It is easier to comment at The Guardian than at blogs hosted by Blogger.

I tried to comment on a blog about this book, but the commend didn’t go through…

It takes about a minute to sign up at The Guardian and call yourself Ishmaella or something–and then you can write any foolish thing that comes into your mind.  Fortunately I only did that twice, and I can’t remember what I said.

Many of The Guardian’s articles are based on comments these days, so it’s a good thing they’ve made it easy.

Good though these comments may be, I prefer comments at blogs.

Comments on blogs seem friendlier and more supportive than comments at newspapers. Blogging is more homey, more like publishing a small-press book than like publishing a newspaper.  A small-press editor once told me that if a writer had a lot of friends, the book sold, and if he or she did not, the books just sat in a box.

If I apply this to bloggers, it makes sense.  There are some wonderful popular blogs with dozens of commenters, and then there are other wonderful unknown  blogs with few comments.  Bloggers tend to have more comments if they are active in Yahoo book groups or network with fellow bloggers  and “do” challenges. (But aren’t those challenges for very young readers?)

These days I limit my online social activities  to commenting occasionally at blogs.  Although one family member reads my blog, he doesn’t comment online.   He just likes to see what I’m reading, because I’m not supposed to be buying books.

Sometimes I want to comment at blogs, but find it impossible to type in the indecipherable code of letters and numbers that proves I’m not a bot.

I recently tried twice to comment at Vintage Reads, because I loved a post on Rumer Godden’s Black Narcissus.  I’ve never read Black Narcissus, but when I first read Godden’s other nun book, In This House of Brede, as a teenager, I thought about becoming a nun.

You might actually have to go to church to do this, however.

I wandered around a beautiful Episcopalian church.  There was a courtyard.

I didn’t get around to going to any of the services.

I have known some very nice nuns and some very mean ones.  Overall, I wouldn’t like that line of work.

Back to commenting at blogs, whether they are about nuns or not:  If you want a spam-free environment, you often screen your comments.

Most of the commenters here are bloggers, and they are civil.  After I approve the first comment by a visitor,  he or she can comment regularly.

It is a little more difficult at Blogger, which I think is the most popular blog platform.  First you must sign in under a

Google Account
OpenID
Name/URL
Anonymous

And this is sometimes more difficult than it looks.

Then you need to type in a bunch of indecipherable hieroglyphics that I have to take off my glasses and squint at to see.

Do I get the letters and numbers right?    Sometimes it takes two or three tries.

But, if you haven’t seen me commenting lately, know that I REALLY LOVE YOUR BLOG.  Your blog  won’t let me comment.