I took a page out of Jon’s playbook and made a few minor modifications to the House of Rapp CMS code.
Now, when you leave a comment, you’ll notice that there’s a checkbox titled “Subscribe to comments”. If you select this checkbox, the system will automatically notify you when someone posts a subsequent comment on that entry. This fixes one of the major drawbacks of the comment system, the inability to have any kind of timely conversation due to the fact that you never know when someone has responded to what you’ve written.
If you’re worried about a deluge of email, don’t be. Anytime the system emails you a notification, it will include a link you can use to unsubscribe yourself from that entry, as well as the option of blocking all notification emails from the House of Rapp if you so choose.
I added the subscribe-to-comments feature because as I look over the 233 entries and 422 comments currently on the books, I’ve come to realize that the comments section is a great way of exchanging thoughts and fleshing out ideas with others. The recent Election Results entry is a good example, as is the Thunderbird crash post.
Knock on wood, I haven’t had the problems with comment spam, flame wars, etc. that others have had to deal with. The database is clean. As a general policy, I leave comments open on all entries regardless of age. So if you want to get in on the discussion, try the subscribe-to-comments tool.