please empty your brain below

i don't leave a URL anymore as my daughter (then 9) hijacked my blog for her purposes as I had let it lapse when i joined Facebook. I don't like sharing my Facebook or Twitter details with anyone I don't personally know. (whilst i know of your daily exploits i don't know you, if you see what I mean)
Well, I didn't know I could put my Twitter handle in the URL, so here you go. Hope I've done it right... not that I think it will make for particularly exciting reading - I only started on the platform as a way of contacting Thameslink for a moan and it has pretty much continued in the same vein.
I used to have a proper oldschool personal homepage, but it got lost last year. And yes, pasting an Instagram link when we all use the app takes a while on a mobile phone.
With one exception, I don't really do social media, nor do I have my own blog, so I have nothing I want to link. Get my own blog? Thanks, but no thanks.

How many people add an email address?

It is remarkable how consistent the community of commenters is here, and how good the comments are on average. But perhaps the more useless ones (advertising, trolling, etc) are deleted?
I always include my URL but clearly don't comment as often as I think I do as I didn't make it on to October's list. I have been blogging regularly for well over ten years - a personal blog -and I miss the days when lots of other people did too. What is interesting is that quite a lot of people now seem to use Instagram to both share photos and write about the day-to-day trivia of their life which is what a lot of bloggers used to do. I enjoy this as long as they are reasonably well written. Good writing is good writing whether it is about what you had for breakfast or your local bus stop.
I generally leave my URL when I comment somewhere - but I have moved a lot (most) of my blog reading to RSS which means I tend to miss comments, and then not post them.

I read DG every day - in Inoreader - so I guess I am number 11 on the list.
Used as a dg exemplar - the honour!

URL (and email address) painstakingly typed in because on the train, though I'm not normally.

Must update the blog! I now use the fact that I have a blog as evidence of how behind the times I am. I have never joined Facebook and never will, and while I like a nice picture, I like words better, hence blogging is still the medium for me.
The same reason as peewit, I don't know you personally, also I have no twitter/facebook identity.

On the decline in written blogs, it is substantially easier the make videos now, so why write and take photographs when you can film and talk.

If done in real time, the London Loop would have made for good 'slow TV' material.
I rarely comment so am extremely unlikely to appear in your stats, but I used to leave my URL until a few years ago. To bring case study depth to your analysis, here's what changed:

My job involves dealing with social media to some degree, and I feel a need to manage my online identity, trying to keep my professional online persona somewhat free from overly random private things. For that I had/still have a semi-anonymous online persona, now largely put to sleep due to time constraints, and it doesn't feel right to link to a dormant blog/twitterfeed/flickr.

I'm therefore in the 3b category (privacy) in combination with 1 (don't blog anymore [privately]).
Long time reader, (very) occasional commenter. Still, I'm guessing that I was part of the 5%, because I usually leave my URL on comments. Usually.
Good morning DG.
In note seven I read that you wish the more opinionated posters to fill in an URL address and call them 'gents'.
Does this mean that you assume all commenters to be male,or only that all the writers of those opinionated posts are male?

dg writes: The five most prolific commenters this month are all male (or appear to be).

Thank you for your entertaining start to my day,but this old gal hasn't got anything to put in the URL box,so my e-mail will have to do.
Enjoy your day. šŸ˜‰
URL-less-ness has always been the norm. Even in the heyday of blogging, just over half of commenters didn't leave an URL.

What's significant is the sharp drop in people leaving an URL, not the fact that 55% of you never left one in the first place.

Interesting analysis.

I try not to troll - but 10) makes me a bit worried. So considered me chastened - but I wont be adding a URL.
Yup. A number of things have changed. I used to maintain a couple of blogs...mainly indexing things I found of interest etc. I found that not only was anyone else not interested in commenting but that links etc would often disappear into the ether leaving my analysis, notes etc without a context. I use different devices over the day and find it frustrating to type and retype my stuff every time I want to contribute something. I occasionally check out the blogs of some of your commentors....but from the blogroll list, seeing as I 'know' them from reading you, DG.
Sometimes I do put in my blog title, sometimes I don't -- today I have. But are you aware that sometimes your comments software turns the link into something like this example from a few days ago?
/dg/191425686994171739/www.co-opstorepics.blogspot.com

Clicking directly on this doesn't work. You can of course remove the unnecessary gubbins at the start of the link and retry, but that takes time and effort.

dg writes: The URL has to begin with http. If it starts with anything else, including www, the link doesn't work.
I comment occasionally. I think the first time I left an email address as I assumed some boxes needed to be filled so that the comment would be accepted.

