Comments

[tiger_spot]

Why is it that when I post sad things or angry things or other whining, I get lots and lots of comments, but when I post happy things I get maybe one comment per post? This seems to be more or less the opposite of how I'm used to conversations working in meatspace (modulo the differences between a post-comment structure and a conversational structure).

Comments

[johnpalmer.livejournal.com]

I was going to respond to this, but it wasn't sad, angry, or whining so... OKAY, OKAY, I WAS JOKING!

I think that in LJ, bad news triggers the "this is important" flag in people, so they respond so as not to be ignoring you. With good news, it's harder to respond in a way that doesn't sound, well, boring.

"That's wonderful news!" might work for something that's truly wonderful, but if you're posting about how your sprained ankle is finally recovered and you have full flexibility again, "that's wonderful news!" seems a bit overstated. A one-word reply like "coolness!" seems dorky. Worse, it might seem like an imposition; now you have to respond to my lame-ass response!

One reason LJ isn't more like a conversation is that people don't tend to line up all their friends in RL and walk past them, one by one, in a long, long, long line and listen to what they have to say before walking back to carry on a conversation with some of them... IME, at least.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

With good news, it's harder to respond in a way that doesn't sound, well, boring.

There is that. I do the "Yay!" thing sometimes, and it is dorky, but so am I, so that works out all right.

Mostly I comment on things when (1) there is a question in the post or (2) I can be funny.

One reason LJ isn't more like a conversation is that people don't tend to line up all their friends in RL and walk past them, one by one, in a long, long, long line and listen to what they have to say before walking back to carry on a conversation with some of them

I don't actually read LJ like that. As I'm going down the line, I stop and leave comments when I have something to say (which isn't all that often), or at least open the post in another tab so I don't forget I meant to leave a comment. I also make heavy use of the "track this" button to watch for potential conversations sprouting later.

But those are all hacks to get around the fundamental non-conversationalness of the basic structure, and not particularly effective hacks at that.