FMLA update
Deep thanks to everyone who has picked up my post about possible cutbacks in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The National Partnership for Women and Families now has an Action Alert that you can use to send emails, or print letters for mailing, to your Senators and Representative and to the Department of Labor.
There are some very good discussions going on about this issue in the comments at RebelDad and Bitch, PhD. I’m curious as to whether there’s something that I could do differently that would encourage folks to comment more here. Would it help if I added my own comments in response to the comments I receive? Just wondering.
Others who have picked up the story include the Daily Yak (with a story about the grief he got for taking FMLA leave), DaddyTypes, 11d, Thrifty Mom, Uncommon Woman, Mimilou, and Lifechanges… Delayed, . Thanks!
February 12th, 2005 at 9:46 am
My thoughts on your question: It is nice when a blog author engages in comments (though you certainly shouldn’t feel obliged to respond to every half-baked comment). Your posts tend to be well thought out and to consider both (all) sides of the issues you address, so it does require a fair bit of thought and nuance to respond appropriately — I have started a couple of comments and did not post them because I was not satisfied with them. The upside is the comments you do get are quite thoughtful (consider the ones on the post immediately below about children in the workplace (which was one of the comments I didn’t finish)).
February 12th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
From what I’ve read (and seen on my own blog) the ways to get comments are yes, to respond to them and to ask questions (like in this post!). I suspect that offering a personal angle on a political question also helps, as it encourages others to share their experiences of whatever-the-issue is (e.g., “when my kid was born, I did/did not take leave because. . . ). I have found, though, that once you have a sort of core group of commenters, they’ll comment on anything, including posts that you think no one will bother to comment on!
February 12th, 2005 at 8:28 pm
That makes a lot of sense. I’m sometimes reluctant to post comments in response to my own posts for fear of browbeating my readers or hogging the conversation. I’ll try to jump in a bit more though.
Thanks for commenting!
February 12th, 2005 at 10:48 pm
My method of increasing comments — make numerous spelling, grammatical, and factual errors. It’s all on purpose, you see.
February 13th, 2005 at 11:02 am
Can I just second Fred’s comment? He said exactly what I was going to.
February 13th, 2005 at 7:46 pm
Fishing for comments (ie, asking questions) seems to work much of the time, as bitchphd noted. However, sometimes it seems to be kind of hit-or-miss. The posts that I’ve thought of as my best (those on subjects near to my heart, done with the most feeling, etc) have received very few comments. However, a very casual post on burning grilled cheese sandwiches received more comments than anything I’ve written to date. Go figure!
February 14th, 2005 at 12:42 pm
Since you asked…I’m a rare commenter – I’m just not the join in kind of gal – but I’ve almost commented here more than once. I read you every day. You seem to find the most interesting things and have and interesting take on them. Just because you don’t have comments doesn’t mean you don’t have fans!
February 19th, 2005 at 3:34 pm
Family First – Update
Half Changed World spawned a great deal of interest with her recent post on the potential weakening of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). She posted an update a few days later, that included a link to this Action Alert….