Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Comments (please read this post)

Ah, remember the good old days? When I used to respond to most of the comments left on my blog?

That was cool.

Here's the thing, though. My name is Beth. And I'm a recovering Internetaholic.

Really, I was just online far too much, and recently I've cut back. It's been a good thing, a healthy thing. Now I have time to feed and bathe my children. (Okay, I was doing that before, but I am finding I have more peace when I'm not online so much.)

So I haven't been responding that often. I miss it. The few of you who came back and checked for responses probably miss it too.

But that's part of the problem--"the few of you." I'm guessing most of you don't come back to read comments after you so kindly post your own. (I usually don't, on other blogs!) So it's been all too tempting for me to slack off in responding to comments, knowing many of my responses are probably not being read.

But Cate over at Show My Face has started responding to comments in a different way. I think Cate's awesome, and so of course I am going to steal her idea. (I'm also going to get two cats named Rusty and Tonya--think she'll mind? Think my cat allergies will mind?)

Here's what Cate does--she responds to comments via email. That way you actually see her responses. I'm not going to respond to every comment, because I just can't hope to fully attain Cate's level of awesomeosity. But, depending on my schedule, sporadic novel reading obsessions, the number of teeth Zoodle is cutting, and the topic of your comment, I may respond.

Here's where I need your help. If you comment using a Blogger account, you can make your email address public so that when your comment comes into my email in-box, I can easily respond directly to you. You'll need to go to your Blogger profile and, under "Privacy," click "Show my email address."

Here's how I keep my privacy while sharing my email address with the world. I have a personal email address, bethfumperstizitzkin@yahoo.com, but I don't use it for my blogs. (If I did, you'd all know my last name is Fumperstizitzkin.) Instead, I have a Gmail email address specifically for my blogs. It's a little nervewracking to have it out there for the whole world to see, but Gmail's spam filtering is so excellent that I get very little spam.

If you're not comfortable making your email address public, or if you don't have a Blogger account, I invite you to email me (cbethblog@gmail.com) so that I can save your email address and use it in responding to you. If you prefer not to share an email address with me at all, that's fine; but I probably won't be responding to your comments.

Thanks for helping me with this! Let's get the conversation going!

11 comments:

Eternal Lizdom said...

I've done that and often enjoy doing that and do get frustrated when i want to e-mail back a reply and the comment is coming into my e-mail via "noreply@blogger"

Rachel Cotterill said...

I know what you mean - I used to reply to all comments but no-one ever replied to those replies, so I wasn't sure anyone was reading them! Now I reply directly if someone asks a question, or otherwise, I go over to their blog (or send an email if it's someone I know).

Unknown said...

I have added your email, bethfumperstizitzkin@yahoo.com, to my address book. From now on, I will use to to reply to your comments on my blog.

Love, Dad

Strange Mamma said...

I guess I'll have to step up my commenting prowess to make sure I receive the coveted email. ;)

Call Me Cate said...

Fumperstizitzkin was my maiden name!!!

Obviously, I'm a fan of the comment by email due to my awesomeness. And Awesomeosity.

I really like replying by email - it makes me feel less like I'm typing into a void and I've had some great further-conversations because of it.

Fannyfanackapan said...

I like this idea. Might take it up myself.

2cats said...

I like to have comments about comments. But I am so poor at making comments of my own for people who have commented on my blog. Shame on me.
You have mine Beth.

LEstes65 said...

As you already know, I respond to my blogger comments via email, too. That is - if their address is available. Good job, girl! Oh, and you don't have to reply to this. Just bake me something and come on over. HA!

Unknown said...

Doesn't the e-mail just make things so much easier? I too started spending far too much time on the net and was stopped by my computer issues. Now I've learned I don't have to be on all the time...and I'm much happier and easier to get along with lol...I too am a recovering internetaholic!

Barga said...

I never expected you to comment back, and was suprised when you did

that said, I now know your last name. Don't know what to do with it, but i know it. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Mike said...

This is a great way to respond to comments and make sure people respond back....like me...

I made a "non-personal" e-mail too, but I'm afraid it got too much spam so I'm not about to put it out again in cyberspace anytime soon! :(