Is it Impolite not to Reply to a Comment in a Discussion Here in MyLot?
By bingskee
@bingskee (5234)
Philippines
October 9, 2011 1:35am CST
This was triggered by a comment in one of my discussions. I decided not to reply. Do not get me wrong, I intend to reply to each comment. I am one of those participants here that desire to be responded to a reply I made especially those that I spent time thinking what to say.
But what is my reason not to comment? I am not justifying but there are reasons why:
* I do not reply, and would not be able to reply, to a comment that I cannot understand. At times, there are comments I find it hard to decipher and I get afraid that I will make a reply that does not conform to the thought.
* I do not reply to a comment that is rude.
* I do not reply to a comment that is meant to create a fuzz.
I give the benefit of the doubt to those people who do not comment. There might be reasons that are solely theirs to keep.
As to the question, I find it impolite at times to ignore comments. MyLot is a discussion board and there has to be discussions. The comments are there to make the discussions lively and to solicit different ideas and thoughts. 
5 people like this
11 responses
@KrauseHome (36448)
• United States
11 Oct 11
I do not reply to comments that are made to cause a Fuss. I also do not respond back to comments that are unrelated to my topic, or off course. I also do not respond to responses I cannot understand or are like about 4 words. To me to be able to respond back it needs to be something of quality that I can relate with and agree with that gives meaning or helps me understand.
2 people like this
@Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
12 Nov 11
stowyk the other day I saw a discussion that act ually was an abbreviation and two numbers. I looked at that and wondered
as this poster usually has very interesting discussions., Aa
I did not know what the abbreviation and the numnbers meant I
wo uld have been an idiot to respond at all.what I did was
report this as that is a no no to make a discussion thats
just not making any type of sense.If there had been any explanation I might have responded but this title seemingly was meant as the discussion too.
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
11 Oct 11
bingskee,
I stand with you on the reasons for not replying a comment or response to a discussion(s) and if I may add, I do not comment or respond for the sake of it.
Also, there are times where I am baffled where the poster is coming from and arriving at, so I'd just leave it. I do not see that I would be deemed as impolite when I am being considerate.
I always take these discussions as a learning experience than some battle or war, if you know what I mean.
1 person likes this
@skysuccess (8858)
• Singapore
14 Oct 11
bingskee,
I suppose "Great minds think alike" here.
I with you on everything you've said.
I with you on everything you've said.1 person likes this
@bingskee (5234)
• Philippines
12 Oct 11
yey! we think the same!
it defeats the essence of it all to comment just for the sake of it. but some others do not see that you are being considerate when you do not reply. it would always be the opposite that they will see.
we are threading on the same path, skysuccess. it's always the craving for knowledge and learning that i am doing all these, with some perks on it.
we think the same!
it defeats the essence of it all to comment just for the sake of it. but some others do not see that you are being considerate when you do not reply. it would always be the opposite that they will see.
we are threading on the same path, skysuccess. it's always the craving for knowledge and learning that i am doing all these, with some perks on it.2 people like this
@dpk262006 (58675)
• Delhi, India
9 Oct 11
Hi!
You have listed out very valid reasons for not posting your comments on the responses received. I agree with you that posting comments to meaningless responses is not possible and I feel that those who post relevant responses expect comments from us.
However, there are different kinds of users here and there would be some, who are likely to post irrelevant responses to our post and we we just can not do anything about it.
@dpk262006 (58675)
• Delhi, India
10 Oct 11
I appreciate your stand that you try your best to decode the response and you try to post your comments.
Yeah, I agree with you that comments on any discussion should thought provoking to keep it going.
@bingskee (5234)
• Philippines
9 Oct 11
i always try to understand, dpk. at times, even with chagrin, i still try to respond to the best of my ability. i have one tip for everybody though, a discussion is raised not to solicit a simple yes or no. to keep a discussion alive and going, comments have to be alive, too, even if it does not conform to the discussion.
@inertia4 (27961)
• United States
11 Oct 11
I try to respond to all the responses I get from my discussions. It does not matter if they are rude or not, or if I do not understand. If I do not understand what I do is read all the other responses first then I get a sense of what they might mean. Then I respond. If I am wrong, 9 out of 10 times they will let me know I was not on track with what they were saying. But to just start a discussion and never respond to any is ridiculous.
@bingskee (5234)
• Philippines
12 Oct 11
right. why start a discussion when you will not respond? there are discussion starters who do that. wonder why they do not care to respond. will i be interested to go back and visit again when it's past a few months and not a reply? of course not.
i will try my very hardest to respond to all, that is my objective this last quarter of the year.
i will try my very hardest to respond to all, that is my objective this last quarter of the year. @inertia4 (27961)
• United States
12 Oct 11
I guess thats what makes us true MyLotters. I try and spend as much time as I could here on MyLot, I do really enjoy it. And I do look forward to the discussions. I guess some people think just by posting a discussion is good enough. To me MyLot goes deeper then that. It's not just about posting, it's also about making friends and getting involved.
@telmesh (1793)
•
5 Nov 11
Well bingskee I did it once and considered it impolite so I apologised to the person who started the discussion.
It was done because I could see that the respondent had missed the point and the discussion starter had not noticed or had not cleared it up.
The discussion starter said that it was quite alright and was happy that I interrupted.
So where do we go do interrupt and apologise or is it quite alright.
