My New Year Resolution: More Quality Comments
Reading @harrisonmike’s blog has made me realise that the end of the year is just around the corner. It is at this time, that we start reflecting on what happened this year and preparing our new year resolutions. (By the way, Mike has got a wonderful lesson plan on this topic here .) I believe that this was a wonderful year: I met many new people that became an important part of my PLN, I blogged more often and that helped me to improve the quality of my blog, I had wonderful students and made lots of projects and activities with them, I experimented a lot in my classes and reflected about it, and the most important of all, I had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed this year, but I want the next one to be even more productive. For that reason, my new year resolution is:
I will make it a habit to write lots of quality comments.
You may be wondering why I am giving it so much importance. Well, being part of the commenting crew in blog4edu has made me realise the importance of a good comment. We all know that:
A blog is fed by your comments
But, I have never reflected about that. Comments are what separates a blog from a static website. As we write quality comments the conversation builds, and so does our relationship with the writer and the other people commenting. As a result, our PLN gets bigger and with stronger links. Apart from that, as links to other blogs and websites can be left in the comment section, we can also encounter new blogs to read, like-minded bloggers, and new post ideas.
This is the key issue to me. In the last period of time, I have started commenting more, and this has provided me with lots of ideas to develop further in my own blog. It has also happened to me, that when I sat down to write a post, I remembered that I had already left a comment about the topic in another blog. This has eased the writing as I had already written something about that, which could be adapted to be included in my new blog post. Apart from that, writing comments forces us to pay more attention to what we are reading and develop our own ideas further. Sometimes when I decide to write a short comment, I end up writing long and complex comments dealing with lots of issues, and I just don’t know how I got there. If I hadn’t decided to leave a comment in the first place, I wouldn’t have got to those conclusions. To sum up, quality comments help us to become better bloggers and strengthen community links. As @datruss said on Twitter today:
— this quote was brought to you by quoteurl
So in order to build a better sense of community and to continue learning together, I challenge you all to add this new year resolution to your own list. I can assure you that we will all benefit from that decision. But, if you still have doubts about what the characteristics of a quality comment are, I won’t leave you alone. Mrs Yollis’ classroom has some tips to get you started with it:
Posted on December 21, 2010, in web 20 and tagged cmmenting, importance of commenting, new year resolutions, quality comments. Bookmark the permalink. 9 Comments.
Sabrina's Weblog 
Wonderful Sabrina!
I too have found commenting great for inspiring blog posts… I’m sure that I have at least a half dozen posts that have been comment-inspired and then another half dozen posts that quote comments rather than just blog posts (including my last post).
I’ve also given much thought to the appreciation I have towards good blog comments on my own blog. When someone reads one of my posts, they are greeted with an invitation at the end of the post to: “Please join the conversation…”
And if they do not have an ‘avatar’ – an image to go with their comment, then my default images says: ‘Blog + Comments = Dialogue’
… and that’s what I want on my blog, a dialogue between peers or rather between learners. That’s also what I hope to do when I leave comments for others.
“I will make it a habit to write lots of quality comments.
An admirable and worthy resolution for the upcoming year!
And finally…“To sum up, quality comments help us to become better bloggers and strengthen community links.
I could not have said it better than you did! 🙂
Happy holidays to you,
Dave.
Great post, Sabrina, and very timely too. Plus how can you possibly read it and not leave a comment. I’m adding your resolution to my list, and feeling guilty it wasn’t there already 🙂
Have a great holiday!
Great resolution, Sabrina. I’ve more recently come to that resolution myself, but without the January start date. I do think it’s very important to put the effort in and be supportive and constructive rather than just passive, especially if you’d like comments on your own blog. Building that network is valuable.
I do think it should be done because you actually have a comment to make and not because you are obligated to.
Great resolution, Sabrina! I do my best to write comments in most of the blogs I read. Many times I can’t due to lack of time and I feel the blogger deserves a comment.
I totally agree with you as to the importance of building up the discussion with comments.
Kind regards,
Marisa (@Mtranslator)
Well said. I often end up commenting on blog posts via Twitter but can rarely say what I want in 140 characters. I also know hoe much I like to read others’ comments on my posts as it’s through dialogue that I can develop my thinking.
Thank you!
I join the chorus here and say that’s a wonderful resolution Sabrina, and that I’ll add it to my resolutions like Ceri. I love reading blog posts and even more when they’re followed by interesting comments, comments that add to what was said in the post or that atke it a step further, raise reflection.
But does this mean only quality comments are worth it? IMHO any comment is good, even if just to say that you loved the post, because it gives the writer feedback on the post. But I agree that comments that take it further are more interesting and makes everybody – writer and readers – develop the idea proposed on the post. The problem is writing those comments takes more time, which is not always possible.
Anyway, bottom line, I’ll aim at writing more quality comments 🙂 Thanks for the tip Sabri 🙂
Hi everybody! I’m more than happy to have inspired you all to make this resolution for the next year. I can forsee that 2011 will come full of wonderful comments, reflections and collaborative learning. Thank you for your support, for being part of my PLN and especially for having been an inspiration to me just by being out there doing your best at teaching.
Muchas felicidades y que el nuevo año les traiga todo lo que desean!
I really enjoyed your post. I actually first heard about it from http://successfulteaching.blogspot.com/. First, reading these does put a little guilt feeling on as Ceri said above. I feel that comments are important. I got to thinking about how there are times you are talking to someone and they have a glazed look and don’t react to what you’re saying. It really makes you feel worthless and that what you have to say isn’t important. Writing a blog post without comments is the same as that. If you don’t have comments on your posts, do you feel important? Do you want to write more? Thanks again for sharing!!
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