Developing a Community

I’ve become a real fan of the Intense Debate commenting system I implemented on this site a number of weeks ago. Sure, load times are slightly lower, and you sometimes need to login more than once. But I think overall it is easy to use, and I like the ability to rate comments and have a list of top commenters.

It is really important to me that Israellycool develop more of a community feel. There are blogs with less traffic but way more comments, and when I visit them, I do have a dose of blog envy. Sure, I realize that one reason for the relatively low number of comments is the nature of my posts. The majority are my thoughts on a story, and not in depth or personal posts which are more conducive to attracting feedback. Nevertheless, I believe more of you can comment, even with the current format.

With this in mind, I implore you to sign up for an Intense Debate account, upload your pic or avatar, enter some profile information and start commenting! Become more than an occasional commenter or lurker. Let’s get a real community going.

The top commenter (besides me, of course) will receive a yet-to-be-determined incentive. In fact, heck, I’ll open the floor to you to suggest what that incentive should be. But you’ll have to sign up to Intense Debate first.

In the meantime, I will be looking into other possible enhancements to the site in order to increase the sense of community and reader participation. Again, I invite your comments if you have any suggestions.

10 thoughts on “Developing a Community”

  1. I enjoy the site as is. Sometimes I comment. Sometimes I just nod my head in agreement or disagreement. And – gasp! – sometimes an entry is of no interest to me. What is your unique page hit count, rather than the number of comments, as an indication of activity? I don't want to sign up for IntenseDebate. Too many mee-toos to sign up for out there. BTW, this interface still doesn't retain my name and email address over browser window sessions. It would also be nice to have a PREVIEW button in this interface.

  2. You are one of the most prolific commenters on here, and I appreciate your contributions. I agree that Intense Debate has some bugs and can improve, but it is a relatively new product, and will only get better. The sign-up is a one-off process, and is not at all long. And even if your name and email address is currently not retained over browser window sessions, the worst case scenario is you re-enter them (which is what you are doing now anyway, every time you want to comment). One of the added advantages of having an account is everyone can rate your comments, and you have a shot at being on the Top Commenters widget. Such honor! Allow me to quote Nike: Just do it. You know you want to.

  3. Just realized I can rate your comments anyway..did I mention you can attach your Facebook/Twitter/other details to your profile?

  4. The problem I have with signing up for anything or posting too much personal information is that I have a young teenager at home, and I know what lurks on the Internet.

  5. I've had problems with Intense Debate on my own site BUT I agree with you Dave, it really improves the community feel. Regardless with any technical issues I'm having, I've decided to stick with them as I know they'll get all the kinks out of their system soon enough. And you're right, registering with them is simple and WELL worth the two seconds it takes to create a profile. You don't have to give any personal information and it really does improve dialogue on the site.

  6. You may want to check your browser settings as it may delete cookies automatically after each browser session. Otherwise it may be on ID's end. Creating an acct should definitely solve this problem. Also, once you make a comment, you have the ability to edit it for a few moments after submission. That should take care of your "preview" want. Finally, I disagree with the inference that page views = activity. Pageviews do not translate into interaction. Blogs simply are not blogs without comments and interaction. The number of comments reflects interaction and therefore "activity." Spurring comments is what ID is all about.

  7. Just to note that, regaridng cookies, I unblocked those from ID when Dave switched over to ID but that did not resolve the problem of name and email address not being retained, which you would think should have worked. That's what cookies are for.

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