Effectivness of Despair.nu
I know I’ve blogged about Despair.nu at least once before (and talked about it a few times on a forum or two), but tonight while commenting on an entry it occurred to me that Despair.nu isn’t really effective.
At least not if your site isn’t interesting or eye-catching. Sure it’s a nice way to get a few forced comments a week (got to keep up appearances and make it appear as though you have a large visitor base, after all), but how many repeat visitors grace your doorstep after the first comment?
I know that I won’t be returning to half the sites I’ve had to comment on, they’re either filled to the brim with very stupid people (see link at the beginning of post) or just plain old boring. I have found a few genuinely interesting people whose blogs I enjoyed commenting on, and who will get more than likely get a repeat visit from me. However, I can’t say the same about the majority of those sites.
Bottom line is this: If you’re relying either on Despair (as so many people seem to be doing [gleaned from conversations]) or, like a certain someone, on forced comments from people who feel that they owe you something (because of something you said) then you should probably re-evaluate the reasons as to why you’re blogging in the first place.
Despair.nu isn’t a bad idea, I like some of what I’ve found so far and while not everyone who is supposed to comment on my site comments, it’s still a good place to bust some boredom. You just have to try hard.
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#1
That’s one of the main reasons I wanted to keep Despair small, and “elite” (well make it where you had to get a code from somewhere else to join). But obviously I didn’t go with that since people bitched about it. I completely agree with you, and maybe as the owner I shouldn’t but hey its the reality. With sites like that, most of the time you won’t end up visiting a website again unless you are “forced” too. In some cases, I have a met a lot of new people online through being “forced” to comment even from the old provance and xposure days. Personally, I don’t want people joining just be like “zomg me wants lot of comments and hits!11” sure you’ll get the comments and hits yada yada but if it takes away from the love of blogging then to be honest I dont want to own Despair anymore.
And if any of my babble makes sense, then you rock haha.
#2
Maybe a useless comment but anyway…
“At least not if your site isn’t interesting or eye-catching. Sure it’s a nice way to get a few forced comments a week (got to keep up appearances and make it appear as though you have a large visitor base, after all), but how many repeat visitors grace your doorstep after the first comment?”
But this site (Babblative) IS eye catching and I did return again and again – I don’t always leave a comment but I sure like it here and the blogs are always interesting or good for a laugh.
I highly doubt that my repeat visitors came from Despair to begin with – but some of them did and I won’t make them feel bad about themselves for that :)
#3
I completely agree with what you’re saying. Ironically enough I am a repeat visitor from Despair.nu and I like to believe my website is competent. Apparently I moderate too, but the system in which it operates is more disorganised than my university (therefore organisational skills are not present).
I comment on everyone (yes including the God-awful website) and you’d be surprised what I’ve had in return… nothing dodgy I might add.
#4
Well, I’ve joined Despair last year, mostly for the comments. I’ve had a previous experience with such a site (closed down and I forgot the name), and knew that what I’d get will be more comments. And since I like receiving comments…
According to my stats, I have quite a bit of visitors (well ok around 30-ish a day – not THAT much), however very few comment. So… yeah… I wanted comments =P
I used to report left and right for not commenting… but got tired of it in the end. It didn’t solve anything…
#5
I could care less about the people that comment on my site, it’s the idiots that don’t comment that I have problems with, the ones that don’t do their part despite the fact they signed up for something that is giving them traffic; helping their site out if with only one or two new readers a month.
I hate people. Selfish morons that make people like Naco doubt her project, and others that want to sign up for something good think twice, should really consider what they do.
faints and dies
twice
#6
Lol, I know how you feel yeah. The reason I joined is just to get to know some new people, I just visit every site and comment on the ones I need to. And I visit the ones that need to comment on me, if I like the contents of the comment I receive from others I’ll return them probably. Or if the site is catchy/nice to read like you said yeah. Still it’s a way to discover some new sites and all, and get your own site seen a bit more.
#7
I was never a fan of sites like Despair.nu but mostly because I wrote for Cathartic reasons or just for myself (if it was about my day and not my thoughts) and so even the idea of getting more visitors is nice, I never liked the idea of people being forced to comment on your blog. So I totally get what you mean in this entry. I never liked the idea of blogging to entertain people, but I think it’s just because at the time when I started blogging, people weren’t doing it for the fun of it or for the visitors, but mostly for themselves.
#8
I found you off despair.nu (though admittedly, I’ve seen you mentioned on Jem and Amanda’s sites) and I think you’re one of the more entertaining blogs I’ve had to comment on. I guess it’s not all bad!
I don’t think it’s just the bad blogs one has to comment on, it’s the rather mediocre and rushed comments that one gets in return. I am glad that while it’s ego-stroking to have a nice supply of comments per entry (even if self-denial has to be turned on) I don’t need to rely on it to blog.
#9
I stand by what I’ve said before: Despair and similar websites are wank. Completely and totally wank. I have a huge reader base (not all comment all the time, but nonetheless, they’re there..) and not one of them is from a website that forces people to comment.
If I can bring in those people with my inane babbling and bad-code bashing, then any other idiot can too..
Hi I'm Becky, often referred to as The Knitting Hillbilly and Pussybear, owner of this site and general nuisance. I'm a knitter, serial complainer, known whistle blower and I run the ever popular
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