Are comments important to dad bloggers?

Posted by Dad on Oct 26, 2006 in Dad Bloggers | 2 comments

I’ve been surfing the sites of fellow dad bloggers. It’s amazing how personal some of them are.  Others are so well written that they are a joy to read. What got me thinking, however, were the comments made to some of these blogs.

Many of the comments are from women. Why is that?  Where are the fellow dads? Who are we writing for? Is it for ourselves? For our children? For fellow dads?  Are we all just feeding our need for attention? Hmmm… Is it social interaction we crave? Do we post up an entry and then check back a million times a day to see if someone posted a comment?  Are comments really that important to our blogs? (I hope not, as I get very few)

Personally, I feel they are sometimes valuable and sometimes trash. For example, here is the MetroDad‘s first ever post. As you can see, even in 2004 he was as eloquent as ever:

Charles Barkley once said that “you can talk without saying a thing. But I don’t ever want to be that type of person.” So, it’s in the spirit of the misanthropic Sir Charles that I begin this weblog. I plan on using this blog to voice my opinion on a wide variety of random topics: the designated hitter rule, the state of the world around us, the joys (and ensuing struggles) of impending fatherhood, the beauty of a great steak sandwich, the banalities of organized religion, my obsession with the swiffer, the love of a good scotch, the unconditional friendship of a cool dog, the hypocrisy of a culture of victimization, the greatness that is Scrabble…well, I think you’re getting the point. If you’re reading this, be prepared for a lot of ranting from a cynical New Yorker who reads, eats, drinks, smokes, loves and hates…too much.

But I’m also writing the blog because it’s cheaper than therapy and I don’t have to make the $15 co-payment. I’ve kept a journal at various stages of my life. I found that both writing and reading it were highly therapeutic for me and gave me a good deal of perspective on my life. I figure when I’m in my golden years, sitting on the porch swing with Boss Lady, whittling farm animals out of ivory soap, and listening to the soft soothing sounds of the banjo, I can read this blog and just LAUGH!

To wit, a wonderful comment was posted by Calvin:

Score one for the touchy-feely squad. Buddy, smells like you’ve been smoking some bad granola. You better be a Republican or I’m gonna boycott this blog. I want some pro-Bush propoganda. Better yet (and more original) how about some pro-Cheney rants. There’s somebody who needs all the support he can get. So how about it? Give Dick a lift in your blog. Who do you want as VP? You know you want Dick. The word is that you want all the Dick you can get. Oh, and good luck with that whole “dad” thing. Don’t wear your rope sandals out pushing the stroller, freak…

Ah, how wonderful. Encouraging words from a troll.  Thankfully, Metrodad continued to write.

Related posts:

1. Should I feel honored?
2. My first entry to Dad Bloggers was posted today!
3. A bloggers tools?
4. Gerard Dewan- a 9/11 tribute…