Where Have All My Commenters Gone?

    I'm trying hard to understand why so few people are leaving comments on eggbeater lately. I get a lot when it's my birthday or I get fired from a job, but, on the whole, the amount of comments seems to have waned. Is there something I should know? Maybe take a shower more often? De-tangle the knots in my hair? Shine my shoes? Give out more recipes? Wrote about more industry gossip? Start another flame war? Buy a more expensive camera?

    Don't be shy, please tell me.

    Your comments feed me. Your questions keep me going. Even if you've found a recipe or an instruction or a story posted long ago, I welcome and keep open commenting on all posts young and old.

    Maybe I'm too thorough. I don't leave enough holes.
    Maybe I'm too sensitive. It's poetry month and poems are more vulnerable than the average eggbeater post.

(The last post? kitchen. That poem is one of my all time favorites. I have been thinking for months about when I would unveil it.)

    It could also be that many of you have become my friend. And we talk, in person, about what's on the blogs so then there's no need to leave a comment. Is that it?

    It's hard to post day after day, night after night, when there's so little feedback. I hope it's just Spring Break and soon again eggbeater will be a source of inspiration, enjoyment, silliness, delicousness, random information gathering, vicarious living, a reliable cooking tip spot, and anything else you come here for.

    Perhaps you remember how in November 2006 I posted every single day? Sometimes twice a day! From NaBloPoMo, I give you this reminder:

We blog, you comment. Your comments are our fuel, our reason to go on posting, our food for blogthought, our accessories to our wordy outfits, the salt on our meat, the eggs in our souffles, the chocolate sauce on our ice cream, the cream in our coffee, the boiling hot water started from cold water for our proper cuppa tea, the water on our garden, the sun on our leaves, the bark in our woof, the purr in our pet, the shine on our shoes, the bounce in our step, the kiss in our smooch, the bubbles in our bath, the scent on our skin, the hot sauce on our eggs, the craft in our craftiness, the Ness in our monster, the moon in our tide, the Maldon salt on our fresh-roasted peanut butter, the pectin in our preserves, the bacon to our BLT, the ---- can you help me out here?

Comments

[Monkey Wrangler]

Ooooh, ooooh, me first, me first! After reading that I BETTER comment.

Shuna darlin', it ain't you. Yes, you are most thorough. Yes poetry probably doesn't garner much argument or tension and tends to strike the heart. Being as though most of us have a tough time expressing these matters, folks are silent. Consider the quiet a barometric reading of the internal pressure that I suspect too is low due to spring break and getting out.

Quiet? Not me, blah blah blah.....
Peace out,
sourdoughmuffinhead

[Aaron]

cornichon in our our sauce gribiche...mine apparently didn't have enough tonight.
how 'bout the cream cheese in our bagel or the strawberries in our shortcake...
I like those foods more than tongue and sauce gribiche anyhow.
Love you lots...stay tough.

[puck]

i *am* shy, actually. :D

i've noticed a lack of comments on my personal blog recently, and really? sometimes that happens. i think it just waxes and wanes.

but i promise, we always think that you're fabulous.

[Calichef]

I haven't meant to be so quiet, I just haven't had much to say lately. Heck, I only post on my personal blog (if you'd like a link to my semi-private personal blog, just ask) about four times a month now, and Cali's Blue Plate Special has been completely incative for a long, long time.

As a blogger who also LOVES comments and has been blogging for almost five years now, I can say that comments go down when the weather gets nice. They will pick up a bit when it gets too hot to hang out outside. Then they slow down when school starts and people are busier again, then pick up for a couple of months and then slow down over the winter holidays. It is just the natural ebb and flow of life.

I want you to know that I *do* read every, single entry. I love your blog writing style and especially your poetry because it's very well crafted and the care you take when selecting just the right word to express a thought is perfection.

I'm very sorry that I'm two hours away because I think we would be great friends. I love having friends whom I can learn things from, and you have a lot of knowlege to share.

The next time you go to Oroville for the peaches (or the olive oil) let me know. I'd love to meet you there and take you to my mother's for lunch (or dinner) and a tour of her quarter horse ranch. I think we'd have a lot of fun. Of course, I'd have to take you up to the dam to watch the sunset. It's amazing to watch from there.

P.S. I can show you a hotel where Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor had a knock-down, drag-out fight and had the police called on them!

[Sara]

Shuna, this is my first time commenting on your blog, but I am a long time reader. I truly think your blog is great. Have read every single post and have tried a few of your awesome recipes.
Thanks a lot for writing so often!

[Lydia]

Shuna, I have many days of thinking exactly this. Am I writing, putting my ideas out there, but nobody is reading? I've found a couple of things to be true. (1) Some days of the week I get more comments than other days, week after week. (2) More of my commenters are other bloggers than nonblogging friends who know me personally, but (3) those nonblogging friends often email to me off the blog about something I've posted. (4) I know from the number of subscribers that many people do read everyday. (5) My commenters are interesting, informed, lovely people whose comments enrich my own writing. (6) I never know which subjects will bring people out -- who knew that people felt so strongl about Miracle Whip or evaporated milk?!

As a professional food writer, I often write but get no feedback on my work -- the stuff that's published in magazines, for example. You know that many thousands of peole read the magazine, but maybe, maybe, one or two people will comment on the article. The reason I started blogging was to engage my readers in the interactive forum. I respond to all comments, and I do it in the comments so everyone can be part of that conversation. I hope people get to know me that way, and then they will want to continue to dialogue.

Anyway, we readers and commenters are out there. Keep blogging because you love it, and because you have something to say. Keep the focus sharp, and the commenters will appreciate it. And accept that most people will read, enjoy, but be too "shy" to comment.

