Comments

PLUS those like "Trevor" can clip and steal your IDEAS more readily in the LONG VERSION!!!!!!! :>}

Posted by sean at July 26, 2006 9:10 AM

I'm not certain that the number of comments is an indication of how a post is valued. Shorter posts may allow more "room" for immediate comments, whereas longer posts may inspire pondering and further thought. I know conventional wisdom is that blog posts should be short, but increasingly this seems not to be the case. So as far as I'm concerned, please keep posting larger essays -- those are the ones that really make a dent.

Posted by Scott Walters at July 26, 2006 11:29 AM

I hate the fact that I (or anyone else) cannot find the time to read the long posts. I'm sure I'm missing the best nuggets to help my brand or the brand I protect 10 hours a day. Could I possibly give up John Stewart to read more Tom?
I'll blog about it: http://protectingthebrand.blogspot.com

Posted by Swifty at July 26, 2006 1:26 PM

Please do not underestimate those of us who value these longer posts to clarify our own thinking. Not to mention keep us sane.

Posted by Kate at July 26, 2006 2:19 PM

Keep 'em coming, Tom!
Somehow always make the time to read them.
Whether I agree or disagree, you keep me thinking and going down new paths all the time.
Where you find the time...

Posted by lemarmion at July 26, 2006 2:41 PM

I am enjoying reading your thoughts...regardless of their length. It helps my thinking as well, especially when you appear on a serious rant. Whether I agree or disagree is immaterial, stimulation is where it is at.

Posted by Matt Thevenot at July 26, 2006 3:59 PM

Longer blogs are fine by me, in fact, it is good to see the clarity of thinking on more complex issues. Many posts are soundbites which are useful to provoke short spells of thinking but longer ones allow me to think more about where I stand on issues.
I agree with Tom that for the blogger, they are a great way of arriving at clarity on their own points of view.

Posted by Bill Quinn at July 27, 2006 12:03 AM

Short, best!

Posted by Bob Hail at July 27, 2006 12:15 PM

Tom

I write long blogs and I do it for the same reason that you do - to clarify my thinking. I write blogs that search for what I call "Clear Space Thinking" and offer these missives to readers as "primers" for their own thoughts, thinking, insights, and ideas about their world and the ways they work. Recently I decided that my long blogs were not blogs at all because no one ever comments on them. A blog, it seems, is an discourse with your readers - I assume where there is no discourse there is no blog. So I now suggest that I am offering a "workspace service" - it is free, it has no barriers to entry, and there is no time limit on the reader to digest its message. Good bye cruel world of blogging - hello new world of presenting ideas in a weblog type style.

Richard

Posted by Richard Lipscombe at July 27, 2006 3:10 PM

Less is MORE!

Posted by K.Sriram at July 28, 2006 1:02 AM

Sean - you have blown our secret!

I thought you and me had a deal - I would not broadcast that you are in fact secretly plotting to take over the entire TP kingdom if you keep quiet about me pinching all the best words from Tom’s writing and his speeches! That was our plan and you blew it.

I ask myself ...Is this the end of the UK/US ‘special relationship’ Margaret Thatcher constantly talked of .... ‘George’ and ‘Tony’ may need to hear of this :-)

As regards length of posts – I think a mixture on long and short is essential. I have noticed posts with a ‘story’ or something I would call ‘personal emotional’ ALWAYS attracts more comments than those posts of complexity and management jargon … But being a 'simple' person you would expect me to say that wouldn’t you? :-)

I think we have to find what I would call an 'emotional connection.' I notice the same thing on my own Blog - the more personal the post - the more comments I get. There has to be a message there.

Posted by Trevor Gay at July 28, 2006 6:37 AM