All you need to create an internet blog meme is a clever idea and a cute logo. When I ran across the MoFo Delurker link, I knew I had found such a combo. Schmutzie who runs the Milk Money Or Not, Here I Come blog is the genius behind this one. It’s a very pretty blog and seems to be very popular. But as she explains:I have been up and down this internet over the last few weeks and found that there seems to be a drop in comments everywhere.
And I do mean everywhere. From small twenty-hits-a-day weblogs to ones that receive thousands of visitors before noon, people are falling silent when it comes to entering text into the small, white comment boxes, and quite frankly, no matter how many hits you get on any given day, it is a little disheartening to have your comments drop from three to one or from 500 to 250.
It is the commenters, (which are also you and me), who have been falling down on the job.
Of course, this is all horsefeathers. It’s really about driving traffic to her blog. People post her little button all over the web and their readers all go to check it out. And if it increases her comments so much the better.
Which is not a bad thing. I love comments as much as the next guy. Heck, I trademarked BlatantCommentWhoring™. But I refuse to browbeat my readers into commenting. I have previously clearly stated my Lurkers Welcome policy. I would rather have ten dedicated lurkers than a hundred LostGooglers® looking for “Jordan Todosey nude” or “in a bikini” or any other pervy search result.
I don’t blame people for not commenting on every post. Not every post deserves it. When I run through my blogroll, I’ll leave comments on about half the posts just because I can’t always think of something witty, sarcastic, clever, or sympathetic to say. It’s not the blogger’s fault. It’s me.
And speaking of blogrolls, in addition to my lurkers welcome policy, I run a very liberal blogrolling policy. Just ask. But I’m lazy and don’t update very often. I have recently added two new blogs to my must read list. I always need a sexy mysterious lady to live vicariously through and Mistress Of The Dark fits that bill well. I haven’t quite figured out Doghouse Riley yet, but he sure is entertaining.
On a sad note, I keep a separate blogroll for members of the Achenblog Boodle and we lost a boodler recently. The very funny Bob Lewis went by the alias Error Flynn. Even the name was a great running gag. He was a presidential candidate with the campaign slogan “Vote for Error. This Time On Purpose.” He was a font of trivia and jokes and always brought a smile. He passed away after a long illness and our lives are emptier for it. Fellow boodler bc wrote a memorium better than I can say it. That is part of the problem with making virtual friends. Reality intrudes.
BlatantCommentWhoring™: I’m posting this a day early so that my Aussie and European readers get the full benefit of MoPhony Delurker Day. Leave a comment. Or not.
17 comments:
Do I comment too much to qualify as a lurker? Anyway, sometimes I secretly wish that the number of comments on my blog would drop from 400 to 200 a post, just so I would have an easier time reading them all...
Josh
josh,
I've been meaning to talk to you about that. Your comments remind me of the Yogi Berra saying that nobody goes there anymore because it's too crowded. If I come up with some witty COTW-worthy bon mot, I first have to wade through 300 comments of chatter to make sure I haven't been pre-empted. The main snark is as funny as ever and most of the commenters are funnier than I am on a good day, but I stick to the main posts and rarely go below the first 50 comments anymore.
OK, I'll drop the cloaking device. I often wind up not commenting, just because I don't want to be the first one and then I never get around to it.
I'm with yello on the comments at the CC. I've been lurking there ever since the Phantom tried to push his kids off a cliff. I was just about to delurk, when the comments exploded. Who the heck has time to read that many comments?
So what I need is a sock puppet to prime the pump. I think I can arrange that.
Most blogs have commenters rush to claim "First!" I've got the middle school dance blog where everybody waits for someone else to start it up.
And I'm not exaggerating about the GoogleHits for "Jordan Todosey bikini". I got another one today. Sick pervs.
Waves!
I'm commenting :) Actually I usually do when I drop by :)
I also think feeds are to blame. it is so much easier to read an entry, click to the next one and so on, rather than click over, leave a comment, etc. I noticed a big difference in my hits this year. I seem to have the same amount of comments, just fewer hits so I blame the reader.
What's worse than not commenting on a blog? How about commenting, but talking about another blog entirely? Josh, if I can't exactly say that I feel your pain - after all, I don't have the slightest obligation to read all those posts - I certainly feel overwhelmed. What's weird is that, when I do sorta skim through them, even though there are 300-400 a day, it's not as if the site's suddenly been overwhelmed by the usual internet illiterati: most of the comments at least rate a chuckle, and many are easily as amusing as the comics. Okay: low bar. I'm meeting a bunch of mudges Friday night - I'll have to blog about it after...
utbm may be onto something. I wonder who reads my blog through a feed without registering on my statmeters.
and josh can comment on anything he wants. It's just an honor to have such a famous-for-the-blogosphere celebrity on my blog. Heavens know I shamelessly self-promoted my blog there often enough.
And how do I find out about Comics Cardinal meetups without wading through 2000 comments a week.
Love your comment about being the middle school dance blog. I never understood what was either so great about being first or so wrong about it.
Comments are a double-edged sword for me. On one hand I want as many as possible, but on the other hand I feel obligated to revisit anyone who has commented, and I just don't have the time to do that - hence the "stress" post I wrote the other day.
Oh well.
Hey, I'm 10th!
Now I'm getting comments on the comments. Once you can get that ball rolling, all bets are off.
And what about comments that have absolutely nothing to do with the blog entry?
Who would do that?
I know sites where that is practically mandatory.
Seen any good movies lately?
I want a cat.
I'm a late delurker. I'm here every few days. I would come everyday, but you don't post everyday so I think I DO blame you. I also don't comment much. Now that's my fault. I'm lazy. I also can't wade through the hundreds of comments at CC, so I hardly ever comment there either, so see it's not personal.
Yj, I really admire the number of comments you leave all over the internet, and I enjoy reading your blog. But I'm not good at the banter, and I don't like the idea of my unclever remarks being recorded in cyberspace forever and ever. Plus, I have trained myself over at the A-blog to delete most of my comments before I post them, and now I do that everywhere. So just figure that for every comment I've left on your blog, I have deleted at least five.
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