I've discovered something about comments that I'm embarrassed to say, I should have known already. Let me just start by saying that there are all kinds of little "hidden secrets" scattered all through-out AR. The more time you spend here, the more you'll find where they are, and how you can use them. Here's a couple worth sharing.
Did You Know? There are currently over 1,000,000 posts on ActiveRain, the question by many here is "How Many Comments are There?" Not that there is too much significance in the answer, (or maybe there is) there is a way to tell. At this very second, there are 4,426,343 comments on AR.
Here's the actual comment.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1012006/Another-Happy-Smiling-Customer#4426343
So How do you find the most recent comment on AR? Click on "Blogs" click "All" click "Last Comment", then click "Today" Now open that top post on the left column and scroll down to the last comment. Click on the last comment number. IE:#99 The comment number will appear in your browsers URL / address bar. It's the number located at the end of the URL. IE##4426343. Very cool for us stat trackers and inquiry minds.
Did You Know? ...now this is the coolest. Every Blog post on ActiveRain is numbered. Every comment in every post is numbered as well right? Have you ever wanted to link to another members comment instead of the post? Have you ever seen any other Social Network or Blog where you can? I haven't...until now.
I'll go ahead and use the screaming Christine Bohn comment for this example:
Thanks Chris and BTW - Congrats on your 100K points and your 
new badge!
Every comment on AR appears like this now:
What some members (including myself) might be missing is the #link in each comment. 
Yes, it is the comment number for that post, but it is also a direct link to that individuals comment. Are you kidding me? No! Just "right click" your mouse over it, then "copy the link location" (or click on it and get it from the URL/address bar) and you'll have access to any of the nearly 5,000,000 individual comments on AR. WHOAH!! I never knew this, and AR may be the only place that has this little hidden treasure.
Did You Know? I was so upset this one got by me, I called Bob Stewart and told him what an idiot I felt like. Then we placed a small wager on "How many other members MAY or MAY NOT know about this too? Oh well, you don't have to admit anything here, I'll just go ahead and pay Bob, but know it's here if you need it.
Matt Stigliano knew about it, and was the first to ever email me a link to one of his comments. Just so happens, it's the AR Worlds Record for the longest comment response ever! See for yourself. lol~ Congrats Matt.
Did You Know? I Didn't. Now You Do. Checks in the mail Bob!
I had no clue we could link to individual posts.
Thanks Brad! I learned something new today. Now if I only had the time to play with this new knowledge! :)
I have to say I didn't know, but then again there's alot I don't know on here. LOL!!
I saw someone link to a comment the other day and wondered how. Now I know. Thanks.
I guess I didn't wonder about how many comments there were...but interesting to know we can click on the # and go to the person's actual comment? So....I'll go click after this and see what happens. :)
Oh...so i can copy the link and refer it in a post ...like you did. Cool.
HMMMM I wonder if linking to some of your comments Brad could earn a feature - LOL
Now I can say I learned something today!
Did you realize this after my question to you today? But this is great information. I want to be the biggest fan of AR and have invited some 20 + people. Maybe I'm not the best sales person and should find another line of work.
The nicest thing about Matt's comment is that he was acknowledging the folks who had commented on his post. Many folks never do that.
I do and I know how much work it is, but very much worth the work because it often leads to wonderful conversations and in depth discussions of the subject matter of the post.
Good for Matt.
There is just NOT enough time to learn all there is to know about new technology! I love it when I get great information pounded into my head. Thanks so much.
Joel Carson
Owner/President
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Bad - I did not know about the about the comments. I learn something new everyday.
Brad ..That is Fantastic....I need to change some
thing ...Thank you
B rad - I hope you keep this up. I like to find out about need little tools that I don't know what to do with at this time. Maybe tomorrow I will know.
Brad, That is really something! I had no idea about the link reference. Learn something everyday around here. Speaking of referrals...How is the logo designing working out?
Oh for Pete's sake, who wulda thunk?
Now how can we use this lil feature?
Well we learn something new and fun everday. I hate to say it...but sometimes the comments are better than the blog post....present company included.
Brad, I cannot get it to work! What am I missing?
Hey, I didn't know that! Very cool. And for you to admit "YOU" didn't know this cracks me up. Sorry you lost the bet to Bob. And I am very proud of my badges :)
Hi Brad~ Leave it to you to enlighten us :) I had no clue, but I am still learningin here every single day.
All new to me. This is such cool stuff-thanks Brad.
Cool stuff Brad. Thanks for always bringing the neat hidden Active Rain gems to our attention.
Just one of many, many reasons that I love AR! Plenty to keep me occupied for a very long time! It's been over 2 years now and I'm still as interested as day 1!
