When you are brand new to something and you want to grow, you can look up to others for examples and guidance. The 2015-16 nest of newbie bloggers doesn’t have to go far to find good models of how to blog well–we have seven years of Huzzahnian Grads to show us how to hatch and grow a blog. From them we can learn much about writing interesting, thoughtful posts, designing inviting blog pages, and commenting in a way that creates a conversation.
Your task:
First, read the Commenting Guidelines written by past Huzzahnians. They capture the big ideas about commenting. They set the standard that we will go by here.
Next, start reading and noticing quality in the blog posts below–you don’t have to read them all–pick one or two. Read the comments below them:
***These are retired blogs; please don’t comment on them as the bloggers likely won’t reply.***
(Are you noticing that blogging is about reading, first?)
Finally, in your comment below: Share one commenting guideline that you think is particularly important and why it is so. (*Hint:* You may have to use the word because.) Then tell us about a post that you read: give the blogger’s name and post title AND a one sentence summary of the content. Then say what you found interesting or inspiring, and showed quality in blogging to you. Also share what you discovered about the comments you read–do they follow commenting guidelines? (Hmm, your comment is going to be five or more sentences long…one might almost call it a paragraph!)
Huzzahnians, remember to copy your comment into your Google doc. Soon you’ll be ready to hatch a blog of your own!
Visitors, if you think you have an exemplary post we should read, include the url (address) in your comment and we will visit and comment.
In my opinion, the most important commenting guideline is to proofread your post. Posts that have a lot of misspellings or incomplete sentences are hard to read and may be skipped over.
I enjoyed reading Sophie’s Blog @ http://sophiehz3.edublogs.org/2012/12/12/pens/. In her post, she talks about her favorite school item being a pen. I agree with her. I love pens! I also preferred a pen over a pencil and have quite a collection of pens myself. I like that the blog post ended with a question to prompt readers to respond to the blog post. The comments were also good and relevant to the topic. Many bloggers were making a connection with the author by sharing the same love of pens. There were many questions asked and some facts about different pens too.
I like how you told us as readers how it is to be new at school, or anywhere. Also I like the way you put steps on what to do first to the last step.
Sincerely,
Kaitlyn
http://kaitlynas21.edublogs.org/
The information on this blog is very helpful! Making these blogs at first was really complicated, but now I’m beginning to understand them a lot more.
-Emily
I learned many important facts while reading this blog post about commenting. One of my favorite tips was the one about proofreading your post after creating it. People can make many spelling and grammatical errors while typing their comments, which can make it difficult for the blogger to understand what they are trying to say. If they cannot understand what the commenter is attempting to convey, the blogger can simply not reply. This defeats the purpose of leaving a comment, because they are unable to start a conversation!
– Noelle { http://noellmurph9302.edublogs.org }
Hi Noelle, I am also beginning to appreciate bloggers who leave their urls (blog address) so I can pay them a visit. I am pretty tolerant of errors in blog comments and will do the commenter the favour of correcting the odd mistake–especially since I am prone to making mistakes myself!
Thanks for visiting,
Ms. Smith
One guideline that I found particularly important stated that bloggers should always stay on topic and have relevant comments. Phrases such as “Cool” and “Wow, lol” are not appropriate for commenting. The title of the guideline was “Make Your Comment Meaningful” and was posted by Jackson. This jumped out to me because often teenagers use only short pointless comments, as previously mentioned, and these are simply irrelevant and have no place on Edublog. Students must always keep this guideline in mind, for it is very helpful. Looking through the comments, not all bloggers have followed the guidelines. Proper grammar is also very important to keep in mind when commenting, as some students have forgotten. http://miaroub.edublogs.org/
Hi Mia, I think effective commenting is actually pretty challenging, so I don’t expect people to always “get it right”. I do agree that being on topic is important, but what I am really looking for is evidence of having READ the post. We are trying to have a conversation, after all. I appreciate your visit and have added your url to your comment (I looked it up on the Student Blogging Challenge page.
