Posts Tagged ‘comments’
Posted on October 24, 2008 - by Jonathan Davies
Why You Should Turn Comments Off
Most people expect, when they visit a blog, to be able to leave a comment. Some may even think it’s a bug if they can’t. But in fact a small percentage of blogs have simply decided that their blogs aren’t the place for comments. I have decided that for this blog in particular; it is best to keep them open.
But for those who are unsure of why anyone would want to. Here are a few reasons:
- A lot less hassle - Writing the post is only half of the work. Then, for the rest of the post’s existence you have to monitor all the comments that flow in. Some may need a response, some deleting. If you didn’t have comments in the first place; when you hit the publish button - that would be it. Shawn Blanc puts it best:
When I hit publish - I’m done. The article has now been completed. It’s off to print. That’s all she I wrote.
- No comment SPAM - This could be reason enough for anyone. Sure, Akismet does a good job, but I still have to go through the SPAM folder every so often to make sure that nothing has been accidently missed.
- More personal communication - If someone has something that they feel you want to know, they’ll email you directly, it gets rid of those who are leaving comments for the sake of a link and allow you to get a stronger relationship with you most faithful readers.
- Your blog isn’t devalued - You’ve spent hours crafting a post, and all you get are stupid comments and people being TROLLS. What does this do? Simply devalue
Who Has Done It?
One prominent blogger out there, John Gruber of Daring Fireball has. He is the sole author of one of the most popular Apple orientated blogs.
This is what he had to say on the matter (transcribed by Shawn Blanc):
I wanted to write a site for someone it’s meant for. That reader I write for is a second version of me. I’m writing for him. He’s interested in the exact same things I’m interested in; he reads the exact same websites I read. I want him to like this website so much that he reads it from the top to the bottom, and he reads everything. Every single word. The copyright statement, what software I use, he’s read it all.
If I turn comments on, that goes away. It’s not that I don’t like sites with comments on, but when you read a site with comments it automatically puts you, the reader, in a defensive mode where you’re saying, “what’s good in this comment thread? What can I skim?”
It’s totally egotistical. I want Daring Fireball to be a site that you can’t skim if you’re in the target audience for it. You say, “Oh, a new article from John. I need to read it,” and your deadlines go whizzing by because you have to read what I wrote.
I believe that whether to turns comments off is a battle that everyone has to fight at some point. Some make the decision straight away, and for others it takes a while for them to realize. Some may disagree, but I think some of the points made provide quite a convincing argument.
Posted on September 22, 2008 - by Jonathan Davies
10 Wordpress Plugins Your Blog Needs!
Wordpress is the premier publishing platform on the internet. It has a massive, loyal user-base which swear by it. One of the great things about this is that there are also a large group who like to make plugins for Wordpress to expand on it’s features.
I have comprised a list of ten Wordpress plugins that I feel every blogger should have in their arsenal. Feel free to add any that you think I’ve missed in the comments.
1. Adman
Adman allows you to place ads in your blog without having to go into the php and find the right spot. You have the choice in having the ad appear before the first post, after a post and within the post.
One of the super cool things about this plugin is that it can calculate the best spot to place the ad when you want it in the post. Though if you want it in a certain place you can specify with a tag.
2. Ajax Comments
Ajax Comments is a very simple, but very useful plugin. It adds some AJAX voodoo to your comments system so that they are published without having to refresh the page.
This plugin may be considered more of a luxury than a need, but it makes your site run that bit slicker.
3. All In One SEO Pack
If you’re not on Google, you don’t exist. Just about everyone uses Google and if you want to make your blog that much easier for people to find; then you’ll install this plug-in.
Basically, All In One SEO Pack gives you a form to fill in within Wordpress to make your site more attractive to Google’s bots. Such as keywords and page headers. In the first month of installing it on my personal blog I jumped a page in Google’s results.
4. Maintenance Mode
If you ever want to have a tinker around with your website for a bit without having the whole web being able to see the changes you are making, I highly recommend Maintenance Mode. This plug-in allows all the visitors who come to your site to be met with a page displaying that the site is not currently available.
You have a lot of options with what the page can look like, but you are given a template which you can fill in that documents the amount of time you expect the site to be inaccessible.
5. No Self Pings
I love this plug-in because it solves one of my pet hates which is when you link to a post within your blog and it pings it within the comments. This can be especially frustrating if you have linked to one post several times. It starts to look a lot like spam.
By using this plug-in you simply remove the clutter sent from other posts within your blog.
6. Related Posts
If you want to keep your readers attention then this plug-in is a must, most people place it in the sidebar or below the post. It will display some posts that relate to the topic that was just blogged about. If they were willing to read to the end then they probably want more.
I’ve found the plug-in to be accurate nine times out of ten, but sometimes a really random one is thrown in there. There is even the option if you don’t have any relevant posts to display random ones so there isn’t a blank space.
7. SRG Clean Archives
I’ve never really been a fan of the default Archives page that comes with Wordpress so I had a look around and SRG Clean Archives seems to be the best.
It elegantly displays the posts by month and allows each month to be collapsible. Very slick!
8. What Would Seth Godin Do?
If you’re very keen to increase your subscriber count. It basically uses cookies to recognise new users and if they are so display them a message of your choice. Normally suggesting that they subscribe to the blog. However, I have seen a few just saying “Hi” and hoping they enjoy the blog.
There are loads of options varying from the placement and the overall design of the message.
9. Wordpress Automatic Upgrade
I’m lazy, very lazy and I don’t like messing around with stuff I don’t understand. Wordpress is one of those things. So to solve this problem, I’ve enlisted the help of Wordpress automatic upgrade which takes you through the upgrade procedure and never makes you leave the Admin panel.
All you have to do is click through a couple of messages telling you what it’s doing, and if you want download a back-up file.
10. WP Contact Form III
If you want an easy way for people to contact you without having them use email then this would be a great plug-in for you.
WP Contact For inserts a form wherever you specify, whether it be on a post or a separate page. You can setup a special question to stop spammers getting to you as well. For instance; I ask people “What colour is snow?” and the contacter has to put “white” for it to get to me.
The Question For You:
What Wordpress plug-ins do you use on your blog?
