There has been talk around the blogging community lately about blogger’s neurosis. Most of them have been very funny and light hearted, only a few have been serious. All kidding aside I suffer from several of these neurosis…one of which I am going to speak of in this post. I feel it is the most serious because it compromises my integrity. I am speaking about C.C.H.S.
“ The inability to discard worthless comments even though they appear to have no value is known as compulsive comment hoarding syndrome.”
Yes, I am not ashamed to admit it, I am a recovering compulsive comment hoarder. I would see comments in my editor and get giddy. I would give an immediate response of course hoping to open a comment dialog. This was so innocent in the beginning but soon I began checking for comments every hour of the day. It didn’t matter what they said as long as they were there. When this was not enough and I needed to find a bigger fix, I started going to other blogs and leaving comments with links to generate more commenter traffic (if you leave one for them they will leave one for you). One day I was sitting at my computer…. waiting for a comment as usual…. when one came in. I read it and checked it closely…. it was from a new reader….he said I was just what he was looking for and that he would be back…. my heart soared… finally a “FOLLOWER”….alas I noticed the comment was in my spam file. I have always deleted spam but for a moment I hesitated… cursor hovering over the delete button. Would it be so bad I thought…. I haven’t had one comment all day and I really really need this… I was sweating and my mouth went dry…Approve…. Delete… I couldn’t decide. That’s when I knew I had a problem.
From that moment I no longer obsess about comments (not much anyway…just on Tuesdays or Thursdays). I still crave them but not to excess (20 or 30 per post is usually fine). I only leave real comments on other bloggers sites now and do not expect them to reciprocate ( they could if they want to…it’s only nice). I never hesitate to delete spam now and I never will again…do any of you suffer from this. I eagerly await your comments…………………………………still waiting. Uh oh!
passions and soapboxes 
I got stuck at the part about leaving comments with links… I’ve never heard of this! How do you do it?! I see those link at the bottom of my post and I have no idea how they got there!! I’ve tried clicking it myself but it publishes directly to my blog! When I go to the linked blogs I don’t see anything generated to go back to mine… What is going on here! Fill me in, Oh-Wise-One!
Okay this is what you do…. Wait I see more comments…. gotta go…. your on your own.
This was hysterical! Only because I am right there with you. One day I realized I was crabby because I only got a few comments on a post. And then I thought…this is ridiculous!!! Now I am letting it affect my mood! I am not sure why I even care if people comment, I certainly didn’t start my blog for comments, I just wanted to write. Sigh. Oh this crazy blogging world!
Gibby,
I think we all say that in the beginning “I’m not in it for the approval” but after awhile we forget why we started blogging and just get carried away. Evenshine has some interesting talk going on about this at her blog.
I am new to the blogging ‘arena’ in so much as I just started my own blog this month, probably because I was craving more attention on my pictures. Well….. it’s the truth. Actually I never really thought I would have anything verbal to share, compared to the rest of the world. I started out with just a flickr site and thought it was funny how the comments come in on there. The first few days your picture is posted to a group, the tracker tells you how many views you have and once in a while someone leaves a comment. I got my first negative comment this past week, and I just was so sad. I took a picture of a flying bee, and no it wasn’t crystal clear, but I thought it was neat. I am a musician, not a professional photographer, just an amateur trying to learn and become better. So I check the comments, and some guy says, “Sorry, it’s just not clear”. That was it. I’m like, duh … I’m not a professional, I state that in my profile, I’m just sharing and having fun. So I went to his site and looked at his fuzzy hornet shots. He had comments galore on how great they were. Eeeew! Beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.
I kept trying to find the reason why someone out of the blue would bother with such a remark on the obvious? I crave constructive criticism that would help me become a better photographer. I guess being able to let go of the nonsense is all part of it too.
I deleted his comment and blocked him. Was that not a nice thing to do? He probably doesn’t care. So why and I still going on and on and on about it!!!
He deserved it…
Good that you blocked him! I enjoyed reading your comment :)
I understand–nice comments can really make one’s day! :)
yes comments in the blogging world, good or bad, have the same effect on us as in the non-blogging world. (notice how I did not say ‘real world’?)