Had a few things on my mind about comments so figured it was time to check in.
It’s been different without the great Lisa Caballero around. Not only did she do some great writing and reporting for BikePortland, she also spent a lot of time reading, moderating, and writing comments. She would also encourage folks to make “Comment of the Week” nominations and then she’d choose one and write it up on Monday mornings. Lisa understood that to me, it’s not about the quantity of comments we get, but the quality.
Without Lisa’s help, all that comment work has fallen to me. I’m alone these days when it comes to editorial work. I’ve actually scaled back in general and am transitioning to more of an intentional “just a guy with blog” type of outlet. But that’s a topic for a different day.
Back to the comment section. I still read each one that comes in and they all get held back until I manually approve them. But I don’t take as much time to consider each one like Lisa did. And I’m sorry but I haven’t been able to do a Comment of the Week on Mondays. I still want to add that to my weekly rhythm however, so please keep nominating (by replying with “comment of the week” or “cotw”).
Generally, folks have been well-behaved and we have very few mean, troll-ish folks (and when they do pop up, I just delete them and move on). That’s a testament to our community and moderation work over the years. That being said, I always appreciate folks giving me a heads up about comments they feel are inappropriate. Remember, being solo means I have no proofreader, no editor, no second set of eyes to run things by! Just like those of you who point out typos and other mistakes, BikePortland a community endeavor and I value — and need — your help on stuff like this.
This week in particular was very busy in the comment section. So far we’ve had about 450 comments total since Monday. One reader saw how that guest article by Missy LeDoux racked up nearly 300 comments and wondered what our all-time high comment record was. I took a look and it was fun to see the list.
Below are the top 10 most commented articles in BikePortland history (since April 2005) along with their date of publication and total comment count:
Wanted: your close calls (08/09/05): 725
With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike (06/28/2012): 488
Why Jolene Friedow only got a traffic ticket in the collision that killed Mark Angeles (11/09/2015): 484
After slapping car, rider gets unexpected chat with Portland police officer (12/14/16): 433
Road rage incident sparks media frenzy, spurs us-them mentality (07/10/2008): 409
Colville-Andersen: “Portland is completely overrated as a bike city” (01/03/2018): 387
Updated: Cyclist dies after collision with garbage truck (10/22/2022): 367
Springwater path users feel threatened by campers, police say their hands are tied (01/14/2016): 367
Speeding driver kills teenage girl who was crossing SE Hawthorne (08/20/2016): 352
Home demolition critics back resolution that would block central-city density (12/09/2014): 344
Quite the gamut of topics, huh? I love how it reflects the broad array of things I’ve published here. We’ve got tragedies, a fun profile of a carfree mom (that went viral before that really existed), some old-fashioned activism, the emergence of the homelessness crisis in Portland, some police stuff — and I’m so glad one of Michael Andersen’s housing stories made the cut!
I could tell a story about each one. All the emotions and wild bits of detail that surround them. What’s cool is if you go back and browse those comment sections, you can feel some of that emotion without even hearing it from me. That’s the magic of a good comment section! It’s a capsule of our community’s emotions, stories and insights. I cherish all 574,408 of them.
If you don’t typically comment for some reason, I’d love to know why. If there’s anything I can do to encourage you, please let me know. And if you do comment frequently, please remember it’s a privilege, not a right. Treat other commenters as if you were talking to them in person, give the benefit of the doubt and keep an open mind.
Every comment is a contribution to this community, which is something I feel is more important than ever as some of the conversations have splintered off into social media. I like those comment sections too, but it just doesn’t feel like home.
Thanks for being part of BikePortland. I appreciate your comments.
