Recently I asked myself a question: How come that some blogs, like Lifehacker, ZDnet and other technology blogs get dozens of comments per post, while comments on other sites that I hold even dearer are close to zero.
Some articles here on Ghacks for instance receive dozens of comments. A lot of the giveaway (which is totally understandable) but also articles that are of interest to many readers (Windows Firewall Notifier is a recent example). Other articles here receive one, two or maybe even no comment at all. The same is true for sites like Addictive Tips and even Freeware Genius.
I’d like to discuss why it is like it is. Why are so many users commenting on company backed websites and less users on others? Is that a numbers game? Do those sites receive more visitors which then results in more comments? Or has it something to do with “trusting” those companies?
While the majority of blogs that get lots of user comments and interaction are company based, there are others run by individuals like the German tech site Caschy’s Blog with ten, twenty and even more comments per article.
I’d like to get there, get more users involved here on Ghacks. I can think of a few reasons why Ghacks receives less user comments than other sites. It could be that the process is to complicated (which I personally doubt since I do not require registration), that my articles are to boring, or that they “say it all” and leave little to discuss. Could also be the public perception or “image” of the site or that Ghacks visitors are more the passive type.
I’d like to start this discussion to get a better understanding of the reasons. Is there anything that I can change on site that would entice you to comment more often? Or is it something that is completely out of my control?
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Lifehacker has lots of posts that encourage users to debate.
Best software to do X, the week’s open thread and others that I don’t remember right now.
Maybe you should try to make more “comment-friendly” or “comment-encouraging” posts (like this one! :P).
Yes, that seems to be the common consensus.
I’d say it’s a few things:
1) Number of visitors
2) Your articles leave little room for discussion at times (Not a bad thing – some of the Lifehacker/Giz type articles are little more than a sentence)
3) Possibly the lac of registration is a hindrance – some people might not like the idea of using the ID they use for other sites on a site where “anyone” can be them (If that makes sense).
4) Actual articles – mostly the site covers software – sometimes there isn’t that much to say about a program.
Personally, I wouldn’t chase it too hard – I see very few (if any) trolls on here, which is a huge bonus.
I have to agree with you Dean, as many Blogs that I read have a few trolls and flamers who post anything, just to pass the time.
I prefer to comment intelligently on articles that grab my attention!
I always thought that lack of registration was a good thing as it allowed users to post immediately. I personally hate and avoid sites that force registration upon me, especially if I only want to post one comment there and probable leave the site for good after this.
I agree with you, lack of registration is a GOOD thing. I wouldn’t be leaving this comment if there were a registration process.
Personally, I’m not the kind of reader that leaves comments, so maybe you’re right when you say that it could be the profile of your readers. Also, English is not my first language, so I tend to avoid writing in English.
What I can tell you is that every now and then I clean my Google Reader and that your blog is one of the few renaming. Always. I like your posts and I think they offer something different.
Thank you for that!
Registration (and it’s lack) is a two sided sword. I dislike registering, like you, for once off comments.
But if you are attempting to build a community, then you need to realize that pissing off the once off commenters isn’t that horrible of a thing. No one enjoys talking to a drive by commenter who will never come back to respond.
I comment on the Gawker network of sites because I can have a single account over all of them and because it means that the people whose comments I read are people I can see the track record of and go back and compare their previous comments to their current ones.
This is especially important to me for ‘tips’ sites, where the comments themselves contain information that I might actually have to be able to evaluate the reliability on.
But I agree that most of your posts aren’t really ones that I’d need to comment on, you are normally presenting information that is cut and dry, and in a manner that is sufficiently comprehensive that I’m not compelled to go to the comments to ask 21 questions to figure out how to take advantage of the knowledge.
So, I don’t know, be wrong more often, be less through and leave things out so we have to ask, waste a bunch of pixels asking what our favorite brand of notepad replacement is?
Doesn’t sound like a Ghacks site that I’d really want to read though.
You really want the posts to be swarmed with commentards uttering ‘first’ and ‘yourgayyoufag’?
