Just saying: 
My thoughts for today were about weeding the garden but instead, and after a thorough search on my blogs followers, I am beginning to question the authenticity of my followers. I wish I could WEED some of them from my blog. I have well over a thousand, yet I only hear from a handful of those! Now something is dreadfully wrong here! My blog is over four years old, thus, I suspect, most of the original followers have long since left blogging. ( Makes sense due to the fast pace of today’s lifestyles. ) Then why can’t I delete them? A question I should be asking “The Happiness Word Press Team”, I suppose. Then there are those that follow and “like”, but never comment. How can anyone like a post, almost each and every one, and not comment? Beats me! I would like to suggest that there are fake “likers”, and “speedy likers”, who are hoping you will “like” them back. This is not really blogging is it? I had hoped blogging was about sharing like-minded interests and building a blogging community. Am I wrong?
The idiots Guide To blogging says:
Blogging Rules and Etiquette
Your blog is your own space on the web, and depending on your goals, you can publish the type of content you want and not publish the type of content you don’t want. That’s where blog policies come into the picture. Policies are intended to protect you and your audience as well as set expectations about the type of content that will or will not be published on your blog.
Comment Policy
As your blog grows and your posts receive more and more comments, you’ll undoubtedly receive comments you don’t want to publish on your blog or that require minor editing before you’ll publish them. For example, hateful comments that attack individuals usually aren’t welcome on blogs, and comments that include obscenities could be offensive. Similarly, comments that might be spam can hurt the user experience on your blog and should be deleted.
A comment policy allows you to define what types of comments you will delete or edit using the comment moderation tools in your account. Your comment policy also protects you, so you can refer visitors whose comments are edited or deleted to your established policy to understand why their comments were revised or not published at all.
After reading Maureen McCabe’s post, “ActiveRain – Saying Nothing At all”, I became aware of the discussion revolving around leaving GPTFS (Great Post, Thanks For Sharing) comments on a post. Is there value for anyone in doing it? Personally, I believe there is value, but that is because I think compliments are gifts. However, it did make me think — how can I write better comments myself ? I came across some good, basic advice from Meredith Farkas — 31 Day Comment Challenge. She is “Head of Instructional Initiatives” at Norwich University (VT) and teaches a class on blogging.
http://meredith.wolfwater.com/wordpress/
Comments should be as below listed. The point is most people do not receive comments or if they do, they are few and far between.
1) Relevant to the post 2) Thoughtful and insightful 3) Use your unique voice 4) Keep it civil 5) Make it short and readable, but also meaningful.
Her own personal, reflective thoughts and commitment to commenting
1) Commenting is a critical component of community-building in the blogosphere.
2) I feel more connected to others when I comment. ~ (My thoughts exactly)
3) I take commenting very seriously and that’s ok.
4) Never comment when you’re angry or frustrated. (errrr well, my mistake sometimes)
5) I need to be better about responding to comments. (Yes indeed, we all should)
Good thoughts to remember. In the future, I will try to keep her points in mind, but if I should ever slip up and just pay you a simple compliment — don’t deduct points from me. 🙂
Humour is always a great way to end on, so here’s a song and a poem. 🙂 ( I wish you all a happy blogging Sunday. 🙂 )
Music When You Say Nothing At All – for all the silent ones.
..
Could Be A Bloggers Lament? Smile. 🙂
…
Sometime when you’re feeling important;
Sometime when your ego’s in bloom
Sometime when you take it for granted
You’re the best qualified in the room,
Sometime when you feel that your going
Would leave an unfillable hole,
Just follow these simple instructions
And see how they humble your soul;
Take a bucket and fill it with water,
Put your hand in it up to the wrist,
Pull it out and the hole that’s remaining
Is a measure of how you will be missed.
You can splash all you wish when you enter,
You may stir up the water galore,
But stop and you’ll find that in no time
It looks quite the same as before.
The moral of this quaint example
Is do just the best that you can,
Be proud of yourself but remember,
There’s no indispensable man. –
— Saxon N. White Kessinger, Copyright 1959
Any thoughts on this topic? Merci –
The post is sticky for now. By making the post sticky, I feel, it gives an opportunity to new bloggers to get acquainted with the ups and downs of the blogoshere. There are also a number of very interesting comments posted by others on this topic. Do read. thank you.
Children Of Light 