Daily Archives: January 5, 2008

14 Comments

I've been on a recent commenting spree over a number of blogs since my last post. It got me wondering about the relationship between my posts and the comments I've had over the two and half years I've been writing here. Comments outnumber posts by about 2.5 : 1. Recently, I went through the comments here and found out some interesting things about who comments, how often and when.

Of 980 odd comments, the biggest commenter here at TGZ is me - adding my voice to the conversation 115 times.

Trackbacks account for 97 but I couldn't be bothered breaking them down according to source, preferring to working on the 216 individuals who've given their time, thoughts and words to my musings.

Top ten contributors:
Alexander Hayes 43
Bill Kerr 25
Doug Noon 24
Artichoke 22
Leigh Blackall 19
James Farmer 17
Chris Harbeck 17
Sue Waters 16
Al Upton 16
Jo McLeay 15

There were 10 other commenters who've reached double figures and 114 one time only comment leavers.

It was interesting scrolling back through the archives and sort of seeing trends come and go over the life of this blog. It made me realise that I've lost touch with some important bloggers but that commenters tend to ebb and flow depending on the topic at hand. I'd love to know how many comments I've left on other people's blogs in the same time period. I know there are tools that track comments - I've had a CoComment account but its success depends on using the same browser with the plugin and I'm too undisciplined to make it accurate. (Sort of like my ignorance in the use of Technorati tags!) Sometimes, the gold can be in the comments. It's a shame that like an iceberg, RSS readers have posts' comments hidden from view. I know that ticking the "subscribe to comments" box can be one way of tracking the conversation and maybe using Bloglines Beta might be a better tool for this purpose.

What continues to fascinate me though is how hard it is to predict what types of posts will attract comments and "go viral". Sometimes, it is just a few paragraphs spilt out in a frenzy that hit chords with readers, while the more measured, carefully crafted post will go uncommented upon. Of course, no comments doesn't mean that no-one is reading but having some feedback is always a good indicator.

So, feel free to add your voice here!