The ettiquette of bloggery.

I am supposed to be typing up some corrected lyrics sheets for today's rehearsal. We all know how good I am at doing what I should.

Procrastination, thy name is...ME!

Also, the evil genius known as Bird is suddenly demanding computer time again. He hasn't been interested in a while, but this morning he's anxious for access. I guess his latest scheme involves a computer. Look out world, the kid has figured out how to get online...a complete takeover can't be far behind.

Despite Bird's escalating urgency and the task I should be hacking away at, I am here. Aren't you lucky? I had a thought, and since I know the entire world of blogopolis (how many times can I make the spell check cry in this post do you think?) just waits with bated breath for my little gems, I rushed on over and started typing.

I read a blog or twelve. Several of them are daily reads...and sometimes I pop in several times a day because I really enjoy them and keep hoping they'll write more, more, more. Sometimes I make bold and comment. This leads me to wonder; should one introduce one's self to a blog author as soon as one starts reading? Or perhaps when one becomes a regular reader? Or is simply dropping a comment enough? Is commenting on a blog like commenting on an overheard conversation? Excuse me, but I couldn't help hearing (reading) and wanted to add... What's the polite thing, here? We're talking about a world where complete strangers are traipsing through your virtual living room, inspecting the drapes and the dust on the door frames (C'mon, you know it's dusty up there. Please tell me I'm not the only one...) and then possibly telling others about it.

When you comment for the first time, is there some polite little word or phrase to ease the way? Or is it just a "jump in and swim" sort of proposition? 'Cause I usually just jump in with both feet and hope for the best.

I like to follow blog links. Blog-hopping? Leap-blogging? Sometimes I bookmark blogs of folks I've found through other blogs. Should I tell them that's how I found them? Oh, I hope not...I can't remember all the strands I walked on the web to get to some of the places I've ended up!

What about other folks you see regularly in the comments sections? I keep seeing one name over and over...and I swear I'm not cyber-stalking her, but since I kept seeing her name I decided to look at her blog, too...and now I have that one on my list of daily reads, too. When you see someone like that, do you say hello? Or give a little finger wave, or whatever the electronic equivalent is? It's a bit like running across the same person at the coffee shop every day...or is it?

I was raised to have good manners, and I wouldn't want to offend, annoy, or otherwise discommode (good word, huh?) anyone, so what's the polite thing?

Yeah, I know, I worry about peculiar things. Just wait until I get going on something like co-creative reality. Ouch.