The only conversations I have ever had with Seth Godin seem to have been arguments. One that stands out was when I said that I loved his blog but hated that he didn’t allow comments.
OK, I shouldn’t have used the word ‘hate‘. I don’t hate it, but I was full of my own sense of entitlement and whining is what bloggers do best, right? 
Anyway, I still prefer comments on blogs but I understand sometimes people who blog don’t want them. Most often because of the peanut gallery, because the sheer number of comments becomes overwhelming, or because of the spam.
Not having comments makes Seth’s blog into a giant linkbait, which has to have done wonders for his SEO. Essentially if you want to talk about what he writes then you have to link to it either from your own blog or from some other social tool. Clever.
The problem comes when someone you really like writes about something you are interested in but it’s a conversation that you can only really have on their blog.
I have that situation now.
D’Arcy is one of my favorite “not social media echo chamber” people. He blogs about stuff I don’t blog about, my tweets do not get to him, and now he has turned comments off.
Engage Chris’ whiney feelings of self-entitlement. But only for a moment.
What D’Arcy does with his blog is up to him. Who cares if I can’t “join the conversation” now there IS no conversation. I get it. His job is in education, not entertaining people 4,000 miles away.
A blog without comments is the speaker at the podium. A blog with comments is the speaker asking for questions in Q&A. Most blogs never get to the stage of community, which is people talking to each other, with or without the speaker being involved.
It’s ok to be an audience member. The content still has value even when you can not provide feedback. It just feels different, but that is not always the important thing to the content creator.
Sometimes we have to remember that we were not invited.
I discovered D’Arcy’s blog via Teddy who wrote about Calgary. Nobody asked me over to D’Arcy’s place, I just gatecrashed. A blog post is not an open invitation to share my opinion until the author says it is.
I’m still going to read both Seth and D’Arcy. They won’t know, but that’s OK too.
If comments do not add anything and do not relate to why you are blogging, then it is OK to have comments switched off. We just have to remember that some people might hate that.
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I can understand not wanting the responsibility of comments. Ultimately, I think it gives the impression that you just want to be heard. I am more interested in what resonates with people and why than in simply having a platform. I’m not sure that I presume that I will be able to build community but I at least will enjoy the feedback.
Doesn’t turning off your comments rather defeat the purpose of social media? I thought the point was to interact. A blog which does not allow comments is simply a repurposed form of old-fashioned, omni-directional advertising like a newspaper or radio ads, which, by the way, I turn off when I’ve finished listening to the radio.
Turning off the comment function also removes the opportunity to receive & respond to gems of wisdom from your readers (nothing intended here, BTW ;o) which then will allow you to go on to create more blog posts based on what your readers are interested in. Wouldn’t this curtail the number of followers you get…unless you’ve already made a name for yourself like Seth has.
Hhhmmmmm…….
@Vince – Not everyone has the time for that conversation, or the need? (if they don’t have anything to sell they might not really want to seek opinions)
@Carol – That’s a good point, I learn as much from my readers as I do from “gurus” – my photography blog when I had it was a constant source of education for me through comments. Having comments allows you to ask a direct question too.
For me,a blog is not a blog (at least as it has become generally understood) unless there’s an element of dialog.
It’s the “conversation” that makes it what it is.
Otherwise, it’s just a broadcast medium.
On the same tip, a Twitter buddy of mine was recently delighted to discover that the Dalai Lama is – allegedly – on Twitter. However, it’s fine to have 502,547 followers, but if he’s following a big fat zero, is he really on Twitter?
Let’s keep the conversation two-way…..at least!
I read magazines and the online equiv without the need to answer back. The fact that on blogs you usually *can* is a bonus for me, but it does not make me stop reading if you can’t.
That said, I agree that a blog without comments is like a stool with two legs
Blogs that don’t allow comments are not blogs I read often. Not because I must be able to leave comments – I rarely do – but because if I wanted to be talked at with no possibility of an actual dialog, I’d just read the newspaper. Actually, come to think of it, even newspapers allow comments these days.
I think bloggers get to 3 points.. one they are tired of spam and stopped seeing value in their comments, or two, they feel they are to important to gear any other opinion on the posts, or three, they feel they don’t have the time to interact within the comments with their readers, so might as well shut them down.
For me I think the comments can be the best learning sometimes even better then the actual post. Interaction with your readers and letting them add there “useful” point of view is huge, for you the blogger but also for your readers.
You started the conversation, your readers will remember that no matter how good the comments are from others.
