Today’s “Quick Tip” is another simple way to increase commenting on your blog, as well as make it much more interactive. Again, this post is not for everyone, as lots of you are already doing it… but MANY blogs I visit do not, and I am not sure why they don’t.
From what I have noticed on this site, as well as on other blogs that I visit is… you get many more comments, and COMMENT INTERACTION if your blog allows for “Threaded Comments”. That is where you can “Reply” to individual comments in the comment section and your comment will appear right below the comment you replied to.
If a site doesn’t have this feature and you want to reply to someone that may have left a comment at the very top of the comment section, you have to get the commentor’s attention somehow to let them know you are replying to what they wrote. A lot of times I see people do this by writing something like “@THEIR NAME – ” and then leave their reply comment. I am sure if a particular post receives a lot of comments, there is a good chance the commentor may never even see that reply and there will be no more interaction between the two of them on that post.
So here are a couple of reasons I think blogs should use, “Threaded Comments”:
Much more organized comment section – Allowing nested comments makes reading the comment section much easier, as comments and replies are grouped together in a nice organized fashion. That also allows readers the ability to easily skip over reply conversations that do not interest them.- Encourages more interaction with your readers – This is probably the most important reason to do it. It allows readers to comment on your blog, and then allows you or other readers to comment directly to what they have to say. Without nested comments those replies could get lost in the mix and the person (or persons) you are replying to may never see your reply and the conversation dies. With threaded comments your readers can carry on their own conversation and you and/or other readers can easily jump into that conversation making your blog much more interactive, which I know we want with this blog.
So how do you allow for threaded comments in your Blog? Well over the last few years there have been several plugins that have come out that allows you to accomplish this. But now you don’t even need a plugin anymore, as WordPress has added this functionality right into their latest versions. You just need to go in and adjust your settings… which can be done in your WordPress admin (wp-admin/options-discussion.php).
Not only can you activate and adjust the threaded comments there, but you can also choose if you want the comments to display the newest or the oldest comments first, as well as… you can break the comments up into pages allowing a maximum amount of comments per page. You can read more about these functions on the WordPress website. One note though: Some older themes or custom themes may have to be updated for this feature to work.
So what about you guys, do you think Threaded Comments encourages more commenting? Also, we don’t do this, but do you think it is better to show the newest comments at the top of the page or the oldest comments first?
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Sire on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 1:27 am
Threaded comments is a must in my opinion and I was so happy when they built it into WordPress as it was one less plugin that I had to keep.
There is also another plugin that I find to be essential for making a blog more interactive, that is the ’subscribe to comments’ plugin. Although I leave comments on blogs that do not have this plugin, I rarely go back to see if the comments section has been updated. If, on the other hand I have subscribed to a particular post, well then you are guaranteed that I will be back.
Sire´s last blog ..WassupBlog’s Ultimate Blogging Contest
Doug Dillard on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 11:19 am
Good point Sire. I totally agree with the “Subscribe to Comments” plugin. I don’t subscribe to every comment I make, but I do if I think I might get a follow-up or I really like the post. Then… usually after a while I will unsubscribe, as I don’t want to keep getting emails.
Sire on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 3:39 pm
That’s exactly how I use it. I mean there comes a time when you lose interest in the comments of any particular post, when you can’t add any more new information, and that’s when you have no choice but to severe the knot holding you there.
Sire´s last blog ..WassupBlog’s Ultimate Blogging Contest
Lee Ka Hoong on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 7:17 pm
I do agree with you that the subscribe to comment is a great plugin, but I think we can set the plugin to auto-checkbox on the subscribe to comment right? I mean the reader doesn’t have to checkbox the subscribe to comment and it’s already checkboxed? I tried to look for that in my setting, but I don’t see there is any auto-checkbox, but I think it’s better to let our readers to decide themselves whether they want to subscribe to comment or not.
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..The Next Generation Google Search Engine : Google Caffeine
Jacob Yap on Thu, 20th Aug 2009 12:48 am
It’s better to let readers to decide themselves. Otherwise, it makes readers feeling spammy or annoying.
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Extreme John on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 9:38 am
Threaded comments are already built in to WordPress? Now I have to look around, I have been struggling with trying to find the right comment plugin all week. (As some of you might already know).
Threaded comments are a must, it also makes it much easier for the blogger to respond to comments which is exactly the reason I need threaded comments.
Guess you were right Mike when you mentioned that you just wrote about it.
Extreme John´s last blog ..Progress Energy Price and Service FAIL
Sire on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 3:00 pm
Heck John, if I had only known you were looking for a threaded plugin I would have pointed you in the right direction.
Sire´s last blog ..Sedo For Buying, Selling And Parking Domains
Stefan on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 4:56 am
I agree one hundred percent about threaded comments. It makes more sense when you are answering someone to have you answer right below the question, instead of several comments later.
Stefan´s last blog ..The Advantages Of Being Small
Doug Dillard on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 11:20 am
Absolutely! I don’t get why not everybody uses it, but there are a ton of sites that don’t.
Stefan on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 3:40 pm
Maybe something for WordPress to think about. They could make it standard while stop breaking up comments into several pages.
Stefan´s last blog ..69 Inspirational Quotes eBook
Doug Dillard on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 3:50 pm
Stefan… it is built in just like that, the problem is the customized themes I believe. They need to be updated for that capability.
http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2009/02/19/comment-threading-is-here-plus-other-cool-comment-settings/
Sire on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 3:44 pm
I honestly believe that a lot of sites don’t even know that it’s inbuilt to WordPress now. I’ve actually pointed some bloggers in the right direction.
