No Comments = No Engagement

[joshcsmith13]

I am mystified that the owners of this site (WindowsCentral.com) have not re-enabled comments on their articles. Interacting with other sometimes-savvy windows users was half the fun of this site. Since the rebranding and makeover, reading the news has gotten dramatically less interesting. And, if you think I'm going to click over to the forums to see what's happening, you're gravely mistaken. I did that yesterday, only to discover a barren wasteland of 1 post threads, all created by WindowsCentral. So sad. :unhappy:

I understand that "engagement", often measured by the amount of time spent [on a page/story], is a key metric for websites. I've got to think that the digital overlords at Future are missing out on a huge opportunity here. I guess you could say its analogous to the way Microsoft likes to buy promising tech companies and then let them wither away.

c'est la vie

 

[Lee_Bo]

I believe Future PLC got tired of comments correcting said articles because apparently the article writers weren’t proofreading their work before posting.

Sadly this wasn’t an issue before the “merger”.

I also believe Future PLC purchased Mobile Nations for the user base. Sadly a lot of that user base left for a lot of the reasons you mentioned.

For example, this is the first time I’ve visited here in weeks and found this.

 

[HelloNNNewman]

Supposedly.. at some point Future US is switching over to Disqus for all blog comments, but they really should have put that in place before turning off the regular comments service the sites have had in place for decades. Who knows what they are doing at this point.

 

[joshcsmith13]

Yeah... I saw that bit about enabling Disqus, but it does not appear that they are sticking with that plan, or it should have been implemented by now.
And again, one would think that enabling interaction with your site should be as easy as possible - not requiring an additional registration with a third party service. sigh

 

[Annie_M]

I think removing the comments was a mis-step on Future's part. I just wish they would continue the communication they started when they took over the MoNa forums.

 

[me just saying]

they removed comments on allt of their properties I belong to. I quit read their articles because of this. Comments will sometimes bring out points not mentioned in the article. I have learned from reading comments, especially those replies to mine. I read they may eventually bring them back but I doubt it. I think it is something they are saying to keep the complaints down.

 

[HelloNNNewman]

If you ever followed any of the other websites that Future has purchased in the past, you can easily see their standard process. They take really good websites that have built a great following and have outstanding articles…. and change them by changing the look to a standard basic format. Remove all the things the site has spent years building to become popular and the ‘go to’ sites for news. Great examples are: Toms Hardware, AnandTech, TechRadar, and many others. They purchase established sites, give them partial lobotomies, and then increase the advertisements to get as much revenue as possible. Once purchased, they’ve consistently ruined those sites that were once leaders. I looked through every one of the sites they’ve purchased and see several that were once mainstays for me that I haven’t visited since they were ruined. I was super sad when Future came on board because I could see the fog rolling in at that point.

 

[Lee_Bo]

if you ever followed any of the other websites that future has purchased in the past, you can easily see their standard process. They take really good websites that have built a great following and have outstanding articles…. And change them by changing the look to a standard basic format. Remove all the things the site has spent years building to become popular and the ‘go to’ sites for news. Great examples are: Toms hardware, anandtech, techradar, and many others. They purchase established sites, give them partial lobotomies, and then increase the advertisements to get as much revenue as possible. Once purchased, they’ve consistently ruined those sites that were once leaders. I looked through every one of the sites they’ve purchased and see several that were once mainstays for me that i haven’t visited since they were ruined. I was super sad when future came on board because i could see the fog rolling in at that point.

this!!!

 

[taynjack]

I feel the same way. Lee_Bo points out that Future PLC is just a parasite. My experience backs that up. I used to check in with all the centrals almost daily. Today was my first time back in weeks. The news feed is terrible terrible terrible design. No comments takes all the fun out of it. It's like Windows phone all over again. Sad to say but I've found other tech news sites to spend my time. Hopefully Future PLC doesn't find those as well.

 

[TheFerrango]

I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling that way. A commentless Windows Central has lost half of its soul, and another quarter with the streamlined redesign. I went from checking it daily to more or less glancing at it once or twice a month, the comments were the best part of the experience

 

[Annie_M]

I spend most of my time on iMore and have noticed that many of iMore's writers tweet regularly on Twitter. The post links to their blog pieces, and it's also possible to comment there if one is so inclined! Perhaps WC bloggers do the same?

 

[Jez Corden]

I am mystified that the owners of this site (WindowsCentral.com) have not re-enabled comments on their articles. Interacting with other sometimes-savvy windows users was half the fun of this site. Since the rebranding and makeover, reading the news has gotten dramatically less interesting. And, if you think I'm going to click over to the forums to see what's happening, you're gravely mistaken. I did that yesterday, only to discover a barren wasteland of 1 post threads, all created by WindowsCentral. So sad. :unhappy:

I understand that "engagement", often measured by the amount of time spent [on a page/story], is a key metric for websites. I've got to think that the digital overlords at Future are missing out on a huge opportunity here. I guess you could say its analogous to the way Microsoft likes to buy promising tech companies and then let them wither away.

c'est la vie

We agreed. Thankfully, they're coming back soon.

 

[TheFerrango]

We agreed. Thankfully, they're coming back soon.

This is looking more and more like the soon™ promise Microsoft kept making about Windows Phone.

 

[Zac Bowden]

This is looking more and more like the soon™ promise Microsoft kept making about Windows Phone.

Comments on articles have already returned.

 

[TheFerrango]

Comments on articles have already returned.

My bad, I didn't see the Comments link. Yay, "comments"!
(although it's jsut redirecting to the forums for now)

 

[HelloNNNewman]

...(although it's jsut redirecting to the forums for now)

Yes, that's how comments will work on the 'new' system. Comments will displayed with the article, but are located in the forums for members to join in.

 

[Annie_M]

I've noticed an increase in traffic since the comments from the forums show up on the blog posts.

 

[Jez Corden]

I've noticed an increase in traffic since the comments from the forums show up on the blog posts.

aye, we have big plans to boost the forum soon, we're going to do a giveaway and announce it the return of comments + new forum layout once we have the plans in place. stay tuned.