» July 13, 2007 in
Kumiko from Cash Quests writes the reasons to keep commenting turned off:Kumiko's dumb reasoning:
1. Pageviews will decrease - Most people think this is a BAD thing.
2. RSS subscribers will increase - maybe slightly but there are many other things to do to increase rss readership that aren't detrimental to community building
3. There will be more incoming links - Not from here. I think when you are manipulating people to get more links it's a long shot it will work.
4. The sense of community will decrease - This is TERRIBLE and certainly worth turning comments back on
5. Better relationships will be built - Laughable. So what you can make good relationships through email, you should be using comments AND email to make the BEST relationships.
6. Every page will convert better - You provide no evidence and I would posit that having comments makes a page "stickier" and therefore more likely to convert.
7. Abusive emails will be sent - Once again this is a BAD thing.
8. Search engine traffic will increase - Doubtful and virtually impossible to quantify.
9. Posts will be more viral. Once again laughable. Kumiko says if the first comment is "nice bit of linkbait" then your linkbait loses it's appeal. I say if somebody writes "nice bit of linkbait" the post was never going to be viral in the first place.
10. Review orders will increase - I don't believe silencing your audience is a way to increase paid reviews. If your audience is revolting over paid reviews you haven't educated them enough on why/when you are doing them and simply not managing their expectations. I think it is more attractive to an advertiser to have a blogger who's audience is receptive to paid reviews than one who silences the audience.
11. Less time will be spent deleting spam - I'll concede that one.
12. Productivity will increase - Your definition of productivity is a bit warped I believe. Building relationships with your readers IS productive time in my opinion.
Source:
http://www.cashquests.com/2007/07/seven-days-no-comments-results.html
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Valentin says on July 14, 2007
HAHAHAAHAHAHA
kumico is the type of blogger I like to name "kiddish".
Not long a go he/she writed some advices on how to HAVE MORE comments on blog. Of course, most of advices were meant to confuse or lie the readers.
I ceased to read that blog as soon as I take for second time a promoted link for a certain wordpress plugin, and for second time, within 24 hours from installing that plugin, my blog was cracked.
Is true that happen to see, time a go, several good`n`nice advices there, but ..
Now, while I like the way you "linked" kumiko`s article :-P, i`ll tell you how I would do it :
1- build a redirection-with-timer page (not header redirect, timer) to kumiko post;
2- load that page into a deep (6-7-8 or more down-level on my server) with start point a weird named folder ("ggTYhU56Drmmm774uiY" for example, same weird names for next levels too, a robot.txt to deny spider access);
3- link here that page.
3'- just for extra safety, a rel="nofollow" atribute attached to link ... ;
Why the timer ?
Well, you know .. hmm, what I`m doing here, do I make public some secrets ? hmm .. mail me for details :-)
ps : Ok, no javascript allowed on comments, but what about Java Strip ? Is that 'programing language' that only certain javanese gals know ..
ps2 : don`t let your gf to read here if you plan to learn that language ...
:-))
Brian says on July 14, 2007
Hi Mark,
Comments add such value to a websites -
After all webistes are "content" and no one person can know everything their is to know about what ever subject. With comments a person can add their thoughts on a subject, they can agree or disagree.
Someone can ask a question, or dive deeper into the original post.
Heck, I would be willing to bet that sites that receive a fair amount of comments over time would rank better in the search engines.
Anyway ....maybe one day this person will figure out the value of "communication".
Silly markters ~
Brian
45n5 says on July 14, 2007
@valentin - I wish no software level harm on anybody so I'm not interested in the java
@brian - agreed, if anything we should be moving towards fostering more of a community on our sites
SarahG says on July 15, 2007
If I see a blog has active comments and I subscribe to the blog feed then I tend to try and find a comments feed too, simply because it's quicker to get them all into my feedreader. And of course, if I read the comments then there's more chance of me feeling I have something to say, whether it's in reply to the original post or perhaps (more importantly for the argument against not having comments on) another commenter.
