Top 32 Dakota Free Press Blog Posts: Commenters’ Favorites!

With the Doomsday Clock at two minutes to midnight, the closest to the final bell since 1953, when the Soviets lit their first fusion-based bomb‚ we could say the biggest news story is Trump hasn’t killed us all yet! The mere continuing existence of Dakota Free Press could be another banner story for 2018: despite the fact that Der Führer came to my beloved home state and repeated his threat to take the First Amendment away from anyone who says “bad stuff”, my fearless critique of Republican (and occasional Democratic) foolishness keeps coming!

But to make a “Top Stories of 2018” list that reflects more than my own read, I like to count which stories got us talking the most.

Thus, here’s the list that you created, dear readers: the 2018 Dakota Free Press posts that elicited the most comments. 32 stories racked up 100 or more comments:

Some statistics:

• Total DFP posts in 2018 (not counting this one!): 1,545.
• Total comments on 2018 posts: 28,854.
• Average number of comments per post: 18.7.
• Median number of comments per post: 10.
• Posts with 0 comments: 87 (5.6%).
• Posts with 1 to 9 comments: 642 (41.6%).
• Posts with 10 to 49 comments: 692 (44.8%).
• Posts with 50 to 99 comments: 92 (6.0%).
• Posts with 100 or more comments (listed above): 32 (2.1%).

A good two thirds of these hot conversation starters tied directly to South Dakota. Seven of those 3-figure comment magnets dealt directly with the mid-term election, mostly with the race for Governor. Five of these top talking points dealt primarily with agriculture—the Trump tariffs and, finally, the Farm Bill.

Thank you, readers, for contributing so many thoughts to our discussion of these topics and how they affect South Dakota and the rest of our world. For thirteen years, your comments have challenged me, educated me, and motivated me to write more. Let’s do another thirteen!

Stay tuned: I’ll fire up the database and create a list of the top 2018 stories by views in a little bit!

Bonus Stats: Against my expectations, months with the least comments were January, February, and March, the months in which the Legislature was in Session and when I like to think I do some of my best original and detailed reporting. The hottest months for comments were September and July: