Comments on: Subscribe to comments is a must-have feature

By: MichaelJ

MichaelJ — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:59:55 +0000

Since I enjoy commenting on conversations that other people start. I’ve found the RSS feed indispensable and pretty much does the job. So for me the lack of email notification is not that much of a problem.

But for the occasional commenter or someone just getting starting to get involved, the lack of email notification is not only frustrating for the blogger, but a “don’t use it” flaw, if the aim is to start a conversation that evolves in close to real time.

By: Martin (riverScrap.com)

Martin (riverScrap.com) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:58:24 +0000

I couldn’t agree more – TypePad doesn’t seem to give visitors to my site the option of receiving response notifications. And nor does it provide an easy way of integrating Haloscan instead. Very frustrating!

By: Kerry Crawford

Kerry Crawford — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 17:21:31 +0000

I hadn’t thought of this – I’m adding it to my to-do list now. Do you have any good examples of news sites that have done this?

Thanks!

By: Michael J

Michael J — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 10:59:35 +0000

Exactly!

The flow of conversations is one operational definition of community. One indicator is how many replies. The other, more important indicator ,is how many are direct replies that are “on point.” Lots of @x @y is one way to measure a good conversation. Some blogs have the ability to do threaded conversations. In that case the number and length of the threads is a pretty good measure of “community.”

I use an RSS feed that allows me to see the comments in my favorite conversations. Before the day starts, I looked at the Conversations folder. Scan the “headlines”. Click to read the full text. Click to go to the site if I think I have something to add. Read the conversation to remind myself of the context. Say what I have to say. And move on.

It’s like meeting a neighbor on the way to buy milk and bread.

By: Patrick Yen

Patrick Yen — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:34:42 +0000

I agree, I wonder if there is a similar feature for the blogger or pixelpost platforms?

Gonna have to look into that, putting it on my to-do list now.