RT at Untwisted Vortex has noticed a trend in blog comments - a downward trend. He is not referring necessarily to his own blog, but in general, there seems to be less and less commenting going on. He calls for a change in habits, especially bloggers' habits. I'll also stir it up a bit more and say that blog fans need to take a look at themselves too!

The commenting issue

Someone like me would broach the dropping comments situation with a rant - and get absolutely nowhere. If you read the epilogue to this post you will see why!

RT's plan for a more chatty blogosphere

RT has a constructive and rather cunning plan to put the commenting world to rights.

Be warned, he is a big guy, so you better do as he says, otherwise...

First off, every man, woman and child should start making the effort to comment more. Remember, if nothing else, comments are subliminal messages telling your fave bloggers they are doing great, crap or otherwise. Engaged bloggers are good bloggers, which makes for a better blog gene pool - win, win.

If humanitarian efforts aren't your thing, maybe a bit of an arm twist from an ex-Marine will help.

For those of you who are willing to participate, I'm starting a comment contest as of right now.

Make a comment on a blog you read ... and (also) let the blogger know about the contest.

If you run a blog, you can also feed the comment contest frenzy...

You, as the blog author of your own blog, need to count how many comments per commenter you receive. Every week, ending in Saturday, send me the name, URL, and comment count of the person who commented on your blog the most (ties are okay). I will pick a weekly winner from all the submissions.

So, tell your readers to comment, tell your workmates to comment, comment yourselves. Comments mean prizes!!

My constructive comments tip to bloggers

Take a look at what your articles look like in various RSS feed readers and email subscription format. If there is a lack of comment links, (readers often strip out javascript) then start adding in a comment here link manually within your posts.

My veiled threat to blog fans

[In a hushed spooky voice] "Beware the double-edged side of RSS. Cut down on the number of fave blogs you set yourself to get through. Don't cave into the need to read a gazillion posts a day. Think, ponder, respond."

Epilogue: Ed's initial (censored) idea to raise the level of commenting

Get an education, and learn to comment, you lazy bastard visitors. Tell us what is going on in that thick skull of yours so we can write stuff you want to read.

I know, I know, surfing the 'net is done in a blur these days, no time to ponder, just click, speed scan and move on, but it doesn't have to be that way. Recall the happy days before addiction, when there was time to visit the bathroom between Stumbles. Remember when you enjoyed the hassle of contributing to a conversation! Comment, comment, comment."

Less comments? What the bloody hell do you expect when it is so inconvenient to add your 2 cents direct from those fricking RSS feeds and subscription emails that have no comments links!! We have to do an extra click to comment on those sites. Ridiculous!)

It is no secret that millions of people are plagued with laziness. Others are non-opinionated and wouldn't comment even if you paid them. Others suffer from surf saturation, (too much to read, too little time to respond).

Overall, most blog visitors are barely able to turn on a computer. Even if you made a general announcement on the front page of MSN, offering a million dollars per new visitor to your site, they still wouldn't be able to find you, so of course there aren't many comments.

As you can see, it is better to tackle this issue the RT way.

What do you think of commenting? Does your heart race when you see a new comment? Does your heart stop when you leave a comment and you realise you missed the point of the article? Do you not comment on principle?

Share, and comment oh beloved, smart fan :)