Quite a while back now I installed the Disqus comment management system in an attempt to build upon the community that was already forming on Quit Your Day Job and hopefully encourage everyone to chat amongst yourselves and really grow some conversation.
At first there was some trepidation from a few of you who really didn’t like the system, and I totally got that, but the system worked really well for me especially managing the comments and you know, it’s my house so whatever makes my life easier then cool.
But I did say that I would revisit the experiment down the track and see how it was faring. Well, we’re down the track and I’m curious about what everyone still thinks about it.
See I know that I’m still getting the traffic come through the site but that my comments have been dropping. This of course could be for any number of reasons:
- Everyone hates the comments system
- The comments system doesn’t always work
- The content of the blog has changed
- The blog just isn’t floating anyone’s boat any more
- Posts aren’t regular enough, too many, not enough
- I’m not engaging everyone as well
- I’m not commenting on enough of everyone else’s blogs
- It’s all fine and frankly who has time to comment now days anyway!
Obviously there are a couple there that I don’t subscribe to but I’m generally open to it all.
You see one of the big things I always wanted out of Quit Your Day Job was to invite you guys* to join a community around here, to come over to my place and hang out (virtually), talk stuff, encourage each other to do that stuff in our lives that make the daily grind worthwhile.
One of the biggest components I see as part of that community is the comments. By the way this is not in any way shape or form a criticism of any of you. I don’t want anyone to feel they have to comment, the fact is I need to make it so you want to comment. The best way I can see of going about this is getting your input, I’m not going to do anything that i don’t want to but I’m also open to accommodating what’s needed to get everyone talking. This isn’t going to be an overnight process but I want to get things rolling.
So first thing’s first:
Loading ...If you do feel strongly enough to chose to keep it or get rid of it then please expand on why you feel that way in the comments (which would kind of be ironic for some feedback at least) or by my contact form, or if you know it you can always just email me.
Actually if you do have any suggestions, I’m opening myself up to them and you should feel free to drop me a line. Of course personal attacks and purely unhelpful stuff really isn’t welcome.
Thanks a lot everyone!!
* I do want to mention when I say guys I don’t mean it in a gender term, I mean all you people, just clarifying.
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31 Responses to “So how do I get more comments out of you guys?”
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I have problems logging in so have been reading but not commenting as often.
I still don't like it, but find it hard to put a finger on why. Maybe i'm just a traditionalist really.
As for why you're getting less comments – difficult to say – although some posts don't lend hem to much more than “great drawing!' or something similar. maybe there are more of those (but I haven't noticed that to be honest).
Thanks for letting me know, I wondered if anyone had problems logging in at all because there's no way that I can tell.
And then it's also hard for someone to leave a comment telling me that
I was wondering if you had changed your opinion on the system actually.
I had thought that about a lot of the posts I was putting up not lending themselves very well to discussion, as much as I love a 'great drawing' comment it doesn't really open itself up past that point, it's harder for me to actually respond to that comment!
Arkonbey has often tried to get some conversation going around some of the drawings, which I always appreciate but again I'd love to encourage others to even comment on his comment etc.
It's going to be a learning curve and I'm looking forward to working some of this stuff out!
This is an interesting point as I've got a similar problem on my blog. Yours is one of the blogs I visit every day and I generally don't find anything to comment about. There's not a lot of point putting comments such as “clever”, “nice”, “lol” or anything like that as they don't start a dialogue and that's really all I want to say. I have Tweeted some of your stuff.
Hi Suzie, I've been to your site but not your blog because I assumed it was just the shop so I went and dug into your about us page and found the link but it wouldn't work for me.
Could you send me your blog address?
I too visit a bunch of blogs that I never comment on because I find it hard to say little more than thanks for sharing etc. Which is why I'm trying to take a closer look at my material and see where I can encourage people to participate instead of expecting my readers to change what they do!
So I want to make it as easy as possible to comment and have stuff to comment on!
