7 Problems I Have With Commenting

I am hopelessly bad at commenting on other people's posts.

Sorry.

After thinking about why this is, I've come to the conclusion that these problems all stem from one main issue: being constantly worried I'm going to humiliate myself.

Me, after leaving an embarrassing comment.

Here's a list of some of my issues...



1.  Formality

How formal should my comment be?  If a post is serious, I don't want to be making a joke, and if a post is funny, I don't want to be too serious.  This also depends on how well I 'know' the blogger, because if I believe that we're friends, I'm not going to be too concerned about how formal I'm being, since you already know who I am and what I'm like - to an extent.  Another aspect of this is whether I'm allowed to use language like lol and hahaha.

2.  Length

Sometimes I find it hard to judge if it is worth leaving a comment that is only a couple of sentences long.  I know that I appreciate them, but I know other people hate them.  At the same time though, I don't want to leave an entire essay as a comment.  If I only have a few things to say or I have a tonne of things to say, I'm likely to end up just deleting the comment altogether, so that I don't annoy anyone.

3.  How Should I End My Sentences?

Should I use a '.', a '!', a '!!!', a ':)' or a ':P'?  Have I used too many smiley faces already?  If I use a full stop, will it make me seem boring?  But if I use an exclamation mark, does it seem like I'm shouting?  This also links in with the formality point: smiley faces might not actually be appropriate to the post content.

4.  Popularity of the Post

If a post already has a lot of comments, I'm less likely to want to leave a comment.  I may have a lot to say, but I don't like to be repeating what everyone else has already said.  If I feel like I have nothing different to contribute, I'm probably just going to like the post on Bloglovin' and try to move on.

5.  Emotional Reaction

A post that makes me feel a lot of things is going to make it difficult for me to form a coherent comment.

Yes, that is me beneath the bookcase.

When I have a lot to say, I struggle to come up with something that makes sense in a short time frame.  In fact, I currently have five tabs pinned of posts that I want to comment on, but haven't yet because I need time to think about how I'm going to say what I want to say.  This, again, links back to the formality point.  Is incoherent fangirling really an acceptable response to the post I'm commenting on?

6.  Is it Personal Enough?

This worry definitely comes from some posts I've seen on blogs lately, concerning comments.  I never comment just for the sake of it, but apparently there are people who do.  So now, I end up trying to use very specific examples of what's been said in a post in my comment.  This always makes my comment sound stiff and robotic, which I hate!

7.  Am I Talking About Myself Too Much?

This point is pretty self-explanatory (now that I think of it, the rest of my points are too).  If I read over my comment and find that I have said 'I' too many times, I'm going to delete it.  I'm not just commenting to get my own opinions and experiences out.  I want to ask questions of the blogger too.  I'm guilty of not always picking up on this one, and figuring it out after I've already posted the comment - and commence worrying about coming off as self absorbed.

Those are the main reasons that I'm bad at leaving comments.  In all seriousness, I'm probably judging my own comments too harshly.  I don't think about any of this stuff when I receive a comment on one of my own posts, so why do I care about it when I leave one?  I think with time and practice I'll learn to get over these issues.  Hopefully in the meantime I manage not to embarrass myself too badly!