sites.

I replied to a few questions in my own comments last night: Michelle’s daughters had a question about the Martha books, Hannah was curious about how we make read-alouds work with noisy little ones around, and Mary Alice wondered about kids who gulp down books very quickly. Feel free to chime in on those last two topics if you’d like! (I mean, you’re welcome to chime in on the Martha subject too, but that’s one of the very rare questions for which only I could provide an answer. It was about whether the Martha-and-Lew wedding story is ever likely to be told.)

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Beck says:

I think if someone asks a less important question, it can cheerfully be answered in the comments.
Posted on April 6th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Jennifer says:

Hannah, I just want to assure you, should you read this, that it is a big problem in our house. I can only read to my daughter if my son is asleep. It’s been perhaps the most difficult transition from an one to two children for me.
Posted on April 6th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
patience says:

In my opinion, you just do what you can do. Otherwise blogging becomes a chore and the heart goes out of it. A blogger’s words are their gift to the world, and follow-up conversation is a ribbon on top!

I for one always check back if I’ve asked something of a blogger or commented on something and hope for a response. I feel its my responsibility towards the conversation I am requesting. Oh dear, I don’t know that I’ve expressed myself fully with that sentence, but its late and your blog is the only one that gets any comment at all from me tonight!
Posted on April 6th, 2008 at 11:05 pm

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Every day is complicated, messy, and full of friction. And every day has glorious or cozy moments worth celebrating. I seldom bother to chronicle the friction and the mess because writing time is fleeting and precious—and childhood even more so. I’d rather capture the small joys that I might forget—or take for granted—if I don’t take time to set them down in words.

(Excerpt from this post about Real Life, quoted here because I don't want anyone to be under the impression that things are always perfect around here! Heaven knows we are anything but. Perfect, frictionless, orderly? Nope. Happy? Most of the time!)