Pet Peeves.... about blog comments

I love getting comments at my various blogs, and I love leaving comments at other people's. But the fine art of blog commenting has given rise to a few Pet Peeves. OK, more than a few Pet Peeves...

I hate:

1. Comments that begin with the phrase “too bad” - as in “Too bad this post sucks”. It always strikes me as a particularly snarky way of saying “I’m about to put you down in a really snooty and superior way”. Yeah, too bad I'm going to delete your comment…

2. Comments that end with the phrase, “Just sayin’” i.e. “Isn’t that a typo in the second paragraph? Just sayin’”.

3. People who leave comments pointing out typos and spelling errors, again in that overly superior way. Sometimes this fault can be aggregated by turning it into: “Too bad you made a spelling error in the second paragraph. Just sayin’”

4. People who observe a typo and go through a stupid pantomime of pretending not to know what you mean because of it. “A clique? Oh, do you mean ‘a cliché’? Ah, I get it now!” So I always spell “cliché” wrong. So what? At least I don’t spend my time pointing out people’s spelling mistakes on the Internet.

5.  Use of the phrase “If you had done your HOMEWORK you would know…" especially when I DID do my homework, and I DO know...

6. Comments which start with the phrase, “I don’t mean to be harsh, but…” This basically means, “I DO mean to be harsh, but I’d like to pretend to myself that I’m a nice person, so I’m pre-empting my bitchy comment with a disclaimer.”

7. People who have Blogger blogs that are set to only allow comments from other people with Blogger accounts. Discrimination!

8. Commentors who call me "fat" or "ugly" just because they don't share my opinion on something. "The only reason you don't like this dress is because you're too fat to wear it!" Truly, the Internet is just one massive high school sometimes.

9. Commentors who demand my death. "You deserve to be shot in the head for liking this handbag." True story. I wish I was joking.

10. Getting no comments. At all. Ever. That sucks more than all the rest. (Except the "death" one, obviously. Nothing sucks more than people wanting you dead...)

What are your pet peeves about blog comments?

Comments

[Nicola Pedley]

You're just asking for trouble, posting about your comment pet peeves... just sayin' BTW, did I mention you're fat and ugly...

[Matthew]

Too bad you ended your post with three periods. Or did you meen to use an elipsis? I don't mean to be harsh, if you had done your HOMEWORK you could of used "" instead, you ugly clown. Just sayin'.

OK, joking aside, that was an awesome post. I especially liked number 7, on blogger comments. But since people will do what they will do, my solution was to set up a blogger profile that linked to my wordpress-powered blogs. Is that what you do?

[Mags]

Oh dear. Guilty as charged on number 7! I didn't even know that was an option, and apologise profusely for my unintentional discrimination against people without Blogger accounts. Note to self: go through and check ALL of Blogger's options when setting up a blog.

I'd like to point out that the problem has now been rectified. Now I'll just sit quietly in the corner, pray for forgiveness and hope that someone leaves me a comment (or two or three)....

[Fi]

I think I am guilty of number 7 too. But that's only because all the rude/nasty/snarky comments come from people to ashamed of themselves to leave their names.

[BB]

1 h8 ppl wo use txt spk

[Karen Swim]

ROFL!!! Off to check my blogger account because I want to be inclusive! :-) I have been guilty of emailing if I spot a typo but don't mean to be snarky. Having been guilty of it myself I like when someone points it out nicely without calling me a total dunderhead. Thank you for the wit and wisdom. ;-)

Karen

[Amber]

On the Blogger comments thing - it's really just a niggle more than anything else. Obviously everyone has the right to set up their blog any way they like, and some people have good reasons for not wanting to open the comments out to the public at large (Like Fi's, for instance, which are totally understandable). It just always used to frustrate me when I'd sit and type out a comment on someone's blog only to find that they were only accepting comments from other Blogger account holders - and yes, I know it's my own fault for not checking first :)

Matthew - I have now set up a Blogger profile so that I can comment, but I suspect that a lot of people probably just won't bother, either because they see it as being an added hassle, or because they think their comment isn't welcome.

Thanks for all the comments, everyone!

[Amber]

Karen - I totally don't mind a polite email from someone saying, "I noticed this error and thought you'd want to know about it..." It's the comments which have an undertone of "Ha ha! You call yourself a writer and yet I found a typo!" - or which sometimes explicitly state that - which I just can't stand! Funnily enough, though, those types of comments ALWAYS come from anonymous people, so maybe the 'Blogger only' people are on to something!

BB - Me too, me too! In fact, I probably shouldn't admit this, but I delete comments that are written in txt spk. My justification is that if I can't understand what the comment says without having to decode it, I don't want it on my blog!