Why Piss Off Fellow Bloggers? Three Thoughts Thursday
January 17th, 2008 | Author: Alice Seba
Some of you may already know that there is a particular marketer chapping my hide by continually sending his international blog commenting staff to my blog (and possibly to your blog too, if it’s marketing-related) and having them say things like:
“This reminds of [insert marketer name]…”
“I just read something at [insert marketer name]‘s blog…”
They always say how my posts remind me of something he said or he did, yada yada yada. They used to post a link to his site, but I assume he got some complaints, so I guess he thinks it’s cool if he just gets people to talk about him without links.
Now, someone might be thinking – maybe he just has a big fan club and we have similar styles…so the comparison is natural. Well, if people were coming to my blog and mentioning the name of a marketer that people talked about often, I might believe that. I mean, if people are commenting about him…you’d think others would be writing about him on their own blogs.
But nobody is.
Well, actually there are a couple of blog posts about him from several months back talking about when he IRONICALLY decided to shut comments off on his own blog to combat SPAM of all things.
Now, he’s not a total unknown and has some following and has even been invited to guest post on Michel Fortin’s blog…so it surprises me even further. This guy doesn’t need to do this kind of crap. I have consequently asked Michel for the contact information for this fellow, so I could personally request that he stop if personally, but Michel says the email address he had for him is now bouncing.
Anyway, I’m baffled by the whole disrespect of your fellow blogger thing…and certainly, I am NOT the only person he is doing this too. I know it’s in vogue to hire people on the cheap to post blog comments for you, but if you’re going to do that…this ain’t the way to go about it.
With all that said, here’s three thoughts on respecting your fellow blogger: And yes, I’m aware that most people know this…but if this guy who apparently has some idea of what he’s doing can be so ignorant, maybe it needs to be said.
1. Posting a comment on someone else’s blog is a privilege: When you’re at someone else’s blog, you are visiting their virtual home. We wouldn’t go to our friend’s house and crap all over their couch, so why do people think they can do it on a blog?
2. Stay on topic and actually have something valuable to say: Those lame-o “This is great information. Thank you,” comments that then link to your Xanax site don’t cut it. And seriously, coming to someone’s blog to tell them that my post reminds me of someone else (as in the case of these pesky commenters), shows no appreciation of the person taking the time to write the blog post. Just to clarify – no, you don’t have to always AGREE or even appreciate what I say, but take the time to address me and my thoughts for goodness sakes.
3. Your link, if allowed, belongs with your REAL name: Most blogs allow you to include a link that will be shown with your name. Don’t get cute with keyword phrases and don’t make a “signature” for your comment. Sometimes, a reference link is appropriate for your comment, but some bloggers don’t allow it and if you’re going to do it, be sure it is REALLY appropriate.
Now, I don’t say this to scare anyone who is legitimately commenting to my blog. If you’ve posted the occasional reference link or you just popped in to say “Thank you” when I know you’re a regular reader of my blog…that’s cool. The way you’ll know I don’t appreciate the comment is that I’ll simply delete it. 
More don’t spam on blogs tips are here from Lynette.
Posted in 20 Responses to “Why Piss Off Fellow Bloggers? Three Thoughts Thursday”
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I totally love your three thoughts. WOOO HOOO girl you rock.
Twitter: aliceseba
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Was that comment just to get a link back to your site, Tricia?! Just kidding. Thanks for the support.
Some people just don’t get it I guess. If you can’t add an value for the community (or at least give your favorite bloggers a little ego boost) why bother?
But hey girl, you’re getting spam because these nimrods know that people are reading your stuff, way to go!
Keep up the good work, the bad apples will get there’s…Karma is a powerful thing.
Sheree
[...] week, when I wrote about my annoyance with someone who using my blog as his own crapping grounds a friend jokingly said to me, “That’s not very sweetie-like, is [...]
Hey- even sweeties get pissed off!
I agree- he is obviously posting because he knows you have the web traffic. People will see through his sneaky ways.
Keep up the great work!
Great Post! i just read another blog at JamesBrausch.com [LINK REMOVED] that had the same message! Respect others homes… don’t dump on you fellow business owners and you’ll go much farther in life! Thanks!