1 person likes this
@mariahhh (1328)
• United Arab Emirates
9 Oct 11
I think it's our right if we want to reply in every comments that we received. I comment back to some of them, if the comments they left is really interesting or if I really need to reply. There are some comments that doesn't need answers, so why reply. I don't think it's rude if we don't reply to them. If everyone of us needs to reply to every comments, our boxes will be never ending. 
@bingskee (5234)
• Philippines
9 Oct 11
unfortunately, not everyone thinks the same way as you do. some mylotters, being diverse in culture, trait, and attitude, take it against the discussion starter if no reply was given. there were even discussion condemning the act.
but i am with you in saying that there are comments that do need replies so why reply.
i also believe replying is a choice, and nobody should question that.
i also believe replying is a choice, and nobody should question that.1 person likes this
@mariahhh (1328)
• United Arab Emirates
9 Oct 11
Really? There is a discussion condemning the act of not replying to every comment? wow. I want to read it. Can I have the link? I want to check every myLotters who condemned about it. I'll check their activities if they really replied to everything. lol.
But it's true, if you don't have anymore reason to answer, why would you force yourself to do so? But it is really bad not to answer every replies. I know a member here who always start a discussion but never replied to anyone who responded. That's not a good thing. You have to reply if you really have to. Good thing she realized her mistake and made a discussion saying sorry about it. 
I want to check every myLotters who condemned about it. I'll check their activities if they really replied to everything. lol.
But it's true, if you don't have anymore reason to answer, why would you force yourself to do so? But it is really bad not to answer every replies. I know a member here who always start a discussion but never replied to anyone who responded. That's not a good thing. You have to reply if you really have to. Good thing she realized her mistake and made a discussion saying sorry about it. @Hatley (163781)
• Garden Grove, California
12 Nov 11
bingskee If I write I get paid and to me its d amned rude of the d uiscussion maker to not comment,thats the correct term, to our responses as we spent time and energy to respons so we deserve
a comment like I understand your thinking bur I feel this way . I love to get comments that show the person is thinking and he or she has a different idea than mine. we can all learn from one other.if a comment is rude it gets reported at once. for one thing y ou are forgetting that for a discussion to be a discussion one has to talk back and forth . discussions are not one way at all.I feel if the discussion maker is so lazy he or she cannot even try to comment on our responses why are they making discussions? do they want to have our ideas or not? do not make discussions if you are not willing to comment back on them.not one word comments either but well though out ideas.
@allknowing (130066)
• India
9 Oct 11
I do not reply to a comment that is meant to create a fuzz It is responses such as these would really make a sizzling discussion because differences of opinion would help expand a topic and this site is all about discussion.
@allknowing (130066)
• India
9 Oct 11
You are right bingskee. If the responses are sarcastic or insulting surely one does not need to comment because obviously the comment would refer to those insults and it is best that one moves forward after reporting.
@stuckonu (726)
• Philippines
9 Oct 11
I agree with your first reason. Since not all of Mylotters are native English speakers (and writers), some of the posts or replies are sometimes hard to understand. I admit that sometimes, my own wordings are also undecipherable so for me, it's not really rude not to reply to those kind of posts. With regard the rude comments, I usually reply to those but if it is already leading to a discussion, I will end it abruptly.
@bingskee (5234)
• Philippines
9 Oct 11
i think we all have, as participants here, responsibilities as commenters and starters. i do not want to brand those comments as 'meaningless' because i believe they mean to give comments that to them have meanings. it is just that there is a 'miss' probably due to some inadequacies. i prefer to define them as 'not decipherable' without any meaning to offend.
to offend.
@Pushhyarag2000 (1416)
• India
9 Oct 11
I agree with most of what you said. Except on the point of ignoring certain types. I think for several reasons including the one that the last respondent before me said [difficulties in language leading to undecipherable comments], comments may not have the appeal for response. But I would like to go a little holistic here: people come here essentially to be active in some way and possibly [more so] add the cents to their account. Even if one feels they are better ignored, I would canvass, for the sake of keeping their sentiments, a non text response at least is justified. Otherwise-those people may never express perhaps-but it will be rude.
Just my take.
@bingskee (5234)
• Philippines
9 Oct 11
i don't mean to be rude when i do not reply. i just find it hard to reply when i do not really understand what the comment meant. i try so hard to decipher but there ones that i really, really can't, honestly.
the objective of this discussion actually is for mylotters to understand why i do not, or cannot, respond. though it is always a choice, i believe, and there is no rule regarding responding, and an obligation from the starter (although it makes me wonder why will someone start a discussion if he or she doesnt want to respond) to respond.
as i said, i do believe there are meanings to the posted comments, and we are all trying to give the best response that we could only that some inadequacies prohibit some of us to be able to relay the message correctly.
thank you for being honest giving your opinion.
i just find it hard to reply when i do not really understand what the comment meant. i try so hard to decipher but there ones that i really, really can't, honestly.
the objective of this discussion actually is for mylotters to understand why i do not, or cannot, respond. though it is always a choice, i believe, and there is no rule regarding responding, and an obligation from the starter (although it makes me wonder why will someone start a discussion if he or she doesnt want to respond) to respond.
as i said, i do believe there are meanings to the posted comments, and we are all trying to give the best response that we could only that some inadequacies prohibit some of us to be able to relay the message correctly.
thank you for being honest giving your opinion. 