Stuart Henshall writes about Conversational Blogging here and here .... a   current favourite area of interest and pre-occupation. He points to a great article by Steve Bowbrick in the Guardian -  Secret of their success , which states :

"The best blogs are written with conversation in mind, I've noticed that good blogging is a kind of conversation. Not the literal, verbal conversation of a face-to-face encounter, but the give-and-take of an unconditional and open dialogue."

Stuart raises some issues that i've been pondering over (and expressed a few views in a short post i called Blogs and Conversations), ever since i started blogging a month ago.  Some excerpts from his posts on the topic - my adds in purple :  

"There's certainly a good degree of truth in it (he refers to the Guardian article here).  My question is for myself as well.  If Conversation Blogging is humming  why do I see so few comments on mine or other blogs (except for the real noted ones)? What the reason for the reticence?  Why don't we comment more?  Are we reading them all though newsreaders? "

Keep looking for more stuff .... he has some neat thoughts on the design and layout of "Professional Blogs" and draws comparisons from observations of youth blogs on LiveJournal or Blurty.  

"I'm really thinking we must look at the "professional blog" formats really demonstrated by the Radio / MT professionals that have taken it up  versus the 18/24 year old who has a substantially richer feedback environment and are using them not just to "tell the world". They also have friends and profile components. "

"Examples are: 

Guestmap, SignMyGuestbook, Zonkboard (a blabber board). Various Sitemeters, geo sites like Geobytes  and more playfully imood:  (keep in touch with others moods). "

"Sometimes the threads die to the outside world.  Other times they are lost in a phone call.  What struck me was looking at Live Journal and Blurty pages recently.  Many had comments in double digits.  More like Asynchonous IM. When you throw a post out there it is nice to get something back. A big thanks to all recent commenters!

Now I'm still not sure about the correct protocol for answering comments.  In the comments thread?  Somewhere else?  As the "blogging community" is amorphous, there aren't the "cues" that one finds in RYZE or in Live Journal. 

So what "values" would you promote to create a successful small blogging community? Is there an illustration already out there?"