Thursday, December 21, 2006
Blogging Basics. The Convenience of Comments
The convenience of comments in a blog has been discussed for quite a long time. Despite many people think that a blog without comments isn't really a blog, many bloggers do not allow comments in their blogs. Are comments necessary to a blog? In this article you'll find why some bloggers think it's better not having comments and why I think comments are convenient but not necessary to a blog.
The most common reasons of bloggers who don't allow comments in their blogs seem to be spam and the time needed to manage them. I'm not going to talk about spam here, so let's see what's the deal with comment management.
Comment management in a high traffic blog can become a nightmare (I guess). As a blog manager, you have to filter spam and comments promoting racism and hate (which can be considered a sort of spam). Besides that, it's almost impossible to avoid reading them and even you may feel compelled to answer every objection made there. As you can see it can be a very time consuming task.
Another problem that can arise from comments is flaming. Mark Bernstein argues against comments and trackbacks in a blog:
and Bernstein ends saying:
We can summarize the reasons for including comments in a blog:
In my opinion, it depends on your blog traffic and your blogging goals. Enable comments if the volume your blog receive is low enough to manage them without sacrificing writing quality. But if you write looking for an answer to a problem, comments are crucial for you (although some say that kind of articles should be posted to a forum instead of a blog, I think you can write in your blog about whatever you want). Charles Nelson has a very interesting and rather acadamic article about blogging, comments and learning.
There's a third approach: You can allow comments for a short period of time, one or to weeks for example. Older posts are less likely to receive genuine and constructive comments and when you close the comments on old posts you are closing a door for spam too.
I think that what makes a blog a (modern) blog is not comments but a way of social interaction. So, if you're thinking not allowing comments in your blog you need to enable and encourage another form of interaction. Comments are not the only way of adding social interaction to your blog. What about TrackBack and pingback? I know those mechanisms limit the interaction to people who own a blog; but you cannot please all the people all of the time after all.
As a final note, I don't criticize bloggers who don't allow comments if they accept TrackBack or something similiar. It's more web-like I guess.
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Why avoid comments?
The most common reasons of bloggers who don't allow comments in their blogs seem to be spam and the time needed to manage them. I'm not going to talk about spam here, so let's see what's the deal with comment management.
Comment management in a high traffic blog can become a nightmare (I guess). As a blog manager, you have to filter spam and comments promoting racism and hate (which can be considered a sort of spam). Besides that, it's almost impossible to avoid reading them and even you may feel compelled to answer every objection made there. As you can see it can be a very time consuming task.
Another problem that can arise from comments is flaming. Mark Bernstein argues against comments and trackbacks in a blog:
- Less delay between initial impression and publication encourages violent reaction
- Public disagreement within your own weblog invites rhetorical exaggeration and compels response
- Because you can't ignore an insult in your own home, writers feel compelled to respond to pernicious claims that appear in threads they contribute to. Remarks that otherwise might have been ignored ("He said what? I didn't know -- never heard of him!") are instead hotly contested.
- People who enjoy fighting duels find a natural audience in comment threads. If they wrote on their own weblogs, the constant, acid hostility would distinguish trolls from their victims.
and Bernstein ends saying:
Weblog comments incite duels. Duels are bad for society. We should all forego comments and return to carefully blogging responses -- including responses we disagree with, but excluding responses we cannot tolerate.I agree that "duels are bad for society", but I think that comments are for discussions, not for duels. I wrote a bit about it here.
Why allow comments?
We can summarize the reasons for including comments in a blog:
- Feedback is always convenient. How good are you blogging? Comments can be a tool for measuring your performance as a blogger. Nevertheless, negative comments not necessarily mean a post is bad. Here is an interesting article about it.
- Comments can add value to your blog. It is usual to find links to valuable resources within comments on some post. Also, the discussion may help to raise your post to a higher level.
- You can get ideas for writing new posts. If you received a question from a reader and the answer is long; consider answering in a new post instead of posting another comment.
- Comments may help to build a loyal, regular readership. Most people leaving comments will visit your post looking for more discussion.
So, should I allow comments or not?
In my opinion, it depends on your blog traffic and your blogging goals. Enable comments if the volume your blog receive is low enough to manage them without sacrificing writing quality. But if you write looking for an answer to a problem, comments are crucial for you (although some say that kind of articles should be posted to a forum instead of a blog, I think you can write in your blog about whatever you want). Charles Nelson has a very interesting and rather acadamic article about blogging, comments and learning.
There's a third approach: You can allow comments for a short period of time, one or to weeks for example. Older posts are less likely to receive genuine and constructive comments and when you close the comments on old posts you are closing a door for spam too.
I think that what makes a blog a (modern) blog is not comments but a way of social interaction. So, if you're thinking not allowing comments in your blog you need to enable and encourage another form of interaction. Comments are not the only way of adding social interaction to your blog. What about TrackBack and pingback? I know those mechanisms limit the interaction to people who own a blog; but you cannot please all the people all of the time after all.
As a final note, I don't criticize bloggers who don't allow comments if they accept TrackBack or something similiar. It's more web-like I guess.
Technorati tags: blog, blogging, blogging basics
Add to: del.cio.us | digg | blinklist | netvouz | Other
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