muddy the waters, why dontcha?

Betcha thought I forgot about our little Facebook discussion a few weeks ago. Well, I didn't. I'm just really lazy and never felt like recapping the survey. All those screen shots, you know? Phew. That's some work. But then again, it's a jerk move to beg you all to vote and then hoard the results to myself. I couldn't do it. So here we go! The results! Also...I realize that to make these little charts big enough that you can actually read them, the pictures will 'bleed' over into my right-hand side bar. I'm sorry about that. But I think it's a lesser evil than having to click to enlarge every single picture. Soooo...yeah.

So THANKS FOR THE ENORMOUSLY SPLIT OPINION! Sheesh! Haha.

I don't think I really need to summarize this stuff-- those of you that chose to elaborate did a great job of explaining yourselves!

I thought this was interesting: basically no one (that voted) likes blog FB pages because of the ability to see updated posts...it's all about the extra interaction! Who knew?

This is pretty self-explanatory. Don't you like how I minced no words with my option choices here? Tell me how you REALLY feel, people!! (and you did!)

I like how one person is getting so disillusioned by my survey that four questions in, they've decided to just rid themselves of FB altogether. HAHAHAHAHA. Not my intent at all, I swear!!! 

HA! So your conclusion is that you mostly hate blog FB pages, you REALLY hate seeing the 'new post!' thing in your newsfeed, you MAYBE think I should make a page anyway, but ONLY IF IT'S GOING TO BE AWESOME. I mean, no pressure. NO PRESSURE AT ALL.

So while truly this survey (like the one about commenting systems) only served to muddy the waters, it was still fun to see all the honest responses...and I was truly shocked by how many people were not fans of seeing the 'updated post' things! That really doesn't bother me at all (unless it's like multiple reminders a day...that's annoying), so that was really interesting to me!

Obviously I have not started a blog FB yet...not sure whether I will or not, but the added pressure to only do it if I can make it awesome is definitely daunting. Since apparently just reminding you that I've posted is not going to be enough to qualify it as awesome, I'm going to have to do some serious soul searching to think of what I could do that would take it up to that required level of awesomeness to make it worth it. Would amazing pictures of vacation do? Mojito of the day photos? Ha. 

And you may recall that there was a final question completely unrelated to the rest of the survey that I have not mentioned. Obviously the topic of that question was far more important than the rest of the survey and cannot be lumped in with today's post. It deserves a discussion all of its own, so just hold your breath and pray that you voted correctly lest my scathing remarks burn you straight to the depths of your soul. For someone as generally apathetic about polarizing topics as I am, I have surprisingly strong feelings about this one. Get ready. 

mud

Lest I be accused of being unable to organize my thoughts around a theme, please watch in awe as I attempt to write a post around the concept of mud in all of its literal and figurative senses. 

It's cool and rainy this week (and predicted to stay that way through the weekend). It certainly doesn't feel anything like Georgia in August, but it's a nice respite from...well, from a summer that has had very few complaint-worthy hot days to start with. Last night we took advantage of the cool weather (and prayed for the rain to hold out for a few hours) by walking to dinner at the Mexican restaurant, which is about 5.5 miles round-trip. We cut through some trails in the woods which was possibly not the smartest idea given the frequent rain. It was so muddy. I'm telling myself that it made the walk an extra-good workout, since my feet literally sunk down into the mud with every step and I had to heave them back out and plop them down again, only to sink down into the next patch of mud. It was crazy. Luckily I was wearing my non-cute Asics (no neon) that were already ugly and dirty, so it was no big deal. Just crazy. I've been walking those trails for four years now and never seen this much mud!

The triathlon is on Sunday. We spent most of the summer trying to mentally prepare for how hot it would be and how best to dress/prepare for the brutal 7am Georgia heat. Who woulda thought that the forecast is for rain and a high of 72??! And with much of this week being just like that, I'm guessing the lake water could be downright chilly (and VERY muddy)! Craziness. Luckily only Matt will have to deal with that, as my role at the triathlon this weekend is going to be spectator. That's right. 2013 will be the year that I trained for a tri...and...that's about it. :) I would like to blame patellar tendonitis and my inherent inability to stick with a sport for more than 3 months on my flaking out. It's okay though. I'm good with it. I will give myself an A for effort and declare myself to be a little bit badass. You know. Badass enough to want to do a tri. Just lacking in follow-through. Oh well! Join me on Sunday at 7 in cheering on Matt! You can do it from the comfort of your bed, though. No judgment.

