The Importance of Commenting, Part Deux: What the Heck to Say

So, in my last post I wrote about why we should bother commenting on others blogs.  In the comments section (where you took my advice, yay!) you told me that often you don't comment because you don't know what to say or someone already said what you were thinking.  You told me that if you didn't have anything meaningful to say or a way to contribute to the discussion, you don't comment, even if you loved reading the post.

That really got my mental juices churning (can you hear the hamster on its wheel?).  I, along with Lisa of Lisa's World of Books and Tanya Patrice of Girlxoxo.com, are heading up the commenting committee this year for Armchair BEA, which Tif told you about last week.  One of the new ideas we had was to put together a Cheerleader Starter Packet for Commenting Committee volunteers for the event.  One of the items we included were different ways to comment when you have no idea what to say.  I want to share some of what we came up with with you today.

“I enjoyed reading about your insights into (enter discussion topic here).”

“Your post gave me a lot to think about.”  

“This was a well-written/thought-provoking/interesting post.”

“I like how you said, “(enter a line from their post here).”

“We have similar feelings on this topic. It’s great to find someone out there that thinks like me.”

“Thank you for sharing your viewpoint on this interesting topic!”

“We have different opinions of this one, but I enjoyed checking out your point of view.”

“I had not thought of it from this point of view before, thanks for making me take a look from a different place.”

These are pretty much discussion-related posts since that is what will be going on during Armchair BEA, so here are some more for book reviews:

"This book sounds like something I would enjoy reading.  Thank you for bringing it to my attention!"

"I enjoy books about vampires/police procedurals/Africa/Old Hollywood, too!"  (Obviously filling in the blank with whatever it is the book is about.)

"I haven't read this book yet, but I am hoping to get to it soon!"

"I wasn't interested in this book before, but your review has changed my mind about it!"



Sometimes just a simple comment will do in a pinch and it still means the world to its recipient:

"Great review!"

"This book looks intriguing." (I totally fall back on this one a lot.)



Obviously, the more meaningful and personalized the comment, the better.  But we are all only human and sometimes we can't always think of those witty or essential comments to add.  

Bookmark this post and save it for when you want to express that you enjoyed reading a post and need an idea for a comment.  You can steal these, I won't mind. :)



Now that you have the power of commenting in your hands, be sure to sign up for the Armchair BEA Commenting Committee!  It comes with awesome graphics I designed AND you can win prizes!  


Start showing off your new commenting prowess by leaving one for us here!