What Type Of Commentator Do You Aspire To Be?
Image by Laughing Squid via Flickr
As bloggers, when we write content our intention is to lure in commentators, not just the casual browser, but those fellow bloggers and web surfers. We want our content to strike a chord in them, one that will cause them to pause for a moment, reflect on what they have just read and to then say, “Hey, that was good and I have something that I want to say to add to what I have just read!”
The trouble is that the web and the world around us are full of all different types of commentators. Some are leaches that take what they can and leave nothing in return, and others add a little wisdom improving the quality of the content. I have come up with the top three of each group.
Top 3 Obnoxious Commentators
- Robotic Commentators: These commentators are not human. I’m serious. You’ve obviously seen some of them, their comments make absolutely no sense and are completely unrelated to the post. The reason being that they were made by a script that is programmed to leave the same comment on every blog, forum or whatever. That is why some blogs use ‘captcha’ to filter out these moronic posts.
- Hit And Run Commentators: These are those moronic turkeys that usually don’t even bother to read your post. You are probably familiar with these commentators as all they have to say for themselves is “Good Post”, “Nice blog” or sometimes just a smiley face. It’s probably not their fault as they probably don’t know how to string more than two intelligible words together.
- The Spam Link Kings: Their whole purpose is to promote some stupid affiliate or to con somebody into parting with their hard earned cash. These commentators may or may not have something to say that is relevant to the post, but whatever they say they always finish with a link to their crappy site. As if it wasn’t enough that we let them have their link when they use the comment form.
As bloggers we all have to deal with these obnoxious commentators and most of us deal with them in the same way, we delete them. New bloggers, unfortunately, tend to hold on to them thinking that building up their ‘comment count’ makes their blog look more popular. Wrong! It actually makes the blog look less professional and you are better off without these worthless comments.
Next I want to outline my top 3 normal commentators, of which only one is truly cherished by every blogger.
Top 3 Normal Commentators
- Roaming Commentators: Many bloggers fit into this category. These bloggers search the Internet for posts that offer the opportunity for them to leave a thought provoking comment. The problem with these guys is that you will probably never see them again. They are also known as one hit wonders.
- DoFollow Commentators: These have emerged with the advent of DoFollow Blogs. Some are motivated purely because they know that there comment will be picked up by the search engine. There is nothing wrong with this as long as they do not fall into the ‘obnoxious commentator‘ category.
- Boomerang Commentators: These commentators are the pick of the bunch, the ones that all bloggers aspire to. They are the ones that continually return to your blog, and it’s because your content has struck a cord in them, one that lures them back time and time again to see what other commentators are saying, to add to the conversation yet again and to also check to see what new post has been added.
The lesson to be learnt from this is that as a commentator, you do not want to belong to the fist group, and even in the second group you should aspire to becoming the highly sought after Boomerang commentator as the more other commentators see you, as long as you leave quality comments, the more relaxed they become around you and the more likely they are to visit your own blog.
So ask yourself, “What group do I fall into?”, and if it’s the wrong one, it is not too late to do something about it.
As all bloggers have different experiences, and if you can add to either of the two lists I would dearly love to have you comment, just don’t be obnoxious about it.
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Tagged with: commentators • quality comments
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I’m thinking this is probably the best post you’ve ever written, Sire, and other than two really “big” word mistakes (read back through; they’ll jump right out at you), this post was perfect. Of course, I just wrote my take on those stupid spam programs that send out idiot messages that, luckily, get caught in our spam filters, but we still hate it.
And I’m going to continue coming back, so I guess I’m a boomerang; neat!
Mitch´s Last blog post..“Legitimizing” Spam?
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Sire Reply:
November 19th, 2008 at 9:52 pm
Wow Mitch, and I thought that I actually proof read the damn thing and all. I picked up on two obvious one, hopefully the ones that you are referring to.
As for this being my best ever post,
, I don’t know what to say, except, thanks mate.
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Mitch Reply:
November 19th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Sire, you caught both of them easily enough; I knew you would. :-)
Mitch´s Last blog post..9 Instant Tips On How To Leverage The Power Of Squidoo – Guest Post
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Sire Reply:
November 19th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Fortunately, for once, it was at the beginning of the post and not at the end.