-Laz
Twitter: aliceseba
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Well, “Laz”. Isn’t it ironic that I’m actually speaking about you and your “idol”. Priceless!
This is a great line:
>>We wouldn’t go to our friend’s house and crap all over their couch, so why do people think they can do it on a blog?<<
And too funny (or not) about your that last comment by Laz.. ugh.
Your 3 thoughts on respecting our fellow bloggers are on target.
It all boils down to respect and it bothers me that people would take the time to wake up, log on, find your blog, and then post to it only to be disrespectful. I surely can thing of better things to do.
I’ve seen similar activity on some of the blogs that we manage. In some cases it may be automated.
I see hits to the RSS feed a few seconds before the post shows up from the same IP address. Like a robot is watching the RSS feeds, then posting a reply based on the text that is in it.
–Brian
Twitter: aliceseba
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Hey Brian,
In some cases, it is automated. I see what you’re talking about, particularly in the form of trackbacks and then I have to delete them. People with joke and celebrity blogs think they should quote me…LOL.
But in the case mentioned above, it would have to be pretty sophisticated automation (and who knows…could be). The comments are sometimes made on new posts and sometimes older ones. They are also relevant to the blog entry (even if they’re not a valuable contribution), but I suppose sophisticated automation could pick up keywords, etc.
Still, I don’t think this one is automated…or not completely automated because another fellow Blogger said that one of this person’s pseudo-followers posted on her blog and when she emailed him, he did email back. So someone is manning it to some degree.
I have posted a comment to JBs blog, but of course it was put into moderation. Heaven forbid HE get any spam on his blog…but I haven’t heard back.
Maybe the solution is to reply to one of the commenters here and see if I get a response like my friend did.
Twitter: aliceseba
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Look, poor Lynn Terry is the latest victim of JB’s tactics. Sorry to see this Lynn.
http://www.clicknewz.com/1315/just-how-shocking-is-the-shocking-video/
Great post, Alice – and thanks for stopping by my blog to give me the heads-up. I have had very few dealings with James myself, but I’m familiar enough with them (and some of his ‘group’) that this really puzzles me. I’d love to get to the bottom of his objective with this…
[...] a labor intensive way. Of course, you can hire people to do it for you, but then you might end up looking like an ass like this guy…so be [...]
Wow! I love your three thoughts on Fellow Bloggers/Etiquette! Would you allow me to post that information (with the appropriate link to you) on my Referrals Unlimited Network blog. You see, I teach folks how to network effectively and efficiently and am just getting started in the blogging world to use it as a marketing tool. This information needs to be shared with as many people as possible because you are so “spot-on” with these comments! I will await your response! Thanks so much for your thoughtful insight!
Carol Deckert, Networking Maven
Referrals Unlimited Network
Hi Alice, thanks for the newsletters, and I agree with what you are saying.
Have respect for other people’s blogs. I get so much spam in mine it is driving me crazy. It is exactly like entering your own home. You go girl and tell them like it is. Be respectful to others.
Cheers Alice
Tania Bale
I don’t let strangers into my home and likewise I moderate all comments that come to my blog. It is a lot of extra work but unfortunately whilst there are asses who would trash my home given the opportunity and even more asses who would trash my blog, I think if we want to keep the internet free speech(and I SURE DO!)then we have to take a pro-active stance.
Twitter: aliceseba
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Hey everyone…tanks for the support.
Carol if you mean this particular blog entry or an excerpt from it, by all means.
Katherine…good point on the strangers. Still, I have no intention of moderating comments before they post for a few reasons and I’ll have those reasons posted for this Thursday’s Three Thoughts.
Referring to Brian’s comment above, I recently heard about a software tool called Comment Sniper, which sounds like it might work as he has observed – it is supposed to alert you immediately as a post appears on a blog you are watching, so you can be the first to comment. I thought it sounded pretty sad, that you would have to lurk all day waiting for a blog post to make some self-serving “contribution” to, like that’s a life! I find I have very few comments that are not spam. If I see a comment that is not about viagra, I am thrilled, but automated link-back ads are disappointing and transparent anyway.
[...] for visiting and your comments are welcome anytime.Further to the now 2-week old discussion about treating other bloggers blogs nicely, Katherine Reschke [...]