Happy to hear you will allow rating of comments on stack overflow…
somehow woot does it (just an editor marking comments as interesting I bet… unlike engadget).
It certainly helps when your replies are highlighted…
helps me see what sparked your reply…
I usually just read the comments that Jeff writes himself and the ones he is referring to. By the way, it’s very nice to cleary distinct your comments from the others.
Have you ever considered a ranking comment system? I’m not experienced with blogs, so why do you not use they? My guess is that with that orange CAPTCHA of yours, you are a bit lazy when it comes coding your website 
Yeah, but how did they build that trust?
For me the user reviews on Amazon are the killer feature as well. They replace the store clerk with multiple users knowing what they’re talking about.
It’s like many comedy show gags go:
But user reviews don’t just replace a clerk with one user, they replace a clerk with n reviews. I’ve found myself being redirected to a better product because of people telling me how the first item I looked at behaves six/twelve months in.
Welcome to the 21st century Internet.
Hmm, while I see your point about comments, I rarely read them. Well rarely read more then 3 or 4, I’m far more interested in your thoughts then your readers (no offense readers ). Also in regards to Amazon (and I’ll extend it to newegg as well), I go there to buy stuff online and have it shipped to me, while I guess I do read some of the comments I have already decided what I’m buying so it’s a delivery vehicle to save me time and effort plus their reputation (the companies not the reviews) gives me a better chance of not being ripped of with online buys.
That is an odd comment though, lol. It sort of reminds me of Translating a small story in english to japenese, then translating that back to english.
I would agree that comments are usually beneficial, especially with gems like that. I do worry that you may be approaching critical mass though - it’s difficult to read through the number of comments you get and stuff gets repeated far too often. It’s not there quite yet though, fortunately.
This post represents an interesting variation on communication escalation (http://blog.codinghorror.com/on-escalating-communication/) where something that started off as a tweet progressed to a blog post simply because the hilarity had to be shared with a wider audience.
Work for food
food to eat
eat to live
live to _________
I am stuck on the _________
I don’t know about others, but I read blog posts because I want to learn or find new stuff about something I’m interested in, something to make me think. Therefore, I don’t care much about comments, replies, follow-ups, etc.
I am reading your post because I’ve given you credit: I’ve read some of your ohter posts, or someone else recommended you, you know how it works. The idea is that I’m reading your blog post because I want to.
Now why would I want to read the comments? How do I know I would find something useful in there? Especially if the comments section is longer than the post. Of course they are useful to you, as the blog owner, but of what use are they to your readers?
For me, comments aren’t a big problem, the only thing that bothers me is that I can’t see how long your post is, just by looking at the scrollbar, because, usually the comments aren’t hidden, at take up the same page as the post itself.
However, for others, comments may be more important. They may look at them, not find anything useful, and diss your blog. You say “Comments mean additional work for the blog owner”, but they also mean additional work for the blog reader.
I think a solution would be that all comments be approved by the owner. I mean, since you already read them all, you can read them one by one, take whatever info you’re interested in, and only show the ones that add value to your post.
Of course, I may be wrong because they are way more readers that like to read through kilometers of comments, and then I have no right to make this assumption. You guys with the blogs are the ones who decide.
Good Luck!
I’m with you on the notion that a blog is not complete or effective without comments. But I’m having some amount of trouble fostering comments on my own blog. Now sure, some of my posts are just informational and not left open-ended to specifically encourage the readers to comment - and I’m working on improving that - but many times, I do try to elicit a response by ending up a with questions. And sometimes my posts are written slightly controversial or from an uncommon perspective both because, well, that’s just who I am, and also to attempt to engage and prompt visitors to leave feedback.
Also I do try to respond to comments so readers know that their comments are being noticed and appreciated.
But all of that aside, my blog posts often do not garner many comments. Of course, I know that some readers will simply lurk, maybe even enjoy the posts, yet still not feel compelled to write a comment - and that’s okay. But I’d like to do more to push those who might be inclined to comment to do so.
Short of begging on the street corner, I’m kind of at a loss for where to go next to try to encourage comments. Any suggestions?
very nice. could be Rory Blyth…
No, it’s Steve Gillmor’s son.
Unless Rory is Steve’s son.
when you see a worthwhile comment in a blog post it can be a great moment where your literally thinking ‘thank god’ but all too often comments are either pure abuse or spam. i can’t even bring myself to read the comments on youtube or the bbc’s site anymore as they make me so annoyed (granted, they’re not exactly blogs). the more technical or archaic a topic is, the more i find the comments are generally self-filtering and you get good posts. its the mass-appeal blogs with huge hits that get either auto-generated garbage or just drivel.
So, if I have a blog but no one ever comments on it, is it still a blog?
Sorry, too much Zen for me…
The definition sounds like the output of a Markov parody generator (as described in the Wikipedia article on Markov chains).
As a newbie trying to take blogging more seriously (I recently bought my own domain), I must say it really is gratifying when you receive feedback from your readers (whether good or bad). Comments in your blog say you reached someone, you mattered. Someone thought your ideas are worthwhile and decided to let you know about it. This is ultimately what blogging is all about!
Of course, I’m talking about constructive, meaningful comments – not the kind of unfathomable verbiage Jeff have shared with us in this post. You got me there for a second, Jeff. I thought you were going to share a REAL definition.
It’d be mighty tempting for someone to claim credit for that comment, or to generate their own comment in that style in the next blogpost.
I find that with my blog I tend to post links to it from forums and people comment in the forum thread not the blog post. Whereas my target audience tends to frequent those forums and as such are generally unaware of blog posts once they’re made if I don’t make forum threads =[
Web spammers are getting good. That comment was generated by a cross between a markov chain and a question answering system.
– Great Power Of Hope, Cure Dream!
Forgot to say in my first comment, I disagree with a blog with no comments isn’t a blog. A blog is a web log for the author. I agree blogs with comments are better as popularity based culture, the more commenters the “better” your blog is as it’s being read by more folks but… A blog is for the author to log his ideas, experiences whatever. This requires no readers at all to be satisfying for the blogger. It certainly won’t make you any money but if you started a blog to that end, just like any other web site, more users, higher rank in google, more ad revenue. Maybe you just meant “A for profit blog without comments isn’t a blog at all”
Nonsense comment FTW!
“A blog without comments is like Amazon without user reviews. Is it really even worth using at that point? The products themselves are commodities; I could buy them anywhere. Having dozens of highly relevant, informed user reviews means I’ll almost always buy stuff from Amazon given the chance. It’s a huge competitive advantage.”
Really? I never read the user reviews on Amazon.com. The sole benefit to Amazon.com for me is that I cannot buy these books “anywhere” - most likely the book I want is not in stock locally. But I would never, ever trust the word of some anonymous Internet person regarding the value of a product. There are much better sources of opinion for this stuff than the product of some maladjustite with too much time on his/her hands.
You realise all you’ve done now, is sent out a personal challenge for readers everywhere to write up the weirdest crap they can come up with as responses to your blog?
Also, don’t eat yellow snow.