Keep it clean Martin and know that those of us who subscribe respect your posts and think there is often little value we can add to them.
I obviously do not want comments here on Ghacks that do not add to the article. I’d love to benefit more from the expertise of my readers though.
I subscribe to several blogs, ghacks, Lifehacker, gizmodo, howtogeek, threatpost and others and while it’s virtually impossible to post comments on each and every one, I will comment on article that really stand out and are of interest!
I find many of your articles very interesting and many of them do stand out and your giveaways are a Bonus, since many software reviews that you do are quite useful! SuperAntispyware is one example!
I wouldn’t want to bog down the comments area, here as I’m sure that you are quite busy, yourself, so as mentioned, I limit my comments to the articles that interest me the most!
Thanks for that ;)
I agree with the above points.
Frankly, while I’m sure you’d rather have the traffic that those sites get, you shouldn’t be jealous of their comment volume. Most of your readers would rather see 5-10 germane, relevant comments on an article than the ridiculous trollfests that go on over there.
I totally agree. I also think it’s quite hard to comment on instructional and review type posts. You read the post, go and try it or not or bookmark it for later reference. I’m not one to say ‘Great post Martin’ as it doesn’t add much but will comment when I have a point to make.
I must say I’m not a great fan of Lifehacker comments.
Agree with other posters.
1. I don’t know real stats but I guess Lifehacker and Engadget get WAY MORE traffic than GHacks
2. The type of posts
Maybe adding disqus support would help …
We love you nontheless !!
I’m one of those that posts very few comments.
In my case, almost all the times, I don’t have anything worth saying. So I just sit quiet and listen.
In other few times, it’s just a case of subject vs. interest.
That’s my two cents. Hope it helps a little.
“Maybe adding disqus support would help”
Great idea! Why didn’t I think of that?
I know, because you beat me to it! :)
While I haven’t ever commented on Lifehacker or Ghacks (except once for a giveaway). the simple reason i think is that the posts at lifehacker are more open ended.
While here at Ghacks, the posts are more end to end type. X software does Y task of yours or use X Software or service to solve problem Y .
This post ofcourse being more of Lifehacker-ish in nature. :)
I think your articles say it all, which is a good thing. But I understand the feeling anyway.
I also think the site is one of the best sources of software news around, which is a lifesaver after Lifehacker changed. I don’t know of any other site giving such good software info, which also talks about Linux or multiplatform stuff.
agree with above. also, i use a RSS reader, so i just scroll through the articles. it would take me an extra step to click on the article go down to post a comment.
but your request made me do it. :)
This… I read in GReader… You asked for an opinion on this topic though.. and I had one.. typically I don’t. I just like reading the articles.
Well, Redmond Pie disabled the user’s ability to comment on their website and just take comments on their facebook page…
About me… I read your articles in my Google Reader… So i don’t really care much about comments… If I have a question… i just google it
Martin,
Dean’s points 2) and 4) are telling points.
In particular, when you are reviewing software, or perhaps a site, there’s little for us to say unless we’ve already checked that site or software. So you might see relevant comments in a week or two (2), after usage and experience have created something to say.
For instance, your article “Block Download.com From Google Search Results” gave instructions on using Google for blocking domains, as well as several 3rd party applications to accomplish that same end. Unless you had made an error or typo in the Google instructions, there’s not a lot to say. And if we decide to try the 3rd party utilities, it’s gonna take a while for us to determine whether their utility is truly beneficial to us. So there’s not a great impetus for immediate comment.
Since most of your stuff is either instructional or a review, there’s little room for commentary unless you make what appears to be an obvious mistake – and I haven’t seen you do that. So in this situation, no comment
is good comment . If you review a program that I have not used, there’s not much for me to say. If you provide instruction on how to do a thing, there’s little I can say about it until I’ve tried your instructions. And if your text is about an OS that I’m not using, there’s naught for me to say unless I want to be a fanboi/troll and tout my own OS preference.
