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Thing 11

What do you like / dislike about leaving comments? How did you feel when you received your first comment? Why do you think commenting is so important in online communities? What might this mean for students who share their writing online?

The only thing I dislike about leaving comments is when some glitch occurs and my post that took 5.5 minutes to write won't post.

When I went online with my blog in July of '07 my first comment was from some stranger. While her words were positive and encouraging I was a bit pissed because none of my friends or acquaintances posted. To this day, I still have friends who have never posted a comment on here. It's a bit narcissistic, but I want to know what they think. That's why I write. Well, I also write because of some strange compulsion to tell a story (with fiction) but yes, there's that painting of Narcissuss hanging here too (how do you spell his name?).

Commenting is important because feedback is important in thinking and writing. One should be told that one is crazy or brilliant--just not "nice"! I won't go so far as to say this creates community, because it doesn't, but blogging does allow voices from people that you would otherwise never have heard.

What does this mean for students? To quote the Vigilantes of Love (and one of my favorite songs) "You'd better wear your thickest skin."

Comments

JSB said…
Your words were on target and eloquent. It's easy to sit behind a computer and interact. It's the face to face stuff that is hard. You can type and change it a thousand times but words between humans can't always be deleted. I went to Christmas in the Village in Manchester last night because my 4 yr old was riding on a float, I was dreading it because it was cold and Friday. She was joyous. Lot's of people came out, houses were decorated, the village was magical. That's community. People caring and creating because we want our children to have experiences that enrich their lives.
I saw you were searching for land in Washtenaw...there's plenty in Manchester. We live on a dirt road, sand hill cranes fly over our heads and deer sleep in our yard.
Scot said…
Find me something we can afford and you've just earned yourself a bird-dog fee.
Mrs. Mac said…
I totally agree with your thoughts about "being tough skinned" and all that. Posting publicly opens a person up to criticism as well as praise, and I could see some of my students getting very upset by other people's comments. A teacher must take caution in requiring comments because there will undoubtedly be a case of someone taking a comment the wrong way.

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