By the way thank you for tweeting some of my stuff it is very appreciated!!
Hey, Lee. I've been relatively quiet lately for a couple of reasons. First, as Dan said, not as many of the posts have been “comment-worthy” – not that they aren't good posts, just that they're of the “cool” or “good point” or “good drawing” variety. Second, I've been alternately busy and tired lately, and it's about all I can do to read the posts (I've cut my reading by about 2/3 as well, and you're still on the list, so there's that). Third, as a result of #2, I'm primarily reading in Google Reader, so I don't see others' comments, which may otherwise stir something in me to comment that the post itself may not trigger.
Oddly enough, I think a couple of the recent posts are ones I would normally comment on (especially “I hate myself a little right now…”), but I refer you back to my earlier point #2.
As to the Disqus system… I'm still not all that happy with it, but not enough to go beg you to remove it. From my perspective it isn't really affecting my commenting frequency.
Cheers Jeff,
Thanks for taking the time to comment I really appreciate it and I think I'm getting the same message over and which is really good because it gives me something to focus on.
I am very proud to still be on that reading list too by the way! I think that I may be able to get the feed to publish comments as well, I'll have to look in to that because I often have the same trouble, if you see the conversation taking place more likely to motivate myself.
I'm also happy enough to hear that you might in general dislike the comment system, I'm adding anyone who has a negative experience with it or just doesn't care for it to the votes for remove as I'm already near that stage.
Also I completely hear you on point 2!! It's the reason I don't get out to everyone as often as I'd like or publish the volume of material that I could!!
I like the logical flow of commenting on comments, yet get flummoxed when I'm not sure if my comment fits better as a comment on a comment, or on the actual post itself. As is the case here, as I also use Google Reader and miss the incoming comments!
As for my problems with “Will I/Won't I” commenting? My main problem is I suffer from a degree of social ineptitude from growing up with low-grade Aspbergers. I have “learnt” to err on the side of caution, with the constant fear of “If I comment too much, I'll come across as a total Blog Stalker!”
Did I mention I love your work!
I think even if I didn't use Disqus anymore I would certainly still have 'threaded' comments so you can follow a line of thought, I'm a big fan of a direct response.
To be honest I've never really looked in too much on the inner workings of the RSS feed and what I can do with it, so I'm definitely going to be doing some reading there. It's going to get harder to track some of this stuff as people begin to use Google Buzz from within their Google Readers to share and add comments.
I was going to say too if you have a specific response to a comment in a larger comment feel free to use the @theirname so they know you are talking to them or even directly respond as often as you like.
Never feel like you are blog stalking or commenting too much, all that will happen is eventually I'll start giving you guest posts
I hope that last line means that Australia Post have done their job.
Questions. That's how you get people commenting. End every post with some kind of question or invitation to discuss. Works every time!
I very rarely comment on any blogs these days. I think the main reason is that most of my blog reading is done through Google Reader. It needs to be someting that really makes me want to comment before I'll click through and visit the actual site. And no, this isn't a cue to convert the feed to summary only to force click-throughs.
I've definitely seen a big reduction in comments at my site over the last 12 months. I put it down to a number of things.
Firstly, I've been posting a lot less content. People have simply lost touch since the days when I would post every day.
Secondly, the feed reader thing, for 2 reasons:
1) I leave fewer comments, so receive fewer comments back
2) Surely other people primarily read through a feed reader just like I do
The only problem I have with disqus is when you foget to turn autotweets off and your twitter feed is full of out of context comment replies
A lot of the blogging about blogging websites will always suggest simply asking questions at the end of the post to generate comments and whilst I'll agree it can be effective I've still found it's by no means a sure fire way to get comments, especially worthwhile ones.
I'm really beginning to think that addressing the content and working on its engagement of the reader is the most important aspect and then driving it home with those questions.
*Sigh* so much to work on but worth it.
I always read your blog in the morning with my coffee and cigarette. Although it is always a good read, the communicative part of my brain is not working to its full capacity.
