Oct

Save the Comments!

Posted by: Dawn in New Media, PCPGH4, PGH Podcamp & Bloggers, Thoughts

Podcamp Pittsburgh 4 was this weekend.

As you can tell from my previous post, I was excited to go. Thrilled, in fact. But by now, you also know that I did not, in fact, get to go back to Pittsburgh for this year’s sold out PCPGH4. Without going in to the gory details, let’s just say that digestive distress in cats is no joking matter, and it’s one hell of an expensive problem to have. Couple that with the fact that symptoms usually show up too late for any intervention and the need to visit Vet Emergency Hospitals, and you have a very hysterical Dawn worried about her cat and graduate school companion dying because they wanted to hospitalize him for $2500. At least. Long story short, we took him home, and complied with the required monitoring of him for 48 hours, and made him as comfortable as possible. Hell, Jack even went out and bought him a water fountain in the hopes that it would make him feel better and help his water consumption. ~*sniffle*~

So yeah. No Podcamp for us. I’m sad. I miss YinzTeam as it is, and the opportunity to meet new folks and have discussions that open doors on so many levels come so infrequently anymore that it was just heartbreaking to be sidelined. Because the crew organizing Podcamp this year was on the ball, I was able to watch a good number of sessions remotely. But one thing that I noticed almost immediately on Saturday, was that the comments and chat system for the live streaming video stopped working. I was struck with a whole new level of frustration. The sessions are inspiring and informative, sure, but Podcamp happens (most innovation and idea hatching, for that matter) during the conversations. The questions and answers. The discussions. The panels and debates. I’ve said it before, and I firmly believe, that Podcamp happens in the hallways. And here I was completely shut off from the hallway conversations and even from the conversations in the actual sessions!

This all has a point.

Trust me. See, one of the things I planned on talking about at PCPGH4 was the culture of commenting. It’s disappearing. It’s no longer dwindling; it’s flat out dying. It ages me to say this, I know, but I remember a time when blogs didn’t come with comment functions (~*gasp*~ I knnnnooowww!!). And when some coder started passing out free code to insert comment features it exploded the entire notion of what websites and “blogs” were, and of the potential they had. Suddenly people had interaction on a whole new level! Suddenly, you could rant about just about anything and have your friends and random passers by leave notes of agreement or rebuttal. You could have a dialogue.

But that’s going the way of the Dodo now, and I think that’s a terrible mistake. As blogs become more common place, and more and more people post whatever they want whenever they want, they’ve taken the dialogue out of the conversation, and when you do that you no longer have a blog. You have a basement printed broadside that no one can discuss with you.**

What happens when no one comments? Comments and discussion fuel the conversation and development of ideas. It becomes a tidal wave of thought! So you may have tons of email responses, or comments on your site. That’s grand. But how many comments do you leave on other sites? Are you closing off your fishbowl by only fostering the culture of commenting on your own site? Look, I’m as guilty as the rest of you. I have, sitting in my Google Reader, the dreaded (1000+) unread blog posts. Some are from news feeds, but a good many of them are blogs just like this one. I read daily, or weekly, and rarely leave a comment. Why?

You tell me.

Why do you read (and I know you do. I see you….) and not leave comments? Not just here, but elsewhere?

I’ll make a deal with you. For one week, starting today, see if you can leave a comment on each blog you read. It doesn’t have to be every post, but at least leave a thoughtful response indicating that you engaged the post. Can you do that? For a week?

I know @BurghBaby is in over at TheBurghBaby.com, and if a working mommy blogger who posts at least once a day, takes care of a zoo, a new house, and a family can do it, can’t you?

Let me know how it goes. Remember, we’re all watching.

~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~

** I’ve never agreed with closing off comments on blogs. That’s what makes a blog a blog. I’ve also never agreed with News sites opening comments on fact based articles. The news is the news. It’s not up for debate. Editorials are for debate. Letters to the Editor are for debate. Once you make factual articles something to debate, you undermine their validity and turn your entire news organization into a blog of editorial opinion by the masses and moderated by journalists. News sites are not for discussing ideas and hashing out positions and opinions. Leave that job to the blogs and message boards.

