The question from Let’s Talk Bookish for April 15-21 comes from Kristin @ Lukten Av Trykksverte and is…
Joys & Pet Peeves of the (Book) Blogging Community.
Disclaimer:
These are my personal opinions. I do not expect anyone to agree with anything here, and in fact, I’m certain that many will disagree and/or even hate many of the things I’ve written below. Sorry about that, but you are always welcome to express your own opinions – be they contrary or comparable – in the comments section. So, with that out of the way… let the controversy begin!
What made me think about this topic?
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books, and is now hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits! Each Friday, there is a discussion topic for bloggers to write about, and this week’s topic comes from Kristin @ Lukten Av Trykksverte, so that was my inspiration (along with the fact that I DNF a book I thought I’d be reviewing today. Oops)! So… the prompts are:
What are some things you love about the blogging community? What are some things you dislike? When do you feel the most/least connected to the community? What are some things you’d like to see changed when it comes to blogging? Have there been any major changes in the community since you started to blog that you love?
My Thoughts…
What are some things you love about the blogging community?
I love it when I get comments on my posts – that’s my favorite, for sure. That’s why I like to do these discussion posts. I also love it when someone tweets one of my posts – I always feel so honored when they do that. Finally, I really love hearing about new books and authors I might not have known about if I wasn’t blogging.
What are some things you dislike?
There’s not much I dislike about the community (unless someone is being mean), but there are technical things that bother me about the different platforms. For example, I read blogs by getting emails for all the blogs I follow. It drives me crazy when I can’t hit “like” on an email because the option isn’t there, or if I have to scroll through a whole email just to get to the “like” button that’s there. I don’t get why WordPress doesn’t just automatically just give everyone a teaser or excerpt in all the emails they send out – even if the “like” link isn’t there.
When do you feel the most/least connected to the community?
Obviously, when I get comments on my posts and/or get replies to comments on other posts, that’s when I feel the most connected to the community. As for least connected – I guess when I’m not reading blog posts! Okay, I also feel less connected around certain holidays when all the books people are reviewing are related to holidays I don’t celebrate. Stupid, I know, but I always feel like those books aren’t relatable to me.
What are some things you’d like to see changed when it comes to blogging?
Honestly, I can’t think of much I’d like to change. Again, anything I’d change would be technical, and not related to bloggers themselves.
Have there been any major changes in the community since you started to blog that you love?
Other than it does seem to have gotten a whole lot bigger, no, nothing major that I can think of (but I’m sure someone will mention something that I’ve not thought of).
One positive change, however, is that this weekly meme didn’t die out when Rukky decided to step down. Brava and thanks to Aria for keeping this up and for doing Link Parties for these! Also – love the new banner!
There you have it!
So… what about you?
What are your joys/pet peeves about the book blogging community?
This post is also my 7th entry in the 2022 Discussion Challenge, hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight!
The Chocolate Lady's Book Review Blog 
I enjoy the interaction as well and getting inspiration about new books / authors. One thing which makes me sad is when a favourite blogger stops being active. I fully undestand it though; blogging is time consuming and may not always fit into a busy life.
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Yes, that can be sad. Especially if that blogger was running some kind of weekly or monthly meme that falls into oblivion!
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Interesting that you follow blogs the most via email. I recently changed my email, and I’ll confess that I haven’t paid a lot of attention to the new format. I don’t think it even includes the full post! I might need to revisit that.
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Comments are great! I’ve been blogging for like seven years and still get excited about them lol.
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Yes, me too!
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I now follow so may blogs (there are so many good ones) that t’s hard to give their posts the attention they deserve. But I agree with you and other commenters that it’s the interaction with fellow bloggers that makes the experience live. And that’s thanks to WordPress, which isn’t always, however, responsive to customer feedback. I rarely comment on posts on Blogger, because it’s just so darned difficult.
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Commenting on Blogger is a pain! Especially when you have to do that stupid “I’m not a Robot” thing!
