As many of you know, we recently underwent a re-design at ReadWriteWeb and upgraded our publishing system at the same time. Unfortunately that resulted in some frustrating technical glitches with our comments system. However, we're now pleased to report that ReadWriteWeb's comment system is back running 100% -- and it's a heck of a lot faster than it used to be. And yes, we now have OpenID! [sound of dogfood being eaten]
To celebrate our new comments system, from Monday 11 Feb (US time) we are giving away one $30 Amazon gift voucher every day for the next month for the best daily comment.
The idea is both to promote discussions on ReadWriteWeb and to reward great comments. This is the read/write, two-way web after all! Here's how it'll work...
1. To "enter", all you need to do is write a comment on a ReadWriteWeb post (you'll need a valid email address, but that won't be published). Alternatively you can leave a trackback instead of a comment, if you prefer to extend the conversation that way. We will consider both comments and trackbacks for the daily prize.
2. At the end of each day, the RWW team will select the best comment of the day -- and we'll email that person a US$30 Amazon gift voucher (this will be done in weekly batches).
3. Not only will the best daily comment win a prize, but (in a further effort to extend the conversation), we'll publish it as a separate new post on ReadWriteWeb. So you'll enhance your profile too.
This competition is being sponsored by our partners, AdaptiveBlue, and their SmartLink Widgets - including an Amazon Wishlist widget.
The criteria that the RWW team will use to judge the best daily comment is subjective and flexible. But we'll be looking for characteristics such as: insightful, topical, witty, furthering the conversation.
Basically, we want to see a thousand discussions bloom on ReadWriteWeb. We get a lot of comments already and our community is always insightful. But we want to encourage even more two-way conversations. Wisdom of the crowds 2.0!
Another goal is to encourage you to try out the new comments registration and OpenID features on ReadWriteWeb. You can sign in using a custom ReadWriteWeb MovableType id, or any of the following: OpenID, LiveJournal, Vox or TypeKey. Or you can simply fill in the comment form and click 'Remember'.
So, first thing Monday EST -- get commenting and be in to win a $30 Amazon gift voucher every day for the next month.
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Comments Competition: Win a Daily Prize!.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.readwriteweb.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/3277
Randomly have seen a lot of posts about people trying to build blog community by writing checks of varying sizes. Specifically: Valleywag’s commentgate, where they may or may not be paying interns to post comments. Probably, more accurately,... Read More
Comments
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Would it look nice if this post had no comments ?
Hence ours is the first one
We will also put this on our blog !
Tech For Novices
Posted by: Tech For Novices | February 10, 2008 9:27 PMRichard, change the color of the "Preview" and "Submit" buttons. They're fugly.
I suggest white or red buttons. Anything but the gaudy red on gray.
x0x0x
Posted by: PC | February 10, 2008 10:08 PMInstead of offering a monetary reward, you should remove the insulting "nofollow" IMO.
Posted by: Marcel Feenstra | February 11, 2008 1:46 AMThanks for enabling the OpenID login for comments.
Posted by: thejeshgn.comThis is the best daily comment!
Posted by: uimehanika.pip.verisignlabs.comActually I agree with no. 3 Marcel except for the insulting part. Every blog does it but a bit of a slap for people that ad value and comment on blogs all the time.
I am not a blogger I am a commentor :p
If you want to improve the comments look at adding threaded discussion.
I am a hardcore forum user and think comments are just shoutboxes really with no direction.
Posted by: Darren Stuart | February 11, 2008 2:47 AMThe best comment is usually something that makes other people respond and engage the discussion further.
With that being said, in response to Marcel 3. there's a reason comments are no-follow because you would just be spamming all blogs otherwise. Please don't take it upon yourself to be the catalyst for change in this regard. Some of just like to comment because we feel like it, not because it will make search engines like us better.
Richard, great competition you got going here. Hopefully you'll get more insightful comments going forward.
Posted by: Hyder | February 11, 2008 3:38 AM$30?! Is that all Im worth to you guys?!!
I hear comments are going for twice that these days.
:)
Posted by: Jason | February 11, 2008 6:23 AMHyder wrote:
"in response to Marcel 3. there's a reason comments are no-follow [sic] because you would just be spamming all blogs otherwise."
That's a needlessly rude insinuation, IMO; please don't assume that all people are like you! (It also seems a little misplaced coming from someone who sells reviews containing links without "nofollow"...)
There are other ways to deal with comment spam; e.g., a webmaster can choose to moderate comments.
Posted by: Marcel Feenstra | February 11, 2008 6:54 AMA comment is a written or verbal remark or opinion. And you know what they say about opinions.
