Closing in on 500,000 comments

We’re on track to reach half a million comments before the week is out (late Thursday, early Friday by the looks). Who will be number 500,000?

As always, its nice to mark these milestones because it’s a reminder of what a big and vibrant community this is. Those half a million comments have sure made writing here a lot more fun than it would have been if no-one wrote back. Cheers.

And congrats to the newer generation of authors for injecting a new energy and direction into the pieces.

For the data geeks – we passed 400,000 on April 18 and averaged 400 a day since. 300,000 on July 24 2011, 200,000 on September 25 2010, and 100,000 on July 2 2009. The first comment was on August 17 2007 – we’ve averaged 255 comments a day over The Standard‘s life.

The trend will see us hit 1 million August 3 2015….

a million comments

…so … mark that date I guess.

lprent: And the winner was xtasy…

41 comments on “Closing in on 500,000 comments”

Comment numbers have changed to permanent references. Older quoted numbers may no longer identify the same comment.

  1. 1

    Hi, Thanks for the opportunity to be a part of the community at The Standard and submit comments across most of 2012; yet, I’m experiencing a little of both relative and absolute poverty at times now so reading and writing to TS has been deferred due to the neccessities of Survival.
    God Bless You All This Christmas; particularly lprent, Draco, CV, Uturn, Flockie and the many others; U know who you are.
    Love
    The Rogue
    🙂

  2. 2

    Nominations for comment awards are now open (no actual award included).

    Categories:
    • Best
    • Worst
    • Funniest
    • Most bizarre
    • Add your own…

    I note that the first ever comment was made by trythisone on 17/8/2007 at 12:32pm reading:

    Where will it lead? 😉

    A fair question, and the answer is still a work in progress. We’ll get back to you.

    1. 2.1

      Cheers r0b ,
      I nominate DunnoKeyo for

      Least read comment
      Most non sensical comments
      Grace in accepting his new Pseudonym without comment

      🙂

      1. 2.2.1

        Brave? As far as I understand it, he made prolonged annonymous attacks on the party he was a member of, got found out and then ran for the hills like a coward.

        1. 2.2.1.1

          @King Kong…yeah but your understanding never really goes that far, as you appear determined to prove by many comments you make.

          I guess you are just bitter, having hoped to be nominated for bravery yourself, which, I do believe has some foundation. How about “most loved to be hated” poster instead? I believe there would be stiff competition for that place though…
          “Most perverse” ?….

        1. 2.3.1.1

          Darn, and I accidentally turned off the smileys last night whilst looking at new smileys…

          Not aimed at spud at all… 🙂

          Now where is this confounded option…

          Fixed.

    1. 3.1

      Perhaps the 500,000th comment is the trigger – when TS server finally explodes under the strain, and accidentally wipes out the world? That would be ironic. On account of us being here to save the world ‘n stuff.

      1. 3.1.1

        Unless the doomers are wrong and the new agers are right, and the world doesn’t end but the collective consciousness of humanity is transformed into goodness and light.

        In which case, the 500,000th post will be crucial to how the new consciousness forms (start as you mean to go on). I hope it’s QoT 😈 Or Karol 🙂 If it’s Matthew Hooten or King Kong, we’ll all be wishing the world had really ended.

        1. 3.1.1.1

          I’d almost suspect lprent of creating some trapdoor which means when we hit 499,999 all comments briefly go into auto-moderation so he can pick the funniest one …

    2. 3.2

      The world doesn’t end and I don’t think credible astronomical calendars have ever suggested that. That is just what non-thinking people claim, without actually bothering to read what it is that is being said. What the calendars note is simply a physical reality….

      Just as the sun has a cyclical movement and the moon and earth have cyclical movements, so too do pretty much all planets and stars out there. This calendar simply marks a point in time when some of these cycles conicide in a certain way. That is all.

      To suggest that the world is going to end is like saying Ken Ring’s statements that the moon has a gravitational effect on the planet are nonsense.

      Just ask galileo and newton.

      1. 3.2.2

        ..aw! Come on vto! I believe a bit of humour would have been in keeping with CW & r0b’s comments…I mean we all know that the world isn’t going to end on Friday morning; I believe its Friday evening no?

        1. 3.2.2.2

          Oh yes I know.

          Might as well have the 500,000th comment on something like the world ending …….. But you know, the world as we know it may end. We just may not notice it. It may be quite obvious from some point in the future that the earth moved from one previous state into another at exactly this point in time, 5.34pm Friday.

  3. 4

    Well done TS, nearly 500,000 is alot of views and opinions and i also thank TS for having the
    opportunity to put my two bob’s worth in and read other comments.
    Although faces and people are not known by most who leave comments or views,there is a
    connection here on TS,that could explain why TS is a popular site.
    Our polies, should not dismiss and critisize bloggers or commenters too often, an attitude
    adjustment in 2013 is needed.
    I would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone a merry christmas and a happy new year 🙂

  4. 5

    Thanks to you all for your hard work and dedication to the free exchange of ideas and opinions.
    A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

  5. 7

    Sweepstake for the Millionth comment ? Say $1 an entry to go to Oh I dunno a fav Charity like TS or Oncology.

    1. 8.2

      And the winner was xtasy…

      http://thestandard.org.nz/parata-wont-quit-key-wont-sack-her/comment-page-1/#comment-565508

      MSM are towing the line by not being too hard on political issues any more, as their focus is “survival” in a totally new media world, where new competition comes via untold blogs and alternative news sites through the web.

      Their umbilical cord is advertising revenue, and in a very corporatised, and also otherwise very commercialised NZ society, they will focus on light hearted “info-tainment” at best to “inform”, focusing mostly though on trivial, entertaining stories about celebs, sports personalities, music, movies, lifestyle topics galore. And there is always crime, the weather and distorted facts about beneficiaries ripping off WINZ, committing various offences, and what you have. This seems to get ratings, determined by a for decades dumbed-down too large part of the populace, uncritically consuming this crap and having lost most interest in political issues (which actually determine so much of their lives).

      That keeps the government happy, the advertisers happy, the competing, personality branded journos employed, and it above all keeps the elite run “de-facto dictatorship” in total control

      Coming up to xmas the number of comments drops.

      1. 8.2.2

        I can’t believe it: Accidents happen, I suppose!?

        Well, let’s move on to the 1 million then, that is my approach to challenges!

        Thanks anyway. It was not much “effort”, just lucky timing.

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