As any regular reader of this blog knows, the average number of comments per post is zero.
Recently, I posted a picture of a dazed bird, and wondered if anyone could explain the phenomenon. I got three comments (I’m not including one I put up to thank the first commenter for the helpful information) which, if you do the math, exceeds the average even if you multiply that average by infinity. What I find baffling is how these folks got drawn to the site in the first place. I got the distinct impression that they weren’t regular readers. It’s not like the site would be at the top of the heap if you googled “bird”. Each of them obviously knew a lot about birds, so it was cool to get the comments, but it’s still mystifying.
This is not the first time that a throw away post has gotten a large number (for me) of comments. I often spend an hour or more on a post, trying to get it just right. Sometimes it never comes together; I conclude it’s crap, and it doesn’t go up. (Yes, that’s right, I’ve written stuff even crappier than the stuff I actually post). Most of those posts over which I’ve sweated get no reaction, but this one, which was a five minute filler, got three comments, all of them pretty informative, about a subject that I don’t normally write about. The internet is a mysterious place.
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