Tags: Bloggers, Culture of Commenting, PCPGH4, social media

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 13th, 2009 at 10:32 am and is filed under New Media, PCPGH4, PGH Podcamp & Bloggers, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

27 comments so far

Eric Williams

Great thoughts. Consider them RTed.

October 13th, 2009 at 10:37 am

Burgh Baby

Challenge accepted.

I’ve thought about it a little since we started the discussion and I think I sometimes don’t leave comments for the following reasons:

1. I’m late to the party. It feels weird to comment on a post 3 days after it was written. That said, I never think “Wow, what a loser. That post is old,” when I receive a comment on an old post. In fact, I value the comment equally whether it’s the first one made just seconds after I hit publish, or is one left two weeks later.

2. I don’t know what to say. Sometimes posts are so good that I’m left with nothing to add. (I should say precisely that, and I know it.)

3. I think there are already enough comments and that my comment won’t add value. (Total BS, and I know it. Every comment has value, even if it repeats something already said.)

4. I don’t want to be the first to comment. (Another stupid excuse.)

October 13th, 2009 at 10:43 am

KimLy

I sometimes worry about not appearing clever enough in comments, which is silly, to be sure. I’m more concerned, though, that my sense of humor might not translate and someone might get inadvertently offended by a comment.
Does it really all boil down to my own weird insecurities? I guess so!
In any event, I’m glad I went to PodCamp and have now discovered your blog as a nice after-effect.
Cheers!

October 13th, 2009 at 10:54 am

Anthony

First of all, just because I comment here, don’t assume I accept your challenge. Commenting is important. It’s also important that it’s opt-in. As in any conversation, I only choose not to chime into a conversation with less than a handful of people involved. Beyond that, people are hardly listening to each other anyway.

Next year we’ll stream audio from microphones mounted to little zip-line robots, hanging from the ceilings, sliding up and down the hallways.

I wonder who felt better on Sunday, your cat, or Carman?

October 13th, 2009 at 10:59 am

Norman Huelsman

I’ll do my best. Time is sometimes a factor for me, or most often I just don’t have anything to say. It also depends on who I’m reading. On That’s Church for example I rarely feel the need to add anything also those commentators are their own community, I just don’t have time to follow.

Speaking of comments, Dawn, the comment box on this site is kind of lame really small and encourages me to only leave a short comment. Maybe this is intentional.

In my experience, you don’t get regular comments unless you are posting regularly and get about 1000 hits perday.

October 13th, 2009 at 10:59 am

Burgh Baby

@Norm–Interesting that you say that about regular comments. Two years ago I averaged about 50 comments per post and had about half the blog traffic I have now. Now I’m around 20 comments per post. I suspect that is tied to me no longer commenting on other sites.

October 13th, 2009 at 11:03 am

Gina

I have been commenting less lately and I don’t know why. Sometimes I am in a hurry, sometimes - especially if there are already a lot of comments - I feel like I have nothing to add or I just don’t know what to say. Sometimes I feel weird leaving a comment for a blogger I read, but don’t really “know.” All stupid reasons, so consider me IN on the comment challenge. Because I love comments, and I imagine everyone else does too.

October 13th, 2009 at 11:03 am

Dave P.

I’m with you and Burgh Baby on this challenge, and will do my best to follow through.

I agree with most of the points made in the above comments, though, in that I often feel like I have nothing to add, especially if there are already a lot of comments that cover my line of thinking. (Should I really post that “me too!” comment?)

I also agree completely with Burgh Baby that even if I receive a comment on a post from a while ago (Heck, even a post from years ago would be fine!,) that I value that comment and anything the commenter has to say.

But, I will attempt to overcome my preconceptions for not commenting, and have started right here with my commitment. Thank you (and Burgh Baby) for the challenge. I think it’s a great idea!

