Why You Should Embrace Top Commentator Whores
If you’re having a hard time deciding whether you should follow the recent trend of adding the Show Top Commentators plugin to your Wordpress blog then I’m going to make the decision easy for you.
To do this you’ll just have to ask yourself one question: “Does my blog’s target market run their own website?” If you answer yes to this question then you should be using the show top commentators plugin.
I was first introduced to this plugin over at John Chow’s blog in his late-December Two Plugins To Increase Blog Comments post, and I was initially skeptical of this plugin. My first reaction was that this plugin would be a spammer’s dream come true.
Now, however, I’ve come to the realization that you should embrace top commentator whores. John was right in that the plugin is a good way of increasing community interaction, but there’s another subtle benefit that will mean much more to the long term growth of your blog: The show top commentators plugin will turn casual readers into sneezing fanatics.
If you have a truly remarkable blog with top quality content then you’re losing out by not using this plugin. By turning the casual reader into an everyday reader at the cost of 5 to 10 (or however many are appropriate) linkbacks you’re going to obtain and maintain more readers than you would otherwise.
As you can imagine these top commentator whores already have a website, so they’re more likely than the normal reader to link to your blog. In this current day and age of Google PageRank and Technorati Rankings these types of readers are invaluable to your blog, as they’re likely to attract more readers to your blog that are just like them.
But what do I do about spam?
By using this plugin you’re guaranteed to get some amount of spam, and there are a few things you can do about it. First, the plugin provides a configuration option that allows you to filter out users and/or URLs from showing up in the top commentators. If you find someone routinely abusing your plugin for a site related to content you don’t agree with then just add them to the filter.
You can also mark all of their comments as spam and hope Akismet catches on, and you can also use the various filtering options Wordpress provides to help limit spam. Spam will come to your posts regardless, so the benefits of using this plugin far outweigh the possible spam.
I am a Top Commentator Whore
I want to thank a few blogs in which I have top commentator whore status that helped me come to realize why you should embrace top commentator whores: John Chow dot Com, JohnTP.com, HMTK.com, King Nomar dot Com, and Alex Blogging.
These aren’t the only blogs I’ve whored my comments out to, but without the top commentator plugin I might not have ever visited these blogs (or stayed for very long). Now, however, I visit these blogs for more than whoring comments: I visit for the unique and quality (or in some cases entertaining) content they provide that I would have missed out on if it weren’t for the top commentators plugin.
I just started this blog this week, so comment on this post to be one of the first people to join my community of top commentator whores. What do you have to lose? You already know I’ll love all of my top commentator whores!
Download the Show Top Commentators plugin now.
Tags: show top commentators, wordpress, plugin, whore
If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.
Checkout These Related Posts
83 Comments so far »
HMTKSteve said
on February 23 2007 @ 11:18 pm
I always knew you were a whore!
I’m waiting for the post “top 5 WordPress Top Commentator Whores” to show up on John’s website.
personal finance advice said
on February 23 2007 @ 11:55 pm
Hope that the plugin works well for you and please let us know if you have any issues with it.
robwatts said
on February 24 2007 @ 8:49 am
I just installed this myself about half hour or so ago, I think its a great way of rewarding regular commentators too. If it ups user participation, then its all good.
Ryan J. Parker said
on February 24 2007 @ 9:45 am
Steve, I’m sure he’ll do one of those sooner or later!
Rob, make sure you embrace all of your whores.
Allen.H said
on February 24 2007 @ 4:16 pm
Obviously you and I have regarding this plugin, but thanks for dropping by at AlleNation and leaving your opinion!
Regards,
Allen.H
VinayM said
on February 24 2007 @ 11:00 pm
wow - i didnt think reading an article could make me so proud to be a whore. Actually i dont think I am enough of a whore yet, but I genuinely aspire to be a big ho. Reading your engaging article has removed some of the moral doubt I was facing. Thank you for encouraging bloggers to make it rain on their comment whores
Ryan J. Parker said
on February 25 2007 @ 2:25 pm
Vinay, I’m confident you can be a great commentator whore. Just make sure you provide a thought provoking comment on any comment you make so that you’re actually providing solid discussion and you’ll climb the ranks of top commentator whores in no time.
I also know that a comment whore like yourself would fit in just great here, so go ahead and whore away!
Clickfire said
on February 26 2007 @ 12:02 am
Just installed the plugin. Took about about 2 minutes and looks great. It will be interesting to see if this is makes any difference.
Ryan J. Parker said
on February 26 2007 @ 12:14 am
Clickfire, I hope you get some good whores.
It obviously helps to have a blog that’s updated regularly or it’ll make it tough for people to comment on a regular basis.
