Are you treating your blog commentors like slaves?
“Comments are important“; we hear that all the time. While asking people to leave comments is nice, not feeling obligated in any manner to your blog readers is not nice. In my view, if someone takes the time to leave you a comment, they deserve something back. It is the same in our offline lives; if you keep begging someone to say something to you, you should be prepared to listen and respond to that person with respect. People who leave comments are not our slaves. We should treat commentors with respect by doing them favors the same way they do us a huge favor by writing for us for free.
It can be hard to figure out how to repay commentors
People get paid everyday to write for both online and offline jobs. People leaving comments on your site are however doing it for free. You should realize that fact since people are writing for free for your site. You should respect your blog commentors in ways other than the usual acknowledgment consisting only of “Thank you!” I think of this almost everyday. “How should I repay this person?” I think if you and I cannot pay our commentors, we should try to appreciate them in other ways.
Leaving comments on your blog is the same as working for you for free
There is a typical stereotype that most bloggers consider to be true: leaving comments on blogs is usually free, so people should not expect something back from the blogger. People work in offices writing different things to make companies money, and in turn those people get paid by those companies. In contrast, your blog readers work for free and do you a favor by leaving you comments. You should return the favor somehow. Comments on your site add value and traffic to your blog. Your blog commentors spend time on your site writing comments that help bring more traffic to your blog and more money to you. Do you not think it is necessary to treat all your blog readers with respect?
Repay your commentors somehow
Your blog readers are volunteers on your site. Commenting is volunteering; otherwise, they can get paid for it in an office or other places. Treat your blog readers by giving them something back too. Writing more and more posts while begging politely for comments and doing nothing else not only makes you look like a person who asks for comments politely but also makes you a person who loves to use blog readers as free labor.
Loading ...
( March 13th, 2007 at 11:10 pm )
I definitely agree with what you have to say about this, Bes. We should treat others with respect, and try to “repay” them somehow, someday(not in the far future, though).
( March 14th, 2007 at 6:40 pm )
I totally agree 100% with this. Plus, I believe successful blogs are ones that interact largely with the community. It’s a win win thing.
( March 14th, 2007 at 7:34 pm )
Bes,
I feel enslaved just typing this. Just kidding
This is an excellent post. Blog owners should not “expect” comments. It’s the same concept where you walk into a business and the people just ignore you. Why should you be loyal to a business (or blog) where your contributions (financial or not) are repeatedly ignored?
( March 15th, 2007 at 1:46 pm )
Chau, thanks.
You are right. We have to “repay them somehow, someday”, in some way. 
Do you have any suggestions on how to repay people back, even in theory?
Andrew Kuo, thank you for your comment and thanks for stopping by. I really appreciate it.
You are right. Successful blogs are the ones that interact largely with the community. However, the question is: do we consider blogs successful because of earning a lot of money or having a high Google PR/Alexa rating? So many blogs we see today with high Google ratings or a lot of income, but they only respond to comments when they realize other people are observing them, or if they want to pretend like they interact in order to get more traffic.
Ronalfy,
I am glad I have the power to enslave you within my blogging walls. 
Heh.
About not expecting comments, I agree! Comments are a favor, not obligations. You give a good example about businesses; same thing happens to me almost everyday. I walk into different stores and sometimes even hospitals and I get appreciated only when my wallet comes out, while at the same time the business keeps saying they really care. If people could simply say “I care only when your comment brings me more traffic and money and I will not come to your site anymore after I become successful“, I would be happy as being honest about it is better than deceiving.
Thanks again Ronald.
( March 25th, 2007 at 12:53 am )
To keep things simple.
-If after reading a post you feel like commenting, then do comment.
-As an author of the post, if you feel like sharing more information after reading the comment kindly do reply.
If you don’t understand what I am saying, try to learn from Mr. Bes Zain.
( March 25th, 2007 at 1:17 pm )
Thanks Sawai. It is nice to read your comments again.
Those points do simplify the concept. We should not comment just to show that we are commenting. We should comment with something useful, and with sincerity. Also, I think we can learn from Mr. Sawai more than this “Bes” you talk about. =P
( May 10th, 2007 at 3:58 pm )
How true this is. I find it rather unthoughtful especially for brand new bloggers who usually have zero comments not to eagerly respond to comments when someone does finally comment on the blog.
Guess you can tell by this comment, I’m the one who’s previously left a comment on a blog without receiving any acknowledgement:(
( May 10th, 2007 at 4:37 pm )
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Jen. I really appreciate it.
Thank you also for sharing the frustration that many of us feel when leaving comments that we put a lot of effort into, only to realize that the blogger in question simply moves on to other posts and never responds. I myself leave many comments that I spend a lot of time on, many times more than my own blog posts, and I never hear any reply from the bloggers.
I am guessing 2 main things are the reason for such a thing, among several other smaller things:
1 : Fame. As a blog or a blogger gets famous, they realize they can get away with not responding to everyone, and thus they put the concept of interacting with others aside.
2 : Appreciation for others. Many bloggers either do not realize, or do not consider necessary, the importance of appreciating and interacting with others.
There are some opposite views to the concept of replying to comments also. You may want to read why Seth Godin does not even allow comments on his site.
Thanks again Jen!
Hope to see you around more.