Comments on: Blogging tips wanted–for garden writers

By: Vivian Perez

Vivian Perez — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:59:14 +0000

Are you seeking garden writers/bloggers now? Thanks!

By: Cold Climate Gardening: Fifth Anniversary Interview | Cold Climate Gardening

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:06:59 +0000

[...] Robin, I’d have to say the highest point of my blogging adventure occurred this year, when my post about tips for garden writers garnered 73 comments. (Some of those, of course, were my own responses.) It was thrilling to see [...]

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:54:47 +0000

eliz–never too late to this party. I think I am going to put a link to this whole thread on the handout for the panel discussion.

I personally hope that blogging doesn’t become so entrenched and institutionalized that only one way of handling comments is considered proper. The real value of blogging software is the flexibility it gives the author/editor/publisher. No sense limiting that flexibility because of others’ expectations; just tell them what to expect.

By: eliz

eliz — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:07:55 +0000

Boy am I late–Susan told me about this. Just one thing. There is a Buffalo blogger–a very good one–who believes he is helping starting a conversation among others and does not respond to all comments, only when he is addressed (or attacked). So there are different views on this. I respond because there are often questions and they are addressed to me, where with other blogs I often see commenters talking to each other. Which is cool too.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 11:54:16 +0000

Of interest to me, and perhaps to you: Lorelle VanFossen has just published a book of her best tips on blogging. I have recommended Lorelle's blog on this website in the past. She writes clearly and knows her stuff. I have just purchased a copy to see if I should recommend it at the panel discussion. I do believe everything in the book is still available (without cost) on the internet, but it is not all in one place or organized effectively. For people who have not been reading Lorelle all along, the book would be a good place to start.

By: Ellis Hollow

Ellis Hollow — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 00:20:57 +0000

Bright: Don’t forget to include links back to whoever you are quoting. The nicest thing you can do for fellow bloggers is to send traffic their way and expand their audience.

By: bright

bright — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:49:53 +0000

i’m interested that someone brought up plagiarism. i’ve taken a sort of weird attitude toward copying content… it’s my belief that i’m giving away what i’m publishing. i think it’s just too infuriating to think of it any other way. i know that many people are relying on their sites for income, and that probably changes your attitude… but since i’m not and i have no real control over who looks at what i’m making, i’d rather imagine it like a message in a bottle set adrift. at least if i see it mirrored elsewhere, it means someone thought it was good enough to steal. imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. that’s why i’ve adopted the creative commons badge on my blog. that being said, i do think it is common courtesy to credit sources for quotes, ideas and inspirations. entwining everyone together just makes the whole thing lusher.

i agree with susan. there is no reason blogs must resemble each other so much. i’m annoyed with myself for relying on blogger’s template, but i’m not yet confident about generating a new one that would be more distinctive. and as i’m not stingy with my content, i’m absolutely not paying for a platform to hand it to people! i have faith that blogger will get more competitive with wordpress over time.

and i have to ask rick anderson if you’re still around… what did you mean when you said wordpress was for more serious bloggers?

By: kate

kate — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 04:55:11 +0000

That’s the problem with Blogger. I would like to switch to a different blogging software, but I’m leery about doing so because I don’t have much technical knowledge. A friend recommended that I focus on the content before switching, but I’m feeling rather limited at this point. For new bloggers, it would certainly help to have a sense of what is the best blogging software for combining text, lots of photographs and responding adequately to comments. Thanks for your help, Kathy. It is much appreciated… this is also an interesting discussion! I wish there were more like this…

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 01:23:11 +0000

Jodi, glad to meet you. If you read Kathy Jentz’ post about last year’s symposium, you know that some members of the Garden Writers Association don’t have the respect for bloggers’ writing that they should. Hopefully many of them have learned otherwise in the past year. I plan to have some links on my handout dealing with this topic, even if I can’t incorporate it into the discussion.

By: Kathy Purdy

Kathy Purdy — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:42:26 +0000

Kate, you most certainly belong in the garden blog community. It’s a very rare blogger who keeps themselves out of their blog, or stays on one topic. And as far as commenting etiquette goes, I think each blogger determines the policy for his or her own blog. The etiquette is in making that policy clear. I bet most bloggers are glad for a response to their comment, but don’t care if it’s on your blog or theirs. Future visitors reading that post and its comments will only benefit if the response is on your own blog, though.

The best thing is to have a way to subscribe to comments, but you’re at the mercy of your blogging software for that.