Another thing is the Facebook stuff. While Facebook is the 800 pound gorilla for its venue, many of us will not be coerced into joining Facebook. It has had – and still has- security and privacy issues. It also is still somewhat incohate in that it does not seem to have taken a final form. Its current plan, to *force* its timeline concept on all members, is also distasteful to many of use, another reason not to join. So that provides an automatic exclusion for many of us, except to complain about Facebook ..
All in all, look at your traffic/comments ratio: if that ratio is high, you’re doing a great job – there’s no need to comment . If that ratio gets lower, you’ll need to start examining the _nature_ of the comments to see whether you need to change your presentation(s). A high comment count is not always a good thing.
Good points, thanks Barney.
Not all the articles are great (I mean “USB Big Mouse”, that is pretty useless, but most is really good. Technical articles could expect bigger response (as How to change this and that driver etc.), but there are few such articles.
Anyway I read your blog regularly and thanks for it!
Here is my comment you can paste on half of your article (but I didn’t bother post it) :
“This article is great, it has the exact answer to my question (and I’m not alone wondering about this topic !!), and it is very clear and precise, there is no need to add more. Thanks!”
Please add it to you web template for me ;)
Haha, funny :)
Quite honestly, I like this blog, I check it everyday but I don’t comment that often because the articles are straight forward and well written. Like the poster said… example : get X program to do Y.
What i have noticed from other blogs (in which i also don’t comment that often) is that they involve their readers such as HowToGeek’s “What you said” Feature. ( /salute to HowToGeek ).
Unlike other blogs that just crank out article after (pointless) article. Ghacks has had consistent quality and depth.
hi Martin,
no., of comments and no., of hits are not directly proportional, i think. especially your blog offers info., in the simplest possible language. where is the need to question or refute your views ,unless one is armed with facts?
btw, i would like to point out that win 7 update support ends in 2013,and lifetime support is on till 2020, as per the link you provided.
what is the difference between the two? any idea?
Windows 7 without SP support ends 2015, business and enterprise users (those running Pro, Ultimate and Enterprise) get extended support until 2020.
Oh, yeah.
There’s a suggestion to use Disqus. If you do, you’ll lose those of us who refuse to join another site just to comment on yours unless Disqus is just an option.
There’s an old cartoon. Two (2) guys talking inside a complaint/customer service booth. Across the room, an open door with seemingly a line of folk behind it. One guy says to the other, “We haven’t had a complaint in years.” The room between the door and the service desk is filled with cobras.
Disqus could be those cobras.
Hi Martin,
I’m more or less agree with what has been said in the previous comment. My two cents on why is it so:
_ On the subjects: You often present some not very well known program, and rarely make things like “5 best tools for this or that”. I really like to discover new software, but there isn’t much to say, we try and see ;-)
_ On the style: Lifehacker (especially since Gina left) have a very journalistic way to write there articles. Where here, you try to have a more tech way to write them. I like it as well, but it probably invite less to discussion.
Now if you want to have more feedback (which I can understand), don’t forget that there is not only comments to get it. Because increasing numbers of comments will also bring more troll and that’s not always good. For example, I’m reading a blog (about science) and you can say if the article is Funky or not. And there is usually 10 times more people that vote, as compared to the number of comments.
Another way to promote comments is maybe to do some featured articles where you publish a comment of special interest, or publish a new article in response to some crtics/remarks/etc…. In that way it can give the idea to people to comment more.
Anyway, I like very much your blog, even if comments would have been removed I would continue to come so… ;-)
Oh, I forgot, one extra thing:
As I’m reading a lot in my RSS reader your articles, I usually don’t have the opportunity to comment. This is also due to the fact that there is all the article in the RSS flux, and not just the header. But that’s soooooooooo cool to be able to have all the article in the news reader! Please don’t remove that :D.
I won’t, do not worry ;)
I agree with the my fellow commenters above.
1) The way your posts are worded, it is informational rather than open-ended topics for debate or open calls for readers advice submissions. I only feel the need to comment when i find something factually wrong, or a suggestion for a better solution. (You may have already noticed that since came out directly and asked for opinions in an open letter style post, this post has received much more comments then your average post).
