Mute Commentator

“A blog is a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order.

Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of most early blogs.”
(Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog)

Why do people write blogs? Some write to show the creative side of their personality, some are genuinely good with words and want a platform to showcase that, some just rant for fun. For some it’s a hobby, for some a passion, for others just a time pass.
I write blogs because I want to capture my thoughts, my feelings about things in general. Things that are common in our day-to-day lives, things that we experience every now and then.
I have also written few blogs on sporting events, soccer and F1 to quote a few. At that point in my life, I was contemplating switching over to be a freelance sports journalist. With no formal degree or previous experience in mass communication and with just about to do good English, I decided against it.
For now, I am focused in capturing the beauty and essence of common things in life, things like friendship, emotion, love, hatred, jealousy, success, failure etc. Topics that are complex, but not complicated and cluttered. And topics that most of us can attach to, subjects that almost all of us have an opinion about, emotions that most of us have felt at some point of time in their lives.
I also read blogs. Blogs from friends, family, colleagues, even unknown strangers. The journey has been interesting. I have come across some blogs that have been beautifully crafted. I recently read a poem blog about Trust and the fear of losing it. The human emotions were captured so naturally and effortlessly. I have also read some blogs were, when you read it, will be awestruck with the range and usage of English words by the author. I have also read blogs where the user, with a generous dose of humor and anecdotes, most of which are from the author’s own experience, have made the article worth reading again and again.
And then I have been through blogs that stink of plagiarism. I can also be accused of the same, the sin being committed more than once. Once I tried to lift paras from different sources and pass it as my own. I have learnt my lesson, but few other continue to do the same, effortlessly lifting portions, in some case the entirety of the blog and faking it as their own.
And then I have read blogs that can be termed as complete crap. Blogs that sometimes mean nothing. Blogs that are so poorly constructed and which are so grammatically incorrect that the English professor who used to teach me in high school will faint, if I make him read those even once.
Once the blog is posted, the expectation of people reading and commenting on the same
comes into play. Comments add grace and value to the blog. And they encourage the author; they give him the motivation to write better posts in future.
I have read and experienced some beautiful comments, comments that are so good that they actually surpass the post in terms of their content, language and craft. I have seen comments that summarize the essence of the post so effortlessly.
But as was the case with the posts, I have been, at times, disappointed by the nature of comments. I have seen people commenting without even going through a quarter of the post, just to make the author feel good. And then there are comments from so called friends of the author; who, regardless of how outrageously incorrect and poorly framed with respect to the language, content and grace the post be, have depicted a feeling that the it was one of the most extraordinary posts that they have ever read. Aren’t they cheating the author, for how will the he know about the quality of his blogs, unless someone points it to him?
With that another thought crosses my mind, do all of us can and do take criticism positively and constructively? Some of us suffer from this superiority, self-centric complex; feeling that most of the things we do and approach cant go wrong. And when someone points out that, hello boss you are missing something, do we react appropriately?
With my experience of late, vis a vis comments and the author’s reactions about the same, I am kinda scared to write comments that can be termed as constructive criticism.
I have got this feeling that rather than improving upon the quality of future posts, my comments tend to upset the authors, they take it rather personally.
Guess, sugary, honey coated comments are the flavor of the season. If only to boost some egos.