You might not have noticed, but last month we rejigged the post format here on Macfilos to bring the comments section nearer to the end of the article. It doesn’t sound a big deal, but it is already responsible for increasing discussion traffic, something that is an integral part of this type of blog.
For some time we have been receiving complaints that there was too much stuff intruding above the comments section, including thumbnails of previous articles, with the result that readers couldn’t find where to join the discussion.
More prominent
If you check the foot of this article, you’ll see that the comments box is now much more prominent and easier to find without a lot of scrolling. We’ve added this button
to encourage more interaction. It should take you directly to the comment box. Go on, try it and leave your views. Already, I’ve noticed an uptick in comments and we’ve attracted quite a few new names as a result of the redirected emphasis on discussions.
Gradually, despite earlier location difficulties, Macfilos has built up a very active comments section. We seem to be blessed by prolific and knowledgeable contributors, with many individual comments being longer than the article itself (in this respect David B is the outstanding role model…). This is all to the good, and I think we all enjoy reading through these additional pearls of wisdom.
Everything in Macfilos discussions has always been good humoured, constructive and helpful. That’s the way we like to keep it.
Abuse
One thing we don’t suffer from (and wouldn’t tolerate anyway) is trolling and abusive comments. Either we are too boring to attract this type of angry surfer, or we are somehow immune. We also like to stay away from politics and other controversial subjects that engage the Twitterati. We’re interested in photography and all sorts of positive stuff.
All I do know is that out of 20,000 non-spam comments, I delete no more than a handful over the past 13 years. That says something about the quality our readers and their willingness to debate rather than rant. Perhaps it also says something about their average age profile…
We do however experience huge quantities of spam comment, in common with every blog, and it’s fortunate that the blocking service is so efficient:
All in all, we have a gentlepersonly1 set of readers and commentators, and long may they continue to read, comment and be such gentlepersons. Or, perhaps, we should call you all “stakeholders”: That’s super fashionable and extremely inoffensive.
All Macfilos articles go to our Facebook and Twitter pages and this does bring in new readers and, sometimes, generates a further discussion.
You can help by sharing our articles on your own social media. Every article contains a couple of share buttons immediately under the title and before the introductory paragraph, so do please re-post any articles that take your fancy. You can even add your own introduction on Facebook. It all helps to bring more readers to Macfilos.
- Here at Macfilos we are nothing if not PC ↩
Our donations link is now back in action
Apologies to all readers who have tried to donate in the past four weeks and found the message “this site can’t accept donations”. PayPal changed the rules a didn’t tell us, so we had no idea anything was wrong. We have now sorted this out. If you wish to make a small donation, we will be genuinely grateful. We are a non-commercial site, funded personally by the editorial team. Any assistance is appreciated.
‘Touch base’ and Let’s have a coffee sometime’ should get get gold medal awards in the insincerity stakes. At least you can tell that the other person is being insincere.
The BBC series W1A was almost a homage to the the modern insincere ‘surface speak’ that goes on at business meetings. I have been told that the series was very close to what actually goes on these days in that august institution.
In the photography field my pet hates are ‘analogue’ and ‘file’. I can forgive young digital natives, but not older folk who can remember when we all used film and never talked about ‘analogue’ and ‘files’. ‘Film’ and ‘image’ do me quite nicely.
William
‘Blue sky thinking’ always struck me as particularly daft – it is after all the clouds that are the most interesting and influential.
“Low hanging fruit” always made me cringe.
I usually have a link to my latest Macfilos article in my Instagram bio. I also post links on the Leica Forum and elsewhere e.g. The new ‘Europe’ section on the LHSA website. Does all that make me too ‘woke’ for here? Probably not, as I had not noticed any change in the comments section. I must have been asleep on that.
As a matter of interest, Mike, do you have any metrics (another trendy word, ouch!) about what percentage of reads result from readers clicking on the ‘Recent Comments’ list on the right hand side of the page?
William
No, I don’t have any information on that but there is clear evidence that people do click on the latest comments and then the discussion continues on an old article. This happened only this week with the CL article
https://www.macfilos.com/2021/06/07/leica-cl-demand-for-an-upgrade-remains-strong/
Which has attracted more traffic. It happens from time to time, too, with your Swiss roll saga.
Truly enjoy the new comment section which is almost part of the article.
Thanks Mike for putting so much effort in improving the site.
In addition to “reaching out”, in the corporate world I became nauseous 😩 whenever the call went out for “roadmap” and “dashboard” planning and changes.
But this time, for me at least, cheers to t’Editor for the new Macfilos dashboard template.
We played buzzword bingo. Agree a buzzword before the meeting and get a point every time it’s heard. Tally up afterwards to see who heard it the most. Or set the challenge of saying the buzzword during the meeting. Then the person who put it in the most wins. I know, it’s rather sad.
A little while back you did an article on a possible Cl2 – everything seems to have gone quiet on that front – do you have any update as to the current situation. I have an Sl2 which I thoroughly enjoy but find the Cl is a handy back-up/travel camera. This site is so informative and always worth a detailed read.
donald,
See the article “Leica CL: Demand for an upgrade remains strong”..
https://www.macfilos.com/2021/06/07/leica-cl-demand-for-an-upgrade-remains-strong/
Funnily enough, the comments section below that article sprang into life again this week and we’ve had quite a bit of further information. There is an unconfirmed report that Leica is not continuing with APS-C, but this could be just a rumour. On the other hand, there have been no leaks of positive rumours, which is most unusual. I think we’ll just have to wait and see, but I’m not holding my breath.
https://www.macfilos.com/2021/06/07/leica-cl-demand-for-an-upgrade-remains-strong/
Good to know it’s more than possible the cL won’t have any further update. Thanks.
That makes it a more interesting camera. Take it the way it is.
My worst – at boring meetings – is the wrap up “going forward” which I can never quite find the right gear for…
At the end of the day, all this newspeak is so unnecessary. Did I say at the end of the day?
Me reach out and touch someone? Ok give me the gin!
Needs a hook like Let’s Go Brandon, how bout Let’s Go Jono !
What about “Reach out to us”, another of those awful expressions?: “I’m reaching out to you today” My usual thought is, with what?
Or from where? Their cage?
Looks like a good move. But please don’t go ‘woke’ or PC.
I might go ridicule, though. The footnote was an attempt at sarcasm…
I like the new format as the comments form part of the article.
Uh..?
(Oh, sorry: should I be writing a comment that’s longer than the article? ..but, er, nothing comes to mind..)
Well, I do write very short articles, David. However, your long comments are very welcome and I’m sure they are appreciated by readers. I’ve learned a lot…