I do have a web site but it is my one man business and it doesn't seem appropriate to to put it on posts.

Apart from anything else I don't think DG would appreciate links that look like touting for business.
šŸ‘
I run three running websites, but they don't seem appropriate here.
I've noticed #10 on the rise. It just seems... odd, given the blog content and the generally amiable person that writes it. I'd swear that 10 years back the nasty content hovered around zero, but that could just be a failing memory.
"Today most of the people who leave comments on blogs have no coherent voice of their own" - I think this is a bit harsh, DG. I occasionally comment. I don't have a blog, or use Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. But I think I have a coherent voice - it's just not online.

dg writes: Agreed, not the best word. Let me try 'focused' instead.
I am a long time reader of your blog, although I only make comments to certain posts.
I always leave my name, but as for URL in never have.
When I first started reading your blog I didnā€™t have a homepage.
The other reason is quite simple although I was born in England, I left 55 years ago, English is no longer my first or second language.
So any homepage I posted on would be in a language that 99% of your readers couldnā€™t understand.
I don't have a website but do sometimes write for one.

As it is not my website, and I don't want to be arrogant and give any impression that it is, I don't link to that.

I could provide a link to a list of articles that I have put on the website but that could suggest that he other articles are not so worthy or even don't exist. So I don't do that.

When faced with an awkward decision of etiquette I do the British thing and duck the issue entirely.
I guess you always know who the anonymous commenters are as you have admin rights over the content, and it's not possible to leave a comment without typing in an email address.

dg writes: It is possible to leave a comment without typing in an email address, so I have no idea who the most anonymous commenters are.

As for storing my details for next time -- I prefer not to do this as I have two blogs, and I like to choose which one's URL to add to the comment.
I don't often comment, mainly because I don't like to comment then vanish from a conversation (should my comment start or join one) - I usually read here early in the day and then wouldn't get to look back until much later.

(Out of interest, when do most comments arrive?)
(dg writes: before noon)

When I do comment, I do leave a URL. Sometimes I even see a hit to my blog from a comment.
A message to people with very common first names like Andrew, David, John and Michael. You're incredibly difficult to tell apart without an initial, or an URL.
as for "store my details for next time" ... i try to delete cookies every couple of weeks ... so that wouldn't work !

not that i comment very often.

it would be interesting to see what percentage of the comments in each period could be classified as snarky ?!
Ok noted from now on I will post as Dutch uncle. :D
Some interesting points in here with respect to blog comment design. In the 15 years since I started my first blog, the comments boxes have stayed pretty similar in design. Name, email, URL, message. That's it. Yet the world's moved on quite a bit, as DG points out. It's made me wonder what the stats are on my own site.

One solution's obviously to encourage people to link. Another - far more complex - is to make the comments box more open for people to link to different social media services. And the third is to ditch it entirely...

Pedantic of Purley - what you could do - if you wanted - is to link to this page:
https://www.londonreconnections.com/author/pedanticlondonreconnections-com/
Interesting comparison of online behaviour change through time.

I take issue with your final sentence though. Why should having (and sharing) a URL mean that "..the rest of us might even take more seriously what you have to say" ? This appears to suggest that comments from anyone that doesn't have a URL they wish to share are somehow less valid.
Really?
Ahh, the day after my first comment (I think), a post about comments. I have to admit I was unsure what to put in the URL box. I never thought to include my Twitter handle. Great idea.
IF I HAD A BLOG
by W.T.McGonagle

If I had a blog
it would be comical.
But I don't.
Sorry.
W.T.McGonagle
I'm quite happy being anonymous and have plenty of public platforms, thank you. Your commenting software gives me the tool to be anonymous. Change that and you've solved your "problem".
Long time reader, but think I have only left a comment once, probably because I usually read on a mobile, although not a very good excuse.

