Now
that the dust has settled from the whirlwind of April, I'd like to
talk about an issue that has come up in almost all the Reflections Posts I've read: Not enough time for visiting other participants.
Almost
everyone said, “I didn't get as much time to visit others as I
wanted.” Many also said that commenting was down this year. Guess
what? Cause and effect. Many bloggers go by the rule of, “If you
comment on my blog, I'll go visit you and comment back.” That's
the way I feel is polite and correct blogiquette. Do you see the
problem though? If no one has time to visit, no one is getting
comments, and no one is going to visit those who have commented.
Everyone is stuck in their own little world waiting for something to
happen. As I've said before, this isn't, “If you write it, they
will come.” NO. It's, “If you visit, they will come.”
Please
don't get me wrong - I'm not criticizing anyone - I had very little visiting time myself and have
just begun to return visits and make my way through the Reflections
posts. It's just life – we all have more to our lives than
blogging. We all wish for more time in our days. We all make
compromises of how our time is used.
I
do have a “solution” for you, though. There's no need to quit
visiting just because April is over! The big, long list's links will
remain live until April 2014! Visit away! In fact, we have a Road Trip you can join.
This badge is yours for the grabbing if you're joining us!
Many of us will continue visiting for as long as
we want – that's all there is too it. We've just created a group
for you to join for support and encouragement along the way. Head on
over to the Road Trip invitation at the A-Z Blog. I'm co-hosting
this after-Challenge gig with Shannon, from The Warrior Muse as usual (our third year now)
and we're lucky to have the amazing Nicole, from The Madlab Post with us! More drivers is
great! We hope you'll join us. After all, you want more visitors, right?
~Tina
P.S
What other blogiquette do you think is key to success? What's your blogging pet peeve? If you check out my sidebar, I think you can guess
mine...
27 comments:
I am pleased to say that I visited every blog of every person that commented on my blog during the challenge. Well, except for two, because their profiles didn't link back to a blog in any way that I could find.
I also visited other blogs in numbers I felt comfortable with, but that was secondary to checking out the people that left comments for me.
I think it's easier to quickly visit bloggers who leave a comment if they give you the url of one of their blogs.
I know there was a "how to make a signature" post at one point. I think some people missed it.
@JLenniDorner
I'm one of the people who didn't have much time to go visit other blogs, but I still gained maybe twenty followers. That's a pretty huge deal to me. I've been really thinking about joining the road trip. Even if I can't make it all the way through the list by next year, at least I'll discover more blogs.
Hi Tina .. I think I've caught my tail re returning comments - and yes time is always an issue: such is life.
Knowing that the Route 66 is ahead of us ... allows me to visit other blogs I never got to - I've signed up.
I did notice one person who signed up and never visited another blog or commented elsewhere ..
Reciprocation is the key ... building up relationships and generally having fun ...
We don't need negativity - life is troublesome enough for each of us - without experiencing it around the blogosphere.
Personally I thought it was well organised, I am sure I can organise myself a little better and get more done.
Just we are so lucky to be able to be a part of this great experience.
Thanks so much Team Leader with a cheeky few personal emails, which develops the friendship and respect we have for each other ...
Cheers to everyone - Hilary
I didn't get to many new blogs as I was drowning in comments and blogger buddy posts. And I saw several on the list that peeked my interest, so I might join you on the trip this year.
we run into this a lot on my prompt site...there are always going to be people that want something for free and sign up to get hits...
seems there are more like that out there now than ever to be honest...
you can pretty much figure them out over time like the one she points out above and then i start to ignore them no matter where they link...
reciprocity is key...
My deepest apologies for not being over here at all in April. I was struggling with my own health issues and just couldn't stay awake long enough to read actual posts.
I've just read some of your last posts and they're fabulous. I may not comment on this year's posts but I do plan to read them all.
I was going to skip a reflection post because I didn't want to be 'Debbie Downer'. I have found some WONDERFUL NEW bloggy buddies BUT they visit me and I visit them,maybe not every.single.day but we visit each other. We are all 'busy' BUT we manage to visit each others blogs and yes I have more time than others so I give people a break. In addition, I get it, some people may not like my blog (shudder to think LOL) so after I visit them a few times and comment if they do not show up I will eventually stop 'bothering' them, sorry but no one is that great of a blogger that I am going to keep reading with them nonreciprocating,just too many blogs out there. And, I assume they don't care for me,which is fine. Lastly, I noticed huge clicks and I am too old and left high school a long time ago to get involved in clicks. It was like trying to get involved in some really nice blogs but it was clear the blogger has his/her group of commenters and he/she likes his/her little group,not sure why they even encourage more comments? Well,they don't really and they make it clear after awhile but why even be involved in a hop?
