Netiquette for blog carnival readers or how to confuse a group of blog readers

It had never occurred to me that the following would be need to be said but clearly there is at least one person out there who needs to hear this. When you read a blog post linked from a blog carnival, you should post your comments about the post, at the post. Don’t post your comment at the carnival host’s post, the main carnival site, the carnival organizer’s notice of the carnival or, at a random post at the carnival organizer’s blog.

Until this evening it didn’t occur to me that anyone would need to be told this because I’ve never been told this, it just seems like common sense. Tonight this situation came to light at Orac’s blog, it was a simple little humorous post about a nasty email he’d received. I’m skimming through the comments when I encounter this long winded comment that doesn’t appear to be at all related to the post. The replies and comments go on and on and I can’t easily figure out what precisely the commenter Roy is trying to say. Many of the replies from others show that they also are having trouble figuring out what Roy is complaining about. I see references to the denialists deck of cards from a totally different blog and mentions of the Skeptics Circle blog carnival.

Then it finally clicks for me, Roy dislikes and/or disagrees with blog posts in various Skeptic Circle carnivals. Does he post a comment at the blog post he has issues with, no. Does he at least post at the carnival host’s post, nope. Does he post his comment at the main blog carnival page, not. Does he post at the carnival organizer’s notice of that edition of the carnival, no way. Instead he places his comments at the most current post of the blog organizer, a post which has absolutely nothing to do with the blog carnival. Hmm, I don’t think I can even imagine a more effective way to make readers totally confused about your comment. 😉

So to re-iterate what should be obvious to most people, when you have a comment about a blog post, place your comment on that exact post. This way the author of the post sees your post and the blogs readers will be able to have context for your comment.

The only other acceptable alternative is to put the commentary on your own blog as a new post and link back to the original blog post. Oh and while we’re on the subject of blog carnivals, do not assume that the carnival organizer and/or carnival edition host agree with the other blogger’s posts that make up the carnival. Just because a post meets the criterion for a host to include it in an edition of the carnival does not mean the host agrees with it.