Have read your comment on fewer people having blogs these days in a couple of your posts. I came to this late having started in 2014 so have probably missed the peak years for this form of content.
DG thanks for keeping us informed and/or amused on a daily basis over the years.

I have been reading your blog for a very long time but rarely comment, on those occasions I do I usually add my email address so I get to see later comments.

Never filled in the URL box as I didn't know what it meant, now I do know, it won't make any difference as I don't have an active social media presence let alone a blog.

Never the less I shall continue to look forward to reading your blog each day and on the rare occasion I feel I can add something will continue to make my even rarer comments.
Hi DG, I read your blog every day and comment occasionally but I never filled in the URL box as I had no idea what it meant.
Reading the other comments today I agree with, @JoW, @Tim, @Frank F, @Ray and (I laughed out loud) @W.T.McGonagle.
Your blog gives me and my husband enjoyment and we have visited many of the places you have blogged about. Long may you continue.
I sometimes leave comments, under various names. I never leave a URL because I don't have my own website and don't have any social media accounts.

I have noticed recently that many of other people's URL links don't work. The link is to a garbled mix starting tridentscan (i.e. DG's comment mechanism) and ending with the commenter's website. Not sure if this is carelessness by the commenter, or a technical glitch.

dg writes: See Charles's comment at 08:58
I am a very irregular commenter but almost always from laptop at work, I sometimes leave a URL, I sometimes forget. I'm not sure which one is most me.
Well that didn't go to plan! I did not mean to include my surname (thanks autocomplete!)
In the same vein of Marc, my Twitter is mainly used for moaning at train companies, so I doubt you'd glean anything of interest about me from it.

I however have always included an email in my comments, as I thought it was necessary for the comment to go up. What is the purpose of email addresses DG?
On number 10, a general point I'd make about commenting in general (not just on here) is that some people may wish to remain anonymous due to trolls or as result of feeling uncomfortable when a debate gets a bit heated or personal.

That said, whilst some readers on here aren't too keen on overly political/satirical posts (which are likely to generate a difference in opinions amongst DG's readership), these are part and parcel of the character of this blog, and despite the odd bit of trolling DG refers to, I find the tone of conversation and quality of debate much better than most other forums/blogs on the web.

I've already been 'de-friended' on Facebook by one person I knew from uni as a result of a remark I put about Nigel Farage he didn't like...
I agree with Ray, did not know the meaning of URL but anyway I am not on social media or have a blog, so makes no difference. When I do leave a comment I always include my e mail address. Please keep going with the blog though, its fun to read every day.
What Ray said goes for me too.

I don't know what a URL is, not do I much want to.

My e-mail address is only a subsidiary one used for items where I do not really want to get a reply.
Hmm, I'm a mix of peewit and Bill on this. I always include my e-mail address which I suppose keeps me honest.
But at the end of the day, what do my opinions count for? I can voice them, but that's all.
When it comes to blogging, have you taken into account the creeping subversion of 'blog' to now mean: "Promotional puff machine for my XYZ business"? Usually it's some variation of interior design, food, shopping or other 'lifestyle' thing. One of my most loathed online phrases is, "New on the blog". Which is often a link to Trudy's latest thinly veiled promotion masquerading as a diary entry. The blogosphere has become stealthily gummed up by this guff. Thankfully they don't seem to have arrived in your comments box. Or do you weed them out?

dg writes: Guffers almost never comment, thankfully.
I'm another one who doesn't have an online presence. I enjoy reading stuff that other people write but not writing it myself.
Well, since you asked! Not so much a blog as sharing information of what I was doing when my daughter was on the west coast and we were in NYC. It became a habit when downloading photos to my computer. Your travels are far more interesting and well detailed.
I always used to leave my URL but it was for a website that is still there but needs sorting out so I've stopped. I could give my Twitter handle (which I've done this time), my Instagram , my Flickr handle or my Linkedin.