Anyway, You were a great host. AND I MEAN THAT. You really read my posts. No,"Dropping in from A-Z" comment or "Hi, just dropping in as an A-Z ambassador". What is that comment? Why bother? Did you read my post? You actually commented on my post and let me know you read it. A genuine comment. I rather a person just leave than leave me some silly comment.
I am thrilled with the bloggers I found but it took a lot of digging around to find them, the list was long and convoluted. Many trying to hone writing skills and in the middle of fiction stories or characters and that is hard to understand during a short hop.
Anyway, I will stick with the positive I got from it and maybe after the 'bad taste' leaves I will give it a shot next year but I don't want to waste a reflection post on my regular readers that did not participate and not sure I would recommend the hop to them. I mean if you have over 1,000 bloggers on the list and no one is hopping well, it isn't much of a hop or worse it is a bunch of clicks,well, it isn't much fun.
So sorry, I really tried to be positive throughout and for the most part I remained positive.
Lucy from Lucy's Reality
I wish I'd had more time to go visit. Of course I had to be busiest in April!
I managed to visit everyone who visited me, but lots of people didn't return visit when I dropped in. Like Alex I came across one or two who's name didn't link back to their blogs so nothing I could do about that. Another couple of blogs didn't seem to have a comment area anywhere, or if they did, I couldn't find it.
After Captcha, my biggest peeve, during A to Z at least, is the extreme length of some of the blogs, sorry mate, I don't have time to read all this. Catch ya later.
JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE
Hi Tina,
What I found alarming was that even though I commented on a number of blogs in the A to Z, some of the more, shall we say, self-obsessed, didn't comment on mine. Perhaps it was because they realised I wasn't participating, wasn't part of some clique. That's why the few exceptions like your good self, were a breath of fresh air. For my satire was actually intended to bring some light relief for those who found a month long challenge rather daunting.
As much as I respect you and those who did participate, I think it gets drawn out way too long and I would like to see that aspect end. In fact, just visit folks, regardless of whether they were in the A to Z or not.
My blogging pet peeve is that not everybody gets involved in blog hops or blogfests for sincere interaction reasons. They just want to accumulate followers. I find that very sad.
Be well, my dear friend.
Gary :)
I had such an amazingly hard time trying to read a lot of new-to-me blogs during this challenge. (I'm a horrible stalker to begin with because there are only so many hours in a day and there are literally a TON of blogs that I adore and try to follow as-is!) One of the problems that I found with the challenge was that, when I FINALLY found the time to click through to some of the names that captured my attention, the writing was garbage and mostly unreadable. I'll give anything a shot (or two or seven if we're talking alcohol), but some/A LOT of those people couldn't even form a proper sentence. Either that, or they were blogs that just didn't pique my interests. I like to laugh and think. No offense, but if you're writing about far off cities that I'll never have a chance to visit, I'm not going to read it.
HOWEVER - I must say that the ONE THING I'm most grateful for from joining this blog-hop, was finding you. You have been such a delight, and I always look forward to your comments. You make my heart happy, and I absolutely adore you! Thanks for being so awesome throughout all of this. I think you're the only "follower" that I gathered during this, but I've always said that it's quality over quantity. I'd rather have 4 readers that actually like my writing and care, than to have 500 trolls that do nothing but spout negative garbage or spam.
Like you said...cause and effect. For me, that's the hardest thing about the Challenge...visiting so many other blogs. And yet, through it all, I always find a couple or three bloggers that I really connect with, and that is worth it all! :)
I tried to find people I followed last year who were participating again, and then added some as I went. I did find myself commenting more on those who left me comments. Others' comments made me interested in their sites. One positive was that while I didn't get many comments, I felt 95% of them were meaningful, not just token "found you on A to Z" Thanks to all for that!
I didn't let myself get overwhelmed and tried to go for quality--taking time to read before I commented. Which slowed me down because I found some great sites!
For me, I don't think in one month it's physcially possible to visit that many places. So, I'm taking the show on the road this year. I signed up to make myself accountable. I wonder what's the penalty for failure?