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Mitch Reply:
November 21st, 2008 at 9:23 pm
By the way, you might want to check some of the coding in your side panel named “Latest In”; it’s probably not showing up the way you want it to.
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Sire from Load Of Bull Reply:
November 21st, 2008 at 9:38 pm
Yeah, I know, it always happens when using an image with a ‘caption id’. A minor annoyance for me, I hope you can overcome the annoyance factor.
Sire´s Last blog post..Young Chinese Couple Losing Their Virginity On Their Wedding Night
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Mitch Reply:
November 21st, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I know why it’s doing it. For some reason, when you select the image, the code is showing up in your meta description area. How are you capturing the images for your blog? I’m thinking it wouldn’t do that if you actually wrote the code for it, which I do whenever I put an image into a post.
Mitch´s Last blog post..Stuff You Probably Missed
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Sire Reply:
November 21st, 2008 at 11:55 pm
The code is supplied by the Zemanta plugin one that saves me a heap of time in searching for pictures for my posts, and you know how I love to save on time.
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Mitch Reply:
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:27 am
Yeah, I know. Well, I don’t usually notice it anyway, it just stood out for the coding. No big deal, I guess.
Mitch´s Last blog post..Embrace The Lead
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Sire from Load Of Bull Reply:
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:31 am
If it was doing that to that actual post I would be worried, but as it isn’t I reckon I can live with it being on the side like that.
Sire´s Last blog post..Young Chinese Couple Losing Their Virginity On Their Wedding Night
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Thats funny, I just wrote a post on how I let people spam there links IF they have somtethin relevant to add in their comment.
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Sire Reply:
November 19th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
I’ll be sure to go and check that out, as I reckon I will find it very interesting.
You will notice that Mitch pointed out a couple errors in my post for which I am entirely grateful as it allowed me to correct them thereby improving the quality of the post. Keeping that in mind, and I don not mean to offend, I suggest that you take a little more time in proof reading your comments before submitting them as people will judge you on the quality of your comment.
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Mitch Reply:
November 21st, 2008 at 9:21 pm
The thing is those spam links brings down the value of your blog, and I’m not talking about page rank or anything else like that. If people visit your blog and see spammy looking comments, they tend not to trust the source and may not visit again.
Mitch´s Last blog post..Book Writing Series Step One – The Concept
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I learnt a bit from this post. I’m a one hit wonder except for one or two blogs if I’m honest. Tell me, when I enter my URL on a comment form like yours here, and then enter my comment, I presume where it says “check me out” this will be the link back to my blog yes ? But do search engines actually pick this up as a link back or not ? I only ask because I did a “popularity check” on my blog and it says I have 1648 sites linking back to me but God knows how that happened. Unless it is from making comments and leaving links like these.
Hope I made this sound clear, I’m Romanian and tend to ramble a bit with my English, lol.
Carliona (Carly) Trocina´s Last blog post..Is Arsene Wenger One Of The Best Managers Ever ?
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Carliona, what a lovely name, you have expressed yourself beautifully. Because this is a DoFollow blog search engines will actually pick up the url, which is actually connected to your name and not ‘check me out’ which is part of the ‘SezWho’ plugin.
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Do I have to fit one category? :)
I’m usually a roaming commenter but if someone reciprocates and visits my blog and comments back, I’ll visit them again and so forth. I’m not a big user of feedreaders, as I usually get my ideas from outside reading and I prefer to follow Tim Ferris’s “information diet” as much as makes sense, but if someone is good enough to comment on my blog, I definitely try to return the favor.
When I’m a famous A-list blogger (self-deprecating smirk) getting hundreds of comments a day, it might be difficult, but I’m not holding my breath for that to happen any time soon!
Lindsay´s Last blog post..$250 Writing/Blogging Contest — Write a Fable for Your Blog and Win!
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Hi Lindsay, I reckon most bloggers fall into that category, as well as some of the other ones. I know I do most of the times although there are several blogs that I do Boomerang to.
