Hey friends! How’s your Friday? (Do you like the post title? I added the part after the … at the last minute because I thought it was comical.)
I was snowed in today (thankfully the boss told me yesterday to stay home) but most of my snow day consisted of me holding my belly and wondering what the heck I ate yesterday to make me feel so terrible. I wouldn’t call it as bad as food poisoning, but my stomach puffed out to a crazy weird size, I had a terrible headache, I went from being super cold to hot and schweaty, and I couldn’t tell all day if I was full or hungry, which is not normal for me. The jury is still out on what did me in.
Fun fact: I was out of diet dew and finally dragged myself down to the vending machine to get my fix a couple of hours ago and I am pretty sure it cured me. I heart diet dew.
The rest of the day (when I got tired of the couch and Netflix) consisted of reading blogs. I remembered to link-up my post from Wednesday to a new link-up I found through Running 4 Cupcakes called Five Things Friday at a new-to-me blog called Fitting It All In (I know, I’ve been living under a rock. Also I giggled on her about page that’s linked where she disclaimed she is not a writer.).
The links on that page got me jumping all around the blog world (where I found some new blogs to read and more favorites to add to my ahem weekly monthly SHN favorites posts) until I arrived back at Clare’s blog, the original one I linked up at.
I was taken aback by the amount of comments she receives..and the nature of those comments. Most are positive, a lot are comment novels that should have chapters and a lot are respectfully argumentative. Basically there is some serious discussion going on in her comment’s section! While she seems to not like the negative feedback (who does?) which she discusses in the post the thing i hate most about blogging, I sort of envy her. Not that I don’t appreciate your wonderfully positive comments, but it just made me wonder…am I doing it right? Should I be getting some negative comments?
Negative comments don’t just happen on any old blog. If someone doesn’t like the post but has no connection with the writer, he or she will likely just leave. The person commenting has to be pretty passionate about the subject matter or have genuine concern for the blogger to post something negative for the world to see. This is a blog we are talking about…not a Yahoo article (seriously have you read any of those comment sections??).
The blogger who gets any negative feedback on the blog has, in my opinion:
a. Connected with his/her audience.
b. Written something compelling. and
c. Made it known to his or her readers that their opinions are valid AND that they won’t be deleted as long as they are constructive.
Which again, makes me wonder…what am I doing differently? I can gather I don’t have the biggest following; that is totally fine for now. But am I not interesting?
Am I too vanilla?
Do I not make my opinions heard?
Or do you all just come for the recipes? (Joke’s on you because I only post recipes maybe once a week. 😉 )
OR does it seem like my feelings are easily hurt? I often wonder how I come across on the blog. As a strong gal with brains and opinions or a nervous eggshell-walking people-pleaser? In person I tend to be quiet (usually because I am thinking about a zillion things) or if you’re lucky and I’m comfortable around you (and we are in a small enough group), I can be a total goof ball. But what about my writing?
So…tell me!
What do you think? This is a challenge to you! If you have something negative to say, I challenge you to be constructive about it. I might huddle in the corner for awhile, but I can tell you I will eventually gather myself up, take all of your thoughts into consideration and try to grow. Or if you want to give me a virtual high-five (or fist-bump…get with the times, Amanda), I certainly will not leave you hanging!
I’m certainly not saying I will change everything you, my lovely readers, but I am genuinely interested in your opinions. I want to connect!
Even if you’ve never commented before I would seriously love to hear from you..even if you just tell me your name and what your favorite color is. 😉
In other news…
There is still time to enter my giveaway for some delicious pre-workout fuel!
I am attending an event tomorrow (hopefully) called Crashed Ice in St Paul. I still don’t know what it’s about, but I’m excited to get out of the apartment!!
Tell me…
(see any of the hundred questions from the post)
Linking up to:
Thinking Out Loud with Amanda at Running with Spoons
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Stay in the loop with bloglovin’!
I love Clare’s blog! I’m thinking that she must receive random readers off google perhaps to receive those negative comments.. I think ‘bloggers’ maybe have a certain etiquette they follow?
