Do You Read the Comments of a Discussion Before Posting your Own?

I comment first for all the reasons you give. :)

I always read other comments afterwards.

It is not always that I do not read. Sometimes I do specially when the post is too long

I read the discussion and then post my comment. Today I had trouble understanding a long post, so I had to take a look at the comments. They were all different to such an extreme, that I don't think too many understood the discussion either. Whatever! Lol!

no, i do write my comments before scrolling down on others' comments.

@diosabella Only sometimes. If I seem a little bit lost or confused with what the author is talking about then yes I will have a quick read through other comments hoping to get a better understanding. Otherwise I just answer straight away.

If the topic is interesting I may if not I don't It depends on my mood.

Strictly speaking, the old guidelines (or the old ways, supposedly, as I remember it) say that one should read all responses first before responding yourself. And that you must only respond when you have something new to add to the discussion... But I found that quite... discouraging. First, if I am supposed to read everything first before joining in a discussion, then I would probably not be able to join any discussion at all. Imagine finding an interesting discussion which already has 50 or more (lengthy) responses... when will you be able to read through all that to be able to respond yourself? I would probably take days... (I am a slow reader). Second, if I have to respond only if I have something new to add then what would happen if, on the 3rd day of reading those responses, I find one response that's pretty much my answer... am I only supposed to say "I agree"? Or perhaps, not respond at all anymore? That's just depressing. In fact, the above is partly the reason why I sometimes prefer to just look at the Discussions w/ No Response. There wouldn't be any such problems there. Anyway, I suppose (or I hope) that they are less stricter now. What I just do now is either respond even without reading the other responses, or just try to scroll through and read a few of them quickly (especially if they are short responses). I would hope that is acceptable behavior. I am no superwoman after all.

I read other comments before posting my own. Is that the wrong way? I did find some difficulty when someone already wrote what I had in mind.

Yes, at times. It is too easy to get involved in a ton of discussions that way, so maybe it is good not to read them.

For the sake of finding out who has the same 'wavelength ' as me, I do. But that's when I'm not lazy. Lol

If the comments can count with fingers I surely read it while comment , but if it is too big I comment first.

no i dont unless the people are followers or friends in here, other wise i do not

I'm just overawed by the discussion here! @diosabella Maybe it's all just an instinct, a habit based on mood, time & thought...

If a discussion appeals me, I do not read what others have written, while writing my own response. I find that some of the discussions are beyond my comprehension, then only I check the responses written by others to understand the crux of the discussion.

I don't really read comments before replying to any post. I have very limited time so I just reply after reading the post.

I just reply and if I have time or the subject is very interesting then I read to see what thoughts others have. There are so many posts and comments that I can only do what I do. I have a hard time keeping up.

Sometimes, it depends. If there is some sort of question to answer (like 'do you know what plant this is?' for example) and it's something I know the answer to, I often check whether 30 other people have already answered it! Otherwise I tend to just ramble on in my own way.

Comment anyway. It helps you with your bank, and it's nice to read that so many people feel the same way, especially when someone is going through a rough time. Typically I don't read the other comments before I comment. I will occasionally read them after I comment.

Yes if I get new notification I definitely check that.and respond back