Is it Rude to Not Reply to Every Comment?
Perhaps it's my still brain still thawing out from a long Canadian winter or something but this morning a strange thought crossed my mind.. After being on Steemit for nearly a year I've noticed patterns within myself as well as other users in regards to frequency of replying to comments on their posts. I thought I'd break down my thoughts on the matter below.
There was a time when one was able to easily keep up with all of the comments from Steemit with little to no effort at all as they came in. Now what tends to happen is I'm seemingly less able to keep up with them as they come in and instead opt to every day or so try and "catch up" on replies to ensure no one is left unanswered.
Keep in mind I only have roughly 1000 followers (<3) at the moment and not every one of them engages every post. On average between 5 to 10 people comment on a post of mine it seems. Of course more posts submitted equals more comments from others which adds to the overall amount of time spent replying to comments or catching up increasing.
My question is this: Is it or do you find it rude when you don't get a reply on a comment?
Some users on here seemingly take next to no effort in replying to comments on their posts. While "Each to their own!" personally to me the experience is less "real" without the interaction and thoughts from other people. Sure, a person can write a great article but if the interaction between users isn't there it ends up turning into a soap box or podium rather than the social network it was originally intended to be. Just my $0.020 SBD anyways.
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I don't consider it rude, as I don't consider conversation a "right". Sure I can comment freely, but I don't know the receiver's situation, so I don't expect a genuine reply, or even a reply at all.
I however try to reply to all of the comments I get. I love community interaction, and if you read my introduction post, one of my main goals is to consistently upvote comments on my posts to foster conversation.
I always reply to all my comments , 90% of the time its an actual reply , the rest is just upvotes to let them know i actually took time to acknowledge their comment on stuff that requires no comment ! Followers will keep following you and upvote and comment more often if you always try to acknowledge them , and newbies are more likely to follow you , which is always good ! 👍👍👍
What a great thing that somebody actually took the time to open and read your post, insted of 'thats kyle', the name says give him a vote, I think that is something that is lacking on steemit, if you had to read before you paid at least you would know what you were paying for, at the moment it mostly paying for names. Depending on the reply, 'that's nice', a vote to show you have read it is enough. If someone makes the effort to ask a question, write a comment, it is polite to reply. If it was face to face you would make the effort so why not here.
Personally I make it a point to interact with anyone that responds on one of my posts. If I don't feel like what they said requires a written response I still upvote it so that they know I am at least acknowledging that I read what they said. I feel that if people are going to take the time to interact and show interest then I need to acknowledge that. It's not long ago that I recall exactly what it's like having no one interested in what I was saying.
I only get a few replies, which I'm thankful for but I don't know if I'd be happy with all my followers commenting on my posts. I'm really not that social...
It really depends on the situation... mostly revolving around whether the original post-- and subsequent commentary-- invites dialogue. That said, Steemit is a "social content site," and part of social-- at least to me-- implies a certain degree of back and forth conversation.
But is it actually rude to not respond to comments? Nah, I don't think so. Unless, perhaps, someone asks the OP a specific question with their comment.
Only respond to the comments that demand a response.
Kyle, that's a great question.
While I find that I reply to most comments, I do not always reply... It really depends on the comment itself. Some comments are pretty obviously just "spam" or really have no thought behind them. Others are "ending" comments, perhaps just a smile or a "yep."
In other words, I think its up to your own good judgement.
Of course, there are also those all too frequent times when someone may be just too darn busy to reply! I try to at least go back later, but may not always succeed.
Hope this helps? ;)
😄😇😄
It is not rude.
I don't find it rude, it's entirely situational. It would stand to reason that it would then be polite to reply to a reply, and so forth until an infinite loop is formed and no one wants to rudely end the comments. It's like refusing to end a phone conversation graciously and people just stay on the line...
Some comments engage more, pose a question, give some humor deserving of reply, etc and warrant a response. But at some point the conversation comes to a natural end, and that can be as soon as the first comment!
I firmly believe that authors more active in their replies build a better follower base though.