Digital immigrant

Ever walked into a store and wanted recognition? A smile, a ‘Hi’ or anything, really. It’s so simple, doesn’t cost the world, and makes you feel great. No matter if the smile is fake. But the ultimate luxury for me is when I am in a store and the owner or sales assistant listens to me. Sometimes I want to tell some random person that I’ve just moved back to civilization – Cape Town central – from the Northern suburbs. And it’d be nice if that person listens and responds.

Normally it means I’ll return and buy even more from the store. Not sure about you, but we can’t be too different: it’s nice to be made a fuss over.

Perhaps you notice a new store. You start off by just walking past the store, craning your neck to see the items on display. Then, eventually, you get enough courage to walk into the store. Depending on the sales assistant’s mood that day, they have either gained or lost a potential customer. If you’re greeted warmly, as though you won’t steal the Louis Vuitton goods in the window, you feel happy. If they offer you a cup of tea or a glass of champagne, you’re elated and probably much more likely to buy. If you have money.

Now, I feel the same about blogs. Some blogs, just like those boutiques in the V&A Waterfront Millionaire Mile, are intimidating. Yes, blogs can intimidate: high-profile bloggers, or someone with a very decent page rank. I start off by just reading the content and being in awe. I add the blog to my RSS Feed and get the newest content when it happens. Hell, I may even get new updates to my email inbox.

So eventually I leave comments. And I leave more comments. And I read the blog every day, or whenever an update is made. It feels as though we’re friends, this blogger and me. We’re not, of course. We’ve never met but I feel as though I know what he or she thinks. Hell, I contribute to the Alexa rank of the blog just by reading it regularly so I’m a customer. Sort of.

And then I feel silly when the blogger never responds to my comments. I shouldn’t feel silly but I do. My blog etiquette has improved only slightly since my early blogging days but I try to respond to every comment I receive. Some days I’m just a bit better than usual.

Sometimes I leave an awesome comment (well, I think my comments are awesome. Don’t you?) and go click the button to receive email notification of follow-up comments. And then I wait. Not consciously, mind you; I just remember your awesome post when I’m standing in the shower or when I fetch breakfast in the kitchen at work. And nothing happens. Sure, sometimes my comments do not warrant a response. That happens. But some bloggers also don’t reply to others who comment on their blog. I’m not talking about seriously popular blogs that receive millions of comments. I’m talking about small, well-written blogs with only a few readers and even fewer comments.

Sometimes strange things happen: your comment gets deleted. Ouch. Either that or it never makes it to the blog post. That hurts.

So what happens when you ignore one of my comments? Well, nothing at first. But I may feel wary of posting something next time around. If my third, fourth or fifth comment also gets ignored, I’ll find a different blog to read. I mean, there are a great amount of blogs, and not even Dave Sifry, CEO of Technorati and author of the State of the Blogosphere knows exactly how many there blogs there are. So your other readers and I have options.

If you have a blog, do you respond to every comment you receive? If not, why?

And finally. I’d be interested what percentage of the blogging community ignore comments on their blogs. Perhaps it’s even more

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