In my opinion, the comments to a given blog entry is often just as interesting to read as the original post itself. Yet, irrespective of how interesting, or big, a discussion evolves around an entry, the discussion is always secondary to the original post in nature.
Jason Fried, of 37 Signals, ponders if anyone effectively elevates the comments to the level of the original entry:
It would be interesting to see a blog that shifts the focus onto the comments after a certain number have been posted, or when the editor (the blog owner) decides that the comments are adding more value than the original post. Or, after a certain number or days (or comments or a natural end to the conversation) a summary of the original post and positions taken in the comments could replace the original entry. Jason Fried
The first necessary step in this direction, in my opinion, would be to strive to present the comments as a natural development of the original post, as opposed to a secluded area for commentary that isn't as significant as the original post itself. With this goal in mind, I think one would do best to put the commentary of the entry on the same page as the entry itself, as opposed to in a pop-up window. Also, still with the goal of presenting the comments as equal to the original post, the comments should be presented similarly to it, so as to not seem like optional, or of less significance, illustrated by, for instance, reduced font sizes.
I bet there are plenty of good reasons to do the exact opposite as well, but, I figure, those are measures to go in some other direction, in keeping with some other goal.
When something very enlightening is being said in the comments section, it's not unusual for the weblog owner to update the original post with this information, but I don't think I've ever seen a weblog owner continuously edit the original post to reflect a summary of the discussion being held. Perhaps there are downsides to doing so too?
Comments
As any person with a blog containing a comments-system I really like the ongoing discussions in the comments. Even though most of those commenting on my site is not exactly serious, this has probably to do with the contents of my own writings (since I mostly write nonsense, the comments reflects this).
Anyway, I was thinking of a way to make the comments nearly as important as the author's entry itself. If you only had an excerpt of the entry on the index-page, with a link to a separate page for the entry with the comments (as you have on this page), maybe this would increase the importance of the comments? Also, if you kept the same font and font-size on both the entry and the comments this would highlight the comments more. Though if you are trying to put more emphasis on the commments, it's probably best that you write about serious stuff in a more topical way (than for instance I do) - so that you invite the readers to open up a discussion on the topic.
Comment by talisyn at 12:03, 29 Mar, 2004 #
It's funny to see how different publishing tools try to solve the same problems, and inevitably converge to the same solutions. I'm referring to the functionalities of a WikiWikiWeb here. The main similarities are of course that both a Wiki and a Blog are post-centric and activily invite their readers to reflect and comment on the posts. The difference however is that, in terms of structure and ownership, a blog is chronologically ordered and author-centric, while a Wiki is topically ordered and community-centric.
A Wiki mostly starts off similarly to a blog post, ie. an author writes something interesting about a topic she cares about. Other readers add their comment and/or change the text. Initially, the page is very much like a blogpage, called ThreadMode . The original author, or someone else, may at one point decide to incorporate comments into the document, rearranging it into a DocumentMode page .
I can imagine that Blogtools will need to offer some forms of collaborative writing if they intend to facillitate what you're saying. At the same time, Wiki engines are already incorporating Blog functionality, such as RSS feeds, chronological ordering and author-centric posting.
Thus, there aren't really a whole lot of steps necessary to commence the process of merging posts and comments. Let's hope that it will create a vibrant synergy which will enhance both Blogs and Wikis.
Comment by Jeroen Coumans at 12:24, 29 Mar, 2004 #
When I redesigned Gettingit.com, I put the comments to the right-hand side of the articles. I don't think I've ever seen anyone do the same thing with a weblog, but it should increase the importance of the comments on an entry.
Comment by Andy Baio at 16:42, 29 Mar, 2004 #
The discussion has been closed on this entry. Thanks to everybody who participated.