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😉
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I hear you on the pure JOY when someone leaves a comment of shares on my my posts – biggest serotonin boost! I miss having the energy to read other people’s blogs more often these days because I miss the interaction a lot.
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Nor do I ever get the chance to read all the blogs that I follow; it all takes time which I have so very little it seems. Also, to remain true and original to my purposeful blog posts, I shouldn’t read too many of the blogs that I follow since they would influence me too much. We share and share and at times what is it all for? And in my case, if I am followed then some person/stranger does this for real around me in my daily life or I imagine this. I am a troubled soul or made to seem troubled or I exaggerate but I don’t think so. Happy Easter to all!
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I love finding out about new or just interesting books and authors, and I personally love it when the author of the book reads my review. I really like it when people share a link to their review of the same book in their comment, as long as they put some comment in there, too (I’m feeling a bit paranoid that people don’t like it when people do that; I do it quite a lot on other people’s blogs but I do also take the time to mention why I liked or didn’t like the book).
I don’t like it when I get no acknowledgement of my comment – a Like is fine of course if it’s a quick one or the person has millions of comments on a post, and everyone misses replying to some comments, but if I interact with a blog and never get any response I will tend to stop interacting or even following it.
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Well, I’m following so many blogs, I don’t always have time. But I hear you.
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Oh, no, that’s not what I meant! I prefer people to like or reply to the comments I have made on their blogs – I certainly don’t expect everyone to like or comment on mine, nor do I on everyone’s if I am short of time. But if I comment on someone’s blog I prefer to get a reply, and similarly if someone comments on mine, I do try to reply or at least like if it’s the end of a longer comment thread. Sorry if that didn’t come across.
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No… I got it!
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I agree with what has been said here already about commenting and receiving comments to ones post being the most rewarding and fun part. Sometimes it‘s hard to reply to comments though, which is when I resort to hitting that like button. I wish all blogs and blogsites had that option.
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I comment on people’s blog all the time and I would like people to comment on my blog more. Sometimes it seems like people ignore my discussion post or anything else I write.
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Yes… I do feel the same sometimes as well.
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I’m much the same really – I write my blog because I want to share my thoughts on books, and I do love to hear from other booklovers and interact in the comments. And also like you it’s the technical issues which get me – sometimes WordPress is not very co-operative…. ;D
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I enjoy how much book blogging has evolved for me. I have made lots of bookish friends too, which is great. I have also found lots of great books through book bloggers. Sometimes I get bored with the quantity of book blog tours that I see. Those book reviews are less interesting to me as I don’t always trust the honesty of a review for a book tour.
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Yeah… I took part in a few blog tours a few years ago, but… I don’t really like doing them (and to be honest, I sometimes skim through those posts a bit to quickly than I probably should).
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at least you get a response/reply or likes; I don’t get anything. I blog but it is a dead blog page perhaps because it is free for both my blogs…to be invisible and yet shouting at times to say hi!
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Yes, I felt that way when I was using Blogspot.
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I don’t get responses/replies with WordPress either; no matter, happy Easter to you and yours!
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I think I feel most connected when people leave comments. There is one thing I don’t like, but I don’t want to say what it is because I have one person who does it all the time and I don’t want that person to think I’m complaining about them because it’s nice of them to leave so many comments. (It’s not you.)
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Ah… I get it.
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Apart from some grumbles about technical issues, my biggest issue is with bloggers who never respond to comments left on their posts. I get that if they have a lot of followers and hence lots of comments, that it sucks up a ton of time to respond. But really, it’s just plain rude to not even acknowledge a comment when someone has spent time creating it.
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Agreed. Even a simple like on a comment is enough. Hitting like doesn’t take much time at all.
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!00% in agreement
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Hi Davida! So pleased to see there are many more positives than negatives from your point of view. As an author, I greatly appreciate the energy, commitment and love of book bloggers. And as a blogger myself, I love getting comments (and you are a generous commenter yourself). Thank you so much for what you do
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Aw… you’re welcome… and thanks!
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Connecting through comments brings the joy factor to blogging!
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Really!
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