Comments?

I have a question for you guys regarding comments. When I post a comment to another blog, I rarely go back to see if someone has replied to something I have written.  Because of that I hardly ever reply to comments left to me in the comments section of my blog and prefer to reply  personally to a comment.

What about you? Does anyone know what the etiquette is for commenting?
Do you all go back and read comments and carry on a conversation through the comments section?

I'm wanting to know just out of curiosity as well as for the blog article I'm writing.

Thank you!

Comments

[kukorakin]

I never go back and check for a reply if I post to someone's blog. I just forget. On my blog if I have a reply for someone I email them personally. I think that's the proper thing to do. I never gave it much thought until I read someone's blog before where they had a big rant and was mad as all hell that someone responded back through comments. So it must be bad to do it that way I'm guessing.

[janee]

I reply privately via email unless it's something that I think other people would really like to know too, then I reply via email as well as in the comments section.

I go back and read the comments sections in those blogs that I know the person replies via the blog.

If you respond with email, at least you KNOW the person sees your response.

[Paige Keiser]

I've been replying through the comments, but might change to the email thingy-ma-jiggy. Good question Roz! I was interested in hearing reponses myself.

[Bea]

I´ve been replying through the comments, too. But I think it really is very impractical as you have to check the comments on other peoples blogs again and that takes a lot of time. Does blogger support the reply via email? I don´t know.

[Chris Barton]

Not every comment warrants a reply -- some include questions to be answered, but some are just meant to be read. So, I don't reply to every one. When I do reply, it's almost always through the comments themselves, the exceptions being when someone is clearing trying to have a personal conversation with me ("Chris, has that [embarrassing medical condition] cleared up?").

As for other blogs that I comment on, if I'm curious to see whether my comment received a reply, or what other commenters had to say, I'll mark that blog post as "Keep New" in Bloglines so that I'll have a reminder to go back to it later.

[Holly]

Wow! This is a great post especially because I am new to this blogging thing. It sounds like e-mail may be the way to go. I always leave a little note of thanks on my comments section for their support as well. Thanks for this.

[Anastasia]

This is why I moved to LJ - if someone comments on a post in my Live Journal blog - LJ sends me a copy of the original post, their reply and LJ info and this:

"From here, you can:

View the thread starting from this comment
View all comments to this entry
Reply at the webpage
Delete the comment"

*And all of these choices are CLICKABLE! So I just click on the one and want and it whisks me right there. And if THEY reply to MY reply - it happens all over again!

:-) Anastasia

[Laura]

My LJ blog is an active group of writers, so if I post today, the comments are usually made today. So, it does get conversational.
But mostly I forget to check back, unless I am interested in the response, like an answer to a posted question.
Some blogs I always check out, like YOURS!!
Laura

[Hanna]

I don't go back reading old stuff, but I like it when somebody reply to my comment with a thank you or answer a question via e-mail or comes to my blog to answer the question there. Sometimes, but not allways, I reply to comments on my on blog via e-mail never in the comment section since I don't think people would notice it.

[Dee]

When I first started commenting on people's blogs, they would reply to me on their comment section. Usually when someone comments on my blog, I'll respond to them in the comment section because sometimes more than one person has a similar comment or question.
However, if someone asks me a question (and I have their email) I'll email them. I think email is the next step in a blogging friendship, and it feels more personal.

[roz]

Thanks everyone, that helps a lot to know how you all are handling it.