I saw this new plugin in my blog dashboard this morning called, “Liz Comment Counter“. It’s description is as follows:
Liz Strauss Comment Counter is a highly configurable badge (very similar to the Feedburner one, except it’s more configurable) to show off the number of comments your blog has.
Now, I know the author took a while to create the plugin to open up to the Wordpress community (And to get some trackbacks/links am I wrong? 
) which I think is good. But seriously.. What is the use of it?
It’s supposed to replicate Feedburner’s interface to show R.S.S Subscribers (which helps you in turn, gain them to your feed – read more about that here) but what does the plugin accomplish? More comments? A better reputation because people have chosen to say their piece on your post?
If I saw that on Problogger or Shoemoney.. I would say something along the lines of:
Wow. They have over 1 million comments* over a course of their entire blog life…
* – Not actual number, just my exaggerated estimate.
I think this plugin would result in sidebar/above the fold clutter that really doesn’t help your readers or visitors see or accomplish anything. Whats your thoughts?
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10 Comments
Hi Brad,
Your question is reasonable. I’d like to try to address it. When I look around your blog I see you track the number of feed subscribers and the number of comments per posts. I would assume that like bloggers you track the number of visitors and the number of pages each visitor lands on. Tracking comments over time is one more metric.
Why would one bother? It adds to the picture of what’s happening on a blog over time. Some advertisers care about number of visitors; some care about number of clicks; some care about engagement and participation. Some bloggers care about selling products; some care about readers and conversation. If a feedburner chicklet has been proven to entice readers to subscribe might not a comment chicklet do the same? Not every subcriber is still reader. Many folks stop reading and never get around to unsubscribing. . . .
Personally, I look forward to putting it on my blog when I can as a way to show that I think every thought or question that is left counts as a contribution to the value of my blog’s content. I guess it’s all a matter of a perspective. This one is mine.
Smiling,
liz
Liz Strauss’s last blog post..Incredibly Human
I think counters in general are good for:
Not that numbers are quality but people can’t help but think “50 thousands? This must be good!”
What I don’t like is that chicklet format. It looks crappy and it doesn’t fit lots of blogs. With feedburner there is also huge problem with animated version – people who have animation disabled in adblocker or browser see those as empty. Lame. On my blog when I build up some numbers I am probably going for plain text stats somewhere in the corner.
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@ Rarst & Liz – I see what your saying about tracking visitors.. The more statistics you have, the better chances of advertisers and impressing potential readers. Thanks for expanding my P.O.V.
@ Rarst – Feedburner definitely needs another way to convey the chicklet.. They have wordpress plugins out there that translates the number into text, though that should be an option for coding newbies. The animated version is also a problem, like you said.
Might be a good option as Feedburner at times defaults back to “0″ at times.
My comments definitely add up to more than my readers so mayhap it is a good thing.
Have to check it out Thanks
I think it may be awesome to be used on new sites to show popularity.
Susan’s last blog post..WP Polaroid V2 Pink
….If a feedburner chicklet has been proven to entice readers to subscribe might not a comment chicklet do the same?….Though I’m not using this on blog and I don’t have a feedburner chicklet either, I simply has to agree on what Liz said….it does[edit]n’t[/edit] harm to have one, if only it could blend into my blog design.Yan
@ Wendy – Yea, It could fill in for Feedburner when their services don’t work right.
@ Susan – Popularity is a weighable factor for advertisers, but will it help the reader of an article?
@ Yan – See thats where I’m having trouble figuring it out.. The comment chicklet would be for every comment on the blog (some of which could be a year old).. The Feedburner chicklet is the current and up to date count of everyone that is subscribed to the blog..
I have to disagree with some of the previous comments. This plugin is all sidebar clutter. It provides no use for the reader whatsoever, which is what I concentrate a lot of my time on — better Web usability. If it does serve a purpose, it would be like you mentioned, only to “wow” readers into seeing large numbers, so they can be impressed if anything. I prefer usability over badges any day. I don’t need to place another button for people to click on, especially if it won’t lead to any useful information. I think people get caught up in dressing up their blog and showing off stats — It’s almost a popularity contest. You should remember people are at your blog to find useful content — not to look at how pretty or how many people comment on it. Blogging’s become less informative, and more of a beauty pageant — which is probably why most blogs fail. Long story made short: I wouldn’t use it. Great post, and wonderful idea of challenging the use of such badge.
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As has been mentioned, blog clutter is in the eye of the beholder. For example, since nofollow hasn’t ever worked, why bother to mention it, good or bad, and waste space? Many find the CommentLuv confusing. Ads tick off and distract a lot of people, which is why many bloggers have stopped using them, finding income is larger numbers elsewhere without interfering with their reader’s experience. The same with feed link promotion and so on. Yes, all have a purpose which is why you include them. Or at least they have a purpose to you. The reality is if they have a true purpose for your readers.The comment counter is just another tool, use it or not, but realize that a lot of people respond to the feedburner chicklet and they will respond accordingly to this counter. It provides information and says to the world, “Let’s talk! I’m proud of my blog’s conversations.” Ozh put a huge amount of work into doing what some thought couldn’t be done. I’m really proud of what he created and it certainly has started a lot of conversations.
What it was meant to do.
@ Luis – I completely agree with you that blogs are trying to “dress” up to appear like they are more visited..
A good blog doesn’t need to boast if people read their content and I feel that this plugin just does that.
@ Lorelle – Thanks for your opinion. Who says that Nofollow doesn’t work? I do follow every blog/website back to the source when a reader leaves a comment..
I think Ozh has put a large amount of work into the plugin as well and didn’t question the time or effort it took her to make it… The purpose of this post was just to question the true effectiveness of it.
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