Misplaced Comment
I got this one over at the CELT and I think it was intended to go on this blog so I’m going to post it here and then reply:
Name: Tom
Daniel
Your thoughts are interesting particularly your frustration with the lack of response to your blog. If the bloggers don’t come to you, go forth and multiply – reach out and be in their face. Get a bloggers club and invite, ask friends to comment and once people see that there is a response, then they are more likely to respond.
Ask yourself, despite all the efforts you putting into this blog, do you really care if anyone responds. Any Tom Dick or Harry could – it is the fact that you are thinking aloud and getting it out that matters. You know in your heart that you are trying to connect that in itself is enough.
Yes, in order to be read one has to be out there reading and commenting and I’ve been making more time for that. I’ve had some folks passing through and commenting so the utility of this blog as a sounding board with other professionals is coming along, albeit slowly.
I would disagree that it’s enough to try to connect. Recently someone else made a similar comment: that whether or not his blog is read by anyone else doesn’t matter to him. If I’m not writing to be read then why bother with a blog? If it’s about typing on a computer, I can do that and save to my hard drive. If it’s merely about writing for my own sake then why not have all of my posts categorized as “private” and not visible at all? No, people who get blogs want to be read by others at some level. If we didn’t then we wouldn’t be on something called the WORLD wide web. I’d like my posts to be read. I’d like to be engaged in some thought provoking exchanges that could lead to some imporvements in my teaching. If people don’t read and comment then whether or not I continue to blog will come down to whether or not I think it’s worth my time.
5 Comments
Daniel,
On April 16 I wrote a post educators rarely comment. I’m not sure if you were reading my blog at that time or not, but you may want to read the post.
I’ve since decided that another reason readers may not comment often is that educational material is not nearly as controversial as political or religious blogs. Anyhow I’m curious as to what your take on my post is.
do you think it’s ironic that your post about why people don’t comment got so many comments?
yes, most folks lurk. i think you’re right.
i don’t have a feed aggregator so i don’t know how those things work but what you said makes sense.
educational blogs may not be all that controversial but i think education is. that other teachers don’t agree with. maybe the debates make for boring reading and peple just go away after a point.sometimes when I’m reading around the TEFL blogs, I get the feeling that are a handful of TEFLers reading and commenting on each others blogs and that no one else is really out there. it’s to be expected really when you think about how small the TEFL community is and even small the blogging TEFL community is. perhaps this is why that reading and commenting is especially important for TEFLers who blog.
I do know that I have a fair number of readers using bloglines 54 subscribers last time I checked. And I get hits from a number of other online aggregators so I must have a respectable readership. I also know that some of the other EFL blogs have as large or larger readership than I do.
yes, that’s definitely a respectable readership.
so, would you be willing to say whom those other well-read TEFL blogs belong to? it would great to get them involved in the CELT!
LOL
I think it’s in the nature of the medium that most people read rather than comment. I certainly do. However, I feel Tom’s little rant was certainly unfair.