“More selective” might work
The readership for this site peaked about 2005, with maybe 5,000 visitors a week; the figure is now closer to 3,500. I could agonize over this fact, wonder what it is I’m doing wrong — or I could take heart from this research:
My point is simply that a larger audience automatically leads to a conversation of lesser value, relative to the number of participants.
To illustrate:
At some point, it costs more to moderate comments [than] to get rid of them. Web managers can push the intersection of the red and yellow line further right, using tricks like a reputation system, a voting procedure, pre-moderation etc.
There’s one thing, though, I don’t quite understand. For the longest time, I’d averaged 2.5 comments per post. Since the WordPress install in September, the average has been 3.25, although the overall average has hardly budged, what with more than 27,000 comments recorded before the platform change and only 650 or so new posts. I’ve never really had a troll problem, so either I’ve lost some readers who didn’t have much to say or I’ve gained a few who do.
(Via Guido Fawkes.)
Addendum: Thanks be to whoever it was at NewsOK.com who implemented the Ignore This Commenter feature. Now they had a troll problem.
Tatyana »
19 December 2008 · 3:40 pm
“Selective” has been my operative word since I started to read blogs, 6 yrs ago. Of course, some would remark “the grapes are green”, but they will be right only partially: I could aim at pleasing more people, choose more inclusive topics, establish regular quota for posting, refrain from arguing my point, etc etc – all for the goal of bolstering my traffic. If my blog was means to my livelihood, I might do exactly that.
I know some people on LJ, with literally thousands of “friends” (registered LJ-users) who use their journals for rehearsals of their books they hope to publish, or to advertise their business, etc.
My modest place, however, is established mostly as means for my own amusement – and amusement of a few like-minded others, so I feel entitled to discriminate.
CGHill »
19 December 2008 · 3:54 pm
I have a self-imposed quota: at least one post a day and four Vents a month. Inasmuch as I’m averaging about 5.5 posts a day and four Vents a month, I suppose I’m in compliance.
And God knows I don’t depend on this place for my livelihood: it’s a net drain on the wallet, albeit a small one.
Tatyana »
19 December 2008 · 6:38 pm
You’re more disciplined than I am. The quota I was talking about is one of the conditions blogs-for-profit comply with. They need the traffic – their revenue depends on it, so they’re pressed to post constantly, to retain their readers’ interest.
This topic is example of blogger synchronicity effect: I was thinking about moderation in blogs today, too.
CGHill »
19 December 2008 · 7:02 pm
There’s always the question of whether I’d do this if no one were reading, and the answer is “I already have”; it took me nearly three years to roll up the first 5000 visitors. Of course, modems (there was no broadband unless you could afford a T1) were steam-powered in those days.