October 13th, 2009 at 11:08 am

pittchick

This might seem silly, but sometimes I don’t comment because I don’t update my blog as frequently as others. Although I’m hoping the inspiration that I received at podcamp changes that.
I am also more likely to comment if I personally know the blogger, but at the same time, if I know the blogger and disagree with him/her, I often won’t comment.

October 13th, 2009 at 11:14 am

psumommy

I’m awful at commenting for all of the reasons that BurbhBaby outlined…adding that sometimes, if I read a blog with a TON of readers that gets dozens if not hundreds of comments…well, it’s just lil’ ol me, and all of the other comments are entirely more interesting than mine.

But I’m going to be better about it. Especially because I love getting comments on my own blog, no matter how small or big. Starting….NOW!

October 13th, 2009 at 11:30 am

Dawn

Wow, see? And I thought it was just me…

@BurghBaby — I just received a comment on a post from back on Memorial Day and I was super excited to offer direction on a question. I guess in this age of search engines pulling up individual posts to match search word querries, time is irrelevant…Also, haven’t you ever had the joy of racing to a site and posting “FIRST!” before? ~*laughs*~

@KimLy — I think the strange senses of humor and how they translate through text (on Twitter, over SMS, and in Comments — hell, even in posts themselves) makes it that much more interesting. If it is misunderstood, or if there is offense, at least there could be dialogue about the miscommunication! And welcome to Reality 101!

@Anthony — I agree that commenting should be “opt-in” as well. That’s what the comment boxes are there for. As for people not listening to each other… that’s what I’m worried about. I hope commenting and interacting dents that…

@Norm — Time is always a factor. I know there have been plenty of times when I’ve considered commenting but didn’t have the time & meant to return later and never did…

Which brings me to something that Dave, Pittchick, Gina, PSUMommy and the rest have mentioned… that well, I’m too late now, or What will my comment add?

We all have blogs… we all voice our opinion… so why do we get shy when it comes to offering opinion to each other?

And y’all are right, even “Me too!” comments have value.

October 13th, 2009 at 11:39 am

Susan

I agree with many of the reasons others gave for not commenting, mainly not feeling like my comment will be witty enough, and the fact that I don’t post on my own blog regularly enough. Funny, I do seem to post more comments if I’ve recently posted something that I really like. I’m going to try to accept this challenge too.

One comment here that I don’t get, though, from Anthony:

As in any conversation, I only choose not to chime into a conversation with less than a handful of people involved.

Huh? I don’t get it…do you have a minimum head-count that must be met before you participate in a conversation?

October 13th, 2009 at 11:46 am

Anthony

@Susan, that was a typo topped by some poor instructions I’d given to our comment moderator to correct that initial typo. I meant to say either, “I only chime into conversations with a handful or less” or “I choose not to chime in to conversations with any more than a handful.” …Unless, of course, I’m addressed a question directly.

October 13th, 2009 at 12:30 pm

Tim the Meatshield

A lot of times, it’s because the comment I was going to make (or one similar) was already said. I try not to be redundant.

Other times, I just don’t feel like I have anything intelligent or witty to say. Perhaps I have an opinion on the topic at hand, but it’s usually not all that unique and thus I keep the comment to myself.

October 13th, 2009 at 12:44 pm

Susan

@Anthony, I thought it might be a typo. Now I do know what you mean. Sometimes the commenters ARE like their own community, with too many people involved for me.

October 13th, 2009 at 1:59 pm

Chris Bunye

It’s always hard for me to respond to a post since, quite frankly, at times I feel dumber than the person posting. It’s an “in the moment” thing, but I usually start to respond, then see that it’s not as eloquent, or worse, not even relevant to the subject at hand.

That said, I do feel like lurking and reading, but not really engaging in a dialogue.

I therefore choose to accept the mission. Now if I can just get rid of this recording before it self destructs in 5 seconds I’ll be OK.

October 13th, 2009 at 2:09 pm

Anthony

@Dawn How often do your blog post receive private comments offline and do your responses in return involve any scolding for not sharing?

