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Less comments on Wowhead blog posts--tell us why!
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Post by
Ashelia
So this is weird, but we here at Wowhead have noticed a lot less comments since we launched our new blog (
www.wowheadnews.com
). A LOT less, actually, even though traffic and views have gone up. As an example, posts that usually would have upwards of 50 to even 100 comments were getting 20 or so after an entire day of kicking around. Some posts are faring even worse. Even our Q&A was only 13 and some of those are staff replies.
Here's the deal: we'd like to know why.
If you haven't been commenting, can you tell us why? Is it by choice--is there a design flaw or an issue with the layout itself? Is it because the news has been boring to you lately (unlikely, there have been guides and legendaries and exciting stuff lately)? Or is it a bug that is hindering you, something that makes it overly difficult to leave your opinion?
This is your chance to let us know what's up. We want to fix it. We don't want our community to be quieter because something got harder to do. So please, help us out and leave feedback in this thread on why you haven't been commenting. I'm not doing a poll because I want replies so I can see what people are saying and a poll would be vague =)(##RESPBREAK##)2##DELIM##Ashelia##DELIM##
Post by
Interest
Strange. I've been commenting a lot.
Maybe WoW is suffering a slow-down in activity and as a result, Wowhead suffers?
Just a thought.
(Also, posting them to the forums helps a lot. I find a lot of the forum goers are the ones who post on the blogs. When they don't show up, especially on WoW General, they get far fewer comments)
Post by
Ashelia
Strange. I've been commenting a lot.
Maybe WoW is suffering a slow-down in activity and as a result, Wowhead suffers?
Just a thought.
I would believe that if it were gradual =( It was sudden, it happened the exact day we launched the new layout; we went from getting 30-40+ an article to barely yielding 10-15 if you remove admin replies.
(Also, posting them to the forums helps a lot. I find a lot of the forum goers are the ones who post on the blogs. When they don't show up, especially on WoW General, they get far fewer comments)
They are showing up, right? That's not a problem we somehow missed, right?(##RESPBREAK##)2##DELIM##Ashelia##DELIM##
Post by
Adamsm
(Also, posting them to the forums helps a lot. I find a lot of the forum goers are the ones who post on the blogs. When they don't show up, especially on WoW General, they get far fewer comments)
They are showing up, right? That's not a problem we somehow missed, right?
They are. But there has been a lot of slow down lately; look at pretty much any of the forums, which seem to have long long times between posts; even in places such as Off-Topic or L&RP where there are quite a few dedicated users posting heh.
Post by
Interest
I don't think it's a problem... I actually thought some blogs not being on WoW General was intended.
Lots of blogs may contribute to the issue. I still think the lack of posters really does contribute to the issue though. I only gave one possible reason for the problem.
I have a suggestion though: Why not allow anonymous posters to post on Blogs (and blogs only)? This is allowed on some sites. Maybe we can hear the opinion of people who don't feel like making a Wowhead account or something.
Post by
Ashelia
They are. But there has been a lot of slow down lately; look at pretty much any of the forums, which seem to have long long times between posts; even in places such as Off-Topic or L&RP where there are quite a few dedicated users posting heh.
Yeah, that's true--but again, this happened *overnight*. We were doing fine, there were no issues. In fact, this is a good example for my point:
Last week, old layout and blog:
http://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=187628
-- News roundup for really boring changes
This week, new layout and blog:
http://www.wowhead.com/forums&topic=188025&p=2643086
-- News roundup for very interesting changes
You can see it with guides and big news posts, too, but this is the best example of how sudden it is.
Post by
Interest
I wouldn't quite say that. I'd more say it was a gradual "degradation" that resulted in a "collapse."
Wowhead Forum activity has been on a downward trend anyways.
Post by
chaosultimamage
Generally speaking, I don't really ever post much on the blogs. Now, when we get another blog telling us that the winged lion mount is available in the Blizzard store, I'll probably celebrate a little and I posted on the new Legendary staff, but that's about it.
