A Few Good “Yes” Men
February 14th, 2006 by Vince Chan :: 
Blogger: I want the truth!
Commenter: You can’t handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has blogs. And those blogs have to be commented by people with opinions. Who’s gonna do it? You? You on your own Blog? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom.
[Back from my hullcinating dreams of being Jack Nicholson...] I’m feeling better as the day progressed, and I finally got caught up with my Blog reading tonight. AmBlogger has been my forum to give back and bring to light some of the goodness and ugliness that the Blogosphere exhibits daily. That’s a nice way of saying I got something to get off my chest.
Comment Groupies
Let’s get right to it! If Bloggers were Rockstars, then there are a helluva lot of groupies out there! I love reading Blogs because the information is delivered along with a multitude of different perspectives as different people chime in with their comments. However, once a Blog gets too popular, sifting through the comments for some real meat is like getting a quarter-pounder at McDonald’s; where’s the beef?
Comments are so cordial on some of the Blogs in my read list that I’m wondering are these people kissing ass or is this Blogger really beyond reproach? Comments on many popular blogs start out with “Great post!”, “Excellent article”, “Fabulous Insight”, “You’ve hit the nail right on the head”… (you get the gist of it).
All these phrases are fully compliant with the unwritten Blogger’s comment etiquette. I say “unwritten” because I cannot find any authoritative, popular blogging figure who has touched on this subject (try searching it on Google!). But it makes sense, why bite the hand that feeds you?
ProBlogger talked about quality vs. quantity of posting. I want to ask the same question for comments! Even though I appreciate any well-wishers, its actually the comments who disagree with me, but present a convincing logicial argument that makes me feel alive about Blogging. Finally, someone who can help me expand or shift my paradigm!
Is It About Comment Moderation?
I don’t like comment moderation or censorship but I agree that sometimes it needs to be done. Ultimately, its your decision if you own a Blog. I remember seeing one Blogger cap the number of comments to 10; stating that any comments beyond #10 is simply drama. (I can’t remember which site this was!). While I agree with that statement, the solution or responsibility should not be pushed onto the Blogger.
As commenters, we should discipline and police ourselves! The truth we can’t handle is that many of us are opportunistic commenters who can’t wait to link back to ourselves through the comments. Since we are getting a benefit, we may come across more polite than usual, pouring praises before delivering our own non-chalant contribution to the discussion.
In fact, many amateurs often get tips from ProBloggers about reading other people’s blogs and leaving comments to help drag themselves out of obscurity and build their reputation. It’s a PR technique that absolutely works! I hope for the day when a Web 2.0 service such as
The next time we drop a comment, ask yourself if you have any different points or perspective you can bring to the discussion first! If you do not, then ask yourself if your agreement is necessary for the discussion or are you simply wishing for that link-back?
4 Responses to “A Few Good “Yes” Men”
Vince, I’m currently working on a post for comment etiquette, I have seen few resources surrounding the topic, and those that I have are extremely limited on their references. I’m giving it a more human to pc interaction approach and cognitive psychology analysis. I guess we’ll see what my end result is. I wish your site was on my research side, but I’ve been monitoring some of the larger sites simply because the vast majority of the groupies you speak of, turn out there.
I’ve been researching both trackbacks and individual comments, repeat comments, spam comments and the everyday, “holy cow, you’re so hot!” comments. I’ll try and get you a sneak, maybe we can collaborate.
To make you happy Vince…Crap Post:)
Regarding comments I feel that there’s a little moderation and lot of brown nosing especially amongst those who like to think of themselves as ProBloggers Your lynching was a case in point…. Look at the Technorati ratings of (1) the injured party and the (2) the more vocal champions.
I think the majority of AmBloggers subscribe to the doctrine “if you don’t have something nice to say don’t bother to say it at all”. Unlike the ProBlogger wannabees we don’t have reputations to make or favours to curry. For me this is a hobby something I want to enjoy not get worked up about. If I read an article I disagree with or find distasteful I just move on.
A little off the point but I see a parallel between abusive commenters and abusive drivers. Behind your steering wheel / keyboard you enjoy a certain amount of anonymity and ability to flee the scene. Swear, flip a bird, insult someones mother…people cannot find you and your “real life” social circle didn’t see you beating up on a guy in a wheel chair or call the bouncer porky and running like a little girl. Before putting finger to keyboard or straight up…you need to ask yourself. How would I feel if someone did that to my mother/wife/child/dog…because you have no idea who is on the receiving end.
BTW (Sorry BTW is an addiction of mine) This is my first CoComment comment. Signed up the other day but forgot to use it…hope it works.
Sorry the coComment thingy didn’t work so I am here to try it again.
Yes a little blue co think it will work.
I have only encountered that on my blog when people are looking for something - advertising links or asking to be on my blogroll. Most of my readers simply say what they feel.