Unfortunately I've just not found a comments RSS feed for your blog yet Mark ;)
45n5 says on July 15, 2007
ummm, I'll get the comments rss going in the next few days, thanks for the heads up sarahG.
Vincent Chow says on July 15, 2007
And you have just somewhat linked her. Not an actual link, but the URL will send her some traffic. Indeed a good one to make more people blog about your blog.
As part of reading blog, I enjoy reading the comments too. A blog looks dead and inactive without comments, boring.
45n5 says on July 16, 2007
probably true Vincent however I wanted to source the original in some way.
Cash Quests says on July 17, 2007
You have confused my *predictions* with *reasons*. I *predicted* that pageviews would decrease and the result of the experiment was that this did indeed occur. Having pageviews decrease was by no means the *reason* for turning off comments. I also explained how without advertising, it did not actually produce a bad result. It just means that people aren't viewing that same page twice.
You seemed to have missed the point that it was an experiment and the results indicated that keeping comments off was the best action to achieve the goals of the site - to make money. NOT to build a community...to make money.
I do not believe that turning off comments is suitable for every site and I have definitely not said that it was a permanent move. Just that the results of the experiment indicated that it was the best move.
This is one of the most misinformed posts that has been written on the subject. I strongly suggest that you reread the article to understand why it was written.
Perhaps your article is the dumbest response in the online money making world this week.
45n5 says on July 17, 2007
prediction, reasons, consequences, whatever, I'd rather not play word games.
"the results indicated that keeping comments off was the best action to achieve the goals of the site - to make money. NOT to build a community...to make money."
Making money and building a community on a blog are almost synonymous. You get your paid reviews because the COMMUNITY you've built there. Your COMMUNITY are the ones linking to you and increasing your inbound links/pr. It's your COMMUNITY that is driving your rss subscribership. it's not happening randomly.
Cash Quests says on July 17, 2007
Let's just play one word game.
I say: "Invest in this company because I *predict* sales will increase"
You say: "Invest in this company because sales *did* increase"
Sales have and always will be flat but someone relied on our information and loses money. You go to jail. I don't.
Completely confusing meanings is not just a word game. It's getting the point completely wrong as you did.
Your point on community is valid but it is very interesting to note that those who have ordered reviews from me have never left a comment on the site. In the history of the site, most of my incoming links have been from sites that I've never heard of and were created by people who never left a comment. You should not assume that paid reviews are my only (or even my main) source of income or that they only come via my "community".
You seem to assume that comments alone equal community or that they are the driving force behind one. Take a look at the local community in which you live. Comments are nothing more than a small feedback page in the local newsletter. The real community building gets done by reaching out and helping others - I do a LOT of "behind the scenes" community building that you seem to ignore. Yes, the sense of community *on the site* has decreased, but overall it is stronger than ever.
If you truly think that losing a sense of community is terrible, where's your forum? Where's your poll? Where's your top commentators list? Wouldn't these help you to build your own community?
45n5 says on July 17, 2007
"You seem to assume that comments alone equal community or that they are the driving force behind one."
No, conversations are the driving force, comments facilitate those conversations. Kinda like this conversation you are partaking in right here.
And look at all that fat juicy text you keep leaving here for the search engines. It even looks like the wordcount in the comments of this thread outnumber the number of words in the original post above, that must be bad too ;-)
"If you truly think that losing a sense of community is terrible, where's your forum? Where's your poll? Where's your top commentators list? Wouldn't these help you to build your own community?"
As I commented on Empress' blog earlier today:
http://www.buildingmyempire.com/2007/07/17/funny-how-web-20-has-taken-over/#comments
This blog IS my social network. Be sure I will be trying to improve the sense of community and worth or each visitor in the near future. And be sure it won't be by removing the commenting features.
Unfortunately this blog is one of my smallest income earners so other sites get priority on the programming todo list (i gotta eat), but it's coming.
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