@Cindy – I think what you say is in line with my thoughts above – It *feels* different. Part of the attraction of blogs is “people like me”, but when the dialog is one-way it doesn’t feel like that any more. We become consumers rather than participants, even if only “potential participants”.
@John Paul – I agree, there is often a great deal of value in the comments. Boing Boing is a good example where there are many topic specialists in the discussion with valuable contributions. YouTube is the exception of course
I do not understand how you can not how you can wish to disbale comments.
I hate that too
Comments are so valuables for the post and sometimes better than the post itself.
Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes not
lol Yea I agree Youtube comments a waste of time…
It’s every blogger’s right to close comments. But I guess we are stretching the definition of blogging in that case.
And the frustration after seeing no comment field under the post when I had the comment already rolling on in my head made me even hit unsubscribe a few times.
@John Paul – I guess there might be good threads there but I haven’t seen any
@Dandellion – My main blog turns off comments after a while because I have been under constant attack by spammers since it appeared on a list of blogs to spam, people get upset with that let alone not being able to comment at all.
Hi
To me a blog without comments is not a blog and a person who’s primary motivation for “blogging ‘ is to spew worthless products isn’t a blogger but a salesman with a blog <BIG difference. I never got the fascination with half these so called web celebs most I met are social misfit GOOFS guess that element intrigues people and the elite promote each other I'm glad cause I don't have to deal with any of them. Thank GOD
Guess no one likes the Stumble button I got U Peace
Chris,
To me, the whole point of a blog is to open up that two-way conversation. Otherwise, as a reader, I’m just allowing people to talk AT me. There are plenty of media platforms that already do that and that’s why I enjoy reading blogs.
As a blogger myself, the post I write is merely a way to start the dialogue. I get a kick out of hearing other people’s thoughts on the subject. They frequently add fresh perspectives and great ideas.
To silence the audience, which is what you’re doing, turns you into a lecturer. The boring professor in college who did nothing but prattle on endlessly. Remember, the guy who put you to sleep?
To me, a blogger who silences his/her audience tells me that person has no interest in building community, sharing ideas, or creating connections. They think they already know everything and don’t want to be bothered with the pesky readers. I think we already have enough platforms like that. And, quite frankly, those traditional vehicles (e.g. newspapers, magazines, etc.) are slowing realizing they have to CHANGE because that formula isn’t working anymore.
A blogger who doesn’t allow comments is not a real blogger in my book.
It definitely does annoy me when I read an article or post and I want to either agree or disagree with the author just to scroll down to the bottom and find that I can’t comment. I’m not an overly opinionated person, but occasionally I do read or watch something that provokes a reaction.
Sometimes when I read on Steve Pavlina’s blog I want to respond, but he has comments turned off too, mind you he does have a forum on his site that he uses for participation with his readers, which actually makes more sense as he has a very high readership – comments at the bottom of the article would get very long very quickly!
I also wanted to respond to an article on the BBC news website the other day, but there you have to send them an email using the form at the bottom, and it has to be read and approved by the publication team before it may or may not be published. – That annoyed me too!!
I do also agree to an extent with John Paul – YouTube comments very often are a waste of time, I think comments should only be used constructively, which unfortunately I’m not sure most YouTube users understand!
I’ve said that I get annoyed a lot in this comment – it’s not really a strong reaction, just a “grrrrr” then I move on!!
@John – Most of us are goofs of one kind or another, never met anyone who was perfect but met a few who thought they were
@Amber – Yes I think a blog means regularly updated content, a feed/subscription feature, and comments. Ideally all three, otherwise it is a website not a blog.
@Elyse – My reaction is proably more a ‘tsk’ than a ‘grr’, but it is still annoyance, just a mild one
I have to agree with most of the others here. A blog without comments is not really a blog to me. I may still read it if the content is good, but there will be many times when I’m disappointed or frustrated because I have something to add and nowhere to add it.
To me, part of the appeal of blogging and reading blogs is the discussions that occur in the comments and not just the blog posts themselves. I like talking to people and I like hearing what others have to say. I’ve learned as much from comments as I have from the posts themselves and I’ve met a lot of great people there as well.
I can understand how spam would be an issue, especially for a large, popular site. I just think there are better ways to handle it than shutting everyone out entirely.
Chris, closing comments after a while is understandable. I still get spam on the old blog I haven’t updated for almost a year. Some blogs have posts where comments after a month or two are hardly expected. And in the rare cases that commenting is needed, visitor can send an email or something.
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