Facebook my profile is locked down, so no point using that - I can do Google, Ello and other platforms too - so what to choose?
Several websites require comments to include an email address, but the level of debate on this blog has (thankfully) never sunk so low as to require such a system.

Most people commenting here don't leave an email address. If you do leave one, I do very occasionally reply via email rather than in a public comment.
Hi there, I have commented before and may have left a URL for my blog but that has been dormant for 10 years. Mostly I read blogs on Feedly on my phone and get exasperated by my sausage fingered typos so leaving a comment is something I do reluctantly. My twitter and Instagram are @cindyfried if anyone is interested (warning: I'm deadly boring).
No 6.

I don't have a blog or a website. I couldn't hope to compete with yours.

(I do always leave my email address though)

dg writes: Get a platform, timbo. It's not a competition :)
Better still is when said blogger gives one a name...hope i am not the only one!
Number 3.
I follow you on Twitter and Flickr and as you've linked to my photos before I assume you sort of know where to find me if necessary. I pop up all over the place on forums and one other main blog under different IDs. Too many to list under 1 blog entry here. I also think that my written style is easy enough to spot, despite different IDs in different places, if people can be bothered to make the effort to check. You've certainly name checked one of those alternative IDs in an article here.

I feel I have enough of a "profile" out there in cyber space to not need a bigger one. I am bemused that people find my rantings or photos worth the effort tbh. Therefore no E Mail or URL added this time or in the future.
Didnā€™t know what a URL was and still donā€™t but then Iā€™m 83 and came late to computers
I think there's another important factor here.

Nearly all commercial media sites that allow comments nowadays require you to sign in with some sort of id. This is (I assume) to try to discourage trolling and posting of libelous or copyright infringing content.

Ten years ago I don't think that was yet the case. More sites in those days looked like yours does today.

As a result, people don't expect to have to type in their personal details every time they post.

None of this is meant to be a negative comment about your old school look and feel, just a statement of fact!
I'll be 100% honest...I never even considered my blog to be worthy of a view. Mine lacks the quality (and longevity) of yours. But I see your point and I'll start including my URL from now on.
While I am a self-proclaimed troll, the *falseness* of reason number 10 is surely one of the few reasons that I come here daily.

I had a homepage back in my teenage years but I closed it down a decade ago because I simply don't have the spirit to maintain it. I guess I would share my YouTube channel though.
In the spirit of your quest I have added my URL. But as you can see while a few clicks might help my business I never feel it's appropriate.

I am doing this sitting on the rather smokey terrace of Au Rendez-Vous des Belges outside Gare du Nord in Paris.

The La Chouffe has gone down well. They don't sell Becks so I doubt you will be visiting!
Well in my case your wonderful blog is my usual lunch time reading on my lunch break. But about a year or so the company I work for blocked all blogs and "personal websites" on their firewall of doom, so now I have to read on my phone and typing a comment on a phone takes me much longer so I don't comment as much as I used to sadly. When I do I don't usually put a link to my blog (but have today) because typing out a web address is far more time consuming on a phone than a PC. So yes for me it's a case of #7. But I'm still here and I do very much enjoy reading your blog so thank you for all the time you spend.
Oh dear. I'm now worried that I am "persistently opinionated". But at least I use my initial to distinguish me from most other Andrews.

dg writes: Rest assured you're not among this month's top 10 most frequent commenters.
Never even thought of putting my website (not blog) address in the many years (at least 12) of reading and occasional commenting. Partly because it's been untouched for almost a decade, partly because it's nothing to do with the subject matter of this blog. But if any DG readers do want to know more about the late, lamented pop-punk band J Church, click below...
Bob Dylan plagiarising your pier photo led me to your blog then exponentially following your links and their links introduced a whole new world of interesting and entertaining blogs.
Reading your blog I realise their is more to London than the dirty, dreary city I visited in 1979. The walking blogs (Coast, Lejog, C2C, etc) I linked to also show a fascinating insight into life in Britain.
Despite or because of teaching programming and website design for 30+ years I and many of my colleagues have no wish for any social presence on the www. Websites I publish (reunions, travel notes, etc) have a specific purpose, target audience and expiry date.
Thank you DG but I have no URL.
DG, I was born in Washington DC in 1927. I have visited London about 14 times since 1964. I fell in love with it and especially the UndergrounD. I was attracted to your blog several years ago by a reference to it as 'has lots of info on the London Tubes'. I've regularly followed, and enjoyed it since then. I read no other blogs..I have none of my own.. I read Facebook daily to keep up with entries by my family, which is scattered up and down the US East Coast. I seldom comment on FB and keep my own page as spare as possible. And like others I had no idea what my URL is. SO... Thank You for all I've learned about London.. Long May You Blog. Sincerely, Garth
Hi DG, I don't have a Web presence as it would take over my life, however, I feel that you have built a community here. I initially was attracted through a transport related post but have become an avid early morning reader for many a year now. Your blog is amazing, great content with clear and simple design.