Brad - Thanks for the mention. Since we're tooting my horn at the moment, I'd like to add that I posted about this feature on 2/21/2009 in my post titled, "They're at it again: ActiveRain still making changes." I was (and still am) excited about the comments linkability. When a good comment sparks a good idea for a post, its nice to give credit and link back to that comment so everyone can see it (and hopefully read the post and comment on that as well).
Of course, now that you've let the world in on the fact that there is in fact and AR World's Record For Longest Comment Stream, people will be banging down my door to try and dethrone me. So long top spot.
Lenn - Thanks for the compliment. I'm a firm believer in trying to reply to everything. I might miss a few here or there, but I've said it before and I'll say it again - the comments are where the real stuff should be happening. The purpose of a blog post is not a singular point with a definitive end. It should be a chance to open the door to a conversation - especially when we're dealing with a public facing post.
I will not dethrone Matt but will say he is how I knew it was possible. I read his blog! KM
I did not know!! But I do now.
Now......my biggie is why are we no longer able to sort posts by "subscriptions"? This one is making my enjoyment of AR slip real fast.
OK so I read that and I sound like a real whiner. My bad :)
I don't get it... I just clicked on Matt's #24 comment... what will happen?
Actually nothing happened... it just gave me a comment field, like usual.
I did not know but its an interesting and fun fact about AR.
Another morsel to put in the goodies bag. Thanks!
Christine - not much slips by me, but I guess this one, and Matts post about it did?!?! Doh!!
Thanks for letting me use your comment. :-)
Well how about that sports fans. I knew I could click on their name and head to their profile but not the #. I have occassionally noticed that when I'm reading a comment stream that there is a skip in numbers. I'l assuming that means that someone deleted a comment and or their reply to a comment????
I didn't know it either. Not that I want to link to my comment right now but I may someday
Like I just said in my last comment...I learn something new everyday on AR...no lie :)
who knews? Not I... but I'll just add that to the plethora of things i DON'T know about, until now anyways. Thanks.
I had no idea - but you can bet I've got it now! LOL AR is fantabulous - and there are SO many little things that we keep finding. Thanks for sharing this one, my friend!
That's a great thing to know. Thanks!
Matt - Oh great, just rub it in!! lol~ I really do try to read all 12,000 posts each week, what a schmuck I am.
There are definitely some link love win-win opportunities here.
PS. You already know my story about trying to dethrone you!! Remember??? Something about the Gauntlet?? haha!!
Better stop me Matt, I'm starting to go comment link crazy now....
Brad-I didn't notice it..that is powerful..you guys never cease to amaze me! I gotta go try it now!
Thanks for the enlightenment---I never would have discovered all that on my own.
Brad - Well Well Well You learn something new everyday here in the Rain. That's what I'm always saying.
Pretty cool one.
Just when you think you knew everything..... lol
Broker B ~ You can whine anytime, sometimes that's how things get done my friend. lol~ How are you trying to sort? I just went to the Blogroll and was able to sort by subscribed, you must be referring to something different. Let me know what you mean. Thanks. :-)
How's that for reading between the lines??
Kristin - Its hard to dethrone someone who talks too much. Just wait until you get a voicemail from me. I can leave my whole life story on there if they let me.
Sally - Its not about clicking on the #x while reading through the comments, its about getting the link URL from that #x and then using it as a link in something else (a post or an email for example). For example, you recently commented on C Tann-Starr's blog. You wrote:
Holy smokes... that's too cool. I think those who use a graphic image for their photo are missing something.
If I didn't want to cut and paste the text (like I did above), I could just put something like:
Hey everyone, check out what Sally had to say today!
Cindy - I know sometimes I delete posts when someone double posts the same thing. I'm kind of nuts for that kind of stuff. When you do that, there will be a missing number.
Brad - Missing my post pointing out the changes in ActiveRain when you work at ActiveRain should be considered acceptable. The day I discovered you could use the links, I wound up creating a circle of links between two posts and the comments. It got a bit confusing for me. Be careful with the new power.
Brad - I think I may have Matt beat with these recent responses on one of my posts:
#121
#154
I look forward to hearing from the record committee on this. :)
Brad - like most people commenting I had no idea, lots of features just not enough time.
Well, ya give 'em books and send 'em to school, and still they're clueless!.... Man, you are SOOOO on the late show, Bradley!... You've been spending way too much time with your widgets. You need to get out more and smell the Rain!...
Thats pretty amazing that you can actually number this...Thankfully I am busy selling houses so it does not really matter!
News to me and several others too. You're just a wealth of useful information! Thanks Brad~
>.< I have a headache. I had to re-read a couple of those paragraphs several times. LOL. I think I'm still going to have to read them again. Doh!
