Liz Strauss has some interesting thoughts about why blog readers don’t leave comments and offers 10 possible causes of in-interactivity.
I’d like to add one of my own thoughts as to why people might not comment on blogs.
You didn’t publish my comment that I spent valuable time composing and then claimed to have deleted it accidentally.
When this happened to me, I found myself visiting the blog in question less frequently. Nowadays, I might glance over it once a month, but I’m certainly not inclined to spend any time on comments.
Back to those ten reasons from Liz. The eleventh(!) reason is about negativity being a turn-off,
Your post was negative. Negative is scary. Most folks don’t like negative stuff, because they know they could be next to be the recipient. I don’t comment, because I don’t want to be part of it.
Whilst pointless negativity without any good reason can be rather unattractive, blogs that do nothing but blow sunshine can be just as sickly especially when they’re just regurgitating someone elses content/sales pitch without adding any real input of their own.
Now, this post might be starting to read a bit negative, but the real world isn’t rosy pink and as Internet marketers/entrepeneurs we’re bound to face downs as well as ups.
If I go through a bad experience, blog about it and save others (you, perhaps) from the same fate then would I still be thought of as being negative?
Technorati Tags: Liz Strauss, negativity, affiliate marketing, blogging
8 Responses to “Is Negativity Bad?”
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I agree with your point about too much rosy sunshine, especially when that sunshine has no substance. What I was referring to when I said negativity was the trend toward deep snark that engendered the blog wars of a few months ago and that still crops up on certain blogs in the form of threadjacking.
Also most folks don’t understand the fine art of writing a rant. They might think they are doing a “Dennis Miller,” but in fact they are venting nasty stuff that they don’t really need to share in public — it’s not funny or fun. Often it’s like a bad car wreck.
I find a negative point of view that has substance can be helpful, because I tend to lean toward the idealist, optimistic outlook. On the hand I avoid words like “good” and “bad” whenever I can.
with a big grin,
Liz
I almost feel obliged to reply to your comment, but it was so complete that all I can say is “Good job!”
Seriously, thanks for the clarification although I had an inkling you were hinting towards something more sinister than just the typical rant.
I think the use of “good” and “bad” can be quite human in that it brings something into the author’s own frame of reference.
Perhaps, if people can label things as “good” and “bad” then that could help other readers who share the same opinion to relate and break down some of the posting barrier they may feel.
I find this one a difficult one – playing off my desire to rail against all and sundry, and keeping my blog a fun and light place for people to come for a bit of entertainment and information.
I guess it’s a case of finding the right balance.
I think you’ve hit the keywords, Stu; entertainment, information and balance.
If you’re outside of the UK then you might not be familiar with the Watchdog TV programme on the BBC. It’s basically a consumers’ champion, helping to warn people of current scams, fraudsters and other criminal behaviour. It focuses on some of the most negative sides of life, but it does so in an informative way.
Take the news as another example, it’s mostly bad/negative and yet audiences are hooked because they want to be kept informed.
I also take Liz’s point about not everyone being able to rant with the necessary tact to avoid a war of words. But when bad/negative things happen to us, it’s difficult to avoid taking it personally because those things are happening to us… Personally!
I make a point of not reading blogs where the majority of posts are negative. It’s an energy sink.
Everyone likes to have a moan about somehting now and then, and that’s fine – can be quite therapeutic in fact. But when 80% of posts are moaning about something or other, I tend to wonder if the problem is not with what is being moaned about, but it’s a problem with the person doing the moaning…
I think a big part of what this post missed (This is a negative statement so far, but also reads as though it will be informative)
is the sociological aspect of most individuals attitude towards negativity.
I feel that most cultures place negative connotations towards negativity. I don’t feel there is anything objectively wrong with a negative statement, any more than there is something objectively wrong with a positive statement.
Watch:
The hamburger I just ate was good.
The hamburger I just ate was bad.
Really just two statements of fact. I think that if a person feels there is something wrong with stating the second fact, it has more to do with their own personal outlook than with anything inherently wrong in the statement itself.
And people always try and come up with a secondary reason as to why negativity might be bad. One of the most popular reasons being “It’s nonconstructive”. Yet that couldn’t be the real reason, or else positive statements that were similarly nonconstructive would also be considered a “no-no”.
Watch:
Person A: “I didn’t like that.”
Person B: “Well that’s not helping matters.”
vs
Person A: “I liked that”
Person B: “Great!”
When you really get right down to the core of the issue–simplify it enough to really compare and contrast positivity and negativity–you can see that they aren’t really that different.
Anyways, maybe it’s just my own personal bias coming into play here, but I feel that being logical is important. If there isn’t an objective difference then we should stop pretending that there are. I prefer truth to delusion. What’s wrong with that!