Attention: Comments
Is the Internet killing attention spans?
The reason I ask is, despite not being able to find a good WordPress statistics plugin that will allow me to verify my suspicion without too much effort on my part, I get the impression that the number of comments I receive is significantly lower for posts exceeding a certain length.
There is much more to say on this topic, but I’m hoping to get a few comments on this post.
I’m thinking that doesn’t apply to me. I’m pretty sure I’ve read every post of yours to the end since I stumbled on to your blog. And I’m not shy about commenting.
Stephanie Barr: Yes, you are one of the very few people who comments on pretty much every one of my posts, regardless of length, maybe every one, I haven’t checked. If I haven’t said it before, thank you. Even if I have said it before, thank you.
I’m sorry, what did you say?
David: OK, now that’s taking a short attention span to the extreme, but thanks for commenting.
Somethings wrong with my monitor I think, can’t find the rest of your post, dawg nabbit
Man Over Board: Yeah, it leaves you wanting more, doesn’t it.
Well, I’d comment here, but I’m too exhausted after reading your extraordinarily long post. You do go on, don’t you.
Margaret (Nanny Goats): Yeah, I know. I really should learn to be more concise.
I tend to comment on posts that interest me–no matter the length. A simple correlational analysis that compares post length to number of comments would be easy to accomplish with online statistical software.
Patricia: Yes, it would be easy enough — I think I could even do it with Excel. But first I need something that provides me with word counts of every post and numbers of comments on every post. And I need it in a format that would allow me to — in the worst case — cut and paste it into Excel or statistical software, but preferably import it directly, without me having to rekey in all of the data. And, all of that software would have to be free because, while I’m curious, I’m not curious enough that I want to spend any money (or much time) on it.
Maybe people an occasional reminder that comments are like Crack to a blogger. Hook me up!
Buggys: Like crack? Not at all. I can quit anytime. Just like that. I wouldn’t miss it if I never read another comment. Honest. Hit me with another comment and I’ll prove it to you. Go ahead, hit me again with another comment. Please! I gotta have it. I gotta have it now.
I don’t get too preoccupied with comments, but can offer the observation that only my die-hard readers read my longer posts.
-As a consequence, I try to “switch it up” a lot.
LOBO: I have a few die-hard readers who will stick with me on the long posts, but not many, so I too try to mix long and short pots.
This is sad that I am responding to this comment of Lobo, but I love reading his blog and to my knowledge I have never left 1 comment on his blog. I also read your blog, but not those that are excessively long because my attention span is short, I’m old, but I have at least left a couple comments.
Jude: You are old? The profile on your blog says you’re soon to be 56. I’m less than a month away from 57. Unless your profile is out of date. I’m older than you are.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. It’s nice to talk to a contemporary of mine rather than one of the young whippersnappers who tend to populate the Internet.
Joel I guess your as old as you feel and this past year has left me feeling and looking like I’m a hundred instead of 56.
Jude: Oh crap, if you’re as old as you feel I must be near death.
My posts are always too long too. I wish I could say less but it takes me a while to get rolling. I’m also guilty of skimming to see how many times I have to scroll down to read the story. If it is too long I will sometimes leave without reading the whole thing. I usually comment if I have something to say, I’m not good at faking it and I don’t want to say negative things….i forgot where I was going with this but I found I get more comments if the post is shorter.
Jen: I like brevity and I usually edit my posts a few times before publishing them. During those edit rounds I try to cut out any verbosity that I think (in my opinion, but not necessary anyone else’s) doesn’t add to what I’m trying to say. However, sometimes there is a lot I want to get out and I think all of the words are necessary either to my feeble attempt at humour or to say what I want to say.
About not saying anything negative, I don’t want to hear anyone say to me in a comment, “You’re a fucking idiot.” I’ll probably delete the comment if that’s all they say. However, if they say “I think you’re a fucking idiot because …” and then they go on to rationally explain why they seriously disagree with what I said, I’ll probably leave it. As long as they aren’t vicious just for the sake of being vicious, I’d rather they comment than not because then I know they’re reading what I write. If I were writing only for my own enjoyment, I wouldn’t publish this asinine crap on the Web. I’d just write in Word and leave it on my computer’s hard drive.
