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.