Best wishes,
Ms. Smith
I found many useful tips for commenting. However, I think the most important one is staying on topic. Sometimes, it can be frustrating when a person replies to a post with information that is not useful and relates very little to what I was originally writing about. I find it difficult to start a conversation about something that hardly corresponds to the focus I was going for. Therefore, it is difficult to even start a conversation! I found Sophie’s post very interesting and intriguing. http://sophiehz3.edublogs.org/2012/12/12/pens/. Sophie brought up a topic about everyone’s favorite item in school, which can relate and be discussed by people all around the country! That would result in many more ideas for commenting. I also liked the point Noelle brought up, which involves proofreading. That is most likely what I believe to be the second most important part of commenting.
-Lauren (http://laurekessl4401.edublogs.org/)
Hi Lauren, I appreciate your thoughtful response. I like the dialogue established in commenting–the evidence of thinking about what I have written (or in this case, what Sophie wrote last year). And I especially appreciate that you left your url. I’m going to visit your blog, READ a post, and leave a comment!
Cheers,
Ms. Smith
Personally, I believe the importance in not sharing your personal information such as last name and home address is the greatest of the guideline because if done by a student, that student is put into a great amount of danger. People searching for other’s information could find this info and utilize it several negative ways. I enjoyed reading Charlie’s blog, “10 Ways to Annoy Your Brother in Creative Ways!”because I found the pleasure Charlie has in aggravating his little brother quite humorous and interesting. If given the chance please come check out my blog!
http://carolhirsc9701.edublogs.org
Thanks,
Caroline:)
Hi Caroline,
While I think it is important to maintain one’s digital privacy, I think blogging is quite a safe communication medium. There are a lot of eyes on your blog, meaning people can see the dialogue. I think we have to wise about danger and not let us be afraid to connect with others through public communication like blogging.
Cheers, Ms Smith
I think this is an interesting way to express yourself, I like how you put the picture of the baby bird to compare yourself to it.
I think that the most important rule of commenting is safety because if you put personal information on your blog, then someone can track you and could possible harm you. I read Maya’s post “Being a Lunch Monitor” and it described how she was in charge of 26 second graders with her friend and was completely responsible for them. It was very interesting because she helped out a lot even when it was difficult and scary. I read other comments on her post and learned that many people had similar experiences. Also they followed the guidelines very well.
One guideline of commenting that really stuck out to me was your conventions of a comment. Always in writing, texting and comments I see OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I agree that with doing this it makes no sense. Does it mean you are just that much more excited about a subject than someone else. Also, the fact that when commenting people use i, u, lol. I like the fact that you have pointed it out since so many people use texting language in their everyday lives. Another thing I have noticed is when people don’t revise their blogging or comments. It just makes a blog or comment look horrible. I read Liam’s blog and I loved the fact he loves pets. He reminds me of my family with a zoo of animals. Five cats, a dog, a hermit crab, and two aquariums.
Come check out my blog here-
https://jeremyblye.edublogs.org
Thanks,
JeremyB.
Personally, i think that blogging is all about expressing yourself through out online line activities. The purpose of commenting and blogging is to connect. Connecting is important because you have the ability to express yourself to other people who could want the same thing. For me, i expressed myself in my blog by creating an avatar that looks like me off line and on line. It is always so important to be careful because what you put online, could possibly be dangerous for you and other people too. If you put your full name and identification, that makes somebody aware of your personal self. No matter what, everyone must be careful because what you put on the internet should stay within you online self. I truly feel that blogging helps people just like me create an online identity. If you get a chance to check out my blog, here is my link!
Carlie- http://carliesses.edublogs.org
There are many great tips on here but the one that stood out most for me was proofreading your post before uploading it! Errors can completely diminish the entire concept you are trying to convey. Therefore, without a clear statement, another blogger can simply not respond which leaves the conversation bleak and dull.
http://livtrejo.edublogs.org/
Thanks, Liv
I found these commenting tips very helpful. In my opinion, the most important guideline you must follow is to keep the tone right. The tone is very important to setting the mood. I believe you must always be polite and careful about your words online as well as offline. I enjoyed reading Sophie’s blog because I can relate to her. I would prefer a pen over a pencil, and my favorite pen color is also blue.
