cross-posted from
and as if you need another reason to click around and comment. Haven’t I always told you that’s what the blogosphere is all about? I didn’t? Humph, I will just go leave a comment on your blog about it then!
Well, after losing 2000 places on Technorati recently because apparently nothing I cover is link-worthy, not that I’m bitter, I have recently regained my former status in the 16,000s. And how, you may ask? Simple, I reply.
I have a big mouth.
It turns out, it doth, that comments made on WordPress.com blogs are counted as independent links to our own blogs from those other blogs when and if that blog displays the recent comments in the sidebar.
Implications: I’m not going to be resisting the impulse to shoot my mouth off anymore (Metro, don’t say it). There’s more of an incentive to comment on the top blogs, which will of course reinforce their popularity, because they have more authority, which means that links from them count more on search engines than links from obscure blogs (although T counts everyone, no matter what the authority). It will make WP.com blogs attractive destinations for commenters who are interested in subtle blog pimping (ie not AND CHECK OUT MY BLOG WWW.BOZONINCORPORATED.BIZ!!!). God knows I dropped Iain Dale like a hot turd once he restricted commenters to those willing to link only to Blogger blogs or forgo links entirely. I am certainly not the only one who thinks this way.
Questions: it remains to be seen if it works this way with other search engines like Google. It remains to be seen if this is a deliberate strategy on WP.com’s part or if they’re going to read my post in the forum and go oh shit! and “fix” it. It remains to be seen whether this applies equally to those who choose not to become Avatarded (WP already excludes them from Top Blogs, Featured Blogs, etc).
Anyway, comment away. My Fish Heads, Fish Heads post could use some sweet lovin’.
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
:: 
raincoaster media 
Iain Dale
August 15, 2007
You say: God knows I dropped Iain Dale like a hot turd once he restricted commenters to those willing to link only to Blogger blogs or forgo links entirely.
I have never done any such think. What on earth are you talking about?
raincoaster
August 15, 2007
Yes, you have, Iain, although you probably didn’t know it.
That is how the “No Anonymous Comments Comment Moderation” works on Blogger. It disallows all links to non-Blogger or non-Blogspot blogs or websites. I could post comments, but I was prevented from linking my name to my blog. I could only post because I had a Google identity, and it automatically linked that to the Blogger blogs I’m a contributor to.
Disallow anonymous comments like you did before, then sign out of your Blogspot blog and then try to sign in and leave a comment using your WordPress identity. If it works, and the link is allowed, obviously I’m wrong and will eat my words.
But it won’t work.
The only way to leave a signature link to your own blog if it’s NOT a Blogspot or Blogger blog (both owned by Google) and “No anonymous comments” is on is to put the HTML right in the comment, which is cheezy in the extreme.
UPDATE: I see it’s not set the same; it’s just plain comment moderation now. That’s a different story. When you set it to No Anonymous Comments, as you did for your Rwanda trip, it restricts it to Google/Blogger identities. That is what I was referring to. I didn’t know you’d switched it back because, as I said, I dropped that blog like a hot turd when it went on.
sulz
August 15, 2007
i’ve always been rather generous in commenting as i see it as a form of advertising for my own blog. now more incentive in a sense, though i still prefer cold hard links. :P
raincoaster
August 15, 2007
Yep, but your comments have to be good. Good or bad, comments are an advertisement for yourself and your blog. Thankfully, there are fewer and fewer “u sux bahahahaha” trolls and more and more thoughtful commenters around.
raincoaster
August 15, 2007
You know, it occurs to me that Livejournal, among other services, uses OpenID. That would be useful. WP.com allows you to have an OpenID, but won’t let you use it on WP.com blogs, which is a PIA as far as I’m concerned.
raincoaster
August 18, 2007
It occurs to me further that Iain will never read that comment, and so will run around to the end of his days thinking I slagged him for no reason.