It’s in the comments where the value lies is this blog. For everyone who reads this blog and/or has shared your thoughts, thank you.
Comment sections are where bloggers are found. Where bloggers meet up. Where readers can interact with one another. Where community is born and where sometimes conflict arises.
That said, many bloggers and blog readers don’t comment.
Why not? Only they know, but sometimes it’s because they don’t understand the process.
Today’s Lesson
Note: For those of you who are comfortable with the commenting process, please feel free to go directly to the assignment.
I still remember when I wrote my first comment. I was nervous and worried I wasn’t doing it right. After I hit the “submit” button and saw my comment went into moderation, I kept clicking back on the site to 1) see if it was approved and 2) see what it looked like. For me those were a few tense hours.
Leaving a comment is a simple process, however the comment form can be confusing.
Let’s take a look at the one you’ll find here:
Name – What name to use is a decision only you can make.
When I started commenting, I just used “Barbara”, however as time passed, I began to see more commenters by the name of Barbara, so to distinguish myself from the others, I added my last name.
That said, you do not have to use your real name. Some bloggers/readers choose to remain anonymous and use a fictitious name (pseudonym) instead.
In this box, enter a valid email address.
The email address I use for commenting is not my personal email address nor is it an email account I check due to the amount of spam it receives. (I use an auto responder on that account to redirect those who want to reach me by telling them to use my contact form.)
Having an email address to use specifically for commenting may be advantageous.
URL
Adding your URL is optional. If you do not have a blog, leave this box blank. If you have a blog and want others to find you, it’s important your blog URL address is included.
Also, by adding the URL to your blog, your “name” becomes a clickable link. Anyone who clicks on your name will automatically be redirected to your blog. (See it in action by clicking on the name someone who has commented on this blog.)
How you enter the URL is very important. If you’re in doubt what your blog URL is, go to the homepage of your blog and look in the address bar. (You can also use the URL from a specific post or page if you wish.)
Use the URL EXACTLY as it shows in the address bar. To avoid typos, you can copy and paste it into the contact form.
Comment box
Note: Some comment sections have the comment box located above the Name/Email/URL information.
Here’s where you type your response/message. The more value you can add to a blog post with your comment, the bigger chance you have of someone clicking on your link(s).
Until you hit the “submit” button, your comment remains unpublished, therefore, if you want to delete your comment completely, just don’t hit the “submit” button. (Click off the site or refresh the page.)
If, for some reason you hit the “submit” button prematurely or change your mind and don’t want the comment published, you can always contact the blog author and ask them to remove your comment.
So there you have it.
Although it can feel a little intimidating to leave a comment, the process quickly becomes easier and soon you may find you like commenting as much as blogging.
If you have never commented on a blog before, why not try it now?
Today’s Assignment
Do you still remember the first time you left a comment?
Do you have any advice for new commenters?
If you’ve never commented on a blog, what’s your biggest fear?
Care to share?
No blogger wants to hear the words, “Your blog is ugly”. 
Hi. I'm Barbara Swafford and I'd like to welcome you to Blogging Without A Blog. Grab a seat, share your thoughts and join in the conversation. 
For the new blogger, receiving a comment can be a memorable experience. We feel validated. We’re excited our blog got found.
Unfortunately, some of those comments which make us so happy, can be spam.
In the past, spam comments were easy to spot. They were usually comments filled with links to pharmaceutical drugs or sexual topics, or comments which didn’t apply to our blog topic.
Over the years the spammers must have realized that technique wasn’t working so they’re now playing on our ego; leaving positive comments that look authentic, however the words they choose could apply to any blog or blogger; copied and pasted throughout the blogosphere.
Their hope is to build their sites by receiving more backlinks and rank higher with the search engines and as far as our blog is concerned, they’re only using it as a vehicle to benefit themselves.
Bloggers who treasure comments can have a hard time differentiating between what is a real comment and what’s not.
Today’s Lesson
Since this blog gets thousands of spam comments, I thought I’d share a wide sampling of spam comments which have landed and stayed in my spam folder. (Feel free to skim through the spam comments.
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The words are nice, but the sites they link to are spam.
So there you have it, comments which look real. but are instead, spam.
Today’s Assignment
Are you seeing a difference in the types of spam comments you’re receiving?
Are you tempted to approve these “positive” comments?
Care to share?