In my opinion, the most important tip is to proofread before one person comments. If no one proofread their comments, the internet would be full of uninteresting and confusing comments. Charlie, I very much enjoyed your post. I thought it was hilarious how you said to replace his water with vinegar! However, do you think it is better to prank him or scare him? Perhaps scaring is too much for a little boy?
-Lola
http://lcase4702.edublogs.org
One of the most important tips on commenting is staying on topic. Comments cannot be useful if they are one words or do not give any advice or helpful feedback. When I receive a comment such as “cool” or “this is interesting” I get frustrated because it does not help me or my writing in anyway. Students should always remember to leave constructive and meaningful comments on blogs and other forms of writing. Personally, I enjoyed Charlies blog “10 Ways to Annoy Your Brother in Creative Ways” because it can relate to many other student and give ideas and suggestions to them. Charlie listed 10 funny and unique ways to annoy a little brother or sister. It was also a very entertaining article to read. Here is the link http://charlieh4.edublogs.org/2012/01/19/10-ways-to-annoy-your-brother-in-creative-ways/
If you’d like, you should check out my blog! https://ellaprice.edublogs.org/
-Ella
In my opinion, the most important commenting guidline is to always make sure what you’re saying is positive and constructive. I read Sophie’s blog: http://sophiehz3.edublogs.org/2012/12/12/pens/ and thought her opinion about pens was very interesting.
In my opinion, an important guidline for commenting is to refrain from the use of “text lingo”. The phrase “lol” should be left out of all comments as a result of representing inmaturuty. Additionally, using letters like “u” instead of you represent laziness. As a result, the blog owner might not want to participate in a discussion.
– Aidan
http://aidanbrook5902.edublogs.org/
While reading through the tips on commenting, I found the most helpful one to be on the content of a comment. It is extremely easy to get off topic, especially when speaking to another student through a comment. In addition, I agreed with the significance of speaking properly and having correct grammar and spelling so it is easy to understand what another person is saying. The most important part of a comment is the content of it, and if the content of the comment is irrelevant than there would be no point in commenting at all! For these reasons, I found the point behind a comment to be the most relevant and significant part.
-Stella (http://stellkotik6202.edublogs.org/)
There are many important commenting guidelines in blogging. One that is very important to me is being mindful of what you post to others. This is important because you don’t know if it is okay or not to say something which means if it isn’t than that person can be very offended. This may draw two peoples relationship further away or they may not become closer. If people do not know what to write then it is better off if they just don’t comment at all.
Thank you,
Max
https://maxlevy.edublogs.org/wp-admin/index.php?page=msreader.php
One guideline I found important was the tip on staying on topic. The reason I think that this tip is important is because if someone is not on topic, they can start to lead into unnecessary writing. The information may not be relevant to what is supposed to be written about. Always making sure you aren’t trailing off into a new subject is one of the most important tips in commenting or writing a post. It is difficult to respond to someone who doesn’t have a definite topic in their writing. While searching through some of the other blogs given, I found Maya’s blog, http://mayahz1.edublogs.org/2014/11/21/being-a-lunch-monitor/ , to be pretty interesting and well-written. In her blog, she explains the bitter truth about working with second graders. Dealing with second graders, she says, is a difficult but not as bad as it sounds. She explains how they are wild, yet still very respectful for being second graders.
– Clover https://clovedavis0802.edublogs.org
In my opinion, one of the most important commenting guidelines is to stay on topic because it is not necessary to share random thoughts. If someone’s comment is irrelevant to the topic it shouldn’t be posted. Therefore, it can distract others who are trying to read the original post and confuse them. A blog I have recently read is Ten Jobs I Might Like to Have by Elysa. http://elysahz1.edublogs.org/2013/03/15/10-jobs-i-might-like-to-have/ . Elysa’s post is about ten jobs that she is interested in doing in the future. Personally, I found that it was very interesting how she incorporated her hobbies and interests into what she aspires to be. In the comments, not everyone followed the commenting guidelines, for the punctuation, spelling and grammar is misused in some of the posts.
