Anatomy of a dud blog post: What makes you comment?

Remember when you were dating and you were waiting for Him to call. Picking up the phone 20 times a day to just, you know, check that there was a dial tone. Hanging around the general area of the telephone just, you know, on the off chance it might ring. Staring intently at the telephone, willing it to ring. Wondering where it all went wrong. Wondering why He just. didn't. call.

That was me today. Only it wasn't a phone call I was awaiting. It was a comment. Or two. I'd written my post, pushed published and then woken up this morning to read my comments. Only there weren't any. Crickets. Actually, that's a lie. There was Gill from InkPaperPen (who now has my fervent devotion for life).

I admit that I actually checked to make sure Blogger was working. The desperation. I am laughing at myself in a way that I could never have laughed at myself while waiting for Him to call.

I've written before about the fact that one of the wonderful thing about blogging is that you know exactly when a post works - and precisely when it does not.

I've read over the post in question. It's a perfectly serviceable post. Which is probably the problem. I've said my piece, I've filled a post. But I've left no room for anyone to add their two cents worth. No question. No space. Just a 'here is what I think'. Which works well in a newspaper, but not so well in the blogosphere. And it means that I miss out on half the equation of blogging - the interaction.

Writing across different media is not easy. Finding the right approach is half the battle. As is realising that the blogosphere is a place of reciprocity, and that I have, perhaps, been keeping to myself lately. There are many reasons for it, most of them valid, but nonetheless I can't sit here and expect comment love if I'm not giving comment love. (The modern equivalent of 'why the hell don't YOU call HIM?')

Fortunately for me, I have Maxabella in my life. Who left not one, not two, but four comments on said post in an attempt to bolster my spirits. The blogging equivalent of 'of course he's into you'. Ya gotta love family. And thanks to Jennifer Smart, who responded to one of my sadder Tweets about my lack of love. See, I can name them all.

So now, in the spirit of education, I really want to know something. What makes you comment? What is it about a post that makes you put finger to keyboard and get involved?

[image: baileyology.tumblr]