OK, so check the Most Commented sidebar to your right: All 10 Most-Commented on Slog by Dan Savage.
Normally, this sort of post comes with a plea for you Slog readers to comment more on other writers, to topple the Savage hegemony, or at least crack the top ten. Paint your fingers green and join the revolution!
But why not the other way around? Hey, you Slog writers, come up with something better than Savage’s endless parade of SL letters and semi-celebrity commentary. Ann Coulter? David Letterman? WGAF! What about Pit Bulls and Critical Mass and what Heidegger would think of all this? What about the Sounders—or is their season over? Any cute kitten v. baby jerboa on a rumba videos on Youtube? Anybody cleaning their teeth on the 10 bus? C’mon!
That’s really not fair to the Slog writers-
Slog is Dan’s personal little fanclub after all, and the credulous fanboys flock to Dan’s posts because they are Dan’s posts.
Here’s an idea- Post everything under Dan’s name. Then the groupies will not know what Dan really posted, everything will get a look and the good stuff will rise or fall on it’s own merits.
You’ve kicked your brother in the blogsack! Bold. After the holidays my family gets a little tired of each other too, but we express it by pointing out flaws in each other’s outfits and hair.
Well, I don’t see you posting anything that’s getting 100 comments.
thanks dan for reminding me of the name george w bush. you see, i would not have thought of him AT ALL, but you were nice enough to post about him, then i had to look at his name in the sidebar every day. so the new year has been all about remembering george w bush, and it’s all thanks to you.
To whom do we submit these ideas?
Who wants to see another critical mass discussion?
The old lady sitting next to me on the bus this morning at 7:30am decided to apply her perfume whilst sitting next to me. No, it wasn’t the spray-kind, but yes, it was an offensive old-ladyish scent, and perfume tends to give me a headache. Also, I may have smelled a bit like a cigarette, and maybe she was getting back at me. Any rulings on bus etiquette here?
How about a post about Mayor McGinn’s rampant misogyny, and his conversion of the city government back into an old boy’s club?
8 of his 9 newly appointed senior staffers are men.
Male staffers on his payroll make over $13,000 more than female staffers.
He fired three female department directors and replaced them with men.
He replaced none of the fired male department directors with women (Beth Goldberg got a job because the old male budget director got a promotion).
It was hard to spot any women except assistants and secretaries at McGinn’s inauguration event.
McGinn is widely expected to lay off mostly women in his 200 managerial layoffs, in his next move to purge the city offices of high-ranking women.
Recall Mike McGinn.
How about a plea to slog commentators to comment less?
what about michael steele’s comment that he’s an ‘honest injun’? i’m pretty sure he’s neither.
@9 Uhh, because they get $ (err ¢) when people comment?
8
Those are excellent and valid concerns.
However, Dominic has acquired a taste for McGinn’s dick so don’t expect to find any negative/critical coverage in Stranger/Slog.
@11 Renton Mike. Please explain how you think they get paid per comment, and by whom.
People that trot out that old trope have no idea how “teh internets” work.
The formula for what gets Slog comments is pretty simple.
1) Say something totally offensive to some large group of people, like pet owners or Catholics or fat people.
2) Include talking points that trolls will happily pick up on.
3) Watch the vitriolic comments roll in!
I’d rather Slog NOT consist of posts of “SHITCHOCK!” all the time, personally.
Oh. I see this must be the place. o.k. I don’t think people who have genetic deformities or problems should have children. But I’m not sure if it should be illegal. I mean, should people be allowed to do that harm to an innocent person?
Well, Dan writes his posts, and chooses his topics, in such a way that they beg for comment.
Consider his #1, the recent decree handed down from above: Stop Funding the Animal Shelters! Commenters mob the post, outraged (or bemused)—because Dan is, after all, a celebrity, and we assume he has the power to influence real-world goings-on. (But is anyone at Animal Control actually going to take him seriously? Doubt it.)
Dude is the master of provocative news writing. (I mean, why comment on week-old office cheesecake?) We love him for it.
Soooooo, is any $$$ made when we’all make comments????
Tsk, tsk, Chicago Fan. You live in a city with a MLS franchise, the Chicago Fire, so should be aware that the season of which you speak is over* – though we are in pre-season and waiting for the fixtures to be announced.
I know that Chicago doesn’t promote it’s team as well as Seattle or Toronto do, but it seems that the Fire gets more local press and support than the other MLS teams, with the exception of the two outliers mentioned.
*(I am aware that soccer isn’t your sport, but still…)
Dan advertising about Slog in his nationally syndicated column and on his podcast has nothing to do with it.
Aren’t Dan and Mudede the only people left at the Stranger?
Isn’t there an annual “Slog as written by 6 very special Slog commenters” week? That’ll get comments.
Rose, it was kind of a bust the last time they did it. I doubt they’ll do it again.
Dan has a national audience, that’s all. He’s a celebrity, a published author who appears on TV regularly. There are no surprises here.
Sadly, Fnarf is right – his SLOG posts are directly linked in many national papers – including online.
Now, if you want a lot of comments, write something about why Seattle needs to zone for 100 story inexpensive residential real estate properties next to light rail stations, and use the ground floors for massage parlors.
That will get your comment count up.
Either that or something about why Pit Bulls should not be allowed to marry same-gender Pit Bulls.