I had no idea you could do this and I know I'll have to give it a try soon. Fascinating! I'm still trying to find my way around the much changed AR. I'll get it eventually. Of course by then it will no doubt change again. :-)
Wow your still figuring stuff out and your the one i look to for answers. You keep figuring out stuff and ill keep getting the info from you. Thanks!
Since most days my comments are smarter and cooler than my posts, I think I should now write a post containing nothing but links to my best comments. :-)
Not me, but what a feature! You would think that it being blue and underlined would have jumped out at me, but did not. Thanks!
Not me, but what a feature! You would think that it being blue and underlined would have jumped out at me, but did not. Thanks!
Brad,
I didn't know!!! Thanks for another good tip...!!! Thanks, Fran
Hey you always have great informtion to put on a post.
By the way, what is the "easiest way to upload a picture on a blog post" in your opinion??I\d love to know.
Patricia Aulson/Portsmouth NH Real Esatate
OK Brad...
This, I did not know. Cool!
Brad - Very cool tool. Thanks so much for sharing it with all of us.
OK, this I did did not know...but I am bit slow.,
Hi Brad!
I did not know this! I can't imagine I would use it very often, but it is cool to know (if I can remember it next time I need it!) By the way, that is one LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG
comment!
:o))
Hi Brad..Hey we never stop learning, this post just proves you guys are the Greatest. Thanks for continually keeping up to-date with features and the benefits of being here in the Rain.!
Again, new info, Brad. You learn something new everyday, right? It's nice to know that not all the Active Rain gurus are gods. You're mere mortals like the rest of us!
Very cool. I hope you didn't actually bet any real money on that. You know most of us wouldn't be able to figure that out. I'm still excited that I can do fonts in different colors! Great tip for the day. By the way, my comment is number 4,429,363. If there are over a million blogs, that averages out to only 4 comments per blog. Knowing that most of my blogs get more than that, I think there must be a lot of people blogging with no comments.
Brad was a nerd in college:)
Brad, who knew. You are soooooo smart. ;-) Drew, he still is - but a good nerd. ;-)
Great! That sounds simple enough. Thanks!
Mr. Crouch - It is with great sadness that I report to you that your attempt at your claim will be denied. Although your comments are record worthy under normal circumstances, you will find that #121 takes two clicks to get through (this will depend on your browser width and height, but this was independently verified a in a very scientific test), #154 takes 3 clicks, and my opus takes 4 clicks. I realize I may have started a war, but its a war I am willing to work on and win.
Hmmm, we need a good scientific test to prove ourselves. Perhaps we'll both have to write a post of x length that will be featured at the same exact time. We will be forced to not reply to any comments until the following day at which time we will have to reply naturally (with typing "blah blah blah" a thousand times). An independent panel will be asked to verify length and validity of comments (repeating the same basic idea over and over again will bring on penalties). Brad, I'll expect you to set up the First Annual ActiveRain Comment Cage Match Competition at your earliest convenience.
Hi Brad, I sure didn't know these things but then again, I am not surprised either. This is one amazing network, isn't it. We if we had to name and explain all the benefits, the post would possibly be longer than Matt's comment. Especially if we had to include all the resource links. Might as well write a book and try to sell it, right? Hey, that's not a bad idea. We could call it, "Blogging Benefits of AcctiveRain for Dummies" ( as long as we define dummy as anyone that is not an ActiveRain member). :-)
Definately count me in as one who didn't know -
I just recently saw the # thing but never paid any attention to it, but now I know. Thanks Brad.
Well, Brad...count me in among the masses...I didn't know about the comment link either...but come on! Why didn't we know? It's blue and underlined...what should that tell us by default? LINK! Thanks for sharing!
Brad - yet another little interesting fact about AR I didn't know. And Matt - LOL! I'd be a spectator to the cage match competition! Bring it on...
Wow, talk about an interesting AR factoid! I would never have figured that one out, thanks for bringing it to the light of day.
That is very cool. A great way to continue a conversation in a new blog post.
Brad - very interesting information...I didn't know that about comments...every day I learn something new..
With smiles,
Bo
Howdy there Brad
I learned about that a bit ago. About the comments in the community.
I liked the numbers being added to the comments, but I didn't know we could use it to link to the comment.
Brad, Yet another great post.
Thanks Brad! I had no idea--good to be in the know!
Thanks for letting me know.
Brad: A new one for me... Now we see why AR pays you the BIG BUCKS !
A counter? So that's what Bob and Jon do, sit around and number all the comments. Mystery solved.
kk
That is really cool ~ I'm off to check it out.
I love it. Some agents post comments that embellish the information in the blog post to the extent that the comment becomes the context of the blog.
I noticed the numbers, but didnt know you could link all of the comments from that person. I will have to check it out, just because. Cant see why I would need it and cant say that I know of another site that provides the capability. But maybe after I test it out, I'll see the benefit. Thanks Brad. Informative post as always.
