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Making writing sites better, the value of comments

A friend of mine read my post yesterday and called. First, he asked why I was so obtuse (that I think is his all-time favorite word) he said just come out and say it. I replied I thought I did, in fact, actually just come out and say it. His response was two things. First that if there is value in people commenting, I should share that value. The second thing he said is to embed this in the post to see if people read. For those of you that read this, thank you! But as he pointed out, I should embed the phrase “monkey banana” in the text and say use monkey banana in your comment somehow! He is the last friend I had that stayed in stand-up comedy. There was a group of six of us; he was the only one that eventually toured regionally before returning to his first love.

(my friend, who is now a math professor, made me laugh. He pointed out the delightful downvoter was sending a mixed message. Any pair of downvotes is a double negative, so any post with an even number of downvotes is a set of positive votes. Any number of downvotes beyond 1 is one upvote per pair, and if it is an odd number, then three is 1 and 1, 5 is two upvotes, and one downvote) it made me laugh.

So let’s talk bout the reality of views and the existence of comments. One comment benefits the writer of the comment more than the author. Three comments help both the author and the comment writer. Four or more comments benefit both significantly. Someone asked in the comments how deep a conversation thread needed to be, to have value. 4 is the starting point for real value (that is roughly 10 Virils for the authors and 4 for the commenter, up to your daily limit). The reason is it a lot more for the author is the author gets credit for comments, views a for responding to comments. The more engaged you get readers, the more likely they are to comment!

I did some reviewing of old posts starting back in November. One of the things I can tell you is that there are a lot of jobs that have high views but low comments. That means honestly that the predominance of those views come from socially shared information. I did a project last year, and I haven’t done that in a while, but I looked at three things. Did an author respond to comments? Did readers leave comments? Finally, does the post have a high number of external views? There are around 75 give or take active authors on the site right now. Many of them are not active every day. As is often said, we do what we can do. So don’t take this as a comment on those who are not on every day. Only a realization that no everyone is on every day.

Based on all of this, I am very interested in the splits—internal or member views and external or guest views.

  • Question of

    Did what my friend said make you laugh as well?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    never drink coffee when reading something funny, ok?

    • Yes
    • No

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What do you think?

18 Points

Written by DocAndersen

One fan, One team and a long time dream Go Cubs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

61 Comments

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  1. A comment is not a comment that is a commendable comment unless it has command in the comment.

    A comment without a comet has no flash through the sky as you read it, for you.

    A comment has to add something commendable to the article, I think.

    1
          • I will add another comment then.

            Yes, the toing and the froing can be good, sometimes, if it offers something extra to the thread, but I have found, especially on other sites, it goes more like this, at times:

            Good article

            Thanks, I appreciate your response

            You’re welcome.

            Well, thanks again.

            etc etc ad nauseum.

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        • there is nothing wrong with praising an author, but there has to be limited. I would argue that an author posting 30 one-sentence replies to a single comment is significantly worse.

          But if it is a true conversation, then let the words flow, and within that conversation learn about the other author!

          1
          • I do not like to write empty comments; I like the words to flow too.

            Praise can be good, especially well-written praise. It does make the writer feel valued.

            I have noticed that all of your comments always offer a touch of praise, and a touch of objective comment too.

            You are good at writing comments.

            1
        • well now we are completely in agreement.

          On this site, there is a 20 character comment limit. Why? because users comments used to be

          Good!
          nice
          so the 20 character limit went in
          they the users changed

          good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
          Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
          so those got reported and not restored.

          The issue we have on this site at times is that people don’t always read the post.

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          • Sometimes, I have noticed a glitch? in the past where the number of continuing comments possible to be made was limited too.

            There was no reply button there anymore, so it was impossible to further respond, after 3 or 4 such continuing responses.

            I also notice now, that we do not get virils for comments made by ourselves anymore either. We seem to only get them for reply comments made by others to our comments.

          • Thanks.

            Not only do I like to just comment about the discussion/article topic; I also get a kick out of adding my own unique views too.

            I often like to throw a spanner into the discussion too, so that it is not too one-sided, but a more wider encompassing debate too, if that is relevant, for me to do.

            1
          • Yes, I agree with what you said there; on the other hand, though, I also enjoy a good lecture, sometimes…lol…

            Conversation is just that, a converse between people, and yet it is also any medium that can pass on a message, (that’s more just a communication though, I suppose) but what makes it a conversation is the receiving and return of connecting messages.

            What makes it a good conversation is how you described it above, value is brought to both sides.

            1
        • i do agree, communication is about receiving a message. Sometimes it is about simply getting and acting on the information.
          The conversation is the give and take between two or more people resulting in an agreement with the original or a new paradigm.

          1
          • I think that love is a factor in good communication too.

            Good communication brings love from one party to the other. Love given out is fully received by the person spoken to, in good communication.

            You talk well when you love well. Love is a type of a message too, I guess.

            There is also give and take in love. To love fully, we must give, and be capable of receiving love too

            1
          • Thanks. I have never heard of the splitting of different types of communication like that.

            I probably seek a bit of both. I like to feel the true communication, but I also like to chew over what is ideal or real in my mind too, at times.

            What type of communication should we seek, if we should seek one, at all?

            Communication, on the one hand, is always pure, if love is behind it, but if not received from the same love, it is usually then received tainted or coloured by the mind instead.

            Pure communication touches the heart, and there is no debating the truth of it, any debating goes on in the mind, because it is never sure of the truth.

            1
        • if pure communication is like new snow, covering everything equally. But the conversation is not always pure.

          there are those who seek to control communication. There are those who seek communication for gain.

          Pure communication is rare.
          The ideal is at least a functional swapping (I gain something, you gain something).

          1
        • a really good friend of mine designed a structure he called communication patterns and anti-patterns. Some of the patterns were really interesting so I started calling them by nicknames. My buddy and I redid his process with the nicknames.

          My all-time favorite is the Meeting Pirate. One who swoops in and seizes control of the meeting.

          1
          • Yes, I was sort of joking, but I also meant that if we can use systems to identify these types, we have a hands up for ourselves as to how they are expected to act, in any given circumstance.

            We can then try to use a different wrestling hold on them from the ones that they already know… lol…

            1
  2. Well monkey banana, or was it bananas. The reason you don’t laugh while taking a drink of coffee is that it might come out your nose. (Not that you asked, but I thought it may help make this comment memorable.

    2
  3. This for the phrase ‘monkey banana’ is something specific to your country. I’m glad your friend is a joker. It is the best cure for many diseases. It is a bit complicated for the comment question. You don’t always get as much as you give. I don’t drink coffee so I can read funny stories without worrying.🤣🤣😂🤣😂🤣

    2
  4. He is a math professor, so he is right and it’s very funny about it.
    Comments are the cornerstone of this site. Lack of comments would turn this site to I don’t know what.
    So, why shouldn’t we drink coffee when reading something funny? I’m curious.

    3

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