When you visit some websites, are you put off right away by the site owner? Have you spoken out, but it ended up badly? Well, this article covers etiquette in speaking out with other site owners.
First off, if you have a website or are a member of a community, you are exposing yourself to others when you participate. However, writing can be easily misunderstood. Because you are not talking to another person face-to-face and you are interpreting the words how you have learned, there WILL be a breakdown in communication.
Before responding, here are some things to consider:
1. What do you understand from what you read?
2. What things do you not understand?
3. Have you been to the site before?
4. What is your current mood?
5. What is your perception of the site owner only based on their blog post?
These are just some of the factors in considering, but do affect how you decide to respond. If you are having a bad day, some posts by other bloggers could set you off. It is better to just leave the post be and come back when you are feeling better.
As for comprehension, it is not that you have something wrong, it is that the words written versus how you perceived it did not match up to what the blog owner intended. In this case, if you are not sure, then just ask questions. Hopefully the blog owner will respond back kindly.
If you have been to the site before or are basing your judgment on a singular blog post, you are not even being fair to the site owner. In fact, it will more than likely make you look bad, so read up about the owner. Again, if there are any questions, ask the owner if they are not abrasive. Just in case, people who are confident and ambitious are not always egotistical and abrasive. A lot of those people pride themselves on helping others. Usually the misconceptions stir from people use to naysaying and are eager to jump on the ‘rant boat’ when the opportunity arises.
The key is to read without trying to be presumptuous first. Break down the blog when you read it and do expect to run into things that you may not agree with. Your job as the visit that comments is not to change the site owner’s mind, but to present a logical side and ‘agree to disagree,’ especially if the site is not gears toward topics that involve conflict.
Most site owners enjoy responses from their visitors and will try to involve you in conversation, so have fun and remember to be open-minded when reading and responding.
Thank God for this article. I HATE when people leave stupid & irrelevant comments. Now let me read your points =)
honey.’s last blog post..It’s OH-fficial!
I hate dumb comments. I like something that is somewhat relevant to my blog even though sometimes I must admit that I just blab and half the time can’t follow a thought.
Nicolah’s last blog post..Daddy’s.