Everything about Capitolhillseattle.com is an experiment. It’s a freak among freaks — a neighborhood blog written by a loose confederacy of neighbors. We test a lot of things. Here’s one test that did not pan out:
Sorry, anonymous, you’ll need to register — 8/6/08
Requiring registration to leave a comment is something we also did back in the Blogger days when the site was smaller but it didn’t have as much impact as it did in the real world. This summer, we didn’t go to zero on comments when we made the change. And we didn’t get (too many) weird troll posts.
But we lost the drive-by comments.
Like this.
And this.
And comments — be they from registered or not — are one of the main things that attracts the mass of you who experience this site via RSS to actually click over and check out all the goodies on the Web site. And that’s good for the site. And the business.
So, we’re changing the experiment. Comments are open to all now. You can register and develop a voice and reputation. Or you can just cruise through every now and then and leave your $.02. Until we change again, of course.
the almighty dollar wins again
yay. you’re back!
As a RSS subscriber and drive-by commenter (not nearly as funny as the others) I applaud your change of heart and will continue to make random comments as I see fit!
Signing in is sometimes a pita. Now I can skip it when needed.
why not have one (unless i’m missing it)? i know other blogs have it and i will admit that once i read a post in my reader i seldom go back to the article to see if other people have commented after me.
plus, i think having open comments is good (well, maybe not if you are trying to keep control of comment spam). many people likely start out as lurkers, then occasional commenters (anonymous) before taking the plunge and signing up; at least that’s how it was for me.
Yay! Now I can comment again from West Africa without risking my password in dodgy internet cafes which may or may not be loaded with keyloggers.
thanks!!!! I’m regged but it’s an annoyance on my iPhone – I’ve written comments but just abandoned them bc logging in is such a hassle.
How bout remembering logins? It seems to want me to log in every visit
Congratulations for trying – and then realizing it didn’t work.
I am a firm believer in NOT requiring registration. Some say “Oh, but then you cut down on anonymous commenters.” Well, no, it’s pretty easy to make up a pseudonym and get a quick e-mail account you may never use again. And as for the “people will say anonymously online what they would never say in public” – sorry, I’ve covered enough public meetings to be able to tell you that’s 100 percent untrue. People, who may or may not identify themselves in public meetings (or other public places), do say critical things, harsh things … and also good things, informative things, as happens online more than the not-so-good things.
Yay, CHS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIZ-SGljHik
:P It’s always refreshing for me to see an organization come out in public and say they were wrong about something or are changing their minds. That’s when I fell for Obama — his Carolina speech where he said, “We will make mistakes.” BAM. I’m Obama fo life now. And, you know, CHS. For as long as we both shall live.
I think this is a great idea. :)