Oh of course your content has to be good, but I do believe you need to lead your readers to feel comfortable with commenting, and inviting them to do so with a question or discussion point is probably the most effective way to do that. I know a lot of people feel shy with commenting, even when they know you!
I use Google reader but I still click through and comment if the post is something that invites me to and I feel I have something. Strangely though I never used to pre-tabbed browsing. I hated it spawning new window after new window!
I've asked questions or invited people to reply and they generally don't. I rarely get more than one comment on a blog. I've monitored my stats and the numbers are going up so I know people are coming by regularly they just choose not to comment. Maybe have a think about what you want from a blog. Do you want a community that comments regularly or are you happy with people just dropping by to read. When I started blogging it was mostly for me and I was just happy when people read my stuff. I've only changed my goals a little, I still mostly blog for me but I'm also now trying to be a resource for other readers and writers so I've started putting up a resources for writers page. If people comment, that's fabulous but I don't get worked up about it if they don't.
I gather you found my blog. I liked your comment.
My biggest blocker for commenting when I'm on someone else's blog is not having anything to say except I agree, or awesome etc So definitely the questions are ice breakers
I did find your blog! Via Twitter actually.
Completely agree, I know some people who actually turned off comments because they are only blogging for themselves which is all cool.
My intentions are different though, not better or correct just different.
I imagine it must be harder to try and get comments on a photoblog outside of the “that's cool” “I like that” variety which is a shame because it would be cool for people to analyse what they get from the photo etc.
I only ever once had the feed set to summary (by accident) and very promptly fixed that after some very cranky readers (I'm also annoyed by this, it was an accident!!).
Yeah, the problem when I forget to turn off notifications is that no matter how quickly I delete it from Twitter it is always picked up in the various Twitter readers/apps that everyone has. I try and be as careful as possible now
I do too, I don't personally have the reader as a barrier to leaving comments as I'll also click through.
I really do hate it when I have to use my google profile on Blogger based blogs though >:(
Hey Lee,
I haven't commented as much for a couple of reasons:
1. I have been preoccupied with 'stuff' in my life.
2. I don't always think I can talk about a post on the same informed level as you do, so don't want to look stoopid.
3. When I do visit, sometimes the post is a couple of days old and it's like the conversation has ended and everyone has moved on.
The new format doesn't scare me too much.
I enjoy your blog.
That's alright buddy I actually don't expect everyone to comment despite my desperate pleas in this post
Happy to be a part of your morning though!
All completely valid reasons!!! Well except the not being as informed one, I don't want to create some sort of elitism here at all! Always feel free to ask a question too if there is something that I'm talking about that you're not familiar with and are interested – I know I often write making the assumption everyone knows the planet that James T Kirk marooned Khan on…
And I have to say that whilst I read your blog on a semi daily basis I don't comment at all simply because I'm not sure what value, I think sometimes I should drop an email to let bloggers know that I'm one of those numbers in their feed stats!!
No, No.
Don't feel there is an elitism here !!!!!!
I think it's a 'me' thing. When I engage a conversation, I want to feel confident that I can hold my own or follow through.
Argh, that Blogger “feature” drives me completely crazy. Getting me to comment on a Blogger blog is a huge deal. It means I have something that I feel is important enough for me to go through the hassle of not only the ID issue, but also dealing with a pop-up window (usually) in which to comment, which just further annoys me.
Oh yeah I forgot about the pop up box, that really annoys me too – not so much that I won't comment but every time I do think about it.
Well at the very least I assure you that knowing what you are on about is NOT a requisite here!!!
Just in case you're still thinking about this. I've just come across a blog which discusses this exact point.
http://bit.ly/b3SEqE
It's interesting and it mentions Disqus.
That's a great article thanks for that!!! Disqus actually upgraded their plugin for WordPress so I'm sticking with it at the moment to see how it pans out.
You're welcome.