the tinyblog

I find that I can write a heartfelt, soul baring post that talks about life, death and every emotion known to human man, pour my entire soul into a few paragraphs and get no comments.

But I could write a one sentence post about farting and get 45 comments.

Really, try it.

sometimes people are too scared to leave a comment, especially when it's a powerful entry

I usually leave a comment when i am compelled to do so, either out of empathy or enjoyment or whatever.

I concurr. Farting, poo, anything toilet humor. Then again, my entire blog is about toilet humour and I get bugger all hits. That could just be lack of talent.

I comment because either I'm impressed with the writing or I have something helpful or funny to say. Or just can't be arsed emailing the blogger.

I have decided to conduct an experiment on my site today to test the theory of farting v. emotion and the comments that each provokes.

Now that I think about it, I myself have a tendency to not comment on very emotional, personal posts because sometimes I just don't know what to say. You don't want to end up just saying "I know how you feel, you poor thing" so often I just don't say anything at all, except maybe something about the quality of the writing.

Excellent. Keep us apprised of the results.

farting vs pathos:
i'm thinking you need both. people are more comfortable with the farting, so they comment more, as
commenting on a post with emotion would require
exposing themselves - opening up, and that's harder to do. but you need that rhythm, otherwise you become The Fart Blog or the Poo Blog or the Cat Vomited Again Blog.

My theory is the average Joe or Jane is afraid of intimacy, hence discussions of farting rather than your original query...ah, and that's the way the WindFart Blows. So, perhaps Punchy topics need a chaser or some ice so people can cool "in" to responding. A little less edge and yet with Brutal Honesty...a rubber hook to draw out the Big Fish.

I think the experiment was successful. At last count, the fart post got 14 comments and the deep post got 4 comments. One additional factor though, is that the fart post is shorter and thus more likely to be read.

Successful?

I didn't comment on either, 'cause that would have been cheating, but I just want to say, although farting and bathroom humor gets attention and laughs, I'm much more likely to return to blogs that have pith, emotion and gorgeous writing.

Michele, of course, has it all! I love her blog, it always cheers me up when my four year old is driving me bonkers...

I'll comment 'cause I like interaction. And/or 'cause the entry brought something to mind. And/or 'cause it's to answer a question the blogger asked (partly the case here). And/or just to show I've read the entry (though that doesn't mean I haven't read entries I haven't commented on).

And, um, sometimes, but just sometimes, I'll comment to get noticed. Not in a big way, not a matter of trying to draw lots of attention to myself, but just to not be completely invisible. Sometimes.

Yes, I'm a comment whore too. Sad but true, I look at the number next to the word Comment as the number of stars the entry got.

I know that everyone likes getting them too, so I really try to comment whenever I can. But generally there needs to be some sort of hook: a question to answer, an issue to address or an insult to make.

i completely agree with michele. people seem to respond to nonsense, i think, sometimes, simply because it takes less effort.

i usually comment when there's an underlying question in the post, or if i can relate to the entry and would like to share my story... OR... i just want to leave an impression. be noticed. garner some visits while you can. shameless maybe. but everybody does it.