Thank you,
Chloe
http://chloeshack5802.edublogs.org
A guideline I think is important is the tone of a comment. I think this is important because when one says something online it is hard to interpret their tone. Somebody could think you are mad at them when you are actually just trying to help them. I read 10 Ways to Annoy Your Brother in Creative Ways by Charlie. I really liked his post because the ways to annoy your brother he described had me laughing a lot. I also thought his blog was interesting because he had so many creative ideas such as making your brother kick your bony foot. I will for sure use one of these on my brother the next chance I get. The comments on his post were a little short but they had great use of tone. The only problems I noticed were their mechanics.
In my opinion, a major guideline in commenting is commenting with proper spelling and grammar. I noticed in many of the comments listed in the example blogs that many of the people commenting had bad grammar by using abbreviations such as, lol and omg. I believe that these types of comments only make the comment that was posted weaker and not as strong. Also many people will start to go off topic and talk about other things than what the actual blog is about. In Liam’s blog I noticed that some of the comments that were made had bad grammar or were going off topic. Overall, a meaningful comment should be on topic, have proper grammar, and have correct spelling. If you have the chance please check out my blog https//:jadenjp3.edublogs.org
From,
Jaden E.
The guideline that I feel is the most important stated that bloggers should be aware of the tone of your comment. Being polite and friendly is important offline as well as online. You may not be aware of how your comment is coming across to the person thats reading it. Put yourself in the situation of that person and see how you would feel before submitting the comment. If you wouldn’t feel good about it, then most likely the blogger won’t feel good about it either. The blog that I read was titled “Top 5 Video Games of all time!” by Ehtan. This blog discusses 5 video games that, in his opinion, are the best of all time. I like how Ethan was very enthusiastic about all of the video games he discussed. He also gave a lot of detail about each game. All of the comments follow the guidelines for a good comment. They don’t share personal information nor do any of them have rude tones in the comments.
Dear Mr. Smith,
I found all of these guidelines and tips useful for educated and perfect commenting. One of the more important ones is proofreading. Proofreading is important because people make mistakes in their writing, or typing, all the time. However, leaving those mistakes in your work demeans their work and makes the point they are trying to prove less noticeable. Proofreading helps people notice their mistakes before they publish their work and helps them save it from being diminished by spelling do grammar errors. http://reecemorris112.edublogs.org
Dear Ms. Smith,
I am grateful for these tips you provided for us on how to comment better. A guideline I found to be very important is to keep your privacy. Keeping your comments private is vital for your online safety and the online safety of others as well. In this current generation it is very simple for one to find a large amount of information about you from something as simple as knowing your first and last name. If this information gets into the hands of the wrong person, one may find themselves in a dangerous situation, Also, if you carelessly post information like such about others, you may put their life in peril as well. The blog I read was titled “10 ways To Annoy Your Brother in Creative Ways” by Charlie. The blog reveals 10 ways one can annoy their brother. http://charlieh4.edublogs.org/2012/01/19/10-ways-to-annoy-your-brother-in-creative-ways/
I enjoy the way the author reveals his tone while he writes, as it is very humorous and silly. I also though that the tricks he came up with were very clever.
Thanks,
Ana
http://anastgromo2502.edublogs.org/
In my opinion, one of the more important guidelines is to be polite and respectful if you disagree. Online, people share their thoughts and beliefs about a certain subject, and some people might disagree. However, if a person does reach a disagreement with someone’s comment, they should be polite and encouraging instead being vicious and crushing. I read the blog post named “Top 5 Video Games of All Time!” by Ethan. I found it interesting that he stated the reasons and basic information for his five favorite games. I also enjoyed his energetic tone to be entertaining as well. In the comment section, most everyone followed the guidelines and did not leave any violent disagreeing statements. There were a few grammatical errors, but there was nothing to bad.
Thank you,
Joaquin
http://joaqunajer6302.edublogs.org/
One of the most important commenting guidelines in my opinion is to stay on topic. Commenting is used for giving helpful feedback, and unnecessary words and sentences are not needed to get a point across. Irrelevant comments are only distracting for anybody who is viewing the post. Sophie’s blog post titled “Pens” was particularly interesting to me. In her post, she was describing her favor of pens as a writing utensil, and reading her post was very entertaining. I liked how passionate she was about such a simple topic as well. The comments on her post followed guidelines as well. I read some very good questions and comments on Sophie’s writing.
http://emilysalva9501.edublogs.org/
One guideline I found that is effective is if you disagree, be polite about it. Instead of being rude to someone, be respectful even if you don’t agree. This is very effective because instead of making them feel bad about themselves, this guideline allows the person make their post better. Bekkam commented that “it is important to leave respectful comments to other people in the blogging world.” Bekkam made a good point to state that you should respect everyone opinion and that we are communication with the rest of the world.
