the comment meme

[kip_w]

.
I've been seeing the meme about how many comments different users have put on my LJ. It lays it all out in graphic form. I went and deciphered the cryptic instructions and got the results and pasted them here, and you know what? They were too bleeding depressing. I've made over 300 more comments in my own LJ than the next person in line. Some of my best friends turn out to have only found me worthy of comment once or twice in over a year of posting here. The evidence indicates I am of interest to very few, and not very much of that. I'm not so sure any more that this is the best use of my time.

I must think about this.
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Comments

[iagor.livejournal.com]

Just because we do not comment, doesn't mean we do not read :)

And the reason why you have made 300 more comments is very simple:

1. entry
2. Comment by Mr A
2a Your response to Mr A.
3. Comment by Mr B.
3a Your response to Mr. B. - You've made twice as many comments as Mr a or Mr B. :p

I, for one, very much enjoy your journal and read it as much as I can.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Likewise.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Well, it sounds reasonable that way. Thanks.

[dhole.livejournal.com]

In general, I don't comment that much either here or elsewhere; it's a failing on my part. I am reading and enjoying what you've been posting.

Also, if you tend to reply to comments, it seems only natural that you'd have far more comments than anyone else.

[angelalala.livejournal.com]

Yeah, no worries! I had very similar results. I think a lot of people did. I was by far the top commenter in my own journal. :) Because of exactly what the other commenter said - someone comments, you respond to them, and voila!

The comment meme! Fuck the comment meme!!!

[angelalala.livejournal.com]

(oh, and I too like to read your entries and would be sad if you quit.)

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

"someone comments, you respond to them"

Not only that, but I wrote those other comments under a phony name!

[ellarien]

What they said. I may not comment much, but I'd miss your entries if they weren't here.

[dlacey.livejournal.com]

Add me to the chorus. I don't often comment but I very much enjoy reading what you write.

[asimovberlioz.livejournal.com]

"

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Hardly anybody comments when I talk about my grandchildren, either, but when I run into people at parties, it's clear they're reading every single word I write, however dull. You're just not running into us at parties enough for some reason.

[janetmk.livejournal.com]

I too enjoy your LJ. Please continue to share your stories with us.

I've been reading, too!

[akavivian.livejournal.com]

Don't know if this is *exactly* up your alley, but I heard about it on the radio and thought of you.

http://www.folkstreams.net/

Mary

Re: I've been reading, too!

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Bookmarked!

[alces2.livejournal.com]

I read your LJ. I enjoy it. I would miss it. I don't make enough comments but sometimes I just think, gee, this is great, there's no way I can add anything that would make it better. ;<)

Actually they need a counter for the number of times your lj is viewed (maybe they already have that) and possibly they need a little button that people can click that says, I read this, I enjoyed it but I have no comments. I probably get fewer comments than you do but there are other reasons I do it, including it's a tad therapeutic (it could be more therapeutic but then I would surely get myself in trouble.) and sometimes it is a good place to go back and see, oh yeah, I did that on such and such date. I need to add more tags though. Also I actually talk more on-line and via emails than I do in person.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Yeah, a counter... well, I'd probably find a way to feel bad about that too, but it's still a good idea.

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

I have an only moderately successful experiment in which I made small pics, sort of like icons, bigger but mostly under 35K. The idea was to use them for RAEBNC, so I could do a short reply but make it more clever or amusing. I still don't manage to get myself to USE them regularly.....

Richard made me this one:

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

If you have Photoshop access, you can make pictures really, really teeny for the web. "Groktor," for instance, comes in just under 5k on the setting I used most recently, and could probably go even smaller. (It's the "Save for Web" option in the File menu.)

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

I have PaintShopPro 7, but I don't know how to make it do much, as I don't find it a very intuitive program. Is that some kind of compression algorithm, where the size stays the same but the data gets sorted or something so there's not so much of it?

I kind of like the larger physical size, because I can barely read some of the icons people have made with clever sayings on them. And some I can't read at all!

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Silence != lack of interest, but yeah, actually getting comments is nice validation that you're getting read.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Various experiences have confirmed to me that people read my posts even when they don't respond. One can certainly enjoy reading things that one has nothing to say about. You're one of the few people on my list who have much to say about my classical music reviews: it's not a topic I expect the average punter to be able to weigh in on very much, but I know they read it. I, by contrast, have little to say on one of your favorite subjects, rearing small children, but I assure you it's interesting.

[jimtbari.livejournal.com]

I'd copy and paste what everyone else has said, but that would just be silly and annoying. Please pretend I have, so you can get the silliness without the annoyance!

