Let's Talk About Commenting
We twittered about this a few days ago, but we’d like to open it up for discussion: What can we do to improve the overall the quality of comments on the blog, to encourage lurkers to get involved without alienating some of the more active and, um, spirited commenters? We hear quite often from regular…
We twittered about this a few days ago, but we’d like to open it up for discussion: What can we do to improve the overall the quality of comments on the blog, to encourage lurkers to get involved without alienating some of the more active and, um, spirited commenters? We hear quite often from regular readers who feel uncomfortable, even intimidated, with the prospect of commenting. This isn’t surprising given the verbal beat-down one new commenter received from a gang of regulars a couple of weeks ago. Nor is the level of discussion going on in today’s Open Thread really where we’d like it to be. Short of active comment moderation, which really isn’t a practical option, what do you think we can/should do to elevate the quality of discussion and make newcomers feel more welcome? We’d be particularly interested to hear from some folks who usually hang back on the sidelines. It’s in the best interests of the blog and everyone who reads it to have as many people contributing their knowledge and opinions as possible.
Thanks,
Mr. B
Late Night Lurker here. I don’t post because by the time I get through the comments I am exhausted (because it is late) and the thread has ended hours before I get to it.
That said, I find the usual suspects highly amusing and they have grown to be real people to me. I don’t not want to read anything and everything DIBS, Cobblehiller, Biff, MM, Snarkslope, Mopar, Miss Chiff, Townhouse Lady, Snappy, Wasder and of course the What have to say. Mr. B, I don’t know if this helps you. I also read the other sections and am interested in interior design as I think Heather suggested.
I rarely comment for the precise reasons outlined by brownstoner. The regulars remind me of the bitchy cliques in high school who sat in the cafeteria and ridiculed any and everyone. But in the end, it was they who were the most pathetic group in the school.
This site used to be more interesting before registration was required. I say bring back the open commenting format.
comments schmomments, hire a new reporter.
I saw this thread and just had to break my usual silence and leave a comment.
I’ve been coming to this site on and off for a while. I never posted before because I just never felt a need to. I will occasionally read some of the catty debates that go on in the comments when I’m bored at work, and sometimes I’ll want to throw in my 2 cents, but its frankly not worth the effort. Its always the same handful of commenters who hog the conversation, and everything always turns into a race/class debate going around in circles ….something about skittles…blah blah blah.
At first it was entertaining to read, now I rarely even check the comments because they’ve become so predictable. Blogs sound like a great idea to help ‘community interaction’ but in reality, its a crappy way of debating issues with your neighbors. I feel it actually creates animosity instead of an understanding for each other. There is nothing you can really do to ‘tame’ the comments on a blog…its just the nature of the beast…
I guess if you really want to debate issues and improve your community…go out into the real world and do it instead of sitting inside on a computer, living b*tchy comments on a blog.
Well said, Heather, and very true. This site is pretty cool. And I think most everyone here agrees with you about that. They just want to make sure the best features of the site are preserved.
“Those wanting to gain additional posts would simply come up with ridiculous log in names to thwart the “limit” and go on undiscovered. The idea would [be to]…create more chaos and less ownership of one’s comments.”
But I don’t think that the problem at present is a group of people who are trying to create choas and undermine comment ownership. Is it? I know that was a problem some time ago, but to the best of my knowledge it hasn’t been a (serious) problem since the registation requirement was put in place. Not that I like the registration requirement, but my understanding is that it did, at least, solve identity theft problem.
am saying this here (as well as in open thread) because S
Snappy said I was right and I think it’s an important point.
“I think it might be worth noting that no other similar blogs, even the popular ones, have any commentator community whatsoever… and that the community, good and bad, is what sets b-stoner apart.”
So join hands and kum bye ya or what have you. This place is pretty unique as is.
Just for clarification while I think limiting posts people could make per day would be a ridiculous idea. I imagine the “limit” wouldn’t present an obstacle for that very small number of people wanting to inundate the site with additional noise.
Those wanting to gain additional posts would simply come up with ridiculous log in names to thwart the “limit” and go on undiscovered. The idea would not be to keep people from saying what they have to say. Rather, the idea would create more chaos and less ownership of one’s comments.
Just for clarification that is.
Just for clarification, while I do think that limiting the number of posts people make per day could be a good thing, I imagine the “limit” to be such that few people would ever have to think twice about it. The idea would not be to keep people from saying what they have to say. Rather, the idea would be to keep a very small number of people from inundating the site with white noise. Period. Such a “limit” would go undiscovered by almost everyone, and it’s not too different from some measures Mr. B has already taken in the past. I know that at times Mr. B has put limits on the number of posts people could make over a short span of time …what was it…10, 15 minutes…I can’t recall). At the time I thought those measures were helpful and I think they could be again.