Blogging Etiquette

I've been wondering about a few things on blogging, and have seen different practices. Since this is sort of new to many of us, I'll just throw out the question and be sure to chime in if you have an opinion (and I know you do). I get a few comments on each blog, some of them are questions, some of them are very nice compliments that I intend to thank you for. I don't want to ignore any of them, but is it right for me to reply in the comments section in my own blog? If I do that, people will have to come back later to see my "Thank You" message. Easier if it's a question, since people would be more inclined to revisit the blog to look for the answer later. I know sometimes I'd blog surf and see something nice and leave a comment. Chances are I won't be able to find that blog again even if I want to. Sometimes people reply to the comment through email which means you have to have the commenter's email address. Most blogs are not set up to include an email address, and most of us are not comfortable posting our email addresses in the body of the comment. Most of the time email works well for me with my friends; then since I'm an email junkie with multiple email addresses, if your reply went to my "group" email address, it takes me days or weeks to find it. Another option is to start a new posting to answer all the questions. I don't think it's very efficient, since everyone will have to wade through other people's questions and comments to find what interests you. And again people will have to come back to see the Thank-you's. This seems to be the way columnists work, five people would ask the same question and the writer answers them in one sitting. There is yet the last option that I rather prefer. When you receive a comment you go visit the commenter's blog and say a few nice words. That seems to make everyone happy. After all, we are all in this blogging community and we all contribute to it. What do you think?