It’s funny, but one of the things that I seem to have lost in the changeover from writing the HTML for this site myself to using WordPress was my regular commenters.
Granted, I have regular commenters now, and some of you are the same ones that have been around for many years. But I was looking for the posts I wrote about teaching in the past, and wound up going through some months of posts, and, well, there were a lot more comments back in the old days, it seems. Just take a look at this week’s worth of posts and you’ll see what I mean. Very few posts went without a single comment, and two of the more controversial ones had dozens. (Yes, I know, the Messianic “Jews” posts always generate huge debate, but still—lotsa comments.)
What happened out there? How did I lose so many regular readers? Or did you all just stop commenting?
It’s strange, because I have more readers now than I had in 2005. But you’re a lot quieter.
Then again, sometimes I like it quiet. Fewer things to worry about.
Eh. You know me. Never quite happy with the status quo. Onward and upward, and all that.
Well, once I’m done with my bat mitzvah, I’ll have a bit more time to devote to sprucing things up around here.
One thing I will be doing is keeping my cobloggers. The new guy, Elder of Ziyon, is doing a great job. Soccer Dad and Snoopy have been great, too. My blog is in capable hands.
Regular blogging will return on November 5th. Possibly the fourth. I’ll probably post my speech, and maybe even put up a few lines of my haftarah. Gawd. I can’t believe it’s Monday. Holy crap. Four days left to cram for the big day.
I think it probably has something to do with everyone realizing the West and Israel is in deep doo-doo as far as Islamism goes. Whenever everyone is finally on the same page, they don’t feel the need to comment since they don’t disagree or don’t have a nuanced view of the situation. In other words, it’s no longer hurricane and tornado season. Just as weather is caused by the unequal heating of the earth, so comments are caused by competing world views.
On the more practical level, there’s no conversation going on in the comment section that would elicit further comment. Some people like to be the first commenter, but most would rather join in. Also, there are probably a lot of people like me, but when I commented a few times and then checked back later and saw I was the only commenter, that made me feel like my comment was lost in the ether. So
I would agree that the great specificity of the posts here, and the very openly declared position of the hosts, makes much commentary superfluous. One can only say “ditto” so many ways. Posts that generate lots of comments tend to be controversial in some way.
I’d agree with the above, and add that I rarely have time to check back to see if there are comments to my comments, especially when I’m busy and don’t quite remember which articles I commented on.
Some systems give you the option to be notified (via the provided e-mail address, or some other mechanism) when someone else posts a comment to an article you commented on. That feature isn’t turned on here. With these systems, I can see the mail and go back to read the subsequent comments.
If that’s an option here, I’d appreciate it.
I get a lot more comments here than on my regular blog. And many thanks for the vote of confidence.
This actually begs a question for our hosts: What would your reaction be if we were visited by some nutroot who tried to take the Palestinian side and actually acted as if there were a rational, logical, way of advocating for them? i.e. tried to convince people that there is no particularly compelling reason for Israel to have a state in its current location (crazy, I know). Would you feel compelled to give a detailed response, or is the idea so crazy that you’d just ignore / delete the guy? Would it depend on his tone?
I’ve been bereft at the lack of posts that eschew the entomological. Nothing gets me going better than a chance to share those very special “EEWWW! I hate bugs TOO!” moments.
DPG, I haven’t been bothered by too many bugs lately. I had my eye on a nest of sugar ants moving underneath my kitchen wall, but they were moving underground. As long as they stay away from my home, they can live wherever they want. It’s when they come indoors that I begin to object.
John, the argument that Israel doesn’t have a reason to exist in the location where it was FOUNDED is in itself in utter violation of everything this blog stands for. It breaks my number one rule of commenting: No Israel-bashing. So no, I would not allow those comments to stand.
On the other hand, we could debate whether or not the Palestinians deserve to have a state of their own in a rational, logical fashion. But that never happens. The people who come here to tell us that the Palestinians deserve a state generally wind up bashing Israel and Jews in three comments or less.
I’ve linked to this site many times despite my lack of comments. To affirm what others have said, you have many dedicated readers who find your commentary insightful and your news stories interesting. Keep it up.
I go in cycles. Sometimes I get either too depressed or too manic about the situation to comment without editing out what I shouldn’t say.
There are cycles in the news, too. Lately, there’s so much emphasis on that meaningless upcoming conference, it seems futile.
How about a suggestion for a story: Interior Minister doesn’t want any more Jews in Israel. Ahh, never happen, right?
Who needs enemies when we’ve got this for a government?