A few days ago John Chow got a batch of free pens from a friend who owns a pen store. Since John doesn’t really need dozens of pens, he decided to give them away to the top commentators on his website. That was generous of John since he’s going to have to fork out the shipping even though the pens were free. That’s all good great and grand but what I don’t understand is why people suddenly started commenting like crazy for a couple of free pens.
If you look at the comments, people went nuts. now I’m not criticizing the fact that people went overboard on posting comments. Quite the opposite, that’s exactly what John has been fishing for with both the link bait and the pen bait. What I don’t get though is why these people haven’t been in the game from day 1 for the backlink. Having spent some time at the top I can say with certainty that it’s a significant backlink. Good quality one way backlinks are gold people. Pens cost a couple of bucks.
So am I content to merely rant and rave about this? Oh no. Since people love the pens so much, if I’m fortunate enough to win some, I’m going to start my own contest to redistribute them to see if I can get a backlink or two in return. Since John is the root of all evil, nothing I will do can match what he’s accomplished. But hopefully this makes for a nice baby step in the right direction 
Promotional Pens // Feb 15, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Hi email me & ill send you a free pen !!
HMTKSteve // Feb 17, 2007 at 9:46 am
I used to comment up a storm on John’s site but now I don’t.
I think part of it has to do with the top commentator plugin.
I saw a mad rush by some commentors to dig way back into John’s archive and just dump comments on old posts.
I do have the top commentator plugin on my blog but, I just moved to Wordpress. I’ll see what sort of affect it has on my blog. If it results in good comments I’ll keep it. If it leads to comment spam than I will drop it.
infonote // Feb 17, 2007 at 1:26 pm
Popular bloggers will eventually remove the top commentator plugin due to the same problems Digg faced i.e. SPAM.
Gary // Feb 17, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Honestly, i think the commentator plugin is like everything else in the world . . . it works well when people don’t abuse it and it’s just too bad that people will always figure a way out to automate things through programs and all that kind of stuff. I’m still debating whether or not to give away things too. Right now, I feel that I’m going to have to so that i can get the first initial batch.
Marc // Feb 17, 2007 at 7:24 pm
They might, but we’ll have to see. John Chow’s latest plan for spreading some community love is very interesting and won’t be subject to spam. That might prove to be a workable new model in community involvement.
Marc // Feb 17, 2007 at 7:32 pm
As far as the giveaways are concerned, I think they’re helpful if there’s some stuff you need to get rid of like John Chow does. While fostering community involvement is important it’s best to do by stimulating them with ideas rather than trinkets. Besides, as mentioned in this post, if the links don’t have nofollows in the top commentators list then only the smart one will understand the value
Trinkets just tend to just stimulate the “give me stuff for free” gang.
My New Choice // Feb 18, 2007 at 2:38 am
The top commentator plugin has certainly increased the volume of his comments though. I recently installed it myself and saw my level of comments rise from just about none to a little above none.
I’ve been trying to get a prize for a contest as well but am trying to find something reasonable, as it will be coming out of my pocket and I don’t have much to give away.
Marc // Feb 21, 2007 at 1:43 pm
People love gadgets. John’s Lego memory stick for example. Go find something relatively unique in the specialty shops. You’ll pay a little bit more but it will pay dividends since few people will likely have something like that. Thinkgeek is always a fun place for something weird and different but it’s more tech oriented. Or given that you’ve got a financial blog, why not take out a $20 bill and put it up for grabs. Make it fun by taking pictures of it, make a video, etc…