2) The common tech blogs you mentioned (which i also subscribe to) have a much bigger subscriber base so it is a numbers game. If only 2% of readers leave a comment, 2% of 10,000 = 200 vs. 2% of 100 = 2.
3) More important then the quantity of comments is the quality. If you read many of the other sites, the comments are either trolls, foolish off-topic nonsense, or people just trying to be witty.
4) The information you present and the style you present it in is more intelligent and less pandering to the lowest common denominator. Ergo you attract intelligent and focused people rather than every dufus on the planet.
5) Gawker media sites cross pollinate stories on their network so people from Jalopnik & Jezebel come to Lifehacker. Would you really want people from TechSexToysBlog.com coming here to comment?
I suspect you are in some way discouraged by the lack of comments and take that as an indication at a ‘lack of success’ for your blog. Do not be. Ghacks might not be as well known as the other blogs, but your readership is much more savvy. To put it another way; nice guys don’t go around bombastically yelling “look at me – i’m a great guy!”. Only pompous jerks do that. So it is with your readers.
My core issue with little to no comments on articles is that it makes me believe that the article / software / review is not that interesting. It can discourage me to write additional articles that relate to that topic. You do make some good points though.
Very interesting, I never considered how a lack of comments looks to a writers perspective. At any rate, I feel that I said mostly the same thing that you just replied to, but in a less elegant way in another comment.
At any rate, what it comes down to for me is that I use websites as filters to show me stuff I’m interested in. I’ll check lifehacker because it’s generally reliable. Once I find good blogs though, I typically follow & comment, both because I like the writing style & because I trust the authors judgement and the articles are generally relevant to me.
With regard to feedback you could include a google +1 button or some sort of one click feedback. I read ghacks but I’m not a comment writer on any sites really. Mostly I dont have anything to say about the articles as they are pretty much outstanding and cover all the bases. Maybe some positive negative feedback buttons could help you find area’s readers find interesting?
as a side note I also like comment ranking such as reddit (personally use the comment highlighter) so high end comments visually stand out.
Hmmmm – feedback is a decent idea, however, I tend to avoid (For various reasons) G+1, FB, Digg and all that gumph.
It might be worth implementing a star rating or something similar?
I think that you need to adopt a better commenting system. Disqus (not a fan of it tho), Twitter, …FB (even tho I hate FB), Google based or something of that nature.
P.S. – i also hoped you noticed the quality of all the posts above. All polite, all on topic, all thoughtful, all helpful, all supportive.
No trolls, no stupid jokes, no “first”s, no off topic remarks.
This is what i meant by quality vs. quantity.
As a regular (but not frequent) commentor on Ghacks I think there are some changes you could make to encourage commenting:
- lessen the distance between the end of the article and the comment part of the page. There’s too much clutter in between now (social buttons, related articles, enjoyed the article, about the author, responses so far). Having to scroll down to even find the comment input box does not encourage the readers.
- there is (afaik) no way to quote a part of the article. I miss that often.
That being said I totally agree with Dean, midnight and beirti. Calling for more commentors will also attract more trolls and other vermin you don’t want.
Just keep up the good work and when an article really needs commenting, I’m sure your regular readers will start writing.
A thing you might want to introduce on your articles is some sort of rating system, afaic rather with a predefined list of statements (too long, not interesting, missing details, too difficult, just perfect, ….) than with stars or numbers.
Bart thanks, I will look at the layout and see what I can do. About ratings, will have to investigate if this is possible with little effort.
I like your blog..
but I don’t like commenting.. (coz I’m not good at it}….
Martin, I agree with much of what has already been said.
( and normally this is also all of what my comment be!)
Maybe an “I liked this post” button would help u feel that your effort is appreciated?
Pls don’t enforce another commenting system though.
Why “more comments” means “more value”? I don’t understand the equation.
Comments like trolling, bashing, “I don’t like this”, “I love it” are, from a technically point of view, totally useless and add NO VALUE to your site (and common in others).
