Reversing the comments slide, Part II

Done.

I've been watching this myself the last couple of days. As of this minute there are 2464 comments for the month; beating out last months 2250. There are still three days left and we may actually beat June's tally of 2627, the best month so far. All the bru ha ha seems to be working.

There was a thread here back in September where posters were lamenting the declining number of story comments from month to month, and wondering what could be done about it. If you check the 'stats' page you will see that the numbers have been increasing monthly since then so that December will come close to matching the top number ever (from June).

I just thought it would be satisfying to check something off our collective 'to-do' list.

I'm just waiting for 2011 to kick in before initiating a new thread to be titled:
'Reversing the Comments Deluge' - what can be done to prevent the veritable tsunami of irritating comments that have been clogging up the library and wasting everyone's precious time recently.

But seriously ... there is still work to be done getting a wider range of members to comment more often. What proportion of comments are made by a generous few (Sebastian, Twisted8, Edwin, Guy etc) ... also, what proportion are made by fellow writers (who know how good it feels and understand Nature's Law)? Strip these out and it's not impressive. It's time non-commenters were warned to buck up their ideas and pull their socks up, or, to borrow a phrase, our karma will run over their dogma.

I think more folks are getting into it. I'm noticing comments on my stories from people who never commented before and it's great. I welcome them all. And now I'll turn it around. How many of you authors acknowledge the kind comments your readers make? I don't ackowledge each and every one, but I do thank a lot of readers for their comments, especially if they have something to say about the story. I use the popup feature frequently. BTW if you post a comment yourself in response to a reader or group of readers realize that the people you wish to communicate with may never see it. They won't unless for some reason they return to that story, so use the popup feature.

As of this minute we are within 24 comments of beating June's record of 2627; with over 24 hours to go. We will have a record month and with most readers bogged down in holiday affairs like me and not spending as much time on the site.

I am opposed to any more coercion than is already in place. I'm with Rollin in that setting good examples and using ALL of Februs's avenues of communicating with readers and writers a like is and will be enough.

This is a happy place. For a bunch of Perv's that used to be on the doge not to long ago it's fantastic! Not intimidating; not too snotty; and not too full of itself or 'club-by'. Just remember that the people who can't tell the difference between to, two, or too are still spanko's and like it here and we want them to feel welcome. Most of the 'hard-core' here like to write and are good at it. Most of the readership do not and are not. Let em read!

Ben & Jerry's-eating softie! Huh! Call yourself a top?

Some comment-related stats as we approach the end of the year for those who might be interested in such things:

total members:
6,614

members who have commented:
969

stories viewed:
1,633,355

comments made:
19,360

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Get out ze Ben & Jerry's ice cream and a LARGE SPOON! We vill soon deal viz zose who vill not comment on ze stories! Sorry it's all those black white war movies I have been watching over Christmas!! I shall probably be alright soon!

Well yes TEM. Now that you mention it. Imagine you tied to a chair in a bare cider block & concrete room with a single 100 watt bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. All I would need is a pint of B & J Coffee Heath Bar Crunch and a large spoon. You'd be crying for your mommy before long! Grin!