molly.com
Tuesday 25 October 2005
Comment Addiction and Blog Post Quality
PEOPLE ONLY LOVE ME WHEN I’M FUNNY. Either that or very geeky. Or when I combine the two. But spill my heart or start to cry and it’s apparently about as yummy as toxic waste.
Either that, or my server was down too long yesterday and only two comments arrived in 24 hours in response to my Of Pride and Sorrow post, which I felt was, well, very heartfelt.
Nevertheless, it got me thinking that I now measure the worth of my blog posts by how many comments they get. This probably isn’t a good idea, since some of the best things I’ve written have gone unsung, and some of the worst things have gotten lots of attention. Conclusion? You just can’t predict people’s responses, and sometimes it’s the emotional stuff they do respond to but don’t post a response to since they don’t wish to or know how to articulate their feelings in a forum such as a blog.
Have I become a comment addict? If I don’t see at least five comments and at best 50 per post, I suffer from withdrawals. I’ve a highly addictive personality as it is and I don’t need any more things to be addicted to, thank you very much. But aside from the comment addiction, the issue of allowing the quantity or even quality of commentary to drive my content is at core a repugnant thought.
After all, certain blogs occupy a different space than the professional Web site or corporate blog. I use my blog as a means of self-expression, which of course includes funny stuff, geeky stuff, sad stuff, mean stuff, and just general Molly stuff.
I’m pondering this state of affairs and would enjoy your thoughts. I love comment love, this is why I have comments on my blog. Do I compromise my self-expression in order to get more of it, or would that just be an addict’s behavior? If you see certain trends from your blog readership, do you or would you be more precise in addressing what your audience likes just to get the comment love?
And yes, for the record: I’m wondering how many comments this post will get.
Filed under: blogging, humor
Posted by: Molly | 03:06 | Comments (73)
safe molly
WOW! I have to say I am in a constant catching up mode with my reading blogs. I left a comment on your Of Pride and Sorrow post a few days ago. Now I come across this. It is odd that a post about lack of comments generated so many comments. Especially from many a guru.
The truth is I usually don’t leave too many comments. But your post here has changed my point of view. I have been following you writing since Web Techniques back in the day. You have always good stuff to say. So keep writing on writing…
I have to say that the number of comments I get is miniscule. When I first started blogging, I read others blogs and commented vociferously. Now, when I start to write a comment, I tend to run out of steam more often than not. So, now I measure my blog’s success by number of views, not by number of comments. I do like the rating mechanism someone mentioned above, though.
Personally, I get discouraged when a post has 50+ comments and it keeps me from commenting myself because I wonder if it’ll even be read. Luckily, I don’t have that problem on my site
or should that be 
Ara:
Don’t worry, *I* read your comment, and found it quite perceptive indeed. I’ve found that comments are usually quite cogent until they reach the 100 mark. Not that that’s ever happened *my* blog….
Yes, tell your audience what it wants to hear, and bask in the warm ocean of comments. Mention Flock and Web 2.0 a lot. You are getting sleepy… On second thought, why bother? Blogging is a personal thing, even if you are a professional. The reason why the comments mean so much is because the content is true. I enjoy your content very much, and would like to take this opportunity to say thank you, while simultaneously feeding your comment jones
My eyes are too sore today for reading all 57 comments so far, but I’ve read a few… I second Roger Johanssons suggestion, and it’s funny that his blog is the one I’ve commented on the most lately.
Just as much as you have a need of getting response to your thoughts and feelings, commenters may feel more inclined to share their thoughts on the subject if they see you respond – blogs have grown to more of a conversation. Did you read my thoughts on this?
I also agree with Shelley. You see this post? It probably gets a lot of posts because you ask a more direct question, and I would dare say on some level people will feel a need to “justify” why they haven’t commented a lot on your posts.
Sometimes you need time to reflect on posts about feelings and personal thoughts. This, I think, is one of the main reasons deeper posts don’t get that many comments.
I got average 140 visitors per day and I rarely got a comment, maybe most of readers are still readers only.
I bet you got alot more visitors than me.
I suspect most people who write online have the fear that a) nobody reads, or b) plenty of people read but nobody likes. But we have to face that fear if we presume to start writing in the first place… otherwise we should ban all IPs
Much as we like to think we’re above it, we all like high comment counts and we secretly worry that people don’t like us if we haven’t been added to their blogroll… i link to Derek’s post about blogroll malaise to remind myself it’s not so important
I also see some of this as a downside of the web 2.0 experience. People are reading our content without our designs and often without our site controls. They are that much less likely to comment if they have get out of their aggregator, etc etc…
I’ve actually pondered whether we need a link type for comments.
rel="response"perhaps.Roger’s point is a good one – I actually think the continued discussion is what makes site like LiveJournal so successful. The conversation flows on, since you pretty much subscribe to that comment thread. You get email notifications when someone replies to your comment and so on. Few blogs offer the same functionality since they see themselves as sites rather than social networks.
I think I’m turning your comments page into a blog post
oops…
Five comments? Must be nice.
I think its my first attempt at creating a web page
Molly,`
I agree with Kim Siever.
A colleague and I started a blog early this year. We offer to answer questions and to share our thoughts on psychological matters (we are both clinical psychologists), and we are reaching out to help people in recovery from addictions of any kind (including to comments), and especially to those who are following the recovery program in our books.
The only comments we’ve gotten, though, are from robots who crawl botland in order to plant links to their sites. Their “comments” are not at all comments. They are all similar, something like, “Your blog is real good. Take a look at mine to see how to get cheap cabbage.” Totally non-responsive to any of our content. So I elected to use a Blogger feature which requires anyone who wants to comment to type five random letters which appear on the screen. This almost guarantees that there is a real human being making the comment. I figure that the robotic responses must be a big problem. Why else would the folks at Blogger offer a solution to it?! But since tturning this feature on, ZERO comments. Verrry frustrating!
Of course, it may be tied for the least interesting blog on record.
[...] “” Were I only as comment endowed as Molly on her worst day I’d probably be a more authoratitive source [...]
Hi i just love it when i can give my boyfriend stoppable jordan claus a love hug ahh thta fells so good.
Molly, here is another comment, just to make you feel better
1. At least 2 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.
2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.
3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don’t like you.
5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. If not for you, someone may not be living.
8. You are special and unique.
9. Someone that you don’t even know exists loves you.
10. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.
11. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.
12. When you think you have no chance of getting what you want, you probably won’t get it, but if you believe in yourself, probably, sooner or later, you will get it.
13. Always remember the compliments you received. Forget about the rude remarks.
14. Always tell someone how you feel about them; you will feel much better when they know.
15. If you have a great friend, take the time to let them know that they are great.
Add this as a comment to ten of your friends tonight and at midnight your true love will find you. Something good will happen to you at 2:25 tomorrow.
Get ready for the biggest shock of your life.
Whoever breaks this chain letter will be cursed with 10 relationship problems for the next ten years tag ur it!! this is so scary!!! send this to 15 ppl in the next 143 min. and then press F6 and your crushes name will appear in big letters!! it is so scary because it works…. but if you break the chain.. you will be cursed w/ relationship problems.
…Made me feel better…
Hello, me is glad.
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Funny Post…made me laugh Molly…and of course had to post
I suspect most people who write online have the fear that a) nobody reads, or b) plenty of people read but nobody likes. But we have to face that fear if we presume to start writing in the first place… otherwise we should ban all IPs
thanks for your sharing