. . . Successful Blog is a community blog where every voice is welcomed and every contribution is valued.–MES
Except last night most of the Succesful Blog community wasn’t heard.
Remember when I said this on December 4th?
I can talk about building community by answering comments relentlessly, but itâââ‰â¢s so much more powerful when I do it, and my readers actually experience how it feels. . . .
I was talking about Successful Blog as a place where we try out practices and test how they work–where you can see my shining successes and flaming-out failures. See blogging-in-action and analyze the consequences–Successful Blog as Community Test Blog, so to speak.
What better use for a community blog than to use it
to try out what works and to see how to fix what doesn’t work?Some folks might think that last night’s discussion was a screaming success.
But when I think of my readers, I’m not so sure.
We have been talking about why people don’t comment. Now I think many of us have experienced a reason or two for ourselves. It’s as if a bunch of new readers rented the community hall for a party last night. A few of us came, but the rest of us kept our distance. The new visitors were welcome and wonderful, and I hope they all come back. Their intent wasn’t to quiet us, but that’s what happened. Isn’t it?
So many who discussed Brian’s article chose not to hang out this time–so many of the same voices went without a word.
What a great case study–right here in real life. Are you as curious about this as I am? It’s an experience worth exploring. There’s something here worth learning about.
What do you think happened last night?
What could I have done differently to bring your voices in?
–ME “Liz” Strauss