[geckoman.livejournal.com]

I read all your posts...it's a great way to keep up with friends who are far away, but yeah, posting...I don't always do it. I agree that posting is not a great indicator of personal worth...I have friends who have postings in the thousands (6,000+!) but then I found out they were on some sort of LJ role-playing game, so I figured that "Bang! Yer Dead!" "Am NOT!" "Are too!" type exchanges would artifically inflate the numbers...at least that's what I hope.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Bang!

[geckoman.livejournal.com]

Watch it, kid! You'll shoot yer eye out!

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Strike me down now, Vader, and I'll come back with an 18 in Charisma and infinite hit points!

[emsworth.livejournal.com]

It's because you don't post enough about Scrappy or your hatred of Sterling Holloway. That is all.

(Seriously, that's one problem with Livejournal, to my mind, combining aspects of a personal diary and a public forum. Users in general either want to bare forth intensely personal feelings or events without comment or criticism, or feel slighted when they receive no comments. It's insidious, and I've fallen prey to it myself, though I haven't updated in over a year and not quite sure whether or not to bother now that I have time. Also, you need to post more pictures of Sarah. Those always elicit at least a token "Awwww.")

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Lack of uncritical approval is not hatred! I think that's in the dictionary.

More pictures. I can do that.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I had to fight the impulse to make individual comments to everyone. I do something like that a lot of times, though, which may help account for all the comments I make on here -- sort of dividing a comment up among the two or three people who've responded so they'll see something in their mailbox and come look again.

And I learned something. If you have a comment in progress and you click on "reply to this" under someone else's name (other than the one you're originally replying to), the box moves to the new person's name, with all the stuff still inside it. That seems neat, but useless!

Anyway, thanks everybody for your kindness and patience. I'll get back to regular posting. The good advice above (**** the comment meme!) was echoed by my kind, patient spouse, so I know it's good advice. I feel like the richest man in Beford Falls. Wait, that was Potter! That means I feel like a scurvy little spider... can I do that over again?

[angelalala.livejournal.com]

Well, what am I but a warped, frustrated YOUNG man? I mean, wait, woman? Shit. Um... Merry Christmas Emporium!

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

You simply mustn't bail on us.

I nearly never post links to other people's journals, but when I do, they're to yours. If I'm not pointing others to you, I'm following links. Jean Shepherd! Wax cylinders! Smithsonian music! Honestly, there must be more, but those in particular captivated me for hours.

Plus, that excellent Christmas tree.

Neither of us would do that meme, but if we did, it's certain that we'd be our own top commenters. We like the chattiness, and it's OK that you do, too.

K.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I'll read your stuff wherever you're writing.

If you go back to ditto, mail me a copy. And let me know if you need fillos.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I'll just keep posting here. Except for the lack of solvent fumes, the gratification is a lot quicker than with ditto, and less work. Muchos thankos for the offer!

[von-krag.livejournal.com]

Well I figured out why comments to LJ are scarce. Our Moms dressed us funny and it's done great damage to our need for tutus, i.e.. comments are tutus. If this makes any sense it's by accident as I'm shot full of really awful stuff right now. I slipped and fell. I'll feel even worse if you stop posting. So fear that guilt... And I'm not even a Jewish Mother.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

You got that right, about Mom dressing me funny. I think I was in junior high before I got to wear jeans. Where did all those pairs of slacks come from? They couldn't all be hand-me-downs from deceased uncles. She also gave me haircuts, which got their share of colorful comments from bullies.

One of these bullies had a name that rhymes with Jelly Beer. A teacher at my school, seeing what was happening, gave me an excellent bit of advice. "Call him Smelly Queer," she said. He backed right off!

Me too! Me too!

[oilygrrl.livejournal.com]

To echo what everyone else said, I enjoy reading what you write, and most times it doesn't need a response so I don't clutter up your LJ or inbox with unnecessary comments.
If you go here and sign up and then look at your hits I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised.
It spikes with hits from all over the world right after you post (this is because of the LJ image aggregaters) after a few minutes though it settles down. I don't have a paid account, it just amuses me to see (or guess) who's reading my LJ.

Re: Me too! Me too!

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

Duh. Couldn't figure out where to install it. Ay.

Re: Me too! Me too!

[oilygrrl.livejournal.com]

There's probably a clever tech-savvy way to do it but I just copy the html code they give you on the 'manager' page and paste it into my post at the end. That should work whether your using a client or posting from the web.

[rtred.livejournal.com]

Add me to the list of people who read often and comment infrequently.