Thing #4 commenting is important

By commenting on a post you are interacting with the author.  You are letting the author know that you have considered his/her thoughts and opinions and what you think about them.  The author is then free to consider your thoughts and opinions and tell you what he/she thinks about them.  By this level of interaction alone the person leaving the comment and the author have established a relationship.  Relationships of all kinds are what communities are based upon.  Think about a community cookout.  Every person at the cookout has some form of relationship with the other people there.  One group of people might be talking about televisions shows while another might be talking about a local sports team.  They are all in a sense posting and commenting in their own little groups.  All the while they are interacting with one another under a common union, blogging, in this case a cookout.  Comments can also help create a sense of community and interaction by inspiring authors to publish new posts.  A comment by an individual might say something like, "If you feel this way about X topic, then I would really like to hear your thoughts on Y topic."  By this the author is then inspired to publish her thoughts on the topic.  It's all about interaction.  The more people you interact with the stronger the sense of community.

I found that it was important to welcome comments from others.  By the author being open to suggestions, readers of the blog will feel more comfortable with leaving a comment.  I think that the goal of a blog should be unite like-minded people and to build a community around their interest.  If readers do not feel welcome to comment on a blog then there no community can be built around that blog.  

I found that it is important to be open-minded but still have some commenting guidelines.  This is especially important for those whose blog is intended to be educational in nature or if kids and teens are frequenting the blog.  Kids (and immature adults alike) can the say the most outrageous, off-the-wall things.  Therefore, it is good to keep and open mind towards them.  However, it is equally good to let everyone that frequents your blog know that there are some suggestions and language that will not be tolerated.  

The seven blogs I have chosen to read and follow are Meghan Wagley (meghanwagley.blogspot.com), Girl Meets Life (girlmeetslife.com), Nicole Clay's 23 Things (nicoleclay.blogspot.com), Michelle Terry (mterry-23things.blogspot.com) The Biology Blog (www.thebioblog.com), Jacob Aldridge (coachjla10.blogspot.com), Ethan Bourke (ebourke23things.blogspot.com). 

I selected Meghan Wagley's blog just because she sits beside me in class and we talk to one another.  Plus, she seems pretty interesting.  Also, she has kids and kids make there parents have a different perspective.  It will be interesting to she what she comes up with for each of the 23 things.  I commented on Meghan's easiest lifelong learner habit because it was the same as mine.  We have similar justifications as to why it is the easiest.  

I chose the girls meets life blog because it is written by an adult female living in New York, New York.  It is a unique perspective that is probably completely opposite from mine.  It will be interesting to interact with her.  I commented on her latest post, which was about the cleaning crew she hired recently.  She posted pictures of her clean and organized apartment.  

I chose Nicole Clay's 23 Things blog because I liked her blog template and her avatar.  Also, her blog was full of images and photos.  I commented on Nicole's Web 2.0 tools post.  In the post she told about this neat tool called 24me.  It seemed really interesting.  I am going to look for it so that I can use it. 

I chose Michelle Terry's blog because I read her first post and found out that she is an incredibly strong person mentally and emotionally.  Her first post is really worth reading.  I commented on her thing #1 because she spoke of the numerous situations in her life that she had overcome as they pertained to her easiest lifelong learner habit, view your problems as challenges.  I commented that I too had overcome many obstacles to get where I am today.   

I chose The Biology Blog because I plan to teach high school biology.  I wanted a blog from which I could get ideas and motivation.  I commented on a post about the single-chain peptide-based nanostructures.    

I chose Jacob Aldridge's blog because he is a chemistry teacher and chemists think a little differently than the rest of us.  Plus, we have a couple things in common.  We are both from small towns in east Tennessee.  I commented on Jacob's thing #3 post.  He had a really neat idea for using his blog in his classroom.  As a future biology teacher I could use my blog in a way similar to what he described.  

Finally, I chose Ethan Bourke's blog because he had good content and his avatar was cool.  I commented on Ethan's thing #3 post.  He said that a blog could be used for student/teacher communication.  The blog could also be used to post additional information about classroom topics, and that parents could follow their child's learning.