please empty your brain below

I tend to only comment when I feel what I want to write will add some value to the thread, which isn't very often. I admit I am one of the ones who do comment when I spot a spelling mistake. I never comment on punctuation because mine is terrible. I'm never sure where to put commas, as for semi colons I haven't a clue.

As for the count only covering 28 days, all I can say is you better not post on the first of March something like "Had I been doing the count for 29 days then the mystery count would be 1" because that would make me scream.

I think it's true that people just comment less now on blogs generally.

BTW I think I might meet the person specification for that job as I often read this before 7:30am. Now, if you could just let me know what kind of salary is on offer.....

You have, of course, now spoilt the statistical reliability and validity of the comments count, as the 'sympathy' and 'guilt' comments flood in. Ahem.

And ganching - your salary would be the same as DG's. You'd get it for a lot less effort though...

I read your blog first thing every morning unfortunately I have never commented but I usually tell my wife & friends about the details of that day's blog. I really enjoy the blog & it's a great start to the day. I will post comments in the future to encourage you to keep going.

Of course, you also need to add the time spent planning your visits, so you can make sure you've been somewhere appropriate to write up on an anniversary or special day, or plan where you're going to go in the next London borough (but alas, no longer). It's this attention to detail and careful planning that makes the blog such a delight to read.

Are going out and Becks correlated? Are you going out less due to "the recession"? Difficult to see how either relates to comments, which are down by a similar percentage. Are you making a conscious effort to walk up escalators more?

I can honestly tell you (wheter you like it or not) that yes .. things like the Captial Ring walk and Random Borough i found interesting to read, but the Diamond series i did not. No idea why though!


Well, since you mention it, I can't make sense of count 3. Is there an error or is it just I can't work out how to interprete it?

Writing a contentiously political piece always gets the comments section buzzing, but I don't think it's what you do best. You need a FB-type 'like' button - comments are not an indication of how good or enjoyable an article is.

I know you said you weren't fishing for compliments, but I would like to say thank you for all the effort you put into this blog. It's very much appreciated by this reader.

A few years ago, whilst researching something that had 'diamond' in the search phrase, I came across your blog. Fascinating, I thought. Very well written and about a subject/subjects I know a certain bit about but hadn't investigated thoroughly. The best bit was the comments...oooooh extra bits and pieces from other similarly engaged people. Commenting also seemed to spark a bit of 'conversation' with everyone. Not a typical blog - and worth coming to every day. Gosh, does he really do one every day?
Thus, visiting the DG blog became compulsory to check in my daily internet search routine. Such a shame the comments box doesn't work like it used to. It's archived too - hmmmm!!!

Comments - I think a reason your comments haven't risen along with your page views is because the comments section is, lets face it, rather hidden.

People are used to seeing big huge comments boxes on screen these days and if they're not there will, likely, just assume there's no comments at all and skip on their merry way. As it is, comments are hidden and not very visible to those who don't know they're there.

Yes, maybe people should be reading everything on the page and spot them but, well, they don't. And that's not going to change.

Does count 3 also include the day you subcontracted to a guest writer? Should those words also be counted, as you didn't write them.

but dg probably spent a lot of time selecting the guest writer's article, from many possibilities, so he deserves credit for it

Well I will just say that I liked the visit to the Ilford mansion – and have sent it on to my relatives who live round the corner, encouraging them to go and visit, and also give them a head’s up about the important visitor that will be coming their way soon. And I was going to go back today and say that in the comments box.

I'm seeing fewer comments too, partly because people can now just 'like' a post (thanks Wordpress, I really needed you to be more like facebook) and partly because people comment via twitter as well. You should thank your prescience that you're not using blogger comments though - I've more or less given up on trying to comment on most blogger blogs as it usually takes about five minutes of frustration for what seemed initially like a nice witty throwaway response to get through. I know a few bloggers who've moved platforms just for that reason. Whoever did your haloscan replacement should get it out more widely - it's far nicer than the alternatives and, amazingly, works.

I like your comments box too. But a 'like' button would be excellent, to express our appreciation. Maybe the nature of your blog also tends to attract 'quieter' readers?

Well the websites that seem to have lots of comments - Comment is Free and the MailOnline - seem to have... well... a mixed quality of commenters. What we know about DG commenters is that they are wise, reflective and write when they have something to say. So, for the sake of us all, please don't try to become Comment is Free!

Maybe you get less comments now because readers are quite satisfied with what you have written. I normally just read your page and do not often comment on what you have posted as your page has already said it all!.

DG your blog is brilliant, entertaining and informative, as ever; and the comments are usually measured and interesting too. No need to add or change anything. Thank you for the Valentines blog yesterday. I took my wife to the house and park yesterday, reminded by your blog that they exist still: I had not been there for 55 years so it was about time. The house is fascinating, staff very friendly, garden cafe very pleasant with excellent tea and hot apple pie with clotted cream. All thanks to you. Lovely ducks on the lake, although we didn't eat any.

The measurement and recording of comments clearly proves the Heisenberg Uncertainty principle.


