Alternately Titled: Stuff Happens & People are Weird
Do you ever read something in a book, on the web or in a magazine, and find yourself so absolutely captured by what you just read, that you go back and read it again, and maybe even a third time as well, or fourth - then just sit and really chew on it for a few minutes? I'm purposely omitting the way the Scriptures do this because I'm referring to modern works of men, that sometimes have this astounding ability to knock us off our feet.
This happens to me quite a bit, and either it means I'm incredibly dense and therefore prone to frequent bursts of illumination from a variety of writers, or it means that there are just some incredibly gifted writers out there that I'm blessed to come across. I'm going to go with the latter on this one.
Oftentimes I find myself reading something (like this, or this) and I have to read it carefully, and slowly, because I know it's going to really open my eyes and either bless me, convict me, challenge me or in some way equip me. When you begin to read something that falls into that category, you just know at the very beginning, that it's in that category, and you're in for a treat. For me (and this may differ for you) when I read something that has this sort of affect on me, I always want to thank the writer. I cannot tell you how many books I've read that I've tried to locate a postal or email address for the author, just for that reason.
The title of this post isn't really all that accurate for one simple reason. Blogging isn't really much different than participation on bulletin boards, and I've been a BBS'er since 1993. For the geeks in the audience, you'll remember local bbs systems & 2400 baud. Yeah, I've been around that long. I'm ancient.
Blogging, like BB participation can be a most bizarre thing sometimes.
Let's say you wake up one day and you've been so overwhelmingly blessed by something, that you sit down to write about it. The more you write the more you want to explain what the Lord has shown you in His word, how that connects to YOU and your local church, or how it plays out in the life of your children, or various relationships. The more you explore this in your writing the longer your piece becomes and you end up investing a good chunk of time on it. You proofread it, edit it, add to it, and polish it up before publishing because you want nothing more than for this same blessing in your heart to have the same kind of impact on your blog or BB readers.
Finally it's done and you publish. You're pumped up about it and you just know it's going to be such a treasure for others as well, that you walk around that day in an uber-content mode. Later in the day you return to your pc and find that not one person has left a reply. Not one. No one, nada, zip, zilch. Next day rolls around, and still nothing. And the next, and the next, and the next: nothing. Why, you ask yourself? Did no one read this? Did no one care? Was it that bad that people just skimmed right over it? Was it too long? Was it too wordy?
Then a few days later you see a post from someone else that says something along these lines:
"My cat ate a mouse today and I watched and it was really gross!" - with 143 comments by the end of the first day.
Obviously you're sitting at your desk scratching your head and asking yourself why was that information so comment-worthy, and what I had to post, so ignored?
Truth is, you're never going to figure it out because people are strange. There are a wide variety of reasons why people don't comment on more in-depth, doctrinal or hard hitting topical posts.
- Maybe you've said all there is to say about it, and folks just don't feel like they have anything to add. (I've recommended simply leaving a comment that says "thank you, I appreciated that" in such cases).
- Maybe it was too long and folks bookmarked it to come back and read when they have more time. (And often they will, and leave a comment later that will bless you back.)
- Maybe it was so long that folks just skipped right past it. (It's not a general rule of thumb, but many online readers prefer short & pithy over long & deep. Some of us do like the longer posts though, so it's a toss up.)
- Maybe it's because it simply wasn't controversial enough, and didn't have enough points in it that a wide audience could tear up and get a blog/forum hoo-haa going over. (Sadly, we all know how controversial postings garner far more attention than anything else. Try it yourself if you don't believe me, and write a blog post about an Emergent Church having "clothing optional" gathering at the local park, with the guest speaker being a lesbian pastor that stands on pro-choice - and Tim Challies liveblogged it.) If you really want tons of comments, go for the tabloidish and you'll get them.
Maybe it has nothing to do with any of those reasons at all, but some other reason. It's impossible to know for sure because people who aren't commenting aren't commenting to let you know why. Yes I know, that part is obvious.
Here's the thing though...
It doesn't matter. Really, it doesn't matter. Read that again in case you missed it the first time.
If the Lord has laid something on your heart, write until your fingers fall off. Make it as long as you want it. Go into as much detail as you want to - go for it! Don't write for the sake of getting comments, but write for the Lord.
Sure, feedback and discussion is nice sometimes, and sure iron sharpens iron and all that, and yes we are by design social critters that prefer the interaction with fellow social critters, but that shouldn't be a focus or a motivator for you. If it is, you only set yourself up for frequent disappointment, and really... why go there?
Of course there are some online personalities that could write just about anything, shallow or deep, captivating or just plain boring - and they're going to get a boatload of comments. Truly, that has much more to do with web-celeb shoulder-rubbing, than the content of the posts and we all know it. We all see this in chat (for those of you that use chat), if there's a famous amos in the room or channel, folks will fall all over themselves to talk to the celeb. Often, they embarass themselves by doing it and they're the last ones to notice it. Don't go there either, you'll look like Barney Fife.
The part that you might miss, is that it's entirely possible that the Lord has laid this thing on your heart to bless JUST you. Years ago I read (on a bb, no less) someone say something along the lines of "some of the best sermons I've ever preached to others, were the ones I most needed to hear for myself". Sometimes blogging or forum posting is the same way. If it blessed or uplifted or convicted you, then hang onto that and let that be the blessing in and of itself, without being discouraged that no one else responded.
I was talking to a dear friend last night about this, and told them that I was going to post about this today. I said "wont it be ironic if no one comments?". I suppose it would be, but I would have to laugh about it. This is stuff I wish I would have been able to read when I first started coming online and participating in forums years ago, that also applies to the blogging community. Yes they're called discussion forums, and the first part of that is often quite enjoyable (that would be the discussion part), but it's not always what you get, and you really should take an "oh well" attitude about it.
In truth, I'm just as guilty as anyone else when it comes to not leaving a comment. I might read something that I thoroughly enjoyed, and nodded my head the whole way through - then just click away to something else. I've been convicted myself of this over the last year or so, because it really is just a matter of common courtesy to thank someone if they've helped you in some way. It shouldn't matter if you don't feel like you have anything to add, and maybe you don't, but a simple "thanks, that helped" is often appreciated by the writer.
So there ya go. Random thoughts from an almost-not-sick-anymore blogger. Leave a comment if you like, but remember if you're new to blogging and/or don't seem to get many comments, don't beat yourself up over it. Stuff happens and people are weird.
And that, is not news.
