Featured Posts... What Are They ? How Do You Get One ? What Gets Featured, and What Does Not ?

Bill in # 49:  Not to worry.  Although your comment is long, I personally tend to make some very long comments on other folk's posts.  I can be just a tad long-winded myself.  Often, though, when I DO that... I end up leaving the comment as I made it, and then turning that extra-long comment into a post of its own.

Ken in # 48:  I know you were trying to be helpful, but if you would be so kind, I would prefer to "police" my own blog posts.  But, thanks for your concern.

Ken in # 48... part II:  I totally suggest that you read all of the comments on MY posts before you yourself comment... if you can.  I have ALWAYS had excellent comments, and excellent and incisive commentors... I both pride myself on that, and am also very proud of those who DO comment on my posts.  Also... if because you have not read all the comments, and end up saying things that have already been covered once, or even several times... it shows a kind of disrespect for the intelligence of the commentors who have gone before.

We do a dialogue here.  Those who comment generally DO read all of the existing comments before THEY comment.  AND... often-times... after they have commented, they will return at a later time, and read the additional comments made, and also look for later comments by new commentors who are responding back to them... as well as to myself.

One thing you may have missed... if you did not read the preceeding comments... it the hint I made about this post being made a Featured post... which it has not yet BEEN made.  I don't expect it to, either.  Without being featured, the post has reached fifty-one comments.  Not bad for a non-featured post... doncha think ?

And Ken... as you were saying Wala... I am guessing that you meant to say the French word Voila... which means... "there it is !"

Also, Ken... regarding the two posts about the city park... I don't see the problem.  These are Localism posts... just like the ones about favorite restaurants are Localism posts.  When some out-of-towners see those posts, after a while they begin to see the writer as an agent who really knows the area... and often call her or him to use as their buyer's agent.

Note to Bill:  Your extended comment was pretty much a re-statment of many of the comments that had gone before.  From the way your comment was written... I did wonder if you had A) read all of my original post before commenting, and B) read most or all of the preceeding comments.

Re-stating what was already said is fine... but when you do it, and don't refer to the orginal commentor or commentors who said it, and also sound like you are stating it for the first time... it can "appear" that you didn't read before you spoke.  Don't know if you don't care about looking that way... but, it's just a thought.  Just my thought, here.

I know you talked about algorithyms, and quoted quite a few statistics... and I do wonder if that really IS how Active Rain picks the Featured Posts. 

If so, computer-wise, it may be helpful... but "people-wise"... it misses out on a whole lot of the human'ness that we Rainers have, and continue to project.

Final note:  If you had read the full post, you might have seen that the point was to find out the personal reactions of the commentors... which they did give... and not postulate a theory about algorithyms.  I wanted to hear about your personal experiences... so we all could share them, and so perhaps each of us could take something from them WITH us... after reading.

Am I making any sense here ?  Hope so.  Have a great Sunday... take care...

Bill:  After reading your excellent comment # 56... I now understand where you were coming from.  With that in mind, I have "re-worked" my comment # 53... so it is no longer as "confrontational" as it was.  I am sorry it sounded so "rant'ish."

As for MY Sunday... luckily I got up early enough... so I still will have time for my morning nap.  As to exactly when I will take my "afternoon nap"... well... that is still to be decided.  Sometimes I find my OWN blog posts SO exciting, that they put ME to sleep.  And, I might add... that is often a great idea.

Have a great Sunday... but remember to leave time for your nap.  Now... where did I put my "blankie ?"

Chris Ann:  One of the points I was trying to make... and I guess I could have made it better... is that so often... when I just experience some sort of a "brainstorm"... and just sit down and let the post "flow"... it ends up coming out so much better than if I had worked on it for a week... or two.  And then, it gets featured.  The best answer to this question, and to most questions... is still... "it depends.

 Tracy:  I am happy to answer your question.  About a month ago... Active Rain came out with a policy that recognized that there are a TON of posts written every day, and made the realization that they could not POSSIBLY keep up with all of them... as far as deciding what posts to FEATURE.  So, they came up with the gold button at the top-right of each post. 

When anyone reading any particular post... thinks that it is an especially good post... and thinks to themselves... "gee, this post should be featured... it's so good."  If that happens, that person can go to the upper right and click on the "suggest" button... which kind of "flags" the post... to indicate to the folks who decide these things at Active Rain... that that they should read that particular post... as it might be one that is good enough to feature.

And... as an incentive or a reward for us Members to DO thing button-pressing... Active Rain keeps track of the number of times you pressed that "suggest" button... and Active Rain agreed with you... that the post was good enough to Feature... so they did.  Once you have "suggested" five posts that you think should be featured... and Active Rain DOES end up Featuring it... you get your little    Purple Star under your picture.  It's kinda like a boy scout merit badge, or a girl scout proficiency badge... if they still call them that.