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Avoid the Label…

Spread the news – there is a new word on the street! Brought to you by Mike and the letter C:

Blurker (BLUR-kur): n. 1. One who reads many blogs but leaves no evidence of themselves such as comments behind; a silent observer of blogs. 2. One who reads many blogs but has no blog of their own; a blog-watcher or blog voyeur.

I know you’re out there. Want to shake that label off? Then leave comments! Leave them all over the place – here, there and everywhere! I read a post recently about “blog cliques” and that people don’t leave comments behind because they don’t feel part of the “group”. So here it goes … I’ll let you in on one of my big personal secrets. I have 3-4 “must-read” blogs that I hit daily no matter what. Sometimes several times a day. But after that, know what blogs I hit next? The people that have recently left comments!

So you want to increase your traffic? You want to meet new people and make new friends? Then don’t be a blurker! Come out, come out … wherever you are!

By Christine

Christine is an Avenger of Sexiness. Her Superpower is helping Hot Mamas grow their Confidence by rediscovering their Beauty. She lives in the Heights in Houston, Texas, works as a boudoir photographer, and writes about running a Business of Awesome. In her spare time, she loves to knit, especially when she travels. She & her husband Mike have a food blog at Spoon & Knife.

71 replies on “Avoid the Label…”

leaving entries like these make me feel totally blog-conscience… as if I am so un-noticed that I’m begging for proof that I’m not!
Props to you for letting the cat out of the bag in such high fashion.
BTW you’re always the first blog I check in my blogroll… (it’s all alphabetical!)

That’s always a perk of having an early in the alphabet domain!

But really, it’s not begging at all – if I didn’t want comments, I would turn them off. I love to hear from everyone though – even if I don’t know you yet. As Trish said, my comments is how I have found some of my absolute favorite reads!

I even like it when someone disagrees with me! I’m all for learning about a different point of view, and that’s the only way I can do it. I look at comments like a conversation – I don’t like shouting out and talking to myself all the time! So talk to me…

Hehe, I don’t know you submit words to the Wired Jargon watch thing, but that might be a fun thing to try 🙂 If I remember correctly, there was something blog-related in the last issue so it probably stands a good chance of getting in. 🙂

I do that too. I have favs that I read many time, probably way to many in one day and then I like to hit the reads that leave comments and blogsnob reads too.

I’m horrible at leaving comments and sometimes I just honesly don’t feel like it. LOL!

Ok Ok I confess!!!! I am a reformed blurker. I have kept an online journal for quite some time…but didn’t start participating in the blog scene until this summer. I am glad I did!

Heh, okay, you outted me, I was a blurker. I’m new on the blog scene, haven’t been keeping one for long, but am having a hell of a time. I need to know how to put links, etc. up on the side of the screen. Any tips? I love reading your blog, btw, it’s one that I check back on.

I didn’t know what a Blog was until yesterday. Apparently, I live in a cave, watching Barney Miller re-runs. Now I’m chasing down blogs everywhere. A whole Blog world I had no idea existed. I think I’m hooked.

I’ve been reading your blog for over a year now and it’s hard for me to go a day without it. I think I’ve turned your blog into my daily soap opera (since I don’t watch any, that is!) I don’t have my own, so you can’t go there, obviously. But, I live in Houston and hate it just as much as you do!

Can we blogify every word? Bokay. Here we blo… Forget the name of your favorite blog? Look it up in your Bloledex.

What should you write about tomorrow? Check your bloroscope.

Sexy bloggers tend to blog up my Windows.

okay… stop the finger pointing… 😛

i’m trying to comment more… honestly. it does help when you’ve met the person because now you can “hear” how they sound in their posts. i think that is just the coolest thing.

but here i am! 🙂 i will see you later tonight! woohoo!

Well, I was comfortable with my blurker status until you guilt-tripped me into commenting…..Mom! 🙂 I like your blog..it’s fresh and funny. I’ve been fascinated by personal blogs since ’97 when I stumbled upon one by a student in North Carolina. If I had more time, I’d have one myself.

I read alot of blogs and love comments on mine too but I can only say so much. I guess I need to relate to it to comment. There are tons of people that I’m reading that I’d like to chat with once in a while, I just don’t know how to go about it… you included 🙂

Okay, if anyone is an example of what can happen by leaving the “blurker” status in the midst, it’s me. All it took is for one person to tell me that it was the polite thing to do to leave a comment or two, here or there. THAT lead me to become a #1, runaway, unmitigated Comment Whore. And I truly liked being one. It was fun putting my 2 cents in on every topic under the sun, from the legalization of marijuana, to the assumed sexual proclivities of June Cleaver (assuming she had any). But that also lead me to be persuaded to become a bonifide blogger. And there was no turning back after that. So tread carefully. And remember: every exhibitionist needs a voyeur.

MWHAHAHAH!!

I make it a personal policy to reply to every comment posted in to my Blog. I think it is rude to not reply actually. getting instant reader feedback is one of the most powerful and exciting features that weblogs have is the close relationship of reader and writer. I will post my response to the site as a comment if it is right and and I will email them directly. Or at least write them a short email reply. But most readers are not that keen on the concept. On an average day I will have 500 Readers but only about 5 comments if that. But after I reply to them they will be more likely to comment in the future and become a steady reader. I also make it a habit to drop some comments in other weblogs that I read. I would have to say that about 95% of web log reading public is a Blurker but that is just my non scientific two cents.

Actually, I have to set the record straight. It was Angelo (my hubby) who coined the term while referring to me blurking all over the Houston blog sites. The quote on coffeecorner is from me too. (I’m clearly a Type 2 blurker.)

Mikey keeps trying to get me to come out, but I’m having too much fun blurking. 🙂

I’ve been talking about commenting today as well.

On the topic of Blurkers, hehe, I got a reader to comment the other day by asking him a question in one of my posts. I’d noticed that his site kept popping up in my referrals, yet he’d never said anything! From there we engaged in quite a healthy debate! All it takes is something to break the ice! 🙂

Chris mentioned trackbacking and not commenting. I think I’m the overkill queen – I usually do both!!!

Guilty! I never knew about blogging until my sister in law told me she was doing one and I could read it. I am hooked. There are a few on her list that I frequent nearly daily and yours is one although not as much as the others. Thanks for defining what I am although I do leave comments on hers and I left one on another one. 🙂

(sorry I hit “post” by accident)

What I was in the midst of saying is that I have been a fan for over a year since I first saw you on Robyn’s blog and have had you linked on both my blogs every since!

P. S. My brother is in Cancer Research school there in Houston and just raves about the city! Can’t wait to visit.

OK, I’m un-blurking, too… Read you a lot, never say anything, so I better come out of the closet… WAIT! I didn’t mean THAT! … Not that there’s anything wrong with that… well, anyway, Hi!

Hello, my name is tim (Hello Tim!)

And I am a blurker. (Applause)

acceptance is the first step in the blurker anonymous program. Wait, blurker anonymous is kind of repetative isn’t it?

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