The total number of comments on a post is probably one of the better indicators that a blog post met the interestingness test.

Here are the top 10 most commented on posts on RCG:

1. 8 Common Mistakes Made By Real Estate Bloggers – 70 comments
2. You Have to Wonder…. – 66 comments
3. Paying for the Privilege of Marginalization – 56 comments
4. Adding Some Sun to Rain City Guide – 49 comments
5. Why Google Base Matters – 48 comments
6. Agents and Consumers – A Perplexing Business Model – 43 comments
7. Is Your Earnest Money Protected By The Finance Contingency? – 40 comments
8. Redfin – Something to think about. – 39 comments
9. The Lame List Part II – MLS Rules – 35 comments
10. Something’s Afoot in the Real Estate Business – but what does it mean and where is it going? – 32 comments

Here’s some of the common themes I see running through these posts:

• Controversy. They give a strong opinion on a controversial topic.
• On Topic. Rain City Guide is about real estate and the blog posts that are most commented on are all about real estate. While not surprising, I think it is worth noting that off topic posts are do not generate as much interest.
• Minimal moderation. This may not be readily apparent to everyone else, but I haven’t had to moderate or remove almost any comments on any of these blog posts.
• No begging for comments. None of the posts asked the users to comment… For example, not one of them states “What do you think?” at the end. I like to think that a good blog post “inspires” users to comment as oppose to asks them.

So… What do you think? 😉

Update: Paying people to comment is pretty darn effective as well. Looks like Hanan is giving away 100 bucks to one lucky person if enough of us go over to his site and leave a comment!