Wild Bluff Matt said
on February 26 2007 @ 1:28 pm
Glorious. I’m going to grab that plugin and start whorin’ it up all over town.
Ryan J. Parker said
on February 26 2007 @ 3:57 pm
Matt, all whores are welcome here.
Good luck in your quest to achieve top ho status.
Stuart said
on February 26 2007 @ 7:54 pm
Very nice post man, I need to install this on my blog. Thanks.
Ryan J. Parker said
on February 26 2007 @ 8:23 pm
Stuart, I see you installed it on your blog… nice going! Hope you get some good top commentator whores.
Oh, and happy birthday!
Nate Whitehill said
on February 27 2007 @ 6:06 am
Good call! Top commentators are the sheezy!
Rekzai said
on February 28 2007 @ 12:18 am
Great feature, I first saw it on shoemoneys blog =)
sourcer said
on March 1 2007 @ 4:51 pm
Thanks for mentioning my blog there and btw you have a good point there about top commentators plugin.
Robert Irizarry said
on March 22 2007 @ 8:05 pm
Wordpress bloggers have all the fun. Unfortunately, nothing like this is available for Blogger (to my knowledge). Maybe one of the enterprising Blogger hackers will cook up something.
derrich said
on April 7 2007 @ 11:16 am
I’ve noticed that people were finding our blogs by way of Google…searching for “Top Commentator”. Looks like you got the #1 spot…followed by John Chow and then me. You think Google is trying to tell us something?
Ryan J. Parker said
on April 7 2007 @ 11:39 am
derrich, maybe Google says you should love your top commentator whores.
Court said
on May 15 2007 @ 1:52 pm
I do my fair share of comment whoring too. I figure it’s fair since I installed it on my site as well. Plus I’ve found quite a few daily reads searching for top comment sites.
MoneyNing said
on June 3 2007 @ 2:12 am
I have this plugin and I love it. I also like to leave comments on other people’s site to increase my exposure!
Ryan said
on September 17 2007 @ 11:53 am
I have only truly seen a small increase since I implemented it.. but it went from zero to a few in just a day or so. I haven’t even been keeping up with posting and that so I could definitely see the benefit.
Ar2r said
on September 25 2007 @ 4:46 am
Great article!
By the way… Practical Neural Network Recipes in C++ - good boook! respekt!
Sol Lederman said
on February 15 2008 @ 10:48 pm
I used to think commenting, from a “build up your blog” perspective, was only good for getting a bunch of (mostly) “no follow” links to your blog which don’t give you link juice. Now I’m liking the idea of finding blogs, like this one, that have a top commentator plugin and commenting enough to get on the list. Then I get a free bump in my Technorati authority, maybe a new reader or two to my own blog.
An obvious challenge, though, is dealing with people who spam comments just to get the link (and Technorati hit). Anyway, I’m glad to get in on the ground floor of your acknowledging top commentators. Hmmm… Maybe I’ll add the plug-in to my own blog. I need to think about it.
James Christnesen said
on March 4 2008 @ 11:57 pm
A simple formula is all you need…
As technorati spam approaches 1/2 of comments, you turn off top commentator. As long as you still have good comments going, it’s a great add-on.
项链 said
on July 2 2008 @ 10:11 pm
I have used this plugin for a long time. It increased traffic.
web hosting said
on August 2 2008 @ 7:56 pm
Actually, i get spam comments without using anything…and my blog isn’t even that popular….it’s those damn russians.
website design said
on August 23 2008 @ 2:12 pm
i have downloaded the plugin and I find it very helpful to me. It is also a good way to say thanks to all my visitors.
Gossip said
on September 1 2008 @ 1:48 pm
The plugin is very good for blog popularity in my opinion!
rubber seal said
on September 13 2008 @ 2:13 am
So this good news as I’m a backlinks whore too. Everyone want a good backlinks and top commentator is helping very much!
Melissa said
on October 8 2008 @ 7:22 am
I love the top commentator plugin yo
SoLinkable said
on October 9 2008 @ 8:48 pm
I’ve whored myself out as well… Its hard not to be taked in by it.
Oh - and also, my site uses a variation on “top commentators”, so feel free to whore yourself out on my site too
savings said
on November 13 2008 @ 11:04 am
The pluging is very good for blog popularity in my opinion! If nothing else increases your traffic trend over time
rados's salon equipment said
on November 13 2008 @ 2:14 pm
I’ve tried setting up this plugin on my site, but I guess I’m not that much tech savvy.
I find that this plugin is so cool, but I guess I must wait for my cousin to help me out with the instalation
Rados
serviced office space said
on November 29 2008 @ 7:40 am
Does it require a good knowledge of coding to implement this plugin?
I think sites/blogs that have this plugin will definitely get more traffic than those that doen’t.