Sorry, I forgot where I was going with this but, like I said, I too find that I usually get more comments on short posts than long ones.
Thanks for your comment!
Ive known for a long time that people just scan pages, pick out keywords and if any of those grab any attention, the article is read. Otherwise, the bold text is read and not much else. Oh, they look at the pictures.
Its like a world full of Playboy magazines.. everyones just looking at the pictures.
Gatekeeper: >>”Its like a world full of Playboy magazines.. everyones just looking at the pictures.”<< Well, if you put it that way, it doesn't sound so bad.
I try to keep my post limited for that very reason. Usually, all of my post can be read in 60-90 seconds. That seems to be a good length for people to read the entire post. At least my “time on site” via Google Analytics seems to confirm that.
I read about 20/daily and visit 30-50 that I try to skim over in the least. I tend to comment only on the ones that I have fully read, and those are the shorter ones for the most part.
RedRaider: So I guess the answer is that, yes, the Internet has killed attention spans. That’s a pity, because some people have things worth saying that require a few more words to say them. Then again, that’s not me. I’m an exceptionally shallow, flaky individual, so I should probably try to keep my posts short as they are total nonsense anyway. However, there are other people who have some intelligent thoughts, thoughts that can’t be expressed completely and cogently and still be read in 60-90 seconds, thoughts that may not shake the world, but possibly rattle it a bit–in a positive way. I guess the Internet is not the right medium for them.
Ironically, I find myself avoiding a lot of blogs that only put in a paragraph or two. They never seem to say anything.
Stephanie Barr: So people who intentionally write blog posts that are a length designed for “the masses” might be chasing you away. I think the moral for bloggers is, “you can’t win.”
I love reading your blog and if the post is… Oh look a butterfly!
Seriously, I have never thought about it that much. I suppose it depends on if the post is interesting. If it’s funny and well written, I will read it for days if that’s what it takes to get to the end. I probably should work on writing more short posts. Thanks for bringing it up.
Leeuna: I’m glad you enjoy readin … where did I leave my keys?
I’m probably the wrong person to complain about people not commenting on blogs because I’m probably one of the worst offenders. And I’m not really interested in people just saying, “stopped by, commented, bye.” I’d like them to add to the conversation. That having been said, I still like knowing that people read this crap, otherwise, why am I bothering?
That’s a good one Leeuna!
Myself, I’m like a bird that gets distracted by bright, shiny objects. I get distracted by bright, shiny blogs.
Web-Betty: So, are you distracted? By that I mean to ask, is this a bright, shiny blog?
Are you sure?
Doctor Faustroll: Never.
That’s entirely too much conviction for me.
Doctor Faustroll: OK, I take it back. Maybe.
Back to the future. That’s a W.B. Yeats reference. I’m always referential, no matter how anti-reverential. If it is, it can be fucked.
Doctor Faustroll: Now you’re losing me. Oh well, fuck it.
Seriously I didn’t know what prompted me to talk about negative comments, I get distracted by little people while I read and write so it’s always a crap shoot with me. I think I meant to say that I will make the effort to comment if I find the post entertaining, enlightening or otherwise intriguing, if the post pisses me off I don’t usually comment because the likelihood of me responding to the reply that the blogger leaves is not high, unless they respond with an email, which a lot of bloggers do now and actually I like that. Was that one hell of a long run on sentence or what?
I have very few people that comment, wait for my response and then comment back, much like I am doing here. Most people comment, usually good, thoughtful comments, and then never check the post again. The ones who do are worth their weight in gold in my book, they make this worthwhile. But I understand it isn’t an easy thing to do and how many posts have any of us written that generate the kind of conversation we really want to have? I’ve written 1000s of post and only a handful or two are that good, and some might argue with that figure.
Geez, I should have posted this on my blog.
My problem is being obnoxious, obtuse, and inscrutable. I have a few regular commenters, but more e-mailers. I suppose this is because my stuff is incendiary “” intentionally so “” and some people think I must be a narc or something to get away with the shit I do.
The fact is nobody is watching anybody. If there’s one thing 9/11 should have taught 6 billion idiots, it’s what Rage Against Machine sang years ago: “There be no shelter here. The front lines are everywhere.”
