Is it really beyond the intelligence of most readers to figure out how to leave a comment on this blog, without the link prompting the reader to click? I would not have thought so, but it seems one of my readers suggests that I need to do something to draw attention to the comment section. I did add a 'click to comment' message on the sidebar, but that does not seem to help.
Here's my view: I personally don't like large numbers of comments (like the scores or hundreds of comments seen on some blogs) because the threads are hard and tme-consuming to manage. I don't censor many comments (contrary to what some readers have thought); most of them are allowed to stand. I have little time to blog, let alone to manage comments.
If I were to attract more comments, I would like them to be quality comments, not flippant one-liners, not abuse, not rambling diatribes, not off-topic chats between commenters. I get some of these kinds of comments as it is. But attracting more comments (and more readers) may mean more of the kinds of posts I can live without.
Over the years that this blog has existed, I've been blessed with some very good commenters, people who write quality posts. I've also had the other end of the spectrum from time to time, as some of you may remember.
Quality, not quantity, is my preference, as always. But I understand that many readers like a long comment thread and a kind of social connection that comes with a busy blog which draws many comments. Some people like their posts to be seen by many people, and leaving comments on a blog like mine does not satisfy the need to have their comments read. I understand that.
And I do think that people who can't figure out how to click on the blog post title (or on the time and date stamp) probably don't have much of a clue generally. Or maybe I am simply being an elitist snob.
I do have part of this blog mirrored elsewhere. How many of you would prefer that I 'move', as it were, to the mirror site and use the comment system on that other blog rather than Intense Debate? I've become rather attached to this system, despite its faults.
What do you say? Your thoughts are needed.
