Comments – What Happens When They Flower…
Many Comments
I have to say since my PR increased to 3 the amount of comments I get here on the blog has gone up quite a bit. So clearly my commentators want to take advantage of my DoFollow, CommentLuv, KeywordLuv and Top Commentator “offerings”! Which is great, that’s exactly what they are here for.
The only down side – for me – at this point is that I cannot keep up with replying to some of the comments. Not all require me to answer or reply to them, but there are always quite a few that I would like to reply to. But because of the sheer amount of comments and because I still do have a life apart from blogging (yes, I do!!! 😉 ), this has become a very time consuming and nearly impossible task.
I want to let you all know that even if I don’t reply to your comments, please don’t take it personally, I do read them and I do still hand approve all of them, I just cannot put all my time into responding any more. I will if there is anything really pressing, or I think I really need to answer or reply to a comment, but other than that I hope you will understand if your comment might not get a reply.
I have also looked into threaded (or “nested”) comments – this is when my reply to any comment appears straight after the comment and you do not have to scroll down any more to find the reply (have a look how it works on my Healthy Diet Weight Loss blog) -, but for some reason, even though I have the option ticked in my discussion settings, it does not change on my blog. I have to try and figure out why that is. Because some of my posts are getting so many comments, and it gets quite confusing to find the comments and replies that belong together.
Anyway, enough rambling.
If you are an avid blogger and you encourage your readers to interact with you on your blog, be prepared that keeping up with replying to the comments might take more and more time out of your day. I love the interest all of you show in my blog posts, but please be understanding that I cannot reply all the time any more. Deal?
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Petra, regarding threaded comments, I have the same problem. In my case the reason is that my theme doesn’t support threaded comments, but my wordpress version does. So you might want to contact your theme developer for helps, SY
.-= hospitalera@oes tsetnoc´s last blog ..Time is money, don’t waste it! =-.
@hospitalera, I don’t think that that is the problem, as my other blog Healthy Diet Weight Loss is the same theme, and here it works.
Oh, also forgot to add: I schedule time to answer blog comments, normally first thing in the morning, then, during the day, I continue to approve them, but will, normally, not answer them until the next morning. That has, apart of time saving, also the advantage that other readers / commentators have time to chime into the discussion and give their view point! SY
.-= hospitalera@oes tsetnoc´s last blog ..Time is money, don’t waste it! =-.
Hi Petra,
I totally understand your reasoning about replies to comments.
Some comments don’t need a reply and the commentators aren’t looking for one.
I do get a few comments though where I’m asked a question. I definitely will try to answer those as I’m sure you will too.
I haven’t reached your point yet but can see it coming when I won’t be able to answer all the comments.
I’ve recently installed the threaded comment plug in and it does work on my blog. I really like it because it gives the chance for commentators to reply to any other comment and the reply will appear right under it.
It is also good for me when replying to comments. My reply shows under the particular comment no matter when I reply to it.
I really didn’t like it when I got 4 or 5 comments in a row before getting a chance to reply to them as they came and even though I replied to them later in sequence my replies were all lumped together anyway.
Where do you get your pictures like the flower bed in this post? Is it your own pictures or do you download them from somewhere?
Vance
.-= Vance@Email Opt In List´s last blog ..Email List Building, Email Opt In List, Online Giveaways =-.
@Vance, I get them from Photobucket. But I had it happen a few times already that a photo was removed from photobucket, and then I didn’t have the photo on my site any more, either! About the comments – I wish I could figure out what is wrong with my nesting of comments, I am sick of this mess! 🙁
Petra, might I suggest to use instead flickr (commercial use allowed license) You can download the image from there and play with it and upload it to your own server. So you don’t rely on others too much, SY
.-= hospitalera@oes tsetnoc´s last blog ..Update image captcha =-.
“They” (and by that I mean the “Guru’s”) always say to respond to every comment so that you really connect with your audience.
If you’re getting 10, 20, 30+ comments per article then you’d do nothing but reply to comments! Sometimes you just have to focus on the one or two most relevant comments and leave the rest, otherwise you’ll never do any real work.
P.S. I don’t mind if you don’t reply to this comment! 😀
@Roy, thanks! 🙂
@Petra
That is strange, are you sure you have enabled threaded comments in both, your theme and your wordpress settings? SY
.-= hospitalera@oes tsetnoc´s last blog ..Time is money, don’t waste it! =-.
@hospitalera, how do you enable threaded comments in the theme??? I definitely have it in my wordpress settings…. and if my other blog that has the same theme works without me having to change anything, shouldn’t this one work, too?
well congratulation Petra for your success.thanks for appreciating our comments.i wish your pr will increase more and day by day you will get good comments.
@Petra
Yes, it should! I never used the theme you have so I have no idea where to change the settings. But it is a paid theme, correct? Then it would be a case to contact their support. If it works on one site, it should work on all, SY
.-= hospitalera@oes tsetnoc´s last blog ..Time is money, don’t waste it! =-.
