A good new year's resolution from the very good "The Pledge Not to Suck at the Internet":
"After one year of commenting on other people's work without producing any of my own, I will produce some work and allow others to comment on it. I am allowed to then lash out at my commenters, but I acknowledge that that polemic will become my only well-known work."
I was visiting another blog, not this one, I swear, and there was this long drawn out comment about the commenter and how they "felt" about the post and the issue and how it related to their childhood and marriage (oh no, I am not making that up).
Everyone who comments HERE knows this already, but if you lurk here and comment like that elsewhere because you fear my rapier wit (smart kid) allow me to provide some guidelines that might help other bloggers. Bloggers who get that kind of comment are free to cut and paste with attribution, as usual:
COMMENT GUIDELINES
Don't talk about yourself, your psyche, your personality type, your astrological sign, or your pets. Post that stuff to your own blog. And if it relates to one of my posts give me a link. That's how it's done.
It's weird that what looks fine on a blog post looks self-absorbed in a comment at someone else's place. It's like the party guest I had once who wanted to "share" her exercise routine with her fellow guests. At my party. Yeah. Don't get me started.
Basically? If you comment includes a first person pronoun, maybe you shouldn't. You actually have more to add to the conversation than that, you know. It's just drawing attention where I'm sure you don't mean to, whereas comments that are NOT about you and your psyche and NOT about how you relate to your peers and NOT about how you are deeper than they are actually say a LOT about YOU in a POSITIVE way. Intelligent comments that are NOT about YOU actually lead people to want to find out about you and your psyche so then they go to your blog, see?
Confessionals at a blog that is not your own is just plain tacky. Well written confessionals and personal rants of every stripe at your own blog will bring you readers, friends, fans, and wannabes. Write your own blog. Get your own damn blog. And thank you.