As you have already made the commitment to reciprocate comments you should consider joining my “You comment I comment back” movement.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
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Hmmm. I kind of applied this post to two people having a talk. The roaming commentator is the opportunist only seeking benefit at the moment, there is no looking at the long term. Or the hit and run commentator, who is perpetually distracted and never really hears what you’re saying any way.
But yet it’s these very people who appreciate the boomerang commentator because they engage, they’re a sounding board and they’ll more than likely return for more good conversation, the operative word being good.
Ann Jade´s Last blog post..8 up-and-coming Affiliate Networks
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What a good interpretation Ann, and so true. So many bloggers would love to have the the boomerang commentator frequent their blogs yet for some reason they do not want to put in the same effort. Now why is that?
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Hey Sire, REALLY good post. I think I fit into a couple of those categories to be honest – I post comments on a lot of blogs that I read through the day(s) and most of the time I head back there…but because I visit so many blogs and don’t always subscribe, I have a hard time getting back to them. If the user has commented on my blog at least once then I always try and make the effort to visit their blog as and when I can.
I was just so tempted to leave a comment here saying ‘Nice Post’ though, haha! :P
Dan´s Last blog post..How CommentLuv Can Help Find Hackers
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Hi Dan, thanks for adding the last bit, I was that far from hitting the delete key
Seriously though, I think that part of the blame rests with the bloggers themselves. Like you I comment on a lot of blogs and I would be more likely to call back if they had the option that allowed me to be notified of any new comments. I think that is an option most commentators would love to see.
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In the past, I’ve been mostly a roaming commentator, and didn’t leave very many comments.
Over the last few months, especially after changing my primary blog to a WordPress-powered blog, I’ve become more of a Dofollow Commentator. i never even knew about the whole dofollow/nofollow controversy until I read about it either here or on Mitch’s “I’m Just Sharing” blog.
As soon as I learned about it, i changed my blog to dofollow, because it was the only choice that made real sense to me.
I also learned about CommentLuv from you and I think that has been a great addition to my blog.
As a result, I’m becoming more of a Boomerang Commentator because I’ve found some people who write thought-provoking and educational posts about topics in which I’m interested.
I’ve become a regular reader of WassupBlog as a result and now and then I try to add something to the conversation.
In return, I appreciate your participation in the comments on my blog and other blogs I’m reading more often.
I think that’s the way it is supposed to work, don’t you?
Act on your dream!
JD
John Dilbeck´s Last blog post..Can AWeber and Squidoo Work Together?
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Sire Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Exactly John. We are all bloggers and therefore belong to a virtual blogging community. As part of that community we get together to share ideas and discuss things that we find interesting. Sometimes it may be at my blog, or virtual home, and other times it may be at yours. Now if we could work out a way to have a virtual drink I reckon we would have it made.
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Nice post! :)
Only joking…
Wow, boomerang commentators – every bloggers dream.
Lets face it, 99% of blogs have no debate going on at all. It is merely the cyber version of tumble weed town
There are some blogs that I do come back to regularly, but for regular posting I mostly stick to certain forums.
I guess because there is a far wider range of users to be found on an active forum as well as a far bigger range of topics and threads
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Sire Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Talking about forums, I’ve just started one that is aimed at the blogger market and I would love to have you and anyone else you can drag over as members. After all, forums need members just as much, if not more, as bloggers need commentators.
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I guess i could fit in with any of the normal ones. Depending what i’m busy with. Like when i find a blog through a search engine, i am likely to comment but might not subscribe.
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I’d like to think of myself as a boomerang commentator on most sites, although I waft into a roaming one as well, if a blog comes up with something I’m searching for. And I know the robotic ones well… I get hit by 100+ per day. Moderating the spam is a nightmare on Mondays.
Also, just wanted to let you know that I gave you the “I love your blog” award. :)
~ Kristi
Kikolani´s Last blog post..Thursday Things
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Sire Reply:
November 20th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Those Robotic Commentators are just as stupid as the turds who send them out. As if any blogger worth their salt would let those comments see the light of day.
An award huh? Now this I’ve got to see.
