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So Many Members - So Few Votes - No Opinion?
Went Hot: September 2, 2007 - 2:40 pm
Posted By: flyingrose 672 days ago
Topic Type: Discussion
Category: Sphinn Zone
Even if many aren't actually reading the comments most of the time and are Sphinning the article only, even submission s with dozens of comments have very few votes.
If you read the comments it only takes a second to vote - assuming you have an opinion and know what it is. Don't at least those interested enough to read the comments have opinions on what they read?
20 Comments
Comments
flyingrose
Agreed. Very poor participation both in Sphinning and in comments, unfortunately.
Maybe Danny should offer an iPhone for every member who spend the few seconds required to Sphinn or the few minutes spent in posting a comment:-)
This is a very good topic. Now if this was really a Forum, it would be worthy of a lot of discussion. However I think it points to the somewhat fuzzy nature of Sphinn. It's like a turbulent river of 'stuff' whirling down past you. Apparently few want to jump aboard a floating log for a moment and leave their mark. Giving away goodies will not change this behaviour.
I think this problem will only get worse as the volume of activity increases. :(
Sometimes it's a difficult issue because the blog entry (if so) that makes it to the homepage will be looking for comments and the story here will be looking for comments.
I'm sure the author would prefer activity on their own site
Many of the early members here are moderators in other forums. They have first hand experience with how challenging it is to get people to participate instead of only lurking, so they already know how much it means to a community to have ACTIVE members.
Those responsible for Sphinn (who I would credit directly if I knew who they all were) have given us all a really fast, simple way to be active and show our support. All we have to do is click one button. If you read a comment, why not vote? It only takes a second and it can make a huge contribution!
We're all busy; however, it would be a safe bet that many of those who are Sphinning and commenting most here are among the busiest. While comments and Sphinns would be even better, even when we're swamped many of us can pop in for a quick peek and a few votes.
The whole point of Sphinning is to help ensure that as the current increases in this "turbulent river", the most important logs bounce to the Hot Topics page. This is an enormous benefit for all of us, especially when we're the most busy. When we're slightly less swamped we can contribute so that when we're snowed under we don't miss anything important.
The issue ViperChill brings up is why I started the discussion at http://sphinn.com/story/4387 about the best way to handle comments. If we can identify or create an automated way to get the comments linked between the various places where the same discussion is being carried that will certainly make a difference.
For quite some time I thought that the vote button was placed at the end of each post. I now see that it is at the head of the post.
Maybe move it into the grey bar to make it more clear?
As for the main topic of this thread, I was already thinking that 6400 comments for 4400 topics, from 2000 members, in 2 months, wasn't all that much.
Sure, it is a lot of topics, but as you rightly point out, not much of a follow-up on each one.
But, it is early days...
I see the vote button in the gray area in Firefox 2.0 and since most comments are short having it at the head isn't as big an issue as it is will writers like me. I second g1smd suggestion to move voting to the END of each post - perhaps in another gray bar - or making it even more obvious and visible to increase usage.
Even though Sphinn currently has mostly experienced Internet users it appears that many are "satisficing" even more than Steve Krug may have predicted for such a crowd. (I highly recommend every person involved in online creation at any level own his awesome usability book "Don't Make Me Think" - look for the second edition; sample chapters available at http://sensible.com/.)
Does it really matter? I'm only voting when I truly disapprove of the manner in which someone says something. Otherwise, I'm not just going to vote to approve someone's comments just because they made them unless they are extraordinary.
I'd prefer that be how everyone does this, it'd help the really great comments standout.
@flyingrose "since most comments are short"
-haha, except yours! ;) kidding
@Tim - LOL - yes, that was my point. ;-)
My thought on the voting thing is if more people voted specific comments up or down that would make the most important ones stand out so we would know which ones to read.
While your method works, if no one votes on any comment then you have to read all the comments to know if they're worth reading. If lots of people voted, when time was short you could skim over and hone in on those that were more favored.
Ah, I am seeing the vote button placed just above the grey bar at the top of each post.
I had therefore thought that it was actually at the bottom of the previous post.
Maybe some readers are like myself - I tend to only Sphinn if the topic is of interest to me - AND I like the associated article or discussion.
I rarely vote on comments, but when I do it is only because said comment 'spoke to me' as it were. Not because I agreed, or disagreed - but rather because it was something particularly useful, or relevant, or important to me at the time, or maybe it was just funny.
And I never vote a negative - just not my thing. :)
I think SEO conferences slow down activity, people get back to work need to "catch up" so sphinning isn't a priority, followed by a holiday weekend, and you have a cascade of reasons for low activity.
I hadn't noticed (or paid much attention to) the voting buttons until you mentioned it.
What I find interesting, is that this community is likely one of the most aware of the importance behind voting, sphinning, and commenting, yet "we" act in a reserved fashion when it comes to making those clicks.
There is great opportunity in discovering what factors motivate one to vote, sphinn, or comment.
I think this reinforces the importance of how usability affects results of any online project or ecommerce site. If WE don't intuitively know how a site function can we really expect non-techical folks with no computer backgrounds to figure them out?
I agree with Tim. I hardly have time to vote on the articles, let alone the comments. I generally only read comments relating to articles I've submitted so I might vote on those, but I don't think it's worth my time, I'd rather use those extra seconds/minutes reading more articles on Sphinn
First, though I know the UI design is carried over straight from digg, if the vote +/- buttons were on the left side of the page people would click on them more.
Second, by the time I finish reading a comment, I don't bother back-pedalling up to the vote buttons, especially if there are other comments to read.
If voting on the comments is a "call to action" kinda deal, the voting buttons should be placed below the comments. If voting on the comments aren't that important, then those buttons are fine where they are.
I occasionally vote on comments over on SEOmoz, for example, because the "thumbs up/down" UI is placed below each comment.
I'm not really worried about voting on the comments. Personally, I see voting as a way to reward that exceptionally good comment or ding a really bad one. Down the line, we might voting on best comments or better, most commented topics, which might highlight the comment voting. But frankly, I'm just more interested (and pleased) to see all the commenting period.
@bwelford, we are indeed a forum -- just forum 2.0. Look at the comments tab and all the discussion that's going on. We're definitely a forum, just one where the users can vote most interesting topics up to the home page, rather than an editor having to do it manually.
I don't really understand what the whole voting for comment thing is all about ? Every time I look at it it makes me think of the house of commons in the UK where all the MPs sit around and say "here , here, here, " a give a knowing nod at the same time, when one of the other Members of Parliament said something they agree with .. like some kind of strange ego boost to what they have said ? There are plenty of times I have read things on this site and sit behind my computer and think, wow that was good read and just give my knowing nod and "here, here here" in private without feeling the need to vote or comment..
** wow that was good read **
I think the idea is that you vote for the very best, signalling to others that these would be worth spending some time on too.
My take is simlar to what g1smd said - I thought the idea was to flag the best comments so others would be more likely to read them.