That does not mean that individual people are the problem or even that individual people are the enemy. Stupidity is the enemy. Fear is the enemy (whoa! did FDR just cruise through the ether?). Belief is anything is the enemy.
It’s a shame that everyone’s a pussy “” no offense “” but the Bill of Rights is horse shit, and everybody knows it. The only abuse of rights that goes on in the NOMF without anyone questioning it is abuse of the second amendment. It pisses me off that hundreds of people die every month just to allow some sanctimonious fuckwads the right to possess shit to pokes holes in other objects, whether they beer cans, wine bottles, or people.
Bobby Zimmerman once sang: “when gravity fails and negativity won’t get you through,” and I’m thinking John Mayer might have been a wad of sperm back then, dripping down daddy’s leg, but Bobby was wrong, despite Einstein’s obvious failures. Positivism accomplishes nothing. It simply slaps bandages over the most offensive wounds opened by angry idiots who really need to be nuked.
Oops. Time to shoot up. Illegal drugs are the secret to my longevity. Every now and then I straighten up to draw on the cave walls and let you know what’s going on at the like it like that.
Doctor Faustroll: Holy crap! Where the hell did that come from on this innocuous blog post? All good points, but do you really think anyone is going to read them here? I doubt it.
That having been said, I must also say that you are a much more optimistic and positive person than I thought you were. And I quote, “If there’s one thing 9/11 should have taught 6 billion idiots …” The world population is now a little shy of 6.7 billion. So does that mean that you think there are almost 700 million people who aren’t idiots? I didn’t think you were such a positive person.
Just so you know Joel I read every single comment including Doctor Faustroll he always cracks me up because half the time I never know where he’s coming from.
Jude: Wow! If you’ve read every comment then I can afford to write longer posts because there’s more content in the comments on this post than I usually put in the body of my longest blog posts.
Yes, you never know where the good Doctor is going to come from in his comments. Some are much more biting than I’d prefer in this blog. A few seem to be such non sequiturs (unless I’m missing something, which is always a possibility) that I think he’s commenting on some other unnamed blog. It’s probably his drugs.
Jen: No need to explain about talking about negative comments and about your being distracted. We’re all human. At least I think you are. As for me, there are times when I think I’m a figment of the imagination of someone who’s not very imaginative. Of course, if I’m a figment of someone’s imagination and I’m conversing with you then you must be too.
Where was I going with this? Oh yes, thanks for explaining about being distracted, but it’s not necessary. What we all say is affected by our circumstances of the moment. We’d all benefit by recognizing that and making allowances for it (although I usually foolishly forget to do so when I read a comment I don’t like). That’s what I hate about this as a medium for “conversation.” I’d much rather get together face-to-face over, say, coffee, drinks or whatever. This medium allows only disjointed “conversations” that, possibly worst of all, omits the personal context. And without the context it’s difficult to interpret accurately what’s said.
With that almost totally irrelevant digression out of the way, allow me to say that I’m a major hypocrite. I’m the worst offender when it comes to commenting. I don’t comment very often on the blogs I visit. When I do, there are some blogs where I have gotten into a dialog with the bloggers. For them, if I comment I usually will go back to see if the blogger responded to my comment. If the blogger does and I can think of a good rejoinder, I’ll write it and possibly carry the “conversation” forward. If not, I don’t.
>>”Geez, I should have posted this on my blog.”"<< Just because you wrote it in a comment here doesn’t give me a copyright to it. Feel free to repost your comment as a post in your blog.
I almost never comment on anything……I need to do better. Otherwise how will anyone know that the Valdese Blogger may have a thought or two?
A Valdese Blogger: I suppose we could read your blog to find that out and then, while we are there, comment on it. Have I ever mentioned I’m a hypocrite? Sorry about that.
Yes, I would agree when people post a long long blog post you’re likely to get fewer comments. For several reasons. If we’re trying to visit lots of blogs, one really long one can keep you from visiting 5 others, sooooo. Plus, often the long posts I’ve seen aren’t really filled with information that fascinating, they often just go on and on and say nothing. I can remember reading a post that was huge about having nothing to post about. Good grief.
The question is, where’s the middle ground? And there’s no hard and fast ruling about it.
Good Luck
Sandy
sandy: So, it’s all about visiting as many blogs as possible in a given amount of time. Hmm. OK.