Comments on: Pick and Comment

By: Ingrid

Ingrid — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:37:15 +0000

“Rubber chicken is fine, goes well with silicon chips ;-)”

Hahaha)))))) RIGHT!!!

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:00:13 +0000

Rubber chicken is fine, goes well with silicon chips ;-)

By: Robert Bowen

Robert Bowen — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:06:10 +0000

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?

By: Mina

Mina — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:18:48 +0000

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. ;)

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:18:46 +0000

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.

By: CWJon

CWJon — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 15:58:19 +0000

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!

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 14:59:12 +0000

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!

By: Andrew Sun

Andrew Sun — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:36:19 +0000

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. ~~Offend~~Attack some ‘concept leader’ out there (Al Gore, Watson the DNA scientist, etc.).

—————————————————————-

I’m just joking, David ;-)

By: David Bradley

David Bradley — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:55:09 +0000

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

By: JohnX

JohnX — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 13:25:32 +0000

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.