I’m going to reward you with an idea and I want you to reward me by proving how good of an idea it is.  Here goes:

If-someone-from-the-1950s-sudd-vqcgPeople prefer comments over the post.  This is partly why Reddit is as popular as it is.  Reddit works off the magic of user contributed information.  Readers then grade the information with upvotes which determine what info gets on the front page.  Get on the front page, get more views, get more comments.  A show of comments is a good indicator of how successful the material is.  The comments also get upvoted and they are the 2nd best part of Reddit.   Certain commenters are golden like the above example.

I want to make a blog off of the idea that people WANT TO communicate back and forth in the comments.  More people would interact with the comments and the post would become secondary.  I’d have to give tremendous thought on what posts would spur this collective effort but it could be massive with a huge snowball effect.  It’s essentially a forum with key participation from dependable, and insightful, people who want to contribute.

commenter-swift-saturdayUnfortunately, as I wrote this idea I’m thinking more and more that all I described was a forum.  I still believe though there is a key difference between a website with comments and a forum.

fotolia_what_doyou_think_xsWhat do you think?  I’m seriously asking what you think.  I mean it.  Actually comment on this post to prove the strength of this idea.  If you are sitting behind your computer and reading this sentence, this last sentence, you have just read 300 words and I’m requesting your opinion.  Don’t feel weird.  No one cares that you are making a comment on a blog.  Everyone only cares about themselves and after they read your comment and think how stupid it is, they’ll forget about in the next 15 seconds and never think about it again.  The process is simple and you need a name and email address.

All I want to know is do you look forward to reading the comments and do you find them more amusing than the actual blog?  I’d also like to know the main reason why you don’t comment?