I enjoy visiting new blogs, and commenting, and Following if I think it's a blog I want to read regularly. But as my "follow" list grows and the number of commenters on my blog increases (I always return the visit), time becomes a real issue. I don't know how the bigger blog - the ones with followers in the thousands - manage it.
I did visit a lot of sites but I have a lot of time and I understand most people haven't that luxury. I did find a few sites that were doing it for advertising and that's a shame that people do that. I'm a newbie and a bit older so not geeky sadly and I have been shocked at how wonderful and supportive most bloggers are and the spirit you all what to blog in, well it's improved my opinion of mankind to be frank. I feel there is hope in this wonderful online world. I'm pleased with the fun I've had and the blogs I've found. Thanks to all, see you on the road trip:)
Looking forward to another road trip with you, lady!
I'm catching up now. Everything caught up with me, and I didn't get to respond to all my comments or visit everyone. So...1 is catching up with those who visited. 2 is hitting all the reflections. 3 is hitting all the road trippers. 4 is visiting everyone else!
It seems I've always got a list.
Shannon at The Warrior Muse
I signed up for the road trip. My April (and so far May) were about 100 times busier than my life usually is, so I imagine I will be able to hit a good many if not all the blogs on the list starting in a few weeks.
I actually visited a lot (a few hundred) of blogs on the list, but because some of them didn't have anything to say I was interested in I didn't comment. I figure if you can't say anything good, don't say anything at all!
I had been following about 20 blogs before the challenge and now I am following 60. I had 3 followers before and have 42 now. (THAT was impressive!)
When I first started blogging (on another blog) five years ago, I had lots of followers and I commented on many blog hops. Once I dropped out of those, comments pretty well stopped. Hopefully this group of new friends will stick around a while, but if not, there is always next year! :)
tm
Hello, Tina
This was my first A-Z and I really wasn't at all sure what to do or to not do. I made a point of definitely visiting the blogs of everyone who commented on my blog (and replying to them as well); I also started at the top of the A-Z list and worked my way down the WR list first because I'm a writer and linking up with other writers is always such a pleasure.
I am delighted that you have a road trip because my intention was to get to visit each of the blogs which participated - for interest if nothing else.
I have my own list of blogs I follow and I try to get to each one of them at least once a week.
Do I have any negative comments? Nope!
Blessings to you and thanks for visiting my blog.. :)
HI Tina
It has been far too long since I have visited and I do apologize for that. I loved this post because it really struck home for me. I am going to keep right trucking with the list. I think this road trip is a terrific idea.
Thank you so much for the awesome comment you left on my IWSG post. it really made me happy. I've been far behind on commenting so I am working hard to get back in the groove.
I'm guilty of being one who didn't get to visit as many others as I would have liked. I did get to visit quite a few and found some ones I enjoy following. Luckily the list is still up on the site so I can still go check them out!
Quid Pro Quo is very fair practice in a blog hop. Everyone wants to be read, so you have to make the time to read others. It ought to be about spreading good will and finding others you'll want to talk to and read in the future, because that's grounds for longstanding relationships. I know I did my best about it.
You are so right, Tina!
No visits, no comments!
Great post,
Best wishes (+KRAMAR),
Anna
(I am in the process of going back to all of your A to Z posts now; but it will take some time to get through it. But I want to read your posts. I want to know.)
Hi Tina,
Good to be here again
as i said at the a to z face page,
i do visit or reciprocate the one who do visit or comment at my place. and apart from that i do visit a maximum of blogs here at English blogs as well at my Malayalam Blogs. this is were i find a bit difficult to get time, but still i manage to do at least posting a thank you note. I have been doing this all alone, but now I am having a great company with me to do or go along this road trip, this is my first trip with a good number of nice friends. LOL
Keep running...
Ok but be careful....
about the warning tooo
Speed Kills....LOL
Phil @ Philipscom
An ambassador to A to Z Challenge @ Tina's Life is Good
And My Bio-blog
Just wanted you to know that I featured you in my road trip today in day 4 of my road trip challenge A-Z. Thank you for sharing your journey also.
I so agree with you. Commenting is how we build community. I'm looking forward to visiting blogs on the road trip. I signed up, now I just need to dedicate a little time each day to travel.
Not visiting other blogs was one of my main faults during the challenge, so I'm using the Road Trip list this month to backtrack and see what I missed. I'm enjoying reading your posts (although I admit I've been so busy reading May's that I haven't actually gotten into the archive of your A to Z stuff yet), and just wanted to say congrats on the Sunshine Award. I'm with you on the lima beans!!!
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