Sire´s last blog ..WassupBlog’s Ultimate Blogging Contest
Atul on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 5:16 am
Do agree. threaded comments encourages and even organizes comments.
And thanks for letting me know for threaded comments Functionality in WP. Mine blog’s theme does not provide this functionality. Will check this WP functionality.. hope it allows me for threaded comments
Atul´s last blog ..10 Home Remedies To Avoid Swine Flu
Doug Dillard on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 11:22 am
I hope it works for you Atul!
Benjamin Cip on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 7:02 am
I totally agree with you.. I just can’t wait the new comment feature from UBT Version 3,0! Hope it will be more user-friendly!To reply to my comments, I always reply to my commentators changing the date and hour of my comment so that my comment are placed just after the comment I reply to.
Benjamin Cip´s last blog ..Ninja Affiliate Plugin Review
Doug Dillard on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 1:11 pm
Ben… I just tested WordPress built in threaded comments, as well as Brian’s Threaded Comments plugin and neither work on the Ultimate Blogging Theme. That’s a bummer! Now I know why you don’t have it on your site yet.
Lee Ka Hoong on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 6:12 pm
Benjamin, why don’t you use the Threaded-Comment plugin? It may take you lots of time if you need to change the date and hour of your comment to make them placed after the reader’s comment 1 by 1.
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..The Next Generation Google Search Engine : Google Caffeine
Asswass on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 8:11 am
Let me see if threaded comments work on today’s post on my blog :S. If not, something is definitely wrong with my theme.
Asswass´s last blog ..Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza in Maxim Magazine
Doug Dillard on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 1:13 pm
There is somebody out there that can get it working for you. You just need to find them.
Sire on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 3:42 pm
Seems that it’s still not working. If you want to try a new theme there is a free version of mine available.
Sire´s last blog ..WassupBlog’s Ultimate Blogging Contest
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 9:39 am
Definitely recommend those who aren’t using threaded comments do so ASAP. I wasn’t using it for the first while, and I later realized how much comments/activity I missed out on!
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet´s last blog ..MrBlogging.com Is For Sale At MakingMoneyOnlineDotCom
Doug Dillard on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 1:15 pm
Yep… you can just look at this blog and see the different conversations people get into. Allowing threaded comments is definitely the way to go (IMO).
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 7:48 pm
Yeah, exactly. The only thing I hate is when you transfer a blog over (as well as the comments), the comments do not transfer over threaded as they were. Not sure if that’s just the case for me, but that’s happened to me every time I’ve moved my blog.
The Gooroo @ iBlogPlanet´s last blog ..CommentLuv Coming To iBlogPlanet Soon!
EarningStep on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 6:13 pm
it is a nice domain name , but i prefer to have my own and new domain new and start to build my own brand
EarningStep´s last blog ..Make money by selling your design at Zazzle
Doug Dillard on Tue, 18th Aug 2009 12:11 am
Not sure what you mean?
Jared P Little on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 6:34 pm
Good topic comment master Doug. Do you know how to exclude you name from recent comments I don’t see yours listed or maybe that is do to all the other comments you get. Example in your footer.
I don’t like to go and reply on mine all at once cause I don’t like the way it looks if all the recent comments are mine. I know it was real easy esclude me from Top Commenter’s the widget had an option for it in the plugin. I didn’t see one looking quickly at what I am using for this. Guess I need to dig a little deeper on that or just not worry about it.
I need to get better about replying to my comment and your right. Threaded does make it flow a lot better.
Jared P Little´s last blog ..How Much do you like WordPress
Doug Dillard on Tue, 18th Aug 2009 12:17 am
For the Get Recent Comments plugin you can make the adjustments here: wp-admin/options-general.php?page=get-recent-comments.php&subpage=1
You just need to check the box: Exclude comments by blog authors (your own comments)
Christie on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 7:09 pm
I love the threaded comments, and I almost always subscribe to comments so I can see the replies for a day or so. It’s what makes having a blog so exciting and fun! (can you tell I’m new)
Christie´s last blog ..Why aren’t my trackbacks working?
George Serradinho on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 10:35 pm
You need threaded comments so that you can respond to that particular commentator or to a question that has been asked. I do this and hope to interact better with all my commentators.
George Serradinho´s last blog ..Premium Elegant Theme
Compute Live on Mon, 17th Aug 2009 10:52 pm
I totally agree threaded comments helps a lot to interact with other people..its easy and organized…and it is also really awesome when you are able to highlight the owners replies…
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Lee Ka Hoong on Wed, 19th Aug 2009 6:19 pm
I strongly agree with you Doug! Using nested comments can really improve the number of comments, we can also interact with our readers more closely.
Regarding the nested comment in the WordPress admin, I’ve actually tried to active and use it but seemed it didn’t work, so I just use the Threaded-Comment plugin right now.
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong´s last blog ..The Next Generation Google Search Engine : Google Caffeine
Typhoon on Thu, 20th Aug 2009 7:18 am
Yup, I agree that threaded comment feature is a very good way to create more interaction in your blog commenting.
Earlier I was not knowing much about threaded comment, I use to though it might be some functionality of few special themes but few months back I got to know that a plugin can easily make that thing happen and after than my blog commentator’s are really enjoying it and so do I.
Typhoon´s last blog ..Make Money with Your Email List
Theme premium on Fri, 28th Aug 2009 8:42 am
One thing which is very important is getting into conversation with the readers… I used to do it bigtime..but recently I got stuck with new projects and clients and coz of that conversation on my blog are going slow.. Though I hope I will get it back soon
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