Thanks for all your votes and opinions on the blog Facebook survey! Unfortunately, all you've managed to do is severely muddy the waters. Seriously. I've never seen less of a consensus about ANYTHING!! So far it seems like the general thinking is that no one inherently loves blog FB pages, you REALLY don't like your newsfeeds being clogged with 'new post!' reminders, but you think that I probably should start my own blog FB page, but DEFINITELY only if it's going to be awesome. So...thanks. No pressure or anything. And then the superhero thing? I'm just saying. I had no idea so many of you had such terrible taste in superheros. The WRONG superhero was winning for awhile, but finally the right guy has come out (barely) in front. Apparently people who like him are late voters? Ha! All that to say-- voting is still open...I'm hoping that the late-late weekend voters will come out in droves and provide some true enlightenment on the (FB) issue. Feel free to go vote again if you've had any mind-changing or are feeling extra passionate about something today! (Or you've seen the light in the err of your ways regarding superheroes...)

Finally, Mud. Did you know there's a Matthew McConaughey movie by that name? Last weekend (pre-cotton candy) my sisters-in-law and I noticed that it was playing in the local cheap theater. We were contemplating going to see it. When other family members were innocently commenting that they'd never heard of that movie and asking what it was about, here was my answer: "Matthew McConaughey." And the funny thing is that that is a PERFECTLY acceptable and reasonable answer to the ladies of my generation. Oh! The movie is about Matthew McConaughey? Perfect, count me in. There is no need for a plot recap, or a trailer, or a recommendation from The Academy. But people in other demographics apparently don't get that. "But what's it ABOUT?" Ummm...Matthew McConaughey. Didn't I already say that? 

Anyway. Just an interesting observation. We didn't end up going to see it (due to the cotton candy, of course), but it's still on my list. 

Have a lovely (and cold and rainy, if you're in Georgia) weekend!! Cheer hard for Mattie on Sunday! (And thanks for all your cheering for us yesterday. Yall are awesome.)

to like or not to like...

So since it's been almost an entire month since my last Great Blogging Debate, I figured it was time for another one.

But before we start, how about two pictures of Things That Are Super Attractive?

Men reading books to babies.

Men reading instruction manuals when they put stuff together (cotton candy machines, especially).

Alright. Now you can't say I never show you hot guys on my blog. Since I'm normally just inundated with complaints about that...not.

SO!

How do you feel about Facebook fan pages for blogs?

Are you a fan, so to speak?

I used to be really anti. I guess I thought it was pointless. I already know how to follow blogs, so if the main point of a blog Facebook page is to tell me that there are new posts, then I don't need that. And then I wasn't really sure what any of the other 'points' of them even were...or if there were any other points. I guess I thought it seemed kind of narcissistic? Like...oooooh you have a billion 'followers' AND now you have a billion 'likes'....aren't YOU hot stuff!!!! Oh I also didn't 'get' it because it seemed like it was double-following people...if I am already FB friends with you and then I follow your blog, too...then...please stop clogging my newsfeed with the same thing TWICE. That's annoying.

So obviously my long-term history with liking blogs on FB has been more of a dislike. I still DID it...mainly when I would 'like' someone to enter a giveaway or something...or if it was a personal friend and I would have felt bad not liking them...or something. But it was always a bit begrudging. 

But then.

Lately, I've started really liking some of the blog pages I follow. I'm starting to see bloggers using their FB pages constructively and well and it's actually a welcome addition to my social media consumption and not just an annoyance. These are the things I see people doing that makes me like blog FB pages:

1) USE IT FOR MORE THAN JUST SHARING UPDATED POSTS. That's probably honestly the #1 thing. When they share actual new material (whether it be pictures (NOT just auto-posted from IG and Twitter)), interesting articles, or just status updates...I like when I feel like I get something 'extra' and beyond their blog. I also like being able to easily interact with them there (you know, commenting on whatever they're sharing).

Umm...I think I wrapped up all of my 'likes' into #1. I guess everything I like is just a subset of liking that I'm getting something 'extra.' I like seeing the random thoughts or pictures that never make it to a blog post. Being able to see more regular glimpses into their days and thoughts...it's really fun!

