I take the number of comments I get on a particular post as a value judgment of that post, and more generally, as a value judgment of myself. Some people write posts on cheese sandwiches and get 15 comments in response, and I’m always jealous of those people. It doesn’t matter if I go into SiteMeter and see that I’m getting a particular number of visitors per day; it’s comments that make a person feel good. Putting lots of time and effort into writing a post only to receive no comments is like telling a joke and hearing crickets chirp in response.

Also, if visitors to your site see that you get a bunch of comments on every post you write, they’ll think you’re really popular. (And it’s all about being popular, of course.)

And it’s especially neat to get comments from people who have never commented on your site before, because that way you get introduced to new readers.

The best way to get more comments, of course, is to write entries that make people want to respond. This still doesn’t explain how the cheese-sandwich people get lots of comments per post, but it’s still a good rule to follow.

To sum up: bloggers like getting comments. So leave them. A comment is like a birthday present.

Except for spam, which is the equivalent of socks.