Why Post Comments on a Weblog When You Can Roll Your Own?
On O'Reilly Network, Steve Mallett pointed out an obvious side-effect of the momentum of the blogging phenomenon: the deterioration of the comments sections of all but the largest weblogs. This is so obvious, but rarely discussed in print:
Let's say that there is a really interesting story on Slashdot about a subject close to your heart. You wish to contribute to the conversation taking place, but have not commented in the first 200-300 comments. You're voice is generally lost among those already written....
What I've noticed is that people are choosing to have their conversations among themselves via weblog and have taken their conversation to a different level insuring their voice is heard. Among conversations between five to ten people each will make commentary from their own personal soapbox, their weblog instead of commenting in someone else's space.
The implications of this phenomenon are profound. If you haven't considered this web community evolutionary megatrend, you should definitely read the article.