Oct 28, 2007
Pick and Comment
Okay, here’s the thing. Sciencebase is now getting around 2000 spam comments every day. So, if I take a break, like I did this week, that’s a vast cr*pflood to check through even with the help of the Akismet spam filter and the Auntie Spam Greasemonkey script for Firefox that compresses and labels Akismet’s findings.
I just passed the 1200 posts mark on this blog and a total of 1200 or so legitimate comments and questions have been posted here by you, the readers. That’s one comment per post, on average, give or take a few. Some posts, such as any that mention the science and religion debate, Richard Dawkins or perpetual motion machines seem to elicit a flurry of comments, but other posts, which personally I predicted would stimulate discussion, seem not to get any comments at all.
Could it be that the vast majority of my posts are simply so wonderfully written and self contained that there is nothing more for you to add? I doubt it! Could it be that no one is actually reading Sciencebase? Well, with 2700 or so RSS subscribers, 1000 podcasters, and several thousand unique visitors to the site each day, that cannot be true either.
I know I shouldn’t worry that the blog receives relatively few comments even compared to countless blogs with fewer subscribers, but I would like to feel that this blog was more than just my random rants and raves and that there might be an opportunity for dialog across cyberspace.
So, here’s the challenge, have a dig around among my blog archives and pick out a post that piques your interest (it could be this one, if you like), leave a pertinent comment on that post of, say, at least 20 words. I’ll then pick out the most inspirational ten new comments over the coming week and post a summary next weekend together with a back link in that post to a site of the commentator’s choice (so be sure to include the web address you want linked in the comment form).
To get you started here are a few links to posts that have proved popular (i.e. were visited the most): Medical marijuana, No More Chocolate Headaches, and Benzene Soda.
You can browse the other popular articles via the Hot Science link in the blue menu above or browse the site by category - Health, Science, Astronomy, Chemistry, Physics, Cancer, Geek, Bio, Bird Flu, Environment, Education, Sex, spectroscopy, genetics.
Well…what are you waiting for, comment away…
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Mitch said,
October 29, 2007 at 1:44 am
The unfortunate 1% rule of thumb of Web 2.0. Only 1 out of a hundred people will read past the first content they see and only 10 percent of those will contribute in some way or form back to the website. I wonder what the ratios are for Wikipedia, but I would imagine them to be similar. Community building is by far the hardest and most necessary objective in the new online world order.
Mitch
David Bradley said,
October 29, 2007 at 9:02 am
I knew I could count on you Mitch!
Egon Willighagen said,
October 29, 2007 at 9:20 am
Mitch, 1% sounds pretty reasonable… say, your blog has 143 visitors a day, that means you get one comment per week. However, ScienceBase does much better than 143, I’m sure… so multiply that with …
David Bradley said,
October 29, 2007 at 10:02 am
Okay! This post is already beating the comment average for Sciencebase, thanks to Egon’s follow-up.
JohnX said,
October 29, 2007 at 2:25 pm
David,
I read your material almost daily with great interest. Seldom do I comment. Many times it is because you have written about subjects of which I have little knowledge, which is the reason I visit you anyway.
David Bradley said,
October 29, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Nice to hear from you JohnX, that is an interesting thought. Being someone who feels that I can comment on almost anything (even if I know nothing about the subject, some would say), it never occurred to me that readers may not wish to do the same
Andrew Sun said,
October 31, 2007 at 12:36 pm
I ‘generate’ some reasons why people don’t comment on blogs they read.
First, they can only access their online feed readers but not the blogs.
Second, the readers are of an educated group who are not content with simple comments like ‘me too’, ‘great’, ‘agree’, ‘lol’, etc., while they have no thought-provoking comments either.
Third, the blog is only providing information, however informative, no question raised.
And why some of the blogs/posts have one thousand of comments? (I don’t include those that have a thousand of ‘me too’ replies, though.) One reason is these are of, related, or pertaining to some big questions which are constantly controversial, such as climate change, creationism, etc., or currently controversial, such as food safety, and better if your post challenges the common understanding in these topics, or establishes a third camp between the debate.
So, the solutions:
1. (For those who cannot access your website you can do nothing so leave it.)
2. Don’t have your post too cleverly written (space for thought-provoking comments) or too stupid (too easily for ‘me too’ comments’).
3. Ask question, or set up a poll.
4. Relate your post to some of the ‘big questions’ out there.
OffendAttack some ‘concept leader’ out there (Al Gore, Watson the DNA scientist, etc.).—————————————————————-
I’m just joking, David ;-)
David Bradley said,
October 31, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Andrew those are all perfectly valid comments, joking or not, they do make sense, I’ve tried various permutations of them too. One additional incentive I tried is to add a Top Commentators plugin to the site, so that those who comment the most get their name in lights. As you will have spotted you are one of my top commentators, so thanks for not simply being one of the me toos!
CWJon said,
October 31, 2007 at 4:58 pm
As you are one of the very few people who comments on our (Chemistry World) blog, I feel so embarrassed that I can never think of anything intelligent to say as a comment on here… (as demonstrated by this one).
We also spotted that while very few people care about policy decisions, they are the ones that get commented on. The stories about Gov. Schwarzenegger smoking pot or nanotube radios generally get decent hits but no comments!
David Bradley said,
October 31, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Hah! So, I’m not the only one Jon…maybe it is just a symptom of running a science blog, whereas a blog about blogging or some other tech subject would be virtue of its topics get more visitors chatting.
Mina said,
November 1, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Honestly, I’m just far too lazy to comment much of the time. :p Seriously though - there are many reasons for not posting a comment. I would agree with JohnX who mentioned subjects of which he has little knowledge. Sometimes, that’s the case for me so it’s cool to just sort of be a sponge and soak up the information. Other times, I find that I’ll hit up google to read more on a subject after one of your posts because it’s a subject that has really kicked up my curiosity.
This is one of my favorite blogs that I regularly read (along with Lemonick’s ‘Eye on Science’ blog). It’s a favorite because the language is comfortable to read, the topics are varied and the jokes and tone aren’t too p.c. ;)
Robert Bowen said,
November 1, 2007 at 7:06 pm
Wanting to leave a pertinent comment, rather than a silly flippant one , can be the reason to hold back. But, even silliness can be stimulating sometimes. After being overexcited by an exchange with creationists, I made that “Gravity? It’s just a theory.” comment a while back and that started a wonderful series of comments on the nature of theories, hypotheses, etc. So, if you can keep it from getting out of hand, is the occasional rubber chicken OK?
David Bradley said,
November 1, 2007 at 10:00 pm
Rubber chicken is fine, goes well with silicon chips ;-)