And ever since I started noticing how much I liked that, I started seeing areas in my own life where I was wishing I had that. Because my regular Facebook- let's face it. When I was a senior in college and FB was just starting, you friended everyone you ever knew. So my FB is totally junked up with people I haven't spoken to in 20 years...people I never actually liked in the first place...people I just met last week...you know what I mean. And so I use it and I share stuff, but always with the knowledge that the people seeing it probably don't really know me. And so I hesitate to really be 'me', you know? I don't know, it's weird (except you probably know exactly what I mean). So sometimes I wish I had a different FB for just people who know (and like) the current and real me. So I could share stuff and they'd know where I was coming from. And I figure...if you read this blog even semi-regularly, then you pretty much know the real me. So maybe this would be an outlet for that.

Plus-- I'm not friends with the vast majority of YOU on Facebook. And sometimes I see something funny or read an interesting article or whatever and I'm like 'ahhh I wish my blog friends could see that, they would love/hate/laugh at it!!'...but I mean, if it's not enough to develop into an actual blog post, then it all just falls by the wayside. But if I had a blog FB...it wouldn't have to, you know?

So anyway. You know a survey is imminent, since you know me. This one has more questions than normal (including one extremely important BONUS and completely unrelated question at the end), but I trust you can handle it. I'm also going to turn on threaded commenting for today, in case there is discussion to be had on this topic. Who knows! Feel free to share, even if you really hate blog FB pages and you're secretly groaning inside 'oh pleeeeeaaaase Erika, do NOT make a blog FB page!!! Pleeeeaassseee!!!!'...then I think you should share that. All opinions are welcomed here. I mean, except for wrong opinions. On the last question. Obviously those are discouraged.

GO!

the people. they spoke.

Alright...guess it's 'bout time to wrap up my week-long 'comment-gate,' eh?

We discussed. I surveyed. You responded. I experimented and soul-searched. I lamented having to make a decision. But I tried to make one anyway.

First: the survey results!

As you can see (if your vision is awesome), 45 people filled out the survey. Or well...there were 45 responses. I suppose it could have been 20 really zealous people doing it multiple times. But since I said that was okay, I can't really judge you for doing that...and I'm too lazy to go examine all of the IP addresses (the only identifying information I can glean from the responses) to even see if that happened. SO! 45 people. And such a close race! Basically a 3-way tie between liking pop-up, liking threaded, and not caring at all. So thanks for nothing there! Ha. I was really hoping for a landslide one way or the other...but that's okay. Democracy is democracy.

Then there are 10 people who will be receiving checks for millions of dollars in the mail because they are so awesome they took the time to check the suck-up box ("I love commenting so much I'd do it via smoke signals and carrier pigeons if that were the only option!"). And there are 2 people that should be sleeping with one eye open because they took the time to check the hater box ("I would never, ever, under any circumstances leave a comment here, not even for a million dollars"). I mean, just kidding. I'm a pacifist. I think.

Four people took the time to leave additional commentary, which is always commendable:

The conclusions I drew from the survey are:
1) Making surveys is super fun and I'm going to start doing them a lot more often about things hopefully just as important and life-changing as comment systems.

2) Most people are amazed, and not necessarily in a good way, by how much time I've spent thinking about the whole thing. Which is understandable. I kind of amazed even myself. And not necessarily in a good way.

3) There is no clear-cut winner in the 'commenting system' debate.

In the two or so days that I fully embraced the 'threaded' thing, posting almost all of my comment responses back on the blog, threaded in the comment section, it was fun to see more reader interaction with each other. I liked the little sub-conversations that developed. BUT. It was extremely time-consuming for me. Because instead of simply replying to you via email, which I can do anywhere at any time from my phone, and takes probably 2-4 seconds depending on what I'm saying...I had to actually GO to the blog and write the comment there. Which sounds dumb, but I know I'm not the only one that hates commenting on blogs from my phone. So I had to be at a computer. And then there was this added pressure to respond to every single comment really quickly because like...everyone could see if I had or not? Does that make sense? If I'd responded to 5 comments and then left the room for an hour (or had to like, actually WORK) and came back to find 5 NEW comments that it looked like I was publicly ignoring...I felt really bad! Versus when I respond through email...I can do it when I have a chance and no one knows whether or not I've responded to all the other comments. I don't know. Maybe nobody cares about that except me, but it stressed me out. I also didn't like that you wouldn't get an email notification that I'd responded to you unless you 'subscribed,' but then you'd get notifications of EVERY SINGLE COMMENT...which...let's face it, one of those posts had like 51 comments (with half of them being from me). I cringe to think of how annoyed I would be if I got 51 email notifications about people commenting on someone else's blog. So then I would try responding via email AND on the blog, for the people that I know probably won't come back to see it later, and like...whoa. I work full-time. Don't nobody have time for dat.

