For the seventh assignment in the Blogging: Branding and Growth Course, I had to go around WordPress and find websites I had never visited before and leave at comments on at least 3 posts. It’s never easy to say hello, but this was good since this lines up with the goals set forth in the first assignment. And along the way, I reconnected with a mutual follower.
It’s Monday and I need to let off some steam.
Continue reading “Public Service Announcement: The Purpose of a Personal Blog”
Of course you do.
Here we are. I’m finally done with my Commenting Bootcamp assignments. For fifth and final task, I responded to a couple of comments left on another one of GeorgieMoon’s posts, “Here’s an Easter rant from me…..” The two users were foguth and syllabubsea.
To be quite honest, I had already did what was asked on Assignment 5 in the first two assignments. For Assignment 1, I responded to r_prab on Majka’s post, “COLOR YOUR WORLD – RADICAL RED.” While working on Assignment 2, I responded to a comment left by anne on a post called “Blog social” by sable. That inspired me to write that post about my Twitter woes.
All in all, it was fun and enlightening to do the Commenting Bootcamp. I’m kinda glad it was for one week, though. In a way it was harder to make comments than it was to personalize my blog. Many bloggers prefer substantive comments and I’m the same. One can’t simply jump into a conversation. We must bring something that others can respond to or think about.
For Assignment 4 in the Commenting Bootcamp, I had to find a post that I disagreed with, whether it was the premise or specific sections of it. I would then politely state my point of view.
It’s not easy finding a random post in this regard, so I decided to go by a tag: politics. That sped up the process and I immediately saw some posts concerning the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. One post really stood out to me: konigludwig, who runs The Progressive Democrat, wrote “How Can The Democrats Fight The Entrenched Powers?” I read that post.
In the post, konigludwig pointed to two editorials from two liberal — oh, excuse me, Progressive (yuck!) — publicans. The first was “Hillary Clinton for President” by Jann Wenner (Rolling Stone) and the second was “Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Nomination” from The New York Times’ Editorial Board. There was also a complaint about these two posts: konigludwig found them to be condescending.
As I write this post, my comment is in moderation, but here is what I wrote:
Continue reading “Polite Disagreement: Hillary Clinton for President?”
This is funny. I fell behind in a one-week Commenting Bootcamp, but I had already done everything asked of me in Assignments 3-5 before I started the bootcamp.
Regardless, it was my goal to work on the assignments as promised. That way, I could discover even more blogs and link my fine readers to some posts.
For Assignment 3, I visited Pawful living🐾🐾doggiebloggie’s blog and commented on a post called “The Disagreement Talkophobia.” In this post, she(?) — I’ll correct that if I’m wrong — shared some posts she left comments on and left some advice for proper disagreement.
I agreed with the list, especially the part about being respectful. In my agreement, I talked about how there is so much disrespect online and offline by people who argue, even over trivial things.
It’s true, though. Sports and politics in particular will bring the worst out of some people. So does any type of fandom, especially online.
“We like this game/show/movie/pairing/person. Why don’t you?”
“Oh, he doesn’t like it? BURN HIM AT THE STAKE!”
And then when one group is called out for their BS, they want to deny they do anything wrong and deflect blame.
This is why one time, I reflected on why people might just hate something or someone because of that person or thing’s fans. Originally, I thought that was a pretty weak argument, but now…
On the other hand, I have had some nice discussions with people I thoroughly disagreed with. I respect people who can keep their emotions in check when there are disagreements. And it’s better to see it reciprocated.
Oh, what did I ask Pawful living🐾🐾doggiebloggie? Basically, if she has any arguments online and whether those arguments were more intense than those IRL.
How about you?
But you clicked the link to read this anyway, huh?
Ok.
Assignment 2 for the Commenting Bootcamp called for me to leave a comment on a blog where I never commented before…but relate a personal story with the post I had just read. While I’m not really comfortable enough to talk openly online about my life, there are stories I’m willing to share.
To be perfectly honest, this assignment was the most difficult for me. Why, you ask? Really, the hard part was finding a post to comment on. I went through a number of posts, and while I could leave comments on them, I didn’t think I could leave any substantive feedback on them. Finally, I came across MaggieMayQ’s post on her blog, Balloons and Popcorn.
In “They say it’s personal,” MaggieMayQ talked about her decision to have her hair cut short. She hated having to deal with long hair and just took a leap. In the post, she also shared some images of herself before and after a haircut.
On the whole, I like the cut. I have seen more women take chances and shave even the sides of their heads and pull it off. In MaggieMayQ’s case, more was taken off in the back. This allows her to wear her hair down or put it up in a ponytail.
This weekend, I saw a Tweet from Bloggers Meetup that mentioned a new session for Blogging 101: Commenting Bootcamp. In that instant, I decided to join because of how wonderful the last Blogging 101 course went for me. Also, I still need work in the areas of finding new blogs and commenting on them.
The Commenting Bootcamp course just started this Sunday. The first assignment is for each blogger to find three blogs to comment on. The blogs don’t have to be run by those who have recently joined this course, but they have to be blogs we never commented on before.
Of course, it was very easy to find more than three blogs, but I will stick to three for this assignment.
The first comment I made was on GeorgieMoon’s blog, for the post “Do you understand me?” The post looked at an article from The Daily Mail that covered old British sayings, their meanings, and origins. Since I recently started a series of featured posts that deal with famous sayings this post clearly stood out to me.
The next blog post that intrigued me was a post by Majka. She is taking part in a Color Your World Challenge. I left two comments actually, for the post entitled “COLOR YOUR WORLD – RADICAL RED.”
The third comment I left was for the post entitled “Doing Nothing” on A Grammas Life. This was a nice, calm post to start the week.
This assignment was fun and easier than I expected when I found the time. It’s always good to find new bloggers and start up a conversation with them.
Here, I continue to chronicle my work for Blogging 101.
Per Assignment 8, I needed to leave comments on at least 4 blogs where I had never commented before. This is an important assignment. First, while I’m looking at some other bloggers’ content, I should take some time to look at other things on their site and get to know more about them. Also, by responding to others, they can thus respond to me and perhaps gain an interest in what I have to say on other things.
That sounds easy but it’s always hard for me to leave comments…unless I am fairly comfortable in any type of environment, real or virtual. I would like to steer more attention to my content but I have a hard time responding to others’ content. That’s not to say I don’t look for other blogs and read those posts; I am following other blogs and looking for more with content that speaks to me. It’s just that I want to leave substantive feedback. Basically, it’s just hard for me to find something to say about what I’ve read.
One of the first posts I commented on was of course one by the person I followed to WordPress and that took some doing. Another post I commented on was The Loss of Innocence by policecommander, and it took me some time to find the post, let alone comment on it. I have since struggled to find posts where I could leave substantive feedback.
Getting back to the assignment: I was able to find some blogs during the day to comment on. Some of the blogs are run by writers who have responded to my work before. What better way to respond to them than to give some feedback on their content? There’s at least one blog I found that had profound content that I needed to digest and then respond to.
Posts I commented on:
I want to respond to far more bloggers, of course.
(Btw, it has been far easier to post and respond to others in the Blogging 101 commons. It’s only natural since there are so many users there. But yeah, I need to grow from here.)
50th Post!
Politics, Pop Culture & Philosophy Since 1848
Home of the 65 million StillWithering.
"A collection of my thoughts, feelings, and emotions, to the world around me"
'Every contact leaves a trace'
Just lost brainwaves
The Belfast Food Man's Blog loves all food
bemused razzle-dazzle
Understanding the psychology that drives our politics
A lifestyle blog for your irregular dose of randomness
Shmaltz and Menudo 