Jonah https://jonahbeder4101.edublogs.org/
One commenting guideline that I find extremely important is proofreading the comment
because a comment with multiple grammar errors and spelling mistakes is a comment I don’t want to read. Today, I read Greyson’s post titled “WWII German King Tiger Tank.” This post covered the mega-tank the Nazis created during World War II in order to keep up with the French heavy tanks. A fact that I found very intriguing was the fact that the tank could travel over 40 kilometers per hour, but it also had a massive supply of armor and protection draped over it. One piece of blogging that jumped out to me was the fact that Greyson did a nice job of separating his different thoughts by splitting his post up into multiple subheadings.
Furthermore, the comments that were left on the post follow the commenting guidelines for the most part. Most of the students either left a connection, posed a question, or gave some factual information.
One very obvious, yet challenging guideline that I believe is extremely important for bloggers to follow is to not give out personal information to anyone. Whether it be a last name, an address, or even a friends name, giving out any form of personal information could be very dangerous. Any type of information that defines who you are could potentially lead to identity theft which no one wants to deal with. That’s why keeping your full name, address, school, and daily schedule to yourself is very important! One post that I found very interesting and relatable to was “My Pets” by http://liamphz1.edublogs.org/2014/11/28/my-pets/. Liam’s post focused on his many pets and the fascinating stories behind them all. I found this post very enjoyable to read because I too have five pets at home ( three dogs and two guinea pigs) as well as one in the stables (a horse of course). I love learning the heart warming stories about how people found their pets and took them home, just like Liam’s story about how he rescued his dog Eddy from a life in the shelter. All of the comments directed towards Liam’s post were focused and remained on topic the entire time!
– Paige http://paigesinger24.edublogs.org
One guideline that I found was very important was to not give away any personal information about one’s self while posting a post. Giving one’s personal information out is very risky and does not end up well in ones favor. For example, giving away someones full name and day of birth. Now, people have all the information they need to steal that person’s identity. Other concepts that one should not include in their posts are their address, picture of their face, or when they are going to be on vacation. All of these concepts will lead to dangerous results. One post that I enjoyed reading was Charlie’s post, “10 Ways To Annoy Your Brother In Creative Ways!” http://charlieh4.edublogs.org/2012/01/19/10-ways-to-annoy-your-brother-in-creative-ways/ This post shares multiple (10 to be exact) ways to annoy your brother or sibling. It shares many creative and effective ways such as putting a gooey substance in their shoe. I found this post very entertaining. Not only was it factual, but it also included humorous ways to annoy ones sibling. All the comments on this post were positive and on topic.
-Jason: https://jasonhahn1902.edublogs.org
I really like Liam’s and how he described how and where he got his pet, also the style he put them.He wrote how his relationship with his animals has changed there personality.One question is, how long has he had his pets, or who was with him when he got Eddy?I liked how he put his paragraphs.The pictures were very cute and it helped put a picture in my head.
Cute Baby bird it looks so presouse
I think that this was well presentated and I like the baby bird
Thank you for the informashen I will be sher to use it on coments.
Hi. My name is Anna. I particularly liked the tip about proof-reading before you post. Sometimes I think people rush through their blog and post it. I really like Liam’s Blog about his pets.
I love the idea of commenting on other peoples blogs and creating a mini community with just a few sentences, connecting with people on the other side of the world and building a personal/not personal relationship!
I really enjoyed reading charlies post on how to annoy your in creative ways, I’m positive I’ll be using all those ideas even more than 10 times! The funniest part for me when I ‘things to do to annoy your brother scale’ That was gold!
