How-to: Commenting

It came to my attention a while back, and I'm just now remembering it, that some people who visit my blogs don't know how to comment.
I love comments.
I thrive on them.
They make me happy.
Like getting things in the mail that actually have a point.

Don't you want to make me happy?

Okay, enough guilt-tripping...within the last month, I have changed my settings to where anyone can comment. Even without a Google account.

However, the comments are now moderated and I believe you have to fill out one of those annoying little make-sure-you're-not-a-robot random letter things.
Anyway, here's Monica's rules for commenting...not that anyone who won't do this anyway will care:
1. If you have no Google account-which is fine, I for one love Google, but everyone doesn't so...-you may comment using the 'Anonymous' option.
2. If you use said 'Anonymous' option, please sign your name at the bottom. It's really more common courtesy than anything, since it will post as "Anonymous says: .....blah blah blah.....". You get the picture.
3. If you do not sign, at least make it a nice comment.
4. These comments are moderated. If it is not nice, no one else will see. No one else will care. And no one else will remember you and your dumb I-want-to-be-mean-ness. If you have nothing better to do than pick on people in cyberspace, man, you need a hobby.

I had trouble prior to our trip to China with some nasty comments on Journey with Reese Maleah KaiJin. That's the reason Anon. commenting was closed. But now it's back. More or less. Getting a Google account isn't really that hard though. I'm not saying you have to, nor am I endorsing Google as the almighty email provider...although it does seem to be getting there. And I'm sure someone will want to say something mean about that. Anyway, moving on.

To comment:
1. See that little line down at the bottom of the post that says (most likely) '0 comments'. Yeah, that's the one. It may say '2 comments' or '1 comment'...you get the picture. Click it. You know you want to.
2. That will take you away from this page...so read all these instructions quickly. Kidding. Just read them all before you click. Or figure it out on your own. Just trying to help here. You will arrive at a page that says something along the lines of 'Post a Comment on: ~Insert Blog Name Here~'. That's the page you want to arrive at.
3. There's a box. It is titled 'Leave A Comment'. No, I'm trying to make you feel dumb, nor do I think you are...whoever you are. I'm just trying to be thorough, unlike the instructions with many instruction manuals, science fair projects, math textbooks, and parenting- wait, that doesn't come with one. Never mind. That's a shame really, someone could make a killing off of that....
4. Okay, underneath that box, there should be 3 options. One should be signing in to a Google account, if you have one. If you have one and are already logged in, it should show your screen name. Like mine says Monica. Next is 'Other'. When you click that, it asks you to type in your name and a website address. I believe you can just put in your name. I'm not really sure though. That would be my preferred form of non-Google member commenting. Thank you. Finally, there's the anonymous option. Fairly self-explanatory. No information is asked for.
5. Now that you have selected an identity, you may type in your comment. You may also swap steps 4 and 5 and do them "backwards". Unless you need to log-in to your Google account. Then I suggest you do it in this order.
6. Push the 'Publish Your Comment' Button. Yes, that bright orange thing.
7. You will not see your comment immediately on the comment bar-thing. Since I have moderation set up, I must approve the message prior to it being seen by the general public.
8. There's a spot at the top of the screen that will say something like 'your comment has been submitted and will be posted when approved by the blog owner' or something like that. It should also say 'click here to return to ~Insert entry name here~' or something along those lines. If you want to return to the blog, click the link there.

Yes, that was the long and oh-you-must-have-no-clue-whatsoever version of how to comment. But hey. Now you know how. And quite thoroughly.

And remember: I love comments. Comments are the life-blood of blogging. Most don't blog for themselves. If we did...we'd have a journal. On paper. In a notebook. But we have blogs, so we want to know people read. We want to know what you think. What you'd like to see. And yes, I am starting to sound creepy to myself. But it is 2 in the morning, so that gets a bit of credit.

Signing off now.

-Monica