Re: Your comments make content more valuable

l love reading comments,usually they are as stimulating as the blog itself,however what l hate are those who generally have very little to say but concentrate on commenting on comments!
They are easy to recognise as they use words like,"retard","you are spreading evil","you dont know what you are f.... talking about" and so on. What they should be writing is, "l disagree because..... l would like bloggers to delete comments like the former and leave the trolls to patrol sites like Reddt/digg.

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

Colin,

You bring up valuable point. You can just see guys who are commenting just to try and build backlinks. Normally they have not even read the post. You can tell them when they leave such short comments as "cool", "well done".
I once heard of a comment on a post, the post was actually about depression (I think) after loosing a baby, and the comment was, "cool". Obviously they never read the post.
One should comment to make a meaningful contribution, add value.

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

It is probably also dependant on the content itself. Sometime one agrees with the specific opinon and has very little to add other than "I agree." What I find meaningful, particularly regarding some heafty subject matter, is to ask some questions. Barring the odd "you are an idot" response, this often help with meaningful conversation.

One could also argue, from a psychological point of view, that reading blogs is more than just sharing information and at times border on a watered-down form of voyarism. People just like to read and find out what is going on in other people's lives. I find, personally, that the more intimate subject matter, such as my individual struggle with religion and ethics, draw the most comments. Maybe it does so because people can relate - or disagree completely.

All in all, since Gatorpeeps, blogging has taken on a new dimension for me. The challenge is now finding the right estetics and content that will enagage more people.

Thanks for a great post! It is peeped!

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

Commenting depends on the blog. Some blogs are very informal and have a tendancy to turn into a conversation. Even then some comments do drive you around the bent. "I love your blog", is the one that makes my blood boil.
Onthe otherhand I frequent a few blogs where there are hardly any comments and all and still people visit them regular. Can we really measure a blog's popularity on the number of comments it receives?

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

Emil,

I do find that controversial blogs tend to draw more comments, as do news worthy items such as celebrities, sports etc. Religion and politics, now that's something to comment about. Everyone has an opinion. But that is what ads value, don't you think

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

Rustig,

You are quite correct. IT does depend on the blog. Some blogs are just so uninviting, that one cannot even force oneself to comment. On the other hand I do see very good blogs with no or few comments.
But fact still remains that any comment will add value.
I don;t think we can measure a blogs popularity by the number of comments. What I was trying to get across is that any comment no matter how many, will bring value to the blog. With in reason of course. Spam and just utter rubbish gets deleted.

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

I agree Robert. For me comments are one of the best way to broaden your view on a particular matter. Sadly though VERY few internet users leave comments. In fact this is my first comment on your blog even though I read it quite often(via your gator 'peeps').
Sometimes the author pretty much says everything so I don't want to add a simple, I agree comment. Other times I may not understand or relate to the topic so I'll just read and digest it.

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

Ashraf,

Yeah not every one is going to comment on every blog post. Same as you don't speak to everyone you see or come across everyday. Of those that you do here and listen too, you choose to converse with if needed. But the point is, not having a conversation at all serves little.
You don't have to comment on every blog, but not commenting on any likewise is useless.

BTW, thanks for reading, and thanks for the comment

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

My blog hardly ever gets commented on although I get hundreds of visits and people spend more than 12 min a time visiting at least 7 pages. This had me worried until I set up an email newsletter and started getting feedback via email. How can I get people to comment online rather than email me?

Anyway I love Roberts Blog and always find interesting things to read! Robert visits my Blog and therefore I will always visit his!

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

I guess you are right! Upington is kinda slow with news and events so I tend to add a lot of Jokes to fill in the blanks. I must say that 80% of my readers are not from Upington and they come for the jokes but that helps to sell my blog!

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

Pieter,

Keep it up. It's refreshing, I like it.

Re: Your comments make content more valuable

nice post. i was commenting sometime ago but of late i got caught up in other things. the post is a good reminder. thanx
http://kenyantykoon.wordpress.com/