I don't mean 'professional' bloggers who have a billion readers, just regular people like you and me. I've posted replies a couple times - and read numerous replies from other readers - on blogs where the author has been anywhere from sappily self-pitying ("I need a hug!") to just generally snoopy ("What do you think of this? - opinions wanted!") only to be answered with uncomfortable silence. And it's not like the blog authors aren't around anymore: they'll often post their next blog hours later with the responses to the previous one still hanging in the air like a bad odor from a nasty garbage can. And I'm also not talking about spam replies ("Great blog - have a look at my aftermarket steroids page!"), just the legitimate ones, like "Here is the hug you asked for, don't feel bad for reasons x, y, and z" or "well what I think in answer to the thing you asked for opinions on is this ..." Maybe I just don't understand the blogging mentality. Is it really a "you will listen to me and I have no obligation to respond in kind," one-way street type thing? I understand the fundamental difference from a message board, being as it's the blogger's domain and they essentially control the attention of their 'audience,' as it were, sort of like a service provider. (The readers come there to hear what the bloggers have to say, after all, not vice-versa.) It just still seems weird to me that typical social norms can arbitrarily be ignored in that environment. Or maybe it's just that bloggers tend to be narcissists and that their brains shut off when anybody else starts talking, and they honestly aren't aware that they're being rude and making me uncomfortable. Are you a blogger? Please take some time out of your day, gather your thoughts, and offer some carefully articulated input as to what's going on here so that I can subsequently ignore you and not reply!
I am not a blogger so I felt that I should reply. If bloggers don't reply, they won't reply to this thread. Or maybe they will just for the novelty.
Maybe they should post a blog on the topic? But on a serious note, yeah. What's up with that? I used to have a blog of sorts related to ToEE of course and I would always reply whenever someone asked me somethng. Sure it may have been annoying at times (especially if the 50th person asked the same question) but I never left a comment without a reply.
I don't have any way of being notified if someone left a reply to a blog I wrote 3 years ago (which happens, due to the magic of Google). I generally imagine, if someone found an old blog through Google or however, they read it, had their say and moved on with their life. I've never imagined them going back to check for a reply. Yvy always replies, often with comments I find somewhat inane: replying-for-the-sake-of-replying, it seems to me. But then she underestands netiquette in such areas far better than me, so it is probably right.
I can only speak for myself, when someone posts on my blog, (for NWN2 and Dragon Age Modding) I always answer. I have to admit that I do get an email that alerts me when someone posts/comments though.
You wouldn't likely miss comments that had been posted only hours earlier and were staring you in the face when you went to post your next blog entry though, right? Those are the people I'm talking about. e.g. - Sunday Me: I feel terrible! Someone offer me some comfort! You: Chin up, I hope you feel better! Me: :bored: Monday Me: Let's talk about ToEE modding today ... You:
I agree Gaear, quite a few blogs are really just folks thinking out loud, or they get stuck in some kind of ridiculous fantasy world where they believe the whole world hangs on their next thought. Ahhh, but this is the world Twitter has given us.