Ahem. :-)

Personally, I try never to write comments (on any blog) containing nothing more than variations on the theme of "great post - love it!", because I feel such things detract from, rather than add to, a comments box. I only write if I have something to say (or, of course, if I've spotted a mistake).

Give me quality over quantity any day. There are some blogs which regularly get over a hundred comments on every post, at which point the comments stop being worth reading. Very rarely do they add anything of value, and more usually they are either full of trolls and nonsense or empty of anything much at all.

And another Blogger comments hater here!

I always read your blog, I love the unpredictability, one day the Olympics, and the next a lost river.

What I do miss is kittens, kittens make every thing better plus kittens do not need proof reading. ;-D

Talking about the current trend for dumbing down, I for one am glad you don't have a "Like" button! Comments would all but disappear as it is so much easier to click a button than to actually have to think of something to say.
I enjoy the comments as much as the posts, but don't always feel I have anything to add. You can take it as read though, that I "Like" what you've written. I think the increasing number of visitors is testament to that, and I suppose could be likened to a "like" button!

How would the Comments count look if you had not purged all references to... erm... immature felines?

It's a shame that many people can't or don't read DG's readers' comments because they often add something worth knowing.
My particular thanks to John on Jan 30 (anniversary of Charles I's execution) who recommended The Tyrannicide Brief by Geoffrey Robertson - a brilliant book that I somehow missed hearing about.

I'm another normally a bit wary of commenting on blogs I read. Far too many suffer from a surfeit of pointless, irrelevant or simply not very nice postings. I'm rather more circumspect about inflicting my words upon the world unless I've convinced myself that the world would be at least very slightly enriched by reading them.

This of course is the exception that proves the rule.

So on behalf of the increasingly silent masses, keep writing DG and we'll keep consuming your output in passive gratitude, not commenting unless we really have got something illuminating or witty that we can articulate!

Does DG leave comments on other people's blogs I wonder?

I think the more important statistic is the number of hits not the number of comments. If you really want more comments then you'll have to redesign the site so they are more visible - but I think that woulkd detract from the readability of the existing material.
Some sort of rating system - marks out of 5 for instance would give you feedback on how interested your readers were on topics.
However I thought you always say that you write the blog for yourself - so interaction isn't that important

I usually read in RSS but head over here if I feel the kitten count needs a bump. Some RSS things have a link to add comments.

I have commented occasionally on your blog in the last few years, but I do not feel driven to do it very often -- especially not in the past year or so.

Because you seem to be an honest, (very) thorough, and thoughtful person, I will list some reasons for why I don't post more here.

I do not mean to cause any offence; I always wish that folks would be more candid with me when it comes to feedback, and it's in that spirit that I say what I say here.

+ Timing issues: I do not read your blog every day. Sometimes I read it about once a month (more like once every few months in the past year), and during what is usually a relatively long visit to your site (which might last up to an hour), I will read a handful of your recent posts whose titles grab my attention. Reading your blog in this way obviously makes it less likely that I will make a comment on the posts that I read, because they are usually old by that time and few people would be reading those comments sections (I don't even know if you read new comments that are made on old posts after a few days/weeks/months have gone by). However, on some occasions I have left new comments on some pretty old posts.

+ Low-ish level of your involvement in the comments area (with exceptions, of course): You don't respond that often to comments in the comments area, and there is not a feeling of much dialog here. Sometimes you do respond to folks' comments, but sometimes it seems that perhaps you know them from the "real world" and that's why you feel like bantering/responding.

+ Lack of discussion/dialog with other commenters: It's not the kind of comments area that involves much dialog amongst commenters. There is little reason to return to a specific post's comments area to see if anyone responded to one's comment, because probably no one did. Also, there is the feeling that many people leave a comment but don't always care to read or respond to the other comments that have been left (which is fine). Therefore there isn't much motivation to provide helpful information, ask questions, or give one's opinion of the topic of the blog post in a comment, because it's like talking to an empty room.

+ There was no response to one or two (non-stalky) personal emails I sent you when I first discovered your blog and was really enthusiastic about it. That's fine, but the lack of response put your blog, for me, in the "it should be read like a newspaper" rather than "it cultivates a warm feeling of community" or "it recognizes me as an individual", or even "it has a welcoming vibe", type of site.

+ A comment that took the wind out of my sails, although maybe it wasn't meant to do so: Once you commented on one of my comments here by asking why I don't start my own blog if I have so much to say about the topic, or something to that effect. This statement can have several meanings behind it, and I don't automatically assume that it means "don't be so verbose in my patch of the playground, and please move along", but it felt a little unfriendly when all I wanted to do was contribute to the discussion of a subject and express my enthusiasm with like-minded people.

+ One time you asked people for input about your righthand sidebar, or something like that, and I spent a lot of time giving my impressions and suggestions about it, and other commenters did note what I had written (I think one or two agreed with me), but you didn't say ANYTHING about what I'd contributed (at least, as far as I can remember - it's been a while ago). In a situation where you'd actually asked for feedback, and where I'd spent quite a bit of time to give thoughtful suggestions, it was de-motivating that you didn't acknowledge my contribution (much less that you didn't change one thing about the sidebar based on anyone's suggestions, as far as it seemed, ha ha!)

