Jack Yan: the Persuader Blog: Why we rally around

Sometimes, blogs have so many comments that they can get overwhelmed. A great example of this openness in discussion has been happening at Amir Massoud Tofangsazan: the Blog Continues, where the thousands of comments have had to be broken up periodically, and new threads begun. These comments have been on a single topic, viz. the alleged sale of a dodgy laptop by Mr Tofangsazan.
At K, Speaking!, one blog I frequent for its friendly atmosphere, comments tend to go in all directions. But K, the man behind the blog, has always been willing to encourage conversations between his readers, creating personal and personable posts from which chats can spring.
What is intriguing right now is the emergence of Randy Thomas’s ‘The Longest Comment Thread Ever’ at Everyday Thoughts Collected on the ‘Top Conversations’ list at coComment. Long threads have been done on occasion, and it is not the ﬁrst time participants have tried to get one into coComment (something that came up after I mentioned it), but Randy set out to create a long thread. While there are longer ones, it will be an interesting experiment to watch.
People can come together because of a common cause. Alternatively, they can come together because they feel comfortable somewhere. And ﬁnally, they may come together without a cause, but because they see some joy in reaching a goal.

Posted by Jack Yan, 09:51 permalink

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Comments:

I have been toying around with the idea of my commenters actually getting involved in a conversation just to see what would happen, an experiment as you put it. I am still dwelling on that one however. We shall see.

# posted by

BlackOps: 7/06/2006 11:54:00 AM

You could give it a shot, Blackops. Maybe create a relatively open issue that they would all rally around and see what tangents people branch off to. You do pretty well on your current posts though, as they are very from-the-heart and others are encouraged to write comments.

# posted by

Jack Yan: 7/06/2006 12:05:00 PM

An apt post to have stumbled upon as I had dropped by to thank you for your comment on my World Cup post!

# posted by

Claire: 7/06/2006 06:56:00 PM

Yeah it's fab for commenters to also interact inside the comments section and in the process makes the atmosphere of the site itself quite lively.

# posted by

charles: 7/06/2006 08:39:00 PM

This reminds me of a messageboard thread that started as a single post of a joke, became the 'joke thread' and lasted for five years...

BTW, Live Journal comments are limited to 5000.

# posted by

Carl: 7/06/2006 09:10:00 PM

Hi Sir Jack, I find it weird to find one of my post were separated differently with total numbers in it. I don't know what happened there but tboth of these conversation are on the Top Conversation list.

BTW: Thanks for qouting me on this. I truly believed that a conversation starts from the nice people who one way or another keeping me blog on a regular basis. I'm still enjoying the coComment service.

Thanks again JACK.

# posted by

K: 7/07/2006 08:02:00 AM

Claire, thank you for popping by here! I enjoyed your World Cup post.
Charles, I totally agree. I hope we can get some nice chats started here, too! Maybe we can discuss your culinary skills and where you trained?
Carl, can anyone contribute to that crazy, long thread?
K, it’s Wordpress playing silly buggers and splitting your thread into http and https versions. I have tried to feed in http only and boost that total. If only I could be as good a host as you and have such amazing conversations in my comments here, though what a wonderful start among those who have already written!

# posted by

Jack Yan: 7/07/2006 03:20:00 PM

lol. Actually I am, not a chef by profession nor trained as one though I really wanted to but I am majoring soon in film and tv and working as a webdesigner. sounds complicated hehehehe. Anyway, i also started a comment game in my blog.

# posted by

charles: 7/07/2006 04:27:00 PM

Wish I had thousands of comments coming in every day. ;)

Okay maybe I don't.

# posted by

nicole: 7/07/2006 10:46:00 PM

Charles, I will pop by now! And Nicole, I agree: thousands would be hard to manage but the dozens that K typically gets would be nice, especially knowing that I was bringing people together.

# posted by

Jack Yan: 7/08/2006 06:49:00 AM

Now I found out why the the number of POSTS has been screwed up in separate numbers in the coCo list. Jack you’re right, if I’m using the bookmarks it shows https (with “s”) while using the comment page box no “s”.

How did it happen?

# posted by

K: 7/08/2006 09:29:00 PM

K, I think it’s a bug on Wordpress. You are not alone: I see a lot of Wordpress blogs that have done this. But I am not sure what the solution is.

# posted by

Jack Yan: 7/09/2006 12:34:00 AM

Jack, you're bringing up a subject I have been thinking about as well.

As you know I tend to tell stories or post on extended metaphors. And I always love the comments I get; in part because often people will see lessons or have insights that I never thought of or anticipated.

For me, one of the reasons we "rally around" is to hear the story, whatever the story happens to be, and then we make meaning for ourselves and others.

Thanks for jump starting my thoughts on a lazy Saturday afternoon in Iowa!

# posted by

Michael Wagner: 7/09/2006 12:57:00 AM

Mike, thank you for your kind words! I never thought about it this way, but you are right: using metaphor could well encourage more insightful and unexpected responses. (A sunny Sunday afternoon here in New Zealand.)

# posted by

Jack Yan: 7/09/2006 01:47:00 AM