In reverse, for a technical blog like yours, the less comment the better. Probably if you’ll review more deeply some very personalizable stuff, like mouse, you’ll receive more questions about details, but that’s it.
I have one proposal though, as I was a technical writer for a prominent italian computer magazine: add some more info for your review of programs, like “requires admin privileges”. I have to try out myself over my office computer everytime because I want to use some utility of yours but don’t have the required permissions.
Keep it the way it is!
Good point, I try to keep that in mind when reviewing software. I obviously only want comments that add to the article.
I think the difference is that this blog is somewhat very formal compared to Lifehacker. Futhermore I think, the ambience on other sites are more conducive to interaction. This blog’s design is too dull. One thing more, they make good use of all available tools of marketing out there.
Just helping you to figure it out.
I welcome that. Will take a look at the design to see what can be done with little effort.
First off, I apologize for my poor English. I mean no offense, just straight to the points of why I think Gawker gets more attraction than Ghacks.
1. Gawker’s news are rapid and mostly up-to-date.
2. Gawker’s site design are more structured, organized and thus much appealing and comfortable to read (especially without ads).
3. Gawker’s posts are more attractive because they have relevant pictures for each posts.
I like Ghacks too because there exists some posts that I find useful and not found on Gawker network. But frankly speaking, it isn’t as much as Gawker or some other do.
What I think Ghacks need to improve in the most.
1. The website design.
I personally think website design takes a huge role in attraction. The contents in Ghacks are difficult to distinguish. Taking the article and related article below it as an example, by simply glancing through the article, I thought that “Related Article” is part of the article itself. Colors are really needed here to distinguish sections on the site. The site design focus on the aspect of being comfort/friendly, unique, organized. Perhaps Metro UI is a good reference?
2. Pictures on article
As a reader who doesn’t want to waste time on reading least interesting topic, I often just glance on the titles and pictures of the post. So providing a relevant and attractive picture (attractive as in clear and good contrast of colors) would definitely attract readers. I think most of the Ghacks’ article are really lacking the colors.
3. Innovation
What’s innovative about Gawker is that they have many up-to-date articles fast, and less garbage and more interesting articles (so I don’t have to clean all the boring articles from my feeds). Gawker is like my article filter, getting only the interesting articles, less spam. :D
4. Speed and Focus
Speed as in how often a quality article is produced. Focus as in posting as relevance to the objective. Example, Gizmodo only about gadgets, Lifehacker about life (and computer software that may help with life) and Kotaku about games only.
That’s all I can think of for now. :/
Thanks for commenting, I appreciate it. As I said before, I will look at the design.
Are you kidding me? ” innovative about Gawker” There is nothing particular innovative about that dump of a “media empire”.
They encourage trolling and fanboys.
Their articles come across too much like advertising way too often.
Their redesign hinders quick clear and easy reading.
Also they are not getting particularly large hits or comments.
I could go on. But i won’t bother.
I regard this site as more “high-brow” more of an Ars Technica if you will.
IMHO you have something that works and works quite well why mess with the formula too much?
If you want more comments controversy is your best route but a lack of comments for your current style could be regarded as complimentary, I think.
A dark theme would be my only particular request, Too much white hurts after working morning, noon and night.
Thanks
I’m another in the “your articles are so well written” camp. Superior, clear explanations… I almost never see anything I can’t understand.
Hardly dull! This is good work, and much appreciated. And not controversy-generating.
I often look to the comments from other website and most of the time the comments are more or less the same (not on your website) and slightly from an other (by average more technical) level. And than an import point most website wants registration to write something this makes people feel important and that is not a good development, so your way is more people friendly. Than the matter of your articles you and Lori Kaufman are belonging with the best (ferry easy to understand). Next to that when i look back to your article from a few years ago (the were ferry good than) your articles are growing constantly so your visitors (and comments) will grow.
The only thing coming to my mind was exactly like the first point brought up by Bart. The layout of the page simply doesn’t encourage people to comment. Hopefully you can easily try new a layout and see if there are more comments. Great blog by the way, your articles are really interesting and well written.