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.
Well…what are you waiting for, comment away…
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.
Okay! This post is already beating the comment average for Sciencebase, thanks to Egon’s follow-up.
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 …
I knew I could count on you Mitch!
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