timepiececlock

[Poll #208547]

My answers: I usually feel that a statement comment does not require a reply, but a question is a deliberate request for a reply. I do feel slightly miffed if I ask a question of someone I know on LJ (as opposed to a stranger's journal I'm visiting for the first time), and they don't respond at all. Many times I forget that I commented on something until they reply (like

stakebait says she does), but most of the time if I ask a question and they don't resond, even to say that they have no answer they want to/ can share with me, I think it's a little bit rude. Not toward it would make me mad or anything, but it's kinda frustrating. In this I don't really distinguish between people I only sometimes converse with and people I frequently converse with-- to me the issue is the same for both.

Not personal questions really, because if they don't answer than a *I* haven't really lost out on anything. But if the question is related to the content of the post itself, that deserves a response. Or technical questions, where you ask, "That thing you did on your LJ is so cool, could you tell me what that feature is or how I can use it, or where I can find out how to use it?" irritate me if I don't get some kind of response. Note-- "Go away" or "Look it up yourself" DO constitute valid responses. It's the acknowledgement, or lack thereof, which a question deserves, not the answer itself.

I guess some part of my upbringing has imprinted on me that ignoring statments is acceptable, but ignoring questions is rude. Maybe there's a difference in importance, or effort, or earnestness or something on the part of the questioner. An active desire to start a conversation, versus a passive desire. I don't know quite how to articulate it.

I think it's to be expected that people you've never conversed with before have a right to ignore you. But if it's someone you've had two or three conversations with, that establishes a kind of willingness toward future conversation (unless the conversation ended badly or something.) Not a requirement, but an... openness. And in that case, I think some response of some type should be given when a direct question is asked of you, if it's reasonably possible for you to respond. If the question has already been answered in the comments or post, then that's enough and the questioner should be able to pick up that on their own.

None of these are personal rules, and no one should ever feel pressured to answer what they don't want to, or reply to what they don't want to. It's just sort of examining how I've learned to react to things like this. I feel like a question deserves a response or some form of acknowledgement, while a comment is only if you feel like it.

I suppose it would be different if all the comments you ever got were questions. That rarely happens to me though.