Posted by: islandinthenet.comYou actually have the nerve to have a Digg button at the top of this post
Posted by: Search◆ Engines WEB | February 11, 2008 7:56 AMNow it THIS makes the homepage, it is time for Digg to do a little investigatin' ;-)
If you want more / better comments you have to give us comments the tools to do so. I see no in-line reply to a specific comment, or the means to have an email notification when some one replies to my comment, or a dedicated RSS feed for the comments to this post (WTF???).
How can we hope to have "two way" conversations" without the tools?
Posted by: Todd | February 11, 2008 9:32 AMTodd, good suggestions -- but note that there is an RSS feed for this comments thread plus a feed for all RWW comments. They're linked at the top of comments. I probably need to highlight them more tho...
And re nofollow, that is pretty standard for blogs. The sponsors in the sidebar also have nofollow.
Posted by: Richard MacManusWow, fantastic competition! :) Thanks for even having a competition like this. Good luck everyone!
Posted by: Jess | February 11, 2008 1:01 PMRichard,
I hope that wordiness is one of the criteria for winning as the last time I remember winning something in a contest I got an ice cream maker from a timeshare scam.
This is a cool idea, I only wish we could do something cumulative so someone (me maybe) could win the whole 840 clams at once. Any way, good luck with the new system and I will evaluate it compared to earlier versions.
Always,
Phil
Posted by: Phil Butler | February 12, 2008 3:19 AMThanks for enabling OpenID 1.1 signin for commenting, but users still can't sign in using OpenID 2.0! Write me back if you'd like some assistance in upgrading to OpenID 2.0, which would allow you to accept comments from Flickr and Yahoo users.
Also, there's a problem with your XML parser which is preventing me from signing my comment using OpenID 1.1 (via MyOpenID.com) as well...
Posted by: atom | February 12, 2008 10:45 AMRichard, This is a great idea. We would love to sponsor something like this as well. Please let us know how we can participate.
Posted by: Jitendra | February 12, 2008 5:09 PMWell by looking at the number of comments, I'm not really sure this is working, but I sure love your marketing strategy:
Posted by: xavierv | February 15, 2008 9:38 PMSmart Blog Marketing On BlueRWW
"in response to Marcel 3. there's a reason comments are no-follow [sic] because you would just be spamming all blogs otherwise."
That's a needlessly rude insinuation, IMO; please don't assume that all people are like you! (It also seems a little misplaced coming from someone who sells reviews containing links without "nofollow"...)
There are other ways to deal with comment spam; e.g., a webmaster can choose to moderate comments.
Posted by: Dmitriy | February 17, 2008 7:17 PMSuch cheapskates!
Posted by: steveballmer | February 18, 2008 11:43 AMIts 12:50am in Bangladesh and raining like spam :-(
Our slow internet connection has driven into a bumpy road and is now even slower !
I had to run around all day in this cold rain just to talk to a client who thinks $800 is a bit too high for a International company's Online based business website !
Posted by: Ehab | February 19, 2008 10:50 AMThe client obviously has no idea about AdWords bidding :-) And I am planning to feed him into it :D hahaha !
:) wicked site helped me learn to read
Posted by: Tracy bolton | February 23, 2008 5:07 AMBut not to write;-)
www.free1000tv.com
Posted by: bianca | February 25, 2008 3:48 PMI would to add a site that i believe should be on the list of mobile sites listed on the blog:-
The 55 Piece Mobile Search Tool Kit, ( writen by Charles Knight )
oneSearch.mobi is the site and i have been using this on my mobile now for several months and find it to be a great search engine and much much more, as it lists only sites that a dotmobi compliant, so i know that my data charges will not be sky high from browsing sites that are meant for the Desktop web. It also comprises a great mobile directory and useful everyday services all in one place, and free content.
oneSearch Mobile link: http://oneSearch.mobi
Posted by: Peter Jones | February 27, 2008 12:24 PMI was thinkin' about the comments regarding Ask.com and those other top search engines. I do believe with the proper marketing strategies, Ask.com will become the valued search engine with all the necessary elements to be listed as the number one search engine in the world. Many of the Ask.com search users have commented on how easy it is to use the the Ask.com features listed in the features section. In this section tutorials on the proper uses and directions are easily applied by the average user. Other features including the satellite imaging makes Ask.com a premier search engine with all the elements included. Also, with the new ties with the search crawler Colossus, The Ask.com Search engine is ready to suit-up in battle gear to extend the service to more classified areas in the search market.
Posted by: DARRYL CLAY | February 28, 2008 9:12 AM