Linda Albicans said
on December 26 2008 @ 5:18 am
Ok, got it. I won’t hide from the fact that I too came upon ur blog thru the top commentator plug in. But would now be a regular commentator on ur blog as I find some posts interesting and tempting to comment on.
thx.
Linda Albicans.
ajay said
on January 25 2009 @ 5:17 am
hi thats really working site comes in listing when comming in top commentators.
thank you…
Vida said
on February 4 2009 @ 9:29 am
Top Commentator is really one being followed by bloggers and making a community.
Classifieds said
on February 8 2009 @ 3:30 pm
Top commentator is a great way to reward the posters who post daily on your blog
Vida said
on February 10 2009 @ 3:29 pm
i like to read and explore this kind of site.
Jeremy said
on February 25 2009 @ 6:02 pm
I agree with you 100% because people have to actually read the post to make a quality comment and enough quality comments = top commentator.
cars prices said
on March 4 2009 @ 3:28 am
in one side, i have used top commentator and make it dofollow to promote my blog. but in other side there are a lot of spammer will spy your box! lol…
But for me its ok. Its just about habit
Thanks a lot for share nice articles here..
Regards,
Angel
Kai Lo said
on March 21 2009 @ 6:20 pm
You are very honest about being a Top Commentator whore. I can say the same thing about myself too. It really helps to be put into the main page of a site with your link and no NoFollow tag. Fastest way to build pagerank!
Savings said
on May 14 2009 @ 10:06 am
hi thats really working site comes in listing when comming in top commentators.
thank you…
Gagner de l'argent enligne said
on May 14 2009 @ 7:19 pm
it’s very helpful. thank you!
Paper planes said
on June 18 2009 @ 3:18 am
Ohh
I didnt knew by reading this article could make me so proud to be a whore. lol
I’m confident one can be a great commentator whore.
Personally i dnt think its bad to be a top commentator or in this article language (Whores).Top commentator is a great way to reward the posters who post daily on your blog
Thank you for encouraging bloggers to make it rain on their comment whores
Houston SEO said
on June 24 2009 @ 10:59 am
If you can use this in partnership with Akismet (or another good spam blocking plug in) or just manually approve comments if you are able (to assure that you don’t get spammed to death) I think it can be a highly effective way to drive participation on your website. Building communities and getting people to jump in and comment in the beginning can be difficult. This plug in is a great way to reward those who do jump in and participate.
SaveYourMarriage said
on July 2 2009 @ 12:19 pm
I have just heard about this plug in and it sounds great! Also taking the time to find other blogs with it to leave comments on - makes it worthwhile for the links. Thanks for your information.
vera bradley said
on July 9 2009 @ 1:50 am
Yeah this happened a lot to my blog when I had the top commentators plugin too. I got so sick of it eventually and just ended it all.
Truck Classifieds said
on August 31 2009 @ 2:49 am
I just installed this myself about two hour or so ago, I think its a great way of rewarding regular commentators too.It will be interesting to see if this is makes any difference.
But I didnt think reading an article could make me so proud to be a whore.
Sandro said
on September 8 2009 @ 12:45 pm
I use such plugin along with Akismet and I approve comments manually. I believe, too, it is a nice way to thank my visitors who leave a quality comment.
mothers day flowers said
on September 10 2009 @ 10:07 am
I am an avid baseball player, and enthusiast except I have never heard this term before. The thing that made me go mabye, was players who stand way up in the box to keep from getting beat by the offspeed pitches, and pitchers like Maddux, and other slooow pitchers.
mothers day flowers said
on September 10 2009 @ 10:08 am
All I can think of is that it would be to stand at the “top step” of the dugout, by the railing (if any - but most dugouts have railings these days). That’s where many players/coaches stand if they’re intently watching the game.
Wayene said
on September 18 2009 @ 11:04 pm
I have used this plugin for my wordpress blogs and it surely helps to get comments from your visitors
Justin Wright said
on October 3 2009 @ 3:01 am
I’d consider myself a top commentator whore as well. But hey, someone has to do it
Damon Day said
on October 6 2009 @ 5:32 pm
Yes, I must admit, I have gotten quite some benefit out of top commenter pluggins, but as you mentioned, I have also found and RSS’d some very good sites that I would not have found if it had not been for that pluggin.
San Diego Wedding DJ said
on October 19 2009 @ 6:21 pm
No doubt about it, the Top Commentator plugin is a hit. I’ve had a serious increase in traffic since I started using it.