Gina – ginaheidekruger.blogspot.co.nz
I liked EthanP’ s post about video games
http://ethanphz1.edublogs.org/2014/12/02/top-5-video-games-of-all-time-in-my-opinion/
it was factual and inspiring
i like minecraft too i love platformers they are addicting and pass time well
my blog http://justinroom9bnms.blogspot.co.nz/
my class blog http://room9bnms2016.blogspot.co.nz/
Hi,
Your post about commenting is fantastic. I have learn’t so much about good quality comments and I can’t wait to be a good reader and commenter making the writers feel great. I love making people smile or happy as you can’t live without some happiness.
Here is the link to my blog if you want to check it out:
sarahroom9bnms.blogspot.co.nz
Hi,
I think the most important thing about commenting on someones blog is to make sure its not offending them. And before you post the comment remember to proofread it other wise there might be something in there that is not supposed to be.
I also enjoy little kids as well. It is very true they can be annoying sometimes.
My blog is: http://mayaroom9bnms.blogspot.co.nz/
~Maya
In my opinion, I think a very important commenting guideline is making sure the comment isn’t rude because sometimes you might disagree to a post. Be polite about it, or keep it to yourself. I really enjoyed reading Charlie’s post. The title was ‘Ten Ways to Annoy Your Brother in Creative Ways!’. The URL to this post is: http://charlieh4.edublogs.org/2012/01/19/10-ways-to-annoy-your-brother-in-creative-ways/ In this post, Charlie shows ten creative ways to mess with a brother. I like how there is a lot of humour in it and at the end, he tells us that brother’s are awesome. I also like how it’s numbered. The comments on this post were all positive feedback and almost all of them were specific.
~ Joy (http://joybnms.blogspot.co.nz)
Hi Huzzahians
I think the most important guideline is to be positive. If you don’t you could put people down and they could stop blogging! I visited Etahns blog and read The Top 5 Video Games. It was about ( as you might have guessed by the title) his top five games. Almost all the comments on the post were about other people’s top five but some had feedback. Is anyone doing the student blogging challenge here? If you are include your blog URL. If you want to check out my blog here is my URL http://travisroom7bnms.blogspot.co.nz/ I am not saying you have to.
Cheers Travis
I think that the most important commenting guideline is to always make your comments meaningful. if your comment isn’t meaningful, it doesn’t do anything for you or anyone else. I read Ethan’s blog called top 5 video games of all time. he said that platformers were the best kind of game. I like platformers but I think adventure games are better. Something i think made it a good blog is how he used pictures so i can better visualize it. All of the comments were helpful and polite.
Thanks for the info it will come in handy
Thanks for the tips on helpful commenting I really enjoyed learning http://kpshalle.global2.vic.edu.au/wp-admin/index.php?page=msreader.php. This is my link to my sight if you want to have a look
Hi Mrs Smith,
I really liked how you related starting a blog to the hatching of baby birds. It was a really cool idea. The commenting guidelines were really useful and helped me understand a bit more about commenting and how to do it 🙂
-Sarah http://sarahbnms.blogspot.co.nz/
I personally think that when you are correcting someone, don’t offend them and use positive language to correct them and just use positive language for all the comments you use.
Maria, here is my URL: http://mariaroom9bnms.blogspot.co.nz/
Dear Mrs. Smith,
Thank you for the detailed, interesting, information. Now I know how to write a better comment. Even thoght this is my second time competing in the Student Blogging Challenge, this will be very useful for me when I write a comment. After reading this, now I know that a comment should be about one paragraph long. I used to put about two or three sentances, so now I know that you should put five sentances instead. Thank you for sepending your time to write this post, it will be very usefull for many people (including me). Comment on my blog at
http://hongwanjimissionschool.edublogs.org
Thank you,
Naho
I wish we could visit your blog, Naho, but it is password protected!
For me, I think the most important guideline is to not share any personal information and to start a conversation with the person because giving a personal detail could be risky and the main purpose of writing a comment is to know the person better and to start a conversation with them. For me, I liked Liam’s blog and it is about his pets and his title is My pets. The most interesting thing for me was how many pets his family had. He had a snake, two budgies, chicken and a leopard gecko and most people who commented on that post followed the guidelines.