Comments on: Full Feeds = Fewer Comments?

By: JLP

JLP — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:20:54 +0000

lorax,

Are you joking?

I’m not thinking about switching back to partial feeds. I was just making an observation that it seemed like the level of comments dropped off after I switched to full feeds.

By: JLP

JLP — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 05:19:38 +0000

Zen,

By “comments” I meant thoughtful contributions to the discussion. I think that’s what makes a blog work. I can’t tell you how many times I have read a comment to one of my posts and thought, “Wow! I never thought about it like that before.”

I may be the one writing the blog, but I’m also learning a lot from my readers.

By: Zen

Zen — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 04:51:58 +0000

Partial feeds get partial attention. You have to write a strong opening to get enough interest to encourage the click through. Otherwise, you could write a strong intro, but aggravate people to see poor content.

Likewise, a full feed needs to encourage discussion. If it’s only going to get “good read” “good article” “cool” or similar comments, then is the “extra” commenting worth it?

By: lorax

lorax — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:07:35 +0000

I’d strongly suggest only a partial feed, especially if you want comments, and more ad impressions.

By: fivecentnickel.com

fivecentnickel.com — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:50:47 +0000

Feedburner allows you to include the comment count at the end of each article in your feed. Not sure if you use that, but it could help interaction a bit.

By: JLP

JLP — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:40:45 +0000

Well, I couldn’t let an error like that coexist on a blog of perfection. LOL!

My biggest pet peeve is when people use “then” in place of “than.” I’m sure they do it because they spell it the way they say it or hear it but it still gets on my nerves.

By: r

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:34:22 +0000

Awww, it’s surprisingly comforting to see it changed! Thanks!

No worries on mixing them up – it was one of my father’s pet peeves when I was growing up, so at this point it just sounds wrong to me when they’re backwards. But there are plenty of other things that bother other people that I mix up all the time (who vs whom, for example…). And that versus which. I’m trying to work on that one.

By: JLP

JLP — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:59:08 +0000

Geez,… For some reason I can’t keep “fewer” and “less” straight! I’ll do better from now on.

By: crazypumpkin

crazypumpkin — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:50:59 +0000

Like Mrs. Micah said, if the very beginning of a partial feed doesn’t interest me, I’m much less likely to click through to read the rest of it. But with a full feed, I’m more likely to at least skim it.
But I also feel like you haven’t been posting as much lately.

By: Mrs. Micah

Mrs. Micah — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:06:10 +0000

I prefer full feeds because I can figure out if I have something to contribute. Beware partials–if the first part doesn’t look interesting, I’ll move on…