So then for the last few days, I've left the comments open as 'threaded,' but gone back to my old way of only responding via email. So a few of you have still taken advantage of 'commenting on comments' or whatever and keeping conversations going there, but not a whole lot. So it seems like if I'm not going to be responding there, it doesn't really make much of a difference whether I leave it as threaded or go back to pop-up.

So I'm going to go back to pop-up commenting. I just like how it looks better, honestly (and how you don't have to lose your 'reading spot'). I'll continue responding to comments through email (and now that a lot of you have fixed your no-reply status, you won't be left out of THAT massive privilege...haha) because I just like that better. I feel like I've built so many good friendships through the conversations we get going through email, and due to the sometimes-sensitive nature of the topics here, a lot of those conversations would not happen out 'in public'...the privacy of email conversations is pretty useful sometimes.

HOWEVER! Since I have discovered that it's extremely easy to switch back and forth between the two systems, I'm not opposed to switching to threaded for an occasional post that is particularly conversation-worthy. As some folks pointed out, sometimes threaded commenting is extremely valuable for something like a food/recipe blog (not that I'm going in that direction), where people ask questions, offer tips on a recipe, etc. I also like it for when people are recommending products or something...so, it may happen that sometimes I'll switch it over for a particular topic or something. But for the most part, I'm going back to pop-up. And I can certainly still respond IN the pop-up commenting (if there's a question that needs clarifying, or if I really want to reply to someone with no-reply status whom I can't reach by email), it just doesn't LOOK like a nice little indented response...but that's okay. I guess if people ARE checking back later to see if I've responded, they'll see it whether or not it's 'threaded' or not.

And THAT is, I believe, all that I have to say on the topic. I know. You thought I'd never shut up. I promise to never overthink something this much again. Haha that's a lie. But hopefully it won't be something as trivial as blog commenting next time.

I can't have another entire post solely devoted to this nonsense, so I have a final thing to share before we leave.

If you were to stop by my office over the past few weeks, you would have found me slowly being driven insane by fruit flies. WHY? I don't know. It's an office. Not a commercial kitchen. Not a peach tree farm. A stinkin' office that I keep really clean. So why I've been suddenly inundated with fruit flies, flaunting their astonishing ability to rapidly procreate in my face, I don't know. But I've tried a few different methods of getting rid of them, and I wanted to share the winner (wait- can you believe I didn't create a survey about fruit-fly-killing-methods and bug (HAHA PUNNY) you for a week about what I should try? PROGRESS!!!).

This is the 'bait in a cup covered with plastic wrap with a tiny hole' method. As the name suggests, put your 'bait' (a tomato here...I've also used syrup and peaches) in a cup, cover the cup tightly with Saran wrap, poke a tiny hole in the Saran wrap, and wait. The flies will find their way in through the hole, as they smell that tasty (molding) tomato. Then once their in, they can't find their way out. Except for one of mine did, once. He was an industrious little fella. But for the most part, they can't. I pretty much wait til I have a few flies trapped and then tape over the little hole and throw the whole thing away. And set a new one. It's not the most beautiful decoration for my office, but it's a heck of a lot better than having swarms of flies in your face all day.

So there you have it. If you have any other fruit-fly tips, feel free to share. This method is working for now, but I fear that the next generation (in about fifteen minutes, I guess) may have evolved to be even stronger and smarter and maybe they won't fall for the ol' 'bait in a cup covered with plastic wrap with a tiny hole' method. I need a backup plan in my arsenal.

Happy Wednesday! Our first Chinese student arrives this afternoon...I'm nervous and excited!! 

updates, and my first screenplay

I really appreciate yall humoring me this week. Who knew I would launch Comment-Gate on you without any warning like that? Ha! Anyway. Let's be honest: commenting systems are like...extremely low on the list of Things That Matter in the World. And actually even pretty low of list of Things That Matter in My Life. But thanks for joining me in over-thinking it to death this week. And for VOTING!! So far 43 people have voted, which I think is more than turned out for the last presidential election in America, so I'm pretty happy about that! The vote is way closer than I had anticipated, so I'm going to not call this race just yet. Perhaps I'll reveal the results over the weekend. In the meantime, feel free to keep voting!

