I post about my Hive goals every week, so many of you know what I'm shooting for there. But what of other goals?

Many of you know I try to post every single day. Due to one thing or another by first couple years on this platform, I missed days here and there, but for the past two or three years I've been able to meet my daily goal.

Why do I aim for daily posts? Mainly just to keep in the habit of writing and posting. Habits are funny things; if you miss one day it becomes much easier to miss another day, and if you aren't careful the entire thing can unravel on you. Most people fall out of the habit of going to the gym, for instance, because of that.

I enjoy writing and I want to keep myself doing it, so having the goal of a Hive post looming before me helps keep me on track.

I don't like his books all that much (to be honest) but I admire Stephen King for his work ethic. Every morning from seven to noon he locks himself in his office and forces himself to write. He's much richer and more successful than most of us will ever be and he doesn't need to do that anymore, but he still does anyway. I like that dedication to his craft and to doing something he loves.

But anyway, I didn't start this post to talk about that. I want to talk about my commenting.

I think on Hive @ @steevc and @bozz are probably two of the best commenters. They both knock out many comments everyday to a variety of people. There are a few others who are also very good at it. These guys are good models to emulate.

Commenting is a very valuable thing on Hive. It helps create and maintain connections—I suppose you could think of that as a kind of low-level networking, but I'd think of it more as just being friendly by showing interest in what other people are creating. It is also great to comment on newbie posts—they don't get a lot of attention and may be discouraged, so a comment can show them that they are welcome on this platform and that they are being seen.

Last year I had the soft goal of replying to all comments on my posts daily and writing comments on five additional posts. I did pretty good on that for most of the year.

During the holidays, however, I fell off the horse. During the holidays it was due to balance the increased family events with business things and with still doing my Hive posts. Since then, however, although I haven't tracked it, I wouldn't be surprised if wasting time on Discord has taken away from commenting. I'm going to try to get back to my normal level for the rest of this month, then increase it from there as I can. Producing my own content still has the priority, but after that I want to try to at least hit my soft commenting goals of replying to everyone who comments on my posts within a day or two and commenting on at least five other posts everyday.

Do you have any commenting goals on Hive? What are they?

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.