Steve D'Agostino said
on October 19 2009 @ 6:35 pm
I am surely becoming said whore. I have installed the widget in the last week, but my traffic doesn’t seem to be increasing. How does that work exactly? Maybe now that I’m asking to be included on folks’ TC lists, people will start noticing (maybe?)
hair lose said
on October 27 2009 @ 12:06 pm
I have no idea what the commentator was talking about so my guess here is that it deals with a pitchers front foot landing a little early during his delivery.
used tires said
on November 1 2009 @ 4:24 am
If it were up to me all blogs should have top commentators on their default wordpress theme =D It’s just a win-win for both blog owner and visitor! =D
Till then,
Jean
Bryan said
on November 3 2009 @ 11:24 pm
Ryan,
I guess I’m still confused on the top commentator plugin? The way I understand it is you make ‘x’ amount of comments, you’ll be placed in the “Top Commentators” list? If that’s the case, why is it that I see a ton of blogs with people making a ton of quality, interactive comments, but there are only 2 to 5 people listed on the “top commentators” list with just 1 comment?
Overall, I guess my question here is why wouldn’t those who make top quality comments and clearly have more than those listed in the top commentators area, not show up?
Thanks again for the post!
- Bryan
michelle said
on November 6 2009 @ 2:49 am
top commentator wordpress plugin is a great way to appreciate your visitors because, they can also gain backlinks while reading and commenting to your blog post
car said
on November 6 2009 @ 11:20 am
I have tried do commenting too
and it works. but i got question, is it good for seo if in one moment i stop commenting on those blogs my links go away?
Christorpher said
on November 23 2009 @ 5:11 pm
Success isn’t permanent, and failure isn’t fatal.
Chandra Wijaya said
on December 2 2009 @ 5:25 am
Is there any timeout for this time commentators plugin?
silicone breast implants said
on December 2 2009 @ 8:49 am
The difference in his england and liverpool performances is the job he’s asked to do.For england he’s expected to hold a position and sacrifice his own natural game but for liverpool he’s allowed to take the ball and drive on into goal scoring positions.
Helzehen said
on December 5 2009 @ 8:11 pm
Didn’t know the top commentator plugin was so useful..
I’m going to have to go find some of these sites and make myself a full-fledged whore now.
Wahoo!
Cake Decorating Ideas said
on December 13 2009 @ 11:55 pm
Although I’m late to this party, having only recently learned about the Top Commentator plugin, I appreciate it also for the new content readers add to my sites by using it, which is great in Google’s eyes.
laser said
on December 14 2009 @ 4:09 pm
does this site has the Top Commentators plugin enabled? it looks like it’s not enabled
Guildford said
on December 21 2009 @ 2:48 am
This is a great plugin. so use to it.
Designer Resources said
on December 22 2009 @ 9:19 pm
Thanks for your post.
Boxing Bags said
on January 3 2010 @ 1:41 pm
Haha - I will keep this in mind!
Treasure Coach Review said
on January 4 2010 @ 2:49 pm
Thanks for the informative post. I think this may have converted me to using wordpress instead of blogger. There are so many more options and cool plugins.
Thanks for the post. How does Top Commentator work exactly?
Helen Dangote said
on January 30 2010 @ 12:36 pm
Yeah this happened a lot to my blog when I had the top commentators plugin too. I got so sick of it eventually and just ended it all.
picnic catering said
on February 8 2010 @ 11:56 am
Wow this is very good post. i rarely feeling very happy nice post.
The Woftam Awards said
on February 18 2010 @ 3:34 am
I’ll need to do some more research now on becoming a Top Commentator ho … can’t imagine how I’m going to tell my husband, lol.
radyo dinle said
on February 26 2010 @ 6:06 pm
Hope you are feeling better this evening and I know first hand the discomfort of having 4 wisdom teeth pulled. Take care and thanks for hosting the carnival even being under the weather. Best wishes,
radyo dinle said
on February 26 2010 @ 6:06 pm
I know first hand the discomfort of having 4 wisdom teeth pulled. Take care and thanks for hosting the carnival even being under the weather. Best wishes, thanks
radyo dinle said
on February 26 2010 @ 6:06 pm
My name got hijacked on another blog, but as soon as I posted a comment, still under the same same, the link from the Top Commentator bar reverted back to my URL. Sneaky!
radyo dinle said
on February 26 2010 @ 6:07 pm
Hi John, I didn’t create the original just fixed a couple of flaws in it. Still, it’s a good plugin regardless
radyo dinle said
on February 26 2010 @ 6:08 pm
I know this is an older post, but I wanted to say thank you very much for this update – I was using the other version and found some links hijacked today. I also posted about it and provided a link here for other people to find.
radyo dinle said
on February 26 2010 @ 6:08 pm
Hi Sarah, thanks for the update. What would happen though if someone guess your emaila address, I suppose its a good idea to use a non obvious one, cheers MAl
Comment RSS · TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Pingbacks/Trackbacks
Pingback on November 8 2009 @ 5:31 pm