Thanks for your blog. I read it and love it.

[Denzylle]

I have only commented once before. I said 'hi!' and a few more words from my side of London when you were here in our city. When you uploaded comments, mine did not appear. There was absolutely nothing offensive about it - maybe it was too banal for you. Whatever, I decided I wouldn't bother again.

I'm commenting this time since you asked...

However, I still read and enjoy reading your blog.

[maggie]

Hi! Still reading, just not typing so much!

[mary]

I think that, like others have said, poetry is less likely to evoke blog comments (and this is coming from someone who reads plenty of poetry). A good poem tends to provoke reflection, it's not the sort of thing that you look at and immediately say "oh wow, that looks delicious" or "how helpful." Even if the response is "lovely" or "wow, I never thought of it that way before," it's a more internal response. Other than that, it must be that these things do indeed wax and wane because people go outside or get wrapped up with spring holiday things or simply feel quiet.

But, please, keeep writing.

[deb]

I am always reading, and think you're fabulous.

[aimee]

Is readership down or just comments? I know I'm hooked on your blog and I imagine others are, too. Maybe they're just shy? I read your blog everyday and have commented only once. I recently started pastry school in New York and I've really appreciated reading about your current experiences and reading through the archives. Your blog is great!

[Luisa]

I like what you wrote about comments back in November and I still do. I notice that it waxes and wanes over at my site, too. Who knows why? I don't think it has anything to do with you needing to start another flame war, though :) xoxo Have a lovely weekend, my friend.

[jenny]

Please keep posting, I love your blog, I love the photos and I love the bittersweet poetry and prose. I admire your skills as a pastry chef and the way you describe food, your pallete is obviously much more sensitive than mine. I guess I'm not much of a writer myself so I dont feel I have much to say, but I check your blog every day, hoping there will be a new exciting post or some beautiful pictures. I'll try to comment more and you can skip it if its dull. As previously mentioned, san diego could really do with someone to shake up the dull desserts world! (apart from michelle coulon which is just divine)

[anita]

I've been "up to my a**shole in alligators" (as the Bald Guy says, showing his Appalachian roots) the last couple of weeks, but whenever I see a new eggbeater post, I rush right over to read. I usually don't have time to comment, but I can't stay away. I'm really looking forward to the class in a couple of weeks!

xoxox
~A

[Curt]

One thing I notice while running around the blogosphere reading is that women's blogs get many more comments on average than do men's. I don't know if this is because writing styles encourage more comments when written by women, if the readership of women's blogs tend to be largely women, also, or what. No gender bashing one way or another, just an observation and curiosity. I've even posted ASKING for comments and gotten almost none. Maybe I just need to realize that my blog sucks. :)

[Garrett]

Comments come and go. Yestertday I had none on a new cupcake I made with some of the best pictures I had ever taken; then I realized I accidentally turned comments off. Blah, I'm a dingus obviously.

Comments are like the tide, they come in and they go out. I agree, it's fuel. Each comment is like a hug from Jesus. They charge you. But you have to make sure you don't become addicted to them like a street hooker to blow.

Just know I loves you. You were one of the people who inspired me to blog to begin with, and you constantly inspire me to take further steps in each challenge I face.

[Lisa (Homesick Texan)]

Hi Shuna! Do you have any plans to come to NYC and teach a class or two? Please? I keep reading what a wonderful teacher you are!

[Rachael]

We love you! We love you! You are a kitchen wonder! Our only excuse is that we are mute, in awe...

:-)

[Christina]

I'm another visitor who enjoys your blog silently. But I do empathize with your hunger for comments. It can be a little gloomy to put something out there and not know who is responding or how. But I'm guessing you have plenty of readers, like me, who are more meditative than participatory, but still appreciative.

[Tea]

Maybe all your commenters moved to Seattle?:-)

There is a seasonal ebb and flow. I also think people enjoy leaving comments more when their comments get answered (not just questions, but comments). This is something I am making a concerted effort to do. I love getting comments on my site but I haven't always done the best job of responding (no time!). I am now reforming my wayward ways. Some of my favorite bloggers are fantastic about answering comments (Molly, Luisa, etc). I know it makes a difference in how I feel about leaving comments for them.

There are many blogs I read and love but don't always comment on because it feels like I am shouting into the void. It's more fun to get a response back (that said--it takes time and energy I don't always have).

But hey, a flame war could be fun:-)

[Denzylle]

Thanks for contacting me, Shuna.

I shall continue to read your lovely words and I might even comment again sometime...

[Susan]

Hello! Ask and you shall receive, I guess? I just wanted to say hi and that I've been reading this blog for a few months now. Love the recipes and the inside look to what "you folks" do in the industry :P I look forward to taking your knife skills class next Sunday with my fiance!

[Dr. Biggles]

Feh, they fluctuate. People's lives change. It's tax time and spring break is either here or coming up for folks.

Smooches!

[Sean]

Ditto on Anita's comment -- just now getting my head above water after several months of nuttiness. But I'm looking forward to giving you hugs in person soon!

[joanna]

Hi Shuna,

I was actually just about to post a comment, which was(is) this: I made the Pavlovas for Pesach, first night. I wanted to use a fresh, in season fruit, but nothing was looking great - so I went with the mixed berry blend from Trader Joe's, topped with fresh chantilly cream. I used Billington's dark brown molasses sugar in the berries, by the by. Extra good. The whipped cream, of course, rendered the entire (meat) meal unkosher, but nobody in my non-Orthodox family seemed too bothered by this detail

They were a HUGE hit, and damn, those egg whites stiffened up in no time flat in my brand new RED Kitchen Aid that I got just a few days earlier.