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Mitch Reply:
November 21st, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I may have asked you before, Kristi, if you’re using Askimet on your blog, if it’s a Wordpress blog (can’t remember right now; mini Alzheimer attack going on here).
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I don’t always subscribe to individual posts, but if a blog has the facility to email updates of the comments to a particular post I will usually subscribe to that as I like to see how things transpire.
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I try to be a boomerang commenter but am sometimes the random one. I might come across a post that I am compelled to say something about but the rest of the time I don’t have much to say.
There is also the tit for tat commenter. They come and leave a comment on your site if you leave one on their site. Well, I’m kind of doing this now but your comment is what let me to this article. It’s kind of silly. I don’t want someone to visit and comment just because I did. I only want them to comment if they like the articles.
I like the name of the “ebook”. You should write it ;-)
Kim Woodbridge´s Last blog post..5 New(ish) WordPress Themes
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‘Tit for Tat Commenter’. Well I reckon I won’t try to sell you the idea of my You Comment I Comment Back movement
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Foot in mouth moment. It’s a good idea but probably not for me. I do try to visit and comment on the sites of people who comment on mine but sometimes the site just doesn’t resonate with me and there’s nothing to say.
Do comment on any sites that don’t comment on yours?
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Sure do, I commented on yours first didn’t I? I know how it can pose a problem, especially when you want to leave something more than ‘nice post’, and the post wasn’t all that great. Still I find it challenging and so far I’ve managed to honor my commenting debts.
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Ack – I don’t comment because they are always filled with typos ;-)
Do you continue commenting on sites that don’t reciprocate or do you just stop after awhile? I’m not trying to give you a hard time or anything – I can be unusually curious…
Do you have a system for keeping track of who you owe comments? If so, have you written a post about it.
Kim Woodbridge´s Last blog post..5 New(ish) WordPress Themes
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I will comment on blogs that don’t reciprocate, and are not part of the group, but only if I have something that I need to say. If they are not part of the group and I have nothing to say, I won’t.
Not really. The first thing I do is reply to the comment and then I will follow them to their blog and find a post that I am comfortable with and return the favor. I deal with each comment sequentially, so I am pretty sure that I do not miss anyone out.
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well i think i start as a dofollow but i end up as a boomerang :) very nice post… i actually have been around for a small period but i think you have devised commentators very well. i’ll keep coming back as a boomerang :D
stratosg´s Last blog post..“My Tag Cloud” plugin
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Thanks for the compliment stratosg, and there is nothing wrong with starting as a dofollow and ending up as a boomerang commenter. I like the idea of the ‘Tag Cloud’ plugin and I think that I may just implement it on this blog.
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stratosg Reply:
November 22nd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
i’ll be glad to see that it actually helped you!
stratosg´s Last blog post..“My Tag Cloud” plugin
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It never bothers me when a blog is a do-follow or not. If I like and can relate to the post, I would surely comment. Certainly, I aspire to be a Boomerang commentator.
Blogging from Scratch´s Last blog post..Vote me off as the next Blogging Idol
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Although I admit to posting on many a no-follow blog, I also admit to preferring do-follow blogs. If the blog turns out to be one that I like I definitely do tend to boomerang, especially if they have the facility to subscribe to comments.
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I’m starting to question whether to follow or not. My page rank went from 3 to 0 on Friday and they only thing I can determine was sending too much linkage off my pages. While I don’t agree with PageRank it is important for advertising and credibility. For the time being I’m only going to follow the top commenters and maybe commenters after they have left a comment X number of times.
The entire incident has been very disconcerting. It’s actually my article for today – though I don’t go into follow and nofollow too much.
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Sire Reply:
November 24th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Kim I left a comment on the article. As I said there it may not be entirely related to you being a do-follow blog and may actually be a glitch in the system. Hopefully you may get the PR back shortly. I know when my other blogs got hit it was because I was doing paid posts and you’ve stated that you do not do that.
Perhaps you should wait a couple of days and then contact Google.
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Great post Sire, I have been all 3 of the “normal commentator” types, and avoid the SPAM commentator list like the plague because of my belief in the golden rule. I wouldn’t want spam comments on my blog and consequently believe that others feel the same way.
