I was with some friends about this the other day and then saw the notion mentioned on Jeremiah O’s blog. People are reading blogs from a feed reader (ie Google Reader) and totally missing out on all the conversation that is happening in the comments. That sucks.
There should be a way for people to easily read and write comments all from something like Google Reader. How cool would it be if I could comment on a podcast from iTunes or from my iPhone.
We need to allow the conversation to take place even in these aggregated environments.
Maybe the lack of this type of capability is a downfall of feeds and a bonus for a widget. It’d be completely possible to make a widget for a blog that allows you to read and write comments on a post.
What do you think?
Oatmeal Stout - Justin Thorp's blog 
I am at least grateful that Google Reader (which I have very recently started using for intercomputer-convenience) tells you how many comments have been left. Having comments feed though, might be too taxing on the system, maybe?
Though it would be a nice option. Especially if it kept track of which threads you have commented on in a separate folder or something and informs you when there are new comments.
At the moment, I simply star ones I comment in; otherwise I forget to check if there are new comments.
There is a Google Reader Summer of Code project or two. Maybe we should poke them and see what they think? It’s cheap, eager, student labor….
Hey Justin. Can you tell me more how you use google reader? I am new to it and not quite on board with it.
It’s a good point. Comment are already supported since at least the RSS 2 spec, but unfortunately few readers and syndication platforms make use of the capability.
Writing comments from software is trickier, as it would necessitate the creation of a standardized interface for posting comments. That’s simple to do, but would be a spammer’s dream.
Using a widget is essentially the same as bundling the comment-posting logic along with the syndicated comment’s content. But it’s questionable how much of an advantage this confers over simply prompting people to visit the site in their browsers after reading the syndicated comments: either every widget installation is a one-off, which is just as inconvenient as clicking through, or you use a standard interface and run into the spammer vulnerability problems born of homogeneity that I mentioned above.
Take a look at gReader Comments (http://www.sixteenseven.com/gReader/). It brings Disqus-enabled blogs’ comments right inside Google Reader for that read/write effect you are trying to find. Now, obviously not all blogs use Disqus (http://www.disqus.com)…but they should.
I agree Justin… Being able to read comments and comment from Google Reader would be hot. It plays on the whole theory that no know cares about your site or wants to visit it! I am all for this!