Jason Santa Maria, a web designer for Happy Cog Studios and A List Apart, started a recent post with a thought that will ring true for many of us blog readers:

I go to a website and read an article. Man, that was really great. I’d like to comment and ask the author a question. I scroll down… 384 comments. Ugh. Screw this.

His post goes on to suggest a great way to help readers sort through the “comment wasteland” that inevitably follows posts on popular blogs: Milemarkers.  Jason’s concept involves bloggers or some type of community manager reading through the comments and entering a “milemarker” type comment that would highlight important questions raised up until that point.  These would be graphically distinguished from other comments and would link back to the original questions posed by readers with links to relevant responses and other blog posts.  Milemarkers would thereby help readers easily scan comments, picking out only the most valuable contributions.

Example of a Milemarker

Jason concludes with a thought that speaks to everything that went into building the Qwidget: “Good conversation can happen, but we need to give people the tools to make it a useful experience.”  I think Jason’s idea is a fantastic way to make the commenting experience better.  I would love to see Disqus, IntenseDebate, SezWho or JS-Kit incorporate it ASAP.

However, I think it, like those services, will mostly appeal to those of us who already leave the occasional blog comment.  In other words, it appeals to an infinitesimally small fraction of web users.  As Jason himself puts it, “I only have so much available cognitive time I want to invest before participating in a conversation.”

One good question to consider is: For the average user, how much of that limited cognitive time is spent on thinking of a way to begin participating?  Just as often as I see a glut of comments and click away, I read a great article that makes me think and, with lack of immediate inspiration to say something back, I move on.  In that quick instant, bloggers and web publishers in general squander an opportunity to capture greater and greater levels of reader participation.  I liken it to this common situation: You’re at a party.  You see someone that looks intriguing or you overhear an interesting comment.  And before you can think of some cool way to open up a conversation with that person, the window of opportunity closes and you move on.

With the Qwidget, our primary goal is to make the first move towards participation a baby step.