Let's see. In other, non-comment-system news...

-One of our Chinese visitors emailed us back last night! He seems very sweet (?? that is probably not okay to describe a man in his mid-20s, is it. Kind? Friendly?) and his written English is fantastic, so that's good! (Then again, not surprising. He's coming to grad school in America...where classes will be in English...so if you can handle graduate-level physics in English, I'm guessing a friendly email is fairly manageable) He is going to be arriving even earlier than we'd expected- Tuesday! Like, the one that's next week! Yikes! So now we have even less time to prepare (our other student is arriving on Friday the 26th). He did, however, comment that Lola is 'lovely' (we sent pictures) and that he looks forward to meeting her, so I think we are all gonna get along juuuuust fine.

-Guess what coffee-table book I got for free yesterday?

Oooh yes. Indeed. I found it in the little free book exchange thing in downtown Athens. I'm sure you're familiar with the blog, but apparently they turned it into a book (which then someone gave away to the free book exchange, so do with that what you will). So obviously I snatched it up and brought it back to work where we proceeded to waste a nice chunk of time laughing at people. I generously donated the book to our break room so that people have something hilarious to look at while they eat their lunch. Also, it looks like they seriously published this book on Shutterfly. It looks exactly like the photo books I've made of vacations and family weddings. Then again...well, yeah. I don't know what else I'd expect from a photos-with-captions blog trying to write a book, so whatever. Do whatcha gotta do, I guess.

-I have turned into a terrible wannabe triathlete-trainee. Seriously. You have probably noticed that I have the sports-commitment of a flea (I think that metaphor is going to start catching on...) and currently tri training is not NEARLY as fun as tennis, so it's taking a backseat. Which is dumb if I think I'm still going to compete, but there you have it. I like to do what's currently most fun to me, and as long as I can limit that tendency to the exercise arena (versus using that philosophy with, say, jobs...money...relationships...things that MATTER...), I don't really see a problem. I felt a tiny bit guilty going to the tennis court yesterday afternoon when it was finally sunny and I really SHOULD HAVE been riding my bike or running...but whatever. Tennis is my favorite sport du jour and so maybe I'll do the tri and maybe I'll punk out. At any rate, my knee is still giving me too many problems to run, so this is probably better than just doing nothing, right? (Well, unless resting would allow it to actually get better...but that's just not an option.)

-I watched the last half-hour of SharkNado last night. It was as ridiculous as I had anticipated. That kind of laughter is good for the soul.  I wish I had been in the meeting where they thought of this whole concept. "Alright, guys...what are two REALLY SCARY things that we can blend together to make THE SCARIEST THING EVER? And then we'll get a fourth grader to do our special effects using Microsoft Paint and IT'S GONNA BE AWESOME!!" If it were me thinking of the things I'm most scared of, you woulda been watching BirdHotelBeds. So just be thankful I wasn't in the meeting, because NO ONE could handle that scary of a film.

The skinny, vapid blonde girl and her meathead husband enter their luxurious hotel room, giggling and flirting as they unlock the door and stumble through the doorway, dropping their luggage. As they lay down to sleep off their jetlag (my movie is PG, guys), Blondie's hair fans out on the pristine white pillowcase. As the first snores escape Meathead's mouth (nostrils?), we glimpse the sheets starting to move strangely. As the violin music crescendos, we see the sheets transform into a giant flock of birds. Blood splatters the IKEA wall art as the birds mercilessly peck Blondie and Meathead and savagely touch them with their wings. And feet. Blondie's shrieks drown out the violins as we fade to black.

And with that, I'm gonna get back to my day job. Have a good weekend. Good luck sleeping, and may God help any of you who might find yourself in a hotel bed...

let the people speak!

There's been a lot of good dialogue about commenting systems the past two days. I appreciate everyone's feedback and passion about the topic! Unfortunately, so far all of that dialogue has only served to muddy the waters for me as far as which system to stick with. Therefore I thought that the best thing to do would be to utilize that most democratic method of making decisions and put it to a vote.

