Your Comments Please!

This post will be instructional rather than inspirational. Since I began this blog, almost a year ago, I have been puzzled by the fact that there have been few comments, two to be precise, and have quite frankly, been wondering if anyone was reading. Some of my friends, who I know have been reading have commented to me personally about some of the things I have written. One in particular, the illustrious Bob Johnson, expressed that he had some difficulty in placing a comment. I decided to check this out, and so I signed onto the blog from the outside (I usually come in from the blogger.com dashboard). I also used one of my other screen names that was not registered with Blogger.

Lo and behold, it is not as easy, I found, as it should be (I’m finding that several things at Blogger.com fall into this category). So here are the instructions as to how to leave a comment:

At the end of each post, there is a note giving the number of comments that have been posted. It looks like this;

0 comments

click on that, and a dialogue box will open.

The first thing you will see is a text box. Type your comment in the text box. Following the text box is the ominous statement (which I did not write) that states; "Comment moderation has been enabled. All comments must be approved by the author." Don’t let this scare you. All this means is that once your comment is made, it will be presented to me for approval before it is added to the blog post.

The next item will be a "word verification". This is designed to protect the site from spam-like comments generated by robotic software. The "word" is actually a group of letters that mean nothing. They are usually visually distorted. These cannot be read by robot software, and by replicating the letters, you are proving that you are a real person and not a robot. Type the letters you see in the box provided.

Next you will be asked to "choose an identity". There are three choices. Choose "other", even if you have either a Google or Blogger account. This will make it much easier on you. You may then leave your name and your own blog site if you wish, or leave the identification boxes blank.

Finally, you need to push the button that says "Publish your comment". Now the comment is posted, and the next time I sign on, I will be prompted to approve it, which I will do, as long as it is fit to publish.

In my very first blog post, "New Decade, New Beginnings", back in November of 2006, I made the following comment:

"For now, I have enabled readers to post comments, and your respectful comments are welcome. I am however, a sensitive guy, and in the event that the comments become disrespectful (as I have heard that some do) I will turn the comments off. I do not ask that you agree with me (though I hope you will) but I do insist that you refrain from name-calling, innuendo, etc."

I hope that I didn’t leave the impression that I wished to discourage your comments. I value what my readers have to say, and it not only lets me know that you are reading, but it gives an added dimension of combining your comments along with mine to give a broader picture of what we are thinking.

I look forward to hearing from you. In fact, why don’t you read one of the posts right now and leave a comment. It will let me know who is reading. If you wish, leave your e-mail address so I can respond to you.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.