October 13th, 2009 at 2:11 pm

Norman Huelsman

I just wanted to come back and add that I read most of my blogs in Google Reader. Where I have to click through to post a comment. If I don’t really have anything to contribute I just click next quickly because I’m trying to get through probably 100 + new blog posts.

@burghbaby how many readers did you have then vs now. I think commenting around has a lot to do with your comments as well.

October 13th, 2009 at 2:57 pm

Jacksonlewis

I’m a lurker…so I lurk. Ultimately, there’s nothing wrong with being a “wall-flower”. If it wasn’t for “wall-flowers” half of the movies in the 80’s would have never been made.

October 13th, 2009 at 3:25 pm

Burgh Baby

@Norm–I have about 600 unique visitors per day now. That’s about double what I had two years ago.

Also, there’s a Firefox extension called better GReader that makes commenting from your reader much simpler. You still have to click on the post, but it opens within the same window. It’s much faster.

October 13th, 2009 at 3:47 pm

Dawn

@Chris — That, I think, is a very common concern for most folks. I know I suffer from it, and judging by the other slew of commenters, I would wager it’s a pretty standard concern. But it shouldn’t be. Unless you’re a Troll… in which case, keep it to yourself.

@Norm — That is a very good point. I believe Feedburner also has a feature that if you want to comment in a reader you can add it. I’ll double check. That’s another reason I don’t comment on a lot of blogs, but not a very good one.

@Anthony — I receive a fair number of emails regarding blog posts, though admittedly most come from the rants I’ll go on, or from the creative writing “homework” prompts I was giving (which I want to start again). I try and respect the commenter’s wishes by not posting things from them, and yes… I usually do scold them for not sharing their insights/opinions as comments.

@Jacksonlewis — Yes… you *are* a lurker… but you always talk to me about them at home.

Maybe that’s another added issue — we see the folks in person and talk about it there rather than on the comments section. I can’t say that’s better or worse (though I’m inclinced to say better for idea generation purposes, worse for tracking).

And @Tim — Your comments are always relevant…. Witty, unique, or not.

October 13th, 2009 at 4:13 pm

Uncle Crappy

I told the people who attended my Blogging 101 session that there are few better things they can do to build readership at their own sites than leaving comments elsewhere. I need to do a better job at following my own advice.

October 13th, 2009 at 5:41 pm

Andrea

Half the time I catch up on blogs, I do so in spurts- one here, a couple there- starring them in my Google Reader to comment on later. Except I rarely do, and when I finally go back on the ones I starred, 1) it’s been so long that I feel dumb leaving a comment weeks later and 2) half the time I don’t even remember what I was going to say in the first place. So to accept your challenge, I shall only read blogs when I’m able to give them my full attention and comment.

October 13th, 2009 at 6:24 pm

Michael Sorg

I blame my dependence on Google Reader. The commenting is out of touch with my reading experience. And I have way too many site on there. BUT: Comment Day 1

October 14th, 2009 at 8:57 pm

Angelina

Damn Lady, make a person feel guilty! lol I just came to see if I could find your facebook link and can’t leave now until I leave a comment.. So here it is.. ~:p

October 20th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Burgh Baby

Mission accomplished. I have commented everywhere I have been lately. Now I just have to work on getting to more places . . .

October 20th, 2009 at 1:30 pm

sassy

OK, so…
at this late date, am I commenting on your post or am i commenting on the comments?
And, you’ve sent me off to action, so my main comment would be - “OK”
Why don’t I always leave comments? Because sometimes it just seems dumb.

October 24th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

2 Trackbacks/Pings

POP City Wraps Up Their Visit To #PCPGH4 | Pittsburgh Podcamp Oct 14 2009 / 12pm:

[...] Papuga asks that you please see the form provided [...]
Reality 101 - Class is in session… » Blog Archive » Save the comments, save the world Oct 21 2009 / 12pm:

[...] week I issued a challenge to friends, readers, and folks who generally lurk in the shadows. the responses were, themselves, [...]