We've had a few days to test it out. Hopefully you had a chance to respond in a thread and hit 'subscribe' and see what happened. Maybe you discovered that you were previously a 'no-reply' person and you've fixed that! Wherever you are in your personal blog commenting journey, I hope that you will take your experiences and beliefs and VOTE! Because we all know I can't just make a decision on my own. That would be insane.

So here's the one-question survey I created! Lucky for everyone, you can check as many boxes as you feel you need to. I know it can be really limiting to only be able to choose one thing, so I wouldn't put you through that. Also, I'm guessing you could vote as many times as you wanted (don't think there's any way to limit that?). I would ask that you keep your number of votes proportionate to your passion for that vote. If you really don't care, vote once. If you have a REALLY HUGE AMOUNT OF LOVE for one side, you probably should vote a couple extra times. Isn't this the fairest way? Per this system, I would have voted zero to one times in each of the last 10 elections about politicians and eleven times to legalize Sunday alcohol sales. Same thing. (Which even with me only voting once, Sunday sales passed, so BOOYAH. But I've digressed.)

Now, vote! Let your voice be heard!! Be the master of your own commenting destiny (here, anyway)!! And may the best commenting system win!

Also, as a reward for voting, I'm not going to give you something lame, like a sticker...come on, seriously? I feel really confident all of you are older than three and are basically not impressed by stickers. I think your prize will be some kind of awesome neon workout clothing. And some Mexican food. Basically two of the greatest loves of my life. Am I generous or what?

PS. I love surveys. I think I need more surveys on this blog. What do you want to be surveyed about next?

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

a civil debate

It's true. Today I call for some civil debate. But don't worry. It's not about anything controversial. Well, scratch that. Maybe it's controversial. But it's not like...emotionally-charged, morally-driven debate. If this were Facebook, you wouldn't be feeling the need to hide me from your newsfeed. No one's gonna make any groan-inducing memes out of this topic. It's fairly inconsequential. But before we get to it, first I must share something else.

Last week on my earth-shattering revelation post about workout fashion Amanda S. left a comment that got me all puffed up with happiness and pride: she said that over the past few months, with all my talk about tri training and silly fitness blabber, I have inspired her to start running for the first time in years! She even compared me to a personal trainer!! And after I pulled myself off the floor and dried my laughter-sourced tears, I felt really happy because hey! I inspired someone to do something actually good! Normally I feel like my inspiration is limited to like...telling you about ridiculous TV shows and other such inconsequential things. But somehow the extremely un-athletic ME inspired someone to get fit! And so I was really excited. So I replied to her and we went back and forth, but then she sent me this email last night and people-- I died. So with Amanda's permission, please enjoy her detailed description of both the inspiration I provided AND way more importantly, her current workout fashion choices:

I'm sorry, but if you don't keel over with ridiculous laughter as you picture her in her 7th grade shetland sheepdog t-shirt, you're doing life wrong. That is amazing. I think I want to start my own What Not to Wear show focusing solely on workout fashion, and Amanda is going to be the subject of my first intervention. :) But at least she recognizes her questionable choices. That's like 80% of the battle, I think. But anyway. I did reply to her that I am now going to plan my own nation-wide tour of 5K races that have a shetland sheepdog t-shirt theme. I expect to see all of you there. 

Anyway. That was too funny to not share, so many thanks to Amanda for a) making those amazing fashion choices and b) letting me blab them to the whole interwebz.

And this is somewhat slightly related to my debate topic for today. Ready for it?

Blog Commenting: Pop-up Window versus Threaded Commenting.

If you're unsure what either of those things means, then please dash off and do some quick Googling before we proceed. Or just look at two examples (whom I did not ask for permission to use as examples, but I trust that they won't care): Allison uses pop-up window commenting. Kara uses threaded.

Up until yesterday afternoon, I've always used pop-up window. I've argued on behalf of pop-up. I've rolled my eyes, sighed heavily, and judged people for not using pop-up. And then yesterday I changed my own blog's commenting to threaded. Here's my issue/thinking.

I like the interaction that comes with commenting. Love it. I love how thoughtful and funny and amazing yall's comments are and I love the conversations they inspire. I try very hard to respond to most comments whenever possible and appropriate. And then sometimes you email back and the conversation continues and it's so much fun and I feel like I've built so many good friendships out of this back-and-forth exchange. 