+ The comments section is formatted in a not-attractive style (purply-grey background, tiny font, 1/4th of the text is always hidden beyond the right side of my screen and I have to use the bottom scroll bar and go back and forth, back and forth to read the comments, which is annoying), so it's not a place I want to spend much time.

+ It is fine to have a comments section that is mostly for short and sweet expressions of thanks/surprise/wonder etc., but once a reader has thanked you a time or two for what you do (especially when he/she thanks you for your work as a whole, which is obviously considerable, admirable, and extremely helpful and inspirational about UK travel/tourism/history/etc.), which I myself have expressed a time or two in the past --- there doesn't seem to be any point for the same reader to say the same thing again in another post's comments section.

+ I have mentioned this at least twice in my comments on your blog, and I don't think many people have done the same, but I expect a considerable minority of readers do feel the same way that I do: I have an aversion to the Olympics. Not an aversion to the ideal and the pure sport of it all, just to the awful construction mess and hoopla and money-wasting and influx of people and expectation that everyone thinks this is the best thing ever and will be good for this country and is worth the bother and will meet expectations and deadlines and live up to legacy promises like most major UK projects do not (I'm sorry to say, and it's cheeky since I'm not a UK citizen, but it's a fact). I find Olympics-related topics insufferably boring, so over the past year I've visited your blog less because you have been spending a considerable amount of your time on Olympics-related topics. And that's totally fine - good for you - it's a great service and I'm sure lots of people find it valuable and interesting. But this might be one reason your statistics have changed and your readership is not behaving the way it did in the past (because it's a different set of readers, or the old ones who were here for the historical/travelling topics simply don't have anything to comment on when it comes to the Olympics.)

+ This is a partial summary of the above, with a new thought or two.
The comments section is:
a. not easy to find/not very noticeable when reading the blog
b. doesn't show up as an option on every reading platform
c. not conducive to discussions/dialog amongst readers
d. patently not a forum for much discussion/dialog with you
e. basically suited to, and mainly used for, brief comments of thanks, or quick expressions of humour (especially from people you already know in real life)
f. of a minimalistic, unattractive, not very eye-friendly layout
g. And, you are not one of the more friendlier, extraverted, engaging bloggers out there - I'm sure you don't want to be anyway! and that's not a criticism, just an observation. You do not make it feel like a welcoming, personable place to strangers (at least it has never felt that way to me).

>>> And there is no reason why it should be welcoming and personable -- it's an informative site, it's a nice service, it's a labour of love, it's your own obsession; you seem to be an introverted person, you seem to not to want to make new friends, you don't encourage a sense of community (nor in-person gatherings of the like-minded folks who are drawn here), you keep your name, occupation, identifying details, and what you look like secret, you aren't trying to sell anything, you don't court publicity (overtly), you are a bit of an outlier (bit OCD) when it comes to making lists and having routines and completing every single aspect regarding a topic (interesting, but maybe not compelling reading for everyone), your blog is aimed much more towards UK natives than tourists/foreigners, you are verbose and like to delve deep into a subject, which does not suit everyone, etc.

These are only my perceptions, and admittedly I'm an odd character myself, but they are heartfelt and offered in a spirit of respectfully sharing information that most people would not be comfortable telling a stranger.
Actually, I think that you get a lot of comments, given my points above, and that you receive many expressions of friendliness and gratitude.

As far as taking some time off, or not writing every single day, etc. -- you should write as the spirit takes you. Write only once a month if you want to. You have built up a huge library of wonderful posts and perhaps you could put some time into improving the search function for those, which would probably drive up your page views for comparatively little effort. It is for yourself that you may feel compelled to write every day, or to do the same things on certain days of each year, or to ride every last bus route, or to visit every last borough, etc. You don't owe anything to the readers, who never expected that level of detail and commitment from you anyway, and most probably do not appreciate the dedication and effort fully because it's not what they are looking for in free, fun blog anyway.

Step back, see the forest for the trees, take a rest. Then, if you want a new-but-related challenge, WRITE A BOOK or a series of books based on your content so far. (Doesn't matter that the lost rivers thing didn't work out in the end.)

Or, don't do any of that. :-)

But there is no reason that everything should always keep growing - more hits, more comments, more searches, more words, more whatevers. Sometimes reduction and constriction are necessary and good.

Good wishes to you!

-CM

Hi CM

Thank you for your 1700 word comment.

+ I read all comments.
+ I don't reply to many comments. That's partly because I go to work during the day, with no access to any comments, and by the time I get home the day's comments have generally dried up. But it's also because I don't see the comments box as a two-way chat.
+ I'm not out to create a community.
+ I live less than a mile from the Olympic Park. So I write about it a lot.
+ As you've noted, I don't blog for the audience, nor for you, I blog for me.

Sorry. I can well understand why you've chosen only to read my blog once every few months.

dg

I don't delete nearly as many comments as you do.
I would have deleted CM's.

It is a shame you are only counting comments. If you were counting number of words in the comments the one from CM would have sent the count through the roof.











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