As for the “normal” commenting types, I have done the one-time commentator thing from time to time. Typically it occurs when the blog only has one post of interest to me or when the author does nothing to acknowledge my comment. Meaning no reply to it, no reciprocal comment, etc. I certainly don’t mind commenting, however I would like to know that it was actually read, if nothing else.
I have done my fair share of do-follow searches, however most of the time they have resulted in me subscribing to the blog because I enjoyed the content I found, other times there was just one post of interest to me.
I’ve recently begun using google reader to subscribe to blogs I enjoy, and although I have mixed feelings about the interface, it has made it a lot easier to keep track of what blogs I have visited recently.
As for subscribing to comments via email, I enjoy it on lower traffic blogs; where i get an email or two daily. On higher traffic blogs, however, I’ll sometimes get 30 emails in a day and would prefer to read them online rather than in email form..so the jury is out on this one for me.
Jeremy
Jeremy´s Last blog post..Clapping For Movies – The Ultimate in Theatrical Stupidity
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Thanks for the compliment Jeremy. I must admit that the emails can be quite annoying when you get a whole heap of them but they do die down after awhile and I find it so much easier as it reminds me which posts I want to keep track of, otherwise I tend to forget. I will unsubscribe if there is no response from the owner of the blog, as like you I like my presence to be recognized.
I also use Google reader but am now experimenting with Bloglines and I am quietly impressed.
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Well, Sire…I’m a normal commentator and still unsure which of the 3 sub-categories I fall into. I’ve been commenting to the point where I couldn’t keep up with whom I should return the favor to and reciprocate the same. Still I’m a big proponent of commenting.
You know what? Recently someone asked me how to get as many comments as he could and I told him, they are a couple of people that I know of who will never fail to reciprocate your comments and YOU are one of them.
I told him, “Go to wassupblog and leave your comment and you’ll see him on your blog right away”. I’m not too sure if he comes eventually but I think he got my message…;)
Anyway, pal…..nice article I’m just not too sure myself where I aspire to be – at least for now….
Cheers
Yan
The Smiling Blogger´s Last blog post..Use the Power of Blogging to Make a Difference to The UnderPrivileged
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As long as you are not in the first category Yan, and I know that you would never fall into that category, I think you are relatively safe.
As for the blogger you sent over, if he has made an appearance and left a comment then you can be assured that I have already returned the favor.
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I’m definitely a boomerang commentator or at least I try to be one. That’s the only way to build and grow your blogging community. No man is an island and I think if not for commenting and belonging to a community, IM can be so impersonal too as you don’t get to hear or see your friends in blogosphere. Thank God for the birth of Gravatar it helps a little for your imagination. Initially many times I had to be corrected by people when I had wrongly guessed their gender. Many times in fact but thank God I didn’t embarrass myself or the other party.
Peter Lee
Peter´s Last blog post..How “Work From Home Ideas” Made Google Top 10
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That is the slot I would have put you into Peter. I know how hard you work at not only maintaining your blog, but in replying to comments left as well as reciprocating the actual comments. It’s all part of being part of the FGroup!
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On the blogs (20+) where I am active, I comment on a regular basis. And these comments will not be one line comments for sure :)
However, I also make hit-and-run comments once in a while, mainly when I accidentally find a good post… But mostly, whichever blogs I have to return, I add them to my reader.
There are a few blogs that I comment only once in a couple week or so and mostly for the top commentator recognition in that case.
Ajith
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There is nothing wrong with hit and run commenting as long as you make the comment a quality one. Any less would only do your reputation harm. It’s one thing to do it for the link juice, but it is a whole lot better when your comment actually increases the hits to your own blog.
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Hopefully I’m a boomerang commenter. I usually add blogs I like to my google feed reader and come back often. I get a lot of the robot type stuff on all of my blogs and it is a pain to clean them out. Luckily plugins help with this.
James D´s Last blog post..Late February/March Pictures
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Sire Reply:
March 27th, 2009 at 3:07 am
Well James, I hope I made it to your feed reader
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