But here's the thing. I respond to comments via the email notification I get. I do not spend all day staring at my own blog-- but I almost always have access to my email, so when I get a notification, I can easily hit 'reply' and respond, answer your questions, or whatever. But only if I know your email address. Otherwise you are what is known as a 'no-reply blogger.' I've ranted about this before-- please go here to find out more about this phenomenon and how to fix it. Hint: if you almost NEVER get email replies from other bloggers, this is most likely the reason why. Go investigate. Now, if I still really REALLY want to reply to you and I have the time, I might investigate further: if you have your own blog linked to your profile, I might go to your blog and hunt there for an email address (like on your Contact Me page). But if your email isn't easily locate-able on your blog (or you don't have a blog linked to your profile), then I'm pretty much stuck. And I'm sad! Especially if your comment was a question, or a good insight, or whatever...I feel bad that I can't respond! But oh well. 

SO: some bloggers choose to just respond back in the same comment section of their own blog. I get that. But here's the thing: I never, ever go back and re-read the comments on a blog I commented on. I comment on dozens of blogs every day. Don't nobody have time to go back to dozens of blogs and look at dozens of comment sections to see if people responded back in the comment section! If you respond to me and it doesn't get delivered to my email inbox, I'm never gonna know. And I assume most people are similar to me in that fashion. I would never expect you to come back to my blog AGAIN and re-read all the comments just to see if I might have answered a question there. That just seems weird to me. (But correct me if I'm wrong and people DO do that!) (Doo doo. Heh heh.)

So here's where threaded commenting comes in handy: If you enable threaded commenting, you can choose to be notified if someone (not just the blog author) responds to a comment you made. You better just go check out Kara's blog to see what I mean (well, you won't be able to see that these people are ALSO getting email notifications of responses to their comments, but they are). So when she responds to a commenter, a) they find out, b)it posts for everyone to see (so like, if she's answering a question that many people might be thinking, everyone sees the answer at once and doesn't have to keep wondering), c)commenters can interact with one another and ask each OTHER questions and be notified of it (versus being able to directly interact with ONLY the blog author), and d) the whole thing is way more fun. I love reading her blog and like 50% of the reason is that reading the comments is so much fun. I don't know how she finds so many funny people to comment, but dang-- it's just enjoyable. 

So yesterday, when I received a very kind comment and thoughtful question from a commenter, but was unable to find a way to respond, I got mad and changed to threaded commenting. Since I made the change after the fact (that is, after the person had written the comment), I have no idea whether it still notified her that I responded. But now I find myself pondering which way to leave the comments. There are pros and cons to each method.

Pros to Pop-Up Commenting:
-#1 pro is that you don't leave the page you were on-- comment box appears in a new window, you comment, close the window, and are exactly where you left off. This is really great if you're reading through a bunch of posts...you don't lose your spot! 
- I feel like it loads faster. You just load a tiny little box, not reload the whole page you were on.

Cons to Pop-Up:
-Not much interaction between commenters. Sometimes one of you will say 'like So and So said, I think _____' and So and So will never know that you agreed with her. Or if you have a question for why So and So thinks that, she'll never know you asked. 

Pros to Threaded Commenting:
-Basically the opposite of the Cons to Pop-Up. :) Interaction between all parties
-Can acknowledge/respond to people that don't have blogs/email addresses linked to their profiles

Cons to Threaded:
-MAJOR CON: Artificially inflates the comment count. It will count MY responses as 'comments' as well...so basically if 3 people comment and I respond to each comment in the thread, it looks like I got 6 comments. That's stupid. I didn't get 6 comments. And that would just really bother me.
-not sure about this one, but I think I would have to go TO my blog to respond in the thread? I could be wrong though (haven't tried yet)...maybe if I responded from my email, it would appear in the thread? Once yall start commenting today, I'm going to try both ways and see what happens. If I had to go back to the blog to comment, that would be a major con.

Okay. Sorry for all of the words today. Obviously I've been thinking about it a lot since changing it yesterday. What are your thoughts? Why do you have your comments threaded/pop-up? Which should I do? Will you race in my shetland sheepdog-themed 5K? Do you feel lied to if you see someone has 42 comments and then discover that 30 of them are actually their own? HELP ME PEOPLE.

PS. I have zero interest in installing Disqus or any other kind of third-party commenting system. Unless you have some life-shattering revelation about those things...I pretty much hate them and typically avoid leaving comments on blogs that use them because they annoy me so much. So there's that. (And if you have a blog that uses Disqus and I've commented on it...consider yourself very, very special.)