Role on 7:00am tomorrow.
Thanks everyone!

Approximately 40% of today's comments have an URL, which means URL-inclusion is back at 2007 levels (probably as a one-off).

Meanwhile I remain most interested by people who used to leave a URL and no longer do, rather that the majority of you who never did.
@ Grumpy Anon
I can confirm that you are not the only one to have been given a name.
Iā€™d blog more, but Blogger is like working in molasses compared to Instagram and Twitter. Trying to the the Google blogger upload on an iPad is like being stuck in slow motion... from my experience. And I also notice that movies posted onto blogger often donā€™t play when viewed via an iPad.
Interesting post and thanks to all the people who do post their URL's through which I have discovered a number of interesting websites over the years.
@John (9.43 pm - 17.10)
Try Wordpress, I've heard it's better.
I don't leave a URL as I don't have any personal identity on the web (A mixture of desire for privacy & lack of anything coherent to say).

Whilst I'm not embarrassed about reading your blog (or worry that it says anything provocative) I don't think it would be appropriate to link my professional identity to my personal life.

I post comments infrequently as others have usually said what I'd say by the time I get to read your posts (I usually read it in the evening or the next morning as I leave for work around 07:00 when the latest masterpiece is released) so I can never remember what I put for my name (Again, privacy)

Please keep writing DG.
I always write Tim and hope you are matching me with my ip/location to find out which one i am.
Of course he is - that's why he published this blog post.
I'm a regular reader, with a work history in London's transport. I try to clarify or add on those topics, so sometimes I'm a pseudonym.

No social media, no website, just an ageing brain and a desire for truth or an odd pedantry.

Otherwise I give my real name and email (always presumed that's only 'see-able' by DG - is this not so?)

dg writes: Nobody other than me sees the email address (and I don't generally look).
Late to this one. I always leave my e-mail address but don't have any other on-line presence apart from a professional one.

I hope that most of my comments are positive but haven't really counted.
I didn't realise I could leave my Instagram or Twitter either. I shall rotate them accordingly.
I used to leave a URL. That would have been back around '05-'07 when I ran two blogs. Then I found other interests and they were taken down.

I don't use social media very much and only carry a basic cellphone. I've used twitter once or twice and haven't looked at my Facebook account since around March. I don't have accounts to any of the other popular social media platforms either. So no URL. :)
May I add one more possibility...

11) The Generations after me, younger than I, are doing their "blogging" via disappearing Snapchats or Private Messaging in lieu of public commenting. Hence, blog "comments" are for old folks. Alas.
Interesting analysis.

I never considered entering my Twitter account in the URL field.
I wonder if URLs do really have to start with http. Not all URLs are http URLs.
Guilty as charged!
Wow! I can comment on diamondgeezer now! For years I have not been able - presumably because I always have an old version of IE (and a cautious IT department).
This post made me think long and hard about blogging. I'd tried twice in the past but never made it a double digit post count. I'm trying again now. Who knows if I'll keep up with it. Either way the least I can do is go back to the blog post that inspired me to try again to let the Geezer himself know that he's inspired someone.
I generally don't include a link to my blog because the name often gets the comment stuck in moderation.

It's irritating taking the time to write a comment, then hit send, "thank you for your comment", and eighteen months later when I stumble on the same blog post my comment isn't there.

That's my reason.










TridentScan | Privacy Policy