You do have a point there…but the comments weren’t all necessarily disrespectful. Just sharing a different viewpoint or voicing concern. I suppose I should take it as a good thing that people aren’t concerned about me! 😉
I don’t get a ton of negative comments either. I don’t think it’s because we aren’t engaging. However, I don’t post many things that are controversial. That’s not my desire or point of my blog. If you want that… then there’s a list of topics I could send you… 😉
You are very right, Brittany! I’m so glad you commented because I needed to remind myself of course the point of my blog isn’t to create controversy, BUT on the other hand I do want to feel like I can share my opinions in hopes that readers will be honest about their feelings (in a respectful way) and that no one is afraid to comment! 🙂
I’m BRAND spankin’ new to blogging so I don’t get positive OR negative comments yet 🙂 I think if you were to write something controversial, or something a little outside of the box, maybe even offer a the side that most people don’t want to admit is there etc. would cause some negative comments?! I think your blog just portrays what a happy, wonderful person you are and brings in only the positives 🙂
That’s true, I haven’t written anything controversial or out of the norm in quite some time. I did have some negative backlash about a year ago and I might have been afraid this whole time that it would happen again. Which is silly because I want to be able to share my true opinions and have readers be honest with me!
And you are so very sweet, thank you for your kind words!! <3
Just mention Jews.
I don’t get a ton of negative comments (if any) but I did recently get my first “troll” on an instagram post where I talked about my breakfast routine. Not in the least controversial, and the person still told me I should act like a normal person. What gives?
haha I kind of want to see that and be one of the “I got your back” followers that argues with the person who leaves a mean comment! 😉
I was going to say I remember when you had backlash last year, but I think you’ve kept things so positive around here it would be hard for someone to find a fault 😉
It’s funny that everyone says I’m so positive when I feel like I complain about things a lot! And over the summer when I didn’t have a job all of my posts seemed (to me looking back) SUPER depressing. I wonder if the pretty pictures of food and layout makes the blog a happier place? 😉
Also that time I wrote that controversial post (if we are talking about the same thing) I was both excited at the number of comments and discussion and also wanted to die because I ended up hurting someone’s feelings. Good times… BUT I didn’t actually mind the negative comments at all because they were respectful and just sharing a difference of opinion. I want that again…but without the whole accidental hurting of feelings.
I also don’t receive many negative comments. I would say you haven’t received negative comments because
you aren’t taking a stand on controversial issues. If you had said the
most recent biggest loser winner was totally gorgeous and we should all
be working towards weighing the same as her….well then that definitely
would have made me consider a negative comment (because I’m not one for
using the scale as a final indicator of success). But also, I personally try not leave negative comments. Sure some bloggers irritate me a bit, but I either unfollow them or don’t comment. If I think someone hasn’t considered a certain side of an issue, I will suggest that. Going with my above example, if someone said that we all needed to weigh whatever that biggest loser winner weighed in at, I would comment, “i don’t agree, because everyone is built differently, and I don’t view the scale as the ultimate indicator of health.”
See I’m glad that you do respond though! I feel like some people don’t say ANYTHING and like you said will just stop reading..but how will us bloggers know if we are offending people?
there are definitely plenty of lurkers out there. for example, I had 30 page views this morning, and not one comment. But I think its important to know why you are blogging and who you are blogging for. I’m blogging mostly for myself. I like writing about my goals and how I achieve them. If other people have similar goals and can teach me or learn from me, awesome! I do think about my blog, and want to put my best foot forward, but for me its more of a release than a job. I think its important to know what you want, and also why you want it.
So true!! I can get hundreds of views on a post with no comment or maybe just one or two…and those are the ones that have me scratching my head.
I’d say I write for myself and my enjoyment like you, but I also try to be mindful of what parts of my life and lessons I’m learning would help others and/or entertain readers. It’s tough to balance and tough to decide how seriously to take blogging!
I would like to say I am SO grateful for feedback from people like you! <3
I don’t receive negative comments and I do take a stand on controversial issues. I think that my stands are so forcefully worded that people are probably afraid to counter argue (unless they know me).
However, i get tons of negative comments on Pinterest, like “those shoes are ugly” etc. What is the point of that? I’d rather have a negatively toned comment from somebody who wants to discuss something (not anonymous) than something flippant like that. I think the bottom line is that people have too much time on their hands!
That’s an interesting point that some might be afraid to argue!
And as far as negative comments on social media things…I have mixed feelings. While it’s annoying when comments are just plain rude like “those shoes are ugly” others just provide feedback that there is a difference of opinion like “those shoes aren’t my style, but I like the color” or something like that.
I think the lamest thing is when all of the comments are “love it!” or “nice!” Although I tend to leave comments like that on Instagram…
I don’t receive any comments that I would necessarily consider negative, and I kind of like it that way. I like to keep my blog a positive space because there’s enough crap to deal with out in the real world, and blogging is a nice relaxing escape for me. I feel like I do a good job engaging with my readers and raising up important topics, but I always try to do it in a positive way. Glass half full girl over here 🙂
Yeah I guess I didn’t really mean I want tons of negative comments..more like I hope people feel like they can express their opinions here. And you do a great job at engaging! It’s impressive you respond to comments with the amount you receive!!