Finding the time to reply to comments is a problem all good bloggers face eventually. I think this post was a great idea! It let’s your community know how much you value their input and reaffirms your desire to communicate with them!
Well done.
.-= Darvin @ Inexpensive Gifts for Men´s last blog ..Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals! =-.
Hi Petra,
Thanks for the Photobucket tip. I guess the picture disappearing can happen with about anything.
It happens to me with You Tube videos that I embed on my other sites occasionally.
As far as the threaded comments plug in I just installed it, activated it in WP and it works.
I don’t understand why it would work for you on another site with the same theme and not here.
It’s like some people have a problem with getting top commentators clickable in Flexibility theme and some don’t have any problem with it at all.
Maybe some plug ins interfere with one another in some cases. Who knows.
The only thing I can suggest is to deactivate and delete the plug in and download and activate it again. There is a small possibility that somehow the file got corrupted during download or installation.
Vance
.-= Vance@List Building Giveaways ´s last blog ..Email List Building, Opt In Email List, Online Giveaways =-.
Hi Petra,
Did you enable the threaded comments in the Discussion Settings – Other comment settings section? I don’t think there’s anything else to do to get threading to work…
I also think you have nice pictures in your blog.
Jose
Jose, I did enable the threaded comments, but what I have just discovered is that I needed another plugin for it to work, and it should do so now!
With increasing comments, the problem I face is a lot of spam comments. These are not like usual spam which can be removed automatically by a filter, but automated comments softwares putting repeated comments from similar sites.
.-= Surbhi Bhatia´s last blog ..Nano Materials: A Health Hazard =-.
That’s how comment luv affect a site. Comment floods in. But isn’t it great to have more readers. Just don’t reply to all if you don’t want to its time consuming.
Congratulations Petra for gaining 3 PR. Of course one may not be able to reply to her precious commenter but your commitment for your readers is enough as I think.
I wish I will have your problems 🙂 , I got into this website by searching for articles about flower vending machines. to see who else is making them… and as I said I wish I will have your problem of getting back to reply’s 🙂
Hi Petra,
This is my first time on your blog, and I must say that I feel very welcome. Your blog posts emanate a warmth that I rarely come across.
Keep up the good work…don’t worry if you don’t have time to reply to all my comments…although I am sure you will reply to one some day!
Cheers,
Sam
If you keep commenting, you can expect a comment back one day 😉
Hi Petra,
I’ve seen many blogs with the comment luv plugin, but your’s is first that shows positive evidence that these plugins are not harmful for your own pagerank.
HP
.-= Hans Peter Jeschke@link building services´s last blog ..Successful Link Building Campaign with Dofollow Blog Comments =-.
I was a bit skeptic at first too, but I am getting so many comments and obviously it hasn’t hurt my blog a bit!
>your’s is first that shows positive evidence that these plugins are not harmful for your own pagerank.
Hans,
Why would you think that it could be harmful to your PR? In fact Google has said that linking out to quality sites can improve your PR.
.-= Ned Carey´s last blog ..Inspirational Video =-.
OK. I have implemented it now on my main web site, where I deliver SEO services. I will see how it goes.
HP
.-= Hans Peter Jeschke@link building services´s last blog ..Successful Link Building Campaign with Dofollow Blog Comments =-.
Petra, Congratulations on reaching PR3. I was shocked when I got there and even more so now that I am a PR4. However I haven’t seen my comments go up. So be thankful they have.
PS: I came here from your comment on hospitalera’s blog.
.-= Ned Carey´s last blog ..Inspirational Video =-.
Replying to blog comments can sometimes become a full time job and I think readers will appreciate the fact that your posts are both informative and interesting. I wouldn’t worry too much about any backlog 😉
Phew, thanks!!! 😉
Hi Petra,
To reply on comments is a very healthy attitude. This means that you are deeply concern with your readers, and this is one of the best ways to promote yourself. You do this well being new to your blog I can tell already that everyone feels welcome.
Hi Petra,
I have just started using these plugins and would like to thank you for being a “Do-Follow” Site.
I always appreciate a strong backlink.
Keywordluv plugin puts everyone in a win-win situation and I think as people start using these plugins that they will finally realize how important it is to make relevant comments for the blog or site owner. At the same time, the commentators get to earn quality links which makes it a win-win.
I recently started a blog, so I have yet to experience the influx of comments. Looking forward to that day, though.
I wonder if there is a plugin for a “canned” reply – for those comments that don’t really require an in-depth response.
Finding the time to reply to comments is a problem all good bloggers face eventually. I think this post was a great idea! It let’s your community know how much you value their input and reaffirms your desire to communicate with them!
Hi, Petra!
It is so nice of you to still try to have a time to surely answer or reply upon your commenter’s message, You have such a nice blog that is why we love to say something about your entries and appreciate your time in doing that. Have a nice day!
Thanks, Crystal! I just wish I had about 36 more hours in every day to stay right up to date with all I have to do… 🙂
It let’s your community know how much you value their input and reaffirms your desire to communicate with them, its always good to have a personal touch.
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