It also seems like a lot of the people on Wowhead don't actually play WoW currently. Dunno if that's always been the case, but that could certainly contribute to people not posting about WoW news.
Post by
Azazel
I usually leave a reply or two. But I don't anymore, because it's a separate site. Imo it should be wowhead.com/news or something instead. The layout on wowhead is just so much better.
Post by
Interest
Generally speaking, I don't really ever post much on the blogs. Now, when we get another blog telling us that the winged lion mount is available in the Blizzard store, I'll probably celebrate a little and I posted on the new Legendary staff, but that's about it.
It also seems like a lot of the people on Wowhead don't actually play WoW currently. Dunno if that's always been the case, but that could certainly contribute to people not posting about WoW news
.
You are absolutely correct. I can't make up statistics, but most of the forum-goers are ex-WoW players. This could result in a lack of interest in the blogs.
Post by
Ashelia
To clarify: it was a sudden drop that has us baffled, not an overall decline (that hasn't been happening for the blog). =x We are really concerned there could be a bug somewhere that no one has found or that our new layout makes commenting somehow harder/less intuitive/buggy. So think of this as a place to leave feedback and also point something out if you haven't been coming for a particular reason that we can fix.
Post by
Interest
OMG. I feel dumb.
I know EXACTLY why this happened.
4.1 released, and therefore people are playing the game as opposed to posting on the forum. In short, they are experiencing the new content. I know this from experience, because my own posting activity decreases after a patch goes live and the maintenance is done.
Post by
Ashelia
I usually leave a reply or two. But I don't anymore, because it's a separate site. Imo it should be wowhead.com/news or something instead. The layout on wowhead is just so much better.
This is what I'm thinking may be what happened, but it's a lot of dev time to make 2 versions (and a lot of people do prefer a new layout).
OMG. I feel dumb.
I know EXACTLY why this happened.
4.1 released, and therefore people are playing the game as opposed to posting on the forum. In short, they are experiencing the new content. I know this from experience, because my own posting activity decreases after a patch goes live and the maintenance is done.
So the fact that we released on 4.1 may have just ... hindered it for ourselves?
It's a hard sell for me, because we are getting a lot more views. But maybe people just wanna read the info and get out, as opposed to stay and chat about it.(##RESPBREAK##)2##DELIM##Ashelia##DELIM##
Post by
OverZealous
I can think of two reasons.
1. People don't want to bother going to a different site. While it's good-looking and easier to navigate, people go to
Wowhead
to read the "news". They might just not want to go to a different site.
2. People dislike the layout. Wowhead and Wowheadnews are like night and day, they look totally different, and it's possible that some people just can't put up with how the news site looks. Unlikely, I agree, but it's possible.
Personally, while i frequent this site I just can't be arsed to go to Wowheadnews. It's not that I'm lazy (or well, I am, but that's beside the point), I just... don't want to. I'm betting alot of people feel the same way.
Post by
115812
This post was from a user who has deleted their account.
Post by
Interest
So the fact that we released on 4.1 may have just ... hindered it for ourselves?
The Wowheadnews has nothing to do with it. That's purely a coincidence.
But if the views are increased....hmm.
Maybe people think it's a "news" article, which isn't exactly commented on as much. Iono.
Post by
Myndaira
I would say it's a combination of what Interest posted and what OverZealous posted. People are playing the game more and not "hanging out" on the forums as much and well, it's another site to visit. Time-wise, it is a hinderence, because some folks don't have the time to go to several different sites.
Just my opinion :)
Post by
Atik
WE HAVE A BLOG?
I just creep on the forums while camping Time-Lost Proto Drake or leveling alts... I post in the L&RP section mostly...
Post by
Ashelia
Koper dug into our stats--the forums aren't less active actually, so it's definitely not that. The past few months has been pretty consistent.
However:
Average replies from the start of the month to the day we released the blog: 35.9
Average replies from the blog release to now: 16.8
Huuuuge drop--especially considering we have been posting a lot of guide content. So still digging for an answer.
Post by
Interest
Maybe there's too many blogs? Iono.
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