Great info Brad - keep the nuances about Activerain coming! It just keeps getting better!
http://www.PoconoLandAndHomes.com
hi Brad, first thanks for the great network here, I don't know, don't know that knowing will make much difference to me now, but will of course stick around and see how all the other AR'ers use it or abuse it and then learn as I go, business as usual for me, rarely am I the first one on the ship, but often I can be the last one off. :) thanks for all you do for us.
Not only did I not know..but I would never think about it either...:) But now that you mentioned it... pretty cool. !!! :)
Very Cool, Brad. This little trick of linking to comments is "great to know" stuff!
There are lots of great posts here at AR, but there are some real "jewels" buried in the comments. Now we can highlight them.
Thanks.
You learn something new every day!
Portsmouth NH Real Estate
Brad,
Thanks for enlightning us once again. I did not know any of this my friend!
Brad --- thanks so much --- I have already used this information this morning. I try not to miss your blogs --- I learn something with each one of them.
I must admit I didn't know this, but then, we have you Brad. I am so happy that you are always looking for new and better things to do here on Active Rain and pass that information along. Thank you.
Catherine in NY.
How cool is that! I also had no idea, but I think we're a pretty big group of clueless, yet intelligent, individuals! Thanks for pointing out another reason why AR is the BEST!
Isn't there a saying that goes...if you're learning, you're growing. If you're growing, you're learning. Well...whatever it is thanks for helping us all grow and learn.
Wow good to know!
Thanks!
Brad, I tried right clicking, left clicking, I am just click challenged I guess ... trying to comment on one of your comments... I will keep trying... what is my problem?
Something new every day, so much to learn-so little time.
Brad,
There is so much to active rain that I only try to use the basic functions. I will leave the fancy stuff to you and the AR Gods
I want 100,000...or do I?? J. I love reading everyone's posts and hope my posts are revelent and worth while.
WOW! Pretty cool. AR is doggone amazing. Love being here with you guys.
Later.
Well Brad as usual I've learned something new from reading your blog. I actually had wondered what the purpose of those numbers were, besides numbering the comments.
Once again, thanks Brad for the info. I didn't know, but now I do. I have yet to read one of your posts where I don't learn something new.
I didn't know but I am glad I do now. I enjoy learning new things in the Rain.
Very cool. I hope you didn't actually bet any real money on that. You know most of us wouldn't be able to figure that out. I'm still excited that I can do fonts in different colors! Great tip for the day. By the way, my comment is number 4,429,363. If there are over a million blogs, that averages out to only 4 comments per blog. Knowing that most of my blogs get more than that, I think there must be a lot of people blogging with no comments.
Linda - here's yet another "Did You Know" about comments.
Did you know that your own comment on another members Blog post can actually inspire a post of your own?
There is great value to the "blog comment" and we see it in the "rain" everyday. :-))
Brad - No, I didn't know, but I do now! Thank you! :)
Brad,
Lot of stuff I don't know yet here on AR, but I keep on reading your posts and will eventually catch up to most of them. Hopefully, one day.
Brad- I rarely think of blog subjects by myself! I get my inspiration from posts that I read. Thanks for commenting on my post.
Brad- I rarely think of blog subjects by myself! I get my inspiration from posts that I read. Thanks for commenting on my post.
I'll admit to not knowing this before. =) And that comment of Christine's made me smile. Good choice!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, good to know! Always enjoy your educational posts-got you on speed dial!
Brad - Didn't know. I am having a hard time just getting to learn everything AR has, let alone keeping up with all the new changes almost daily. I do love it though.
Troy - There is a lot to learn in this community, just eat the elephant one bite at a time and take baby steps. You'll go from crawling to walking and then running in no time at all. You'll get as much out of it as you put into it and maybe more. :-)
This is a really duhhh moment. What is the value of linking to a comment? In what cirucmstances would we do that?
M. Suzi - great question. Let's say you left a comment on a Blog post that had over 100 comments on it and the person who left the comment made a really good point, or shared something priceless that you wanted to share with someone else.
Now you could take the link to that comment, send it to anyone or everyone, and they won't have to come to the post and scroll around looking for the comment you are referring to.
Let's take your comment for example, I can right click on the #116, copy the link location: http://activerain.com/blogsview/1013423/activerain-comments-did-you-know-#6669439 then send this link to anyone who ever asks me, "what's the point of numbering comments and why the link?"
Then I can have a second link that takes them to #117 http://activerain.com/blogsview/1013423/activerain-comments-did-you-know-#6670160 which will give them this answer. This example in and of itself would save me time and bring additional value to my blog. Often times, some of the comments from others on my Blog posts are better than the Blog post I've written.
Hope this makes sense. :-)