Want Me Back? Notify Me of Follow Up Comments!
Posted by Stephen on
March 21, 2007
Two of the Wordpress Plugins that have really lit a fire under the amount of comments that I’ve been getting are Threaded Comments and Subscribe to Comments. Both of which are on the list of Five Wordrpress Plugins I can’t do without. Although the Threaded Comments feature has been invaluable, allowing me to reply to people’s comments without having to quote people all the time, the one that seems to keep people coming back is Subscribe to Comments.
Subscribe Me Baby!
The Subscribe to Comments plugin for Wordpress produced by Tempus Fugit keeps your readers in the loop by allowing them to be notified via email whenever someone comments on a post that they commented on. Under the Add Comment button in the comment form, there is a checkbox that you can check off to allow my blog to send you an email whenever someone posts a follow up comment to a post you’ve left a comment on.
On my blog I have this checked by default so all you have to do is uncheck it if you don’t want to be notified or don’t care what anyone else says. The reason I’ve checked it by default is because of the way I keep up to date with the many blogs that I comment on. If I comment on your blog once and never return, it’s not because I hate your blog, unless I tell you I hate it ;) The reason I don’t return is because I never get invited back.
There are many blogs out there that use the same plugin, but many of them don’t have the option checked by default. The difference between the ones that do and the ones that don’t is that the ones that do have it checked off and will get me back to follow up or check comments because I’ve been invited back. The email that I get not only invites me back to your blog, but it also tells me which post I’ve commented on, getting me right back into the conversation.
Oh Crap! I Forgot to Uncheck The Box!
So you somehow managed to not Uncheck the Box before you hit the Add Comment button and now you’re being Spammed. Don’t worry. Shit happens. That’s why this plugin comes with a feature to allow you to manage which threads you’ll be spammed on.
When you hit the Manage Your Subscriptions link, you’ll be transported to a screen that allows you to unsubscribe to the posts you’ve subscribed yourself to. My personal preference is to have the box checked. The reason why is because I know that I won’t come back to a post that I’ve commented on unless I’m notified. If your blog doesn’t have it checked, even if I totally want to check it off, I’ll hit the Add Comment button without thinking and boom, I’ve posted my one comment and I’m gone forever. In fact, the email notifications are the only way that I can keep up with my Top Comment Whores!
The Results?
Initially, when I first installed the plugin, I didn’t have the check box checked by default. But when I turned it on, all of a sudden, people kept coming back and now I’ve got comment whores with comment counts numbering well above 100 and posts with tons of comments. I’m not even having a Top Comment Whore Contest this month!
Is There a Downside?
Since I’ve installed this plugin and set the notifications to default, I haven’t really noticed a decrease in traffic. In fact, I’ve never had more RSS subscribers and my traffic has never been higher. Of course not everyone speaks their mind and only Carl has put his two cents in about not liking it turned on by default. He’s even threatened to never comment again, but I only see a comment from him every few months. However, I do value his feedback so there’s a free back link for your troubles 
Notifications: ON or OFF?
So how about you folks? Does having this option turned on by default make it easier for you, like me, to keep up with your favourite blogs or would you rather have the option to turn it on yourself? My readers are important to me so if you folks don’t like to be notified by default let me know by posting a comment.
It’s a good plugin for those who want it, but it really should be defaulted to off. When I write a comment I scroll down to the comments box, speak my peace, and hit tab-space to submit it. But on your blog I have to finish typing, scroll even more, grab my mouse, unselect the box, then click ‘add comment’. Not a big deal I know, but surely if people want to subscribe, they will.
Wait…
wtf?
When I hit tab, it takes me to the top of the page… what’s going on man?
That’s a bug in the plugin’s code….
Turn that notify off! This is like some negative option billing scheme.
That’s not how negative option billing works. You should know better.
I like it myself as it keeps me on top of what posts I have made comments on, as I frequently visit several blogs a day and comment on them all.
I agree, I didn’t like it at first but I do keep coming back!
Add me to the group of people that like it on by default. When I visit a blog that does not offer the subscribe option, I’m less likely to return because the list of sites I comment on keeps growing and the reminders are nice. On some sites, like John’s, I no longer subscribe due to the volume of comments but for the most part I like the reminder that something new has been posted to a thread.
Now, on to more important business, what is this about no comment whore contest this month?!?!?
There’s always a contest. The winner receives GLORY!
Oh yeah, I forgot about that.
Does glory put food on my table? NO!!!
If you want to know what is going on with ALL of the comments here, it would be smarter to subscribe to Stephen’s RSS Comments Feed rather than subscribe to tons of comments email plans. Not sure why there is no link to it…
And the tab thing occurs on Ed’s blog too.. but not any of my blogs or John’s blog.. I guess it depends on what theme is being used.
The advantage for commenters to receive email notifications on follow up comments is so that they can return to only the posts that they’ve left a comment on. The RSS Feed above shows you comments for all posts, even ones you have not subscribed to. If you’re trying to target your reading to only the threads in which you have subscribed, this does not work.
However, I do offer an RSS feed to any post. In fact, the link is at the top of the first comment (Labelled RSS Feed) and looks like this. This requires manually subscribing to it via an RSS reader.
The TAB thing occurs on John’s blog. I just tried it in IE AND FF. It might actually be the plugin itself.
I like the idea of subscriptions, but I’d prefer it to be ticked off by default.
It’s just as easy to subscribe to it as it is to unsubscribe, so it works well either way really.
The question is not whether you like to subscribe. It’s whether it should be enabled by default. Like John said, it’s like a reverse option billing scheme… Force people to subscribe and make them have to manually choose not to. Nice way to build a subscriber base, but it reeks of cheez
Just to clarify, negative option bililng is a NON OPTION. In negative option billing the service is provided automatically, and the client has to either pay for the service or specifically decline it in advance. Before you hit the add comment button, you specifically have the option to decline in advance of the service. In fact, while you are using the service, you have the option to uncheck the box in this case. This is NOT negative option billing.
What it is like is when you go to a restaurant and you order a burger and in the menu you are told that there are onions on the burger. You hate onions, but you forget to tell the waitress that you don’t want the onions so the burger comes with onions. Since you don’t like them, you pull them out yourself. Not negative option billing.
So it looks to me that some people like their burgers as they are on the menu and some people like to design their own. Interesting.
Great! Now I want a burger.
I have to agree with Carl and John on this one.
Let me pose a question to those that like the automatic subscription. If this option was taken away and you were asked to subscribe manually, how would that affect you?
I’d never come back again!
Actually, I would still check the subscribe box however I imagine there will be numerous cases where I forget to check the box and may not keep track of the comments on that post.
True, I never see the box on any site - it’s like I’m blind to it. I like that it’s checked!
it’s not as big of a deal for me as it is for some others, so even though Iike it on, I can live with on too.
Turn it off! Turn it off!
If people want to sub to comments they can check to be notify. That is how it works! Not the other way around. I just want leave a comment. I don’t care about any followups. If I did then I would check the notify box!
I’ve noticed that on active blogs that are running the threaded comments plugin, like this one and your’s John, it’s hard to see new posts - but having this checked lets me know who said what!
And that’s why I don’t run the threaded comments plugin… it’s a good idea, but is buggy and the interface isn’t very smooth
yup, the link sends you right on top of the comment. haven’t had any problems with it.