Comment Challenge Day 5: Comment on a Post You Disagree With
Most of us have a tendency to comment when we come
across a blog post with which we agree. The blogger says something that
makes us want to shout "Me too!" and we're motivated to leave a
comment. But what happens when we read a post with which we don't
agree? What do we do then?
For today's
challenge, you're going to find a blog post where you don't agree with
the author and leave a comment. It might be that you just disagree with
a segment of the post--that's fine. The goal of your commenting today
will be to bring up your point of disagreement in your comment.
For some people, the challenge will be finding posts with which they don't agree. If this is the case, try using Technorati
to find blogs on a political topic--these are usually great sources of
potential conflict. You might also want to consider expanding your blog
reading horizons because to learn, you need blogs in your reader that
regularly challenge your thinking.
If
you want to peruse some suggestions on how to disagree appropriately,
check out the comments section (how appropriate!) for this post on 10 Rules for Blog Debates.
Some great ideas for both commenters and bloggers, as well as a good
example of how the commenting can become better and meatier than the
original post.
As an add-on reflection activity, consider blogging on some of these questions. Don't forget to tag your post with "comment08".
- What happened as a result of you disagreeing with the blogger? How did they respond? How did you respond?
- What do you usually do if you find a post with which you disagree? Do you comment publicly? Email the blogger? Or do you just move on?
- If you comment, typically how do you engage the blogger? Do you ask questions to better understand his/her position? Do you make statements to explain your position? Do you track comments so that you can return to continue the conversation?
- If you're a blogger, how do you feel if people post comments where they disagree with you? How do you handle these?
________________________________________________________________________________
If you liked this article, then you may want to sign up to be automatically notified when I add new content. Learn more here.
First past the post ;-)
Thanks for this new challenge Michele. As you know, I have had experience in this sort of comment posting before :-)
And I disagreed with you.
I have to admit to everyone that your tactics, far from 'teaching me a lesson', demonstrated that it was okay to disagree. At the same time you showed how the blogger should react in such a situation. I liked your exemplary approach - thanks for that. Good teaching and good blogging.
And what more can I say? I'll use your tactic on my own blog when an appropriate situation arises.
Ka kite
from Middle-earth
Posted by: Ken Allan | May 05, 2008 at 05:05 AM
Hi Ken--well, I'm glad the "lesson" I taught was that it was OK to disagree, as that's the only lesson I wanted to teach! :-) I want to be challenged on what I write here because it teaches me new things and shows me where I may have errors in my thinking. That doesn't mean that I'm always persuaded by what someone else says, but if we don't engage in the dialogue, then I don't think we're using our blogs for learning in the ways that we could. So challenge away, my friend!
Posted by: Michele Martin | May 05, 2008 at 07:21 AM
Well, I disagree with your post! Personally, I find that if I agree with another post, by saying "me too," I feel like I'm not contributing to anything, so I don't say anything. However, when I find something that I disagree with, I like to post my opinion on the matter.
Posted by: aishel | May 05, 2008 at 08:53 PM
Just came across your 31 Comment Challenge. What a great idea! I like how you are saying more than: just comment. But outlining the importance and potential of engaging in conversation. I'm going to def. come back for more commenting tips and ideas.
Thanks!
Posted by: Socialbutterfly | May 05, 2008 at 09:35 PM
Aishel--that's perfect! :-) From what I've observed, there are some people like you who are comfortable disagreeing in a comment, but many more who are not. Or it may be that they don't read a lot of blogs that challenge their ideas or thinking, which takes us into the problem of homophily. I think that we need to be comfortable with both agreeing with something a blogger says as well as disagreeing. It looks like this activity was probably a pretty easy one for you.
And Socialbutterfly, glad you're enjoying the challenge and challenge activities. So far I think this has been a great learning opportunity for a lot of us!
Posted by: Michele Martin | May 06, 2008 at 06:45 AM
Morning Michele
just a hello on your Day 6 and my Day 7. Where did they go to?
And a comment on disagreement ... I've been astonished at the level of unpleasantness on some of the comments I'm tracking elsewhere on the challange. Wow ... I think some of these folk need to step back a wee bit and meditate on the challenge from Day 5.
There are several stages of 'disagreement' it would seem, and even more reactions to having your way of thinking challenged.
Best wishes from 'Goody-2-Shoes' :-)
Posted by: Kate Foy | May 06, 2008 at 07:31 PM