Comments Disabled

I would have disabled comments on a post like this as a joke, but that is just me.

I think people who disable comments are arrogant schmucks. Most of the blogs I have read who use this technique are people who are very sure of their own opinion and are not that interested in what those beneath them have to say.

Part of the way the whole blog thing took off, was that people could communicate. To not comment in my mind is to not blog.

Great post.

Great review from Ben.

I think if a blogger doesn’t want the interaction that comments brings he or she might just as well write their thoughts in a diary and keep it in a cupboard or drawer somewhere.
A few people I read have disabled comments briefly to get rid of spammers or nasty/vindictive commenters.

Colin - fabulous idea! Wish I’d thought of it. LOL. Problem is that I WANT to know my readers opinion on the topic so funny as it would have been for a joke, it wouldn’t have gotten me where I wanted to be. Thanks for contributing to the discussion.

River - yeah, that’s about what I was thinking. I can understand the temporary thing of course. That’s a bit different in my mind to someone who isn’t interested in comments.

I like comments and I don`t think I could ever disable mine. Mind you I don`t get many so it is fairly easy to manage. I can understand why people have comment moderation but can`t really understand why they would disable altogether because really then, they could probably just write in a journal.

I can`t imagine not wanting to read my comments- sometimes I get busy and don`t respond to them all, but I think those few that do read my blog know I enjoy reading their comments.

Some of my really close friends are bloggers and we have connected because of the relationships we orignally developed through the comments on our blogs.

I don`t really read blogs that don`t allow comments but I don`t not read some because they don`t have them- if that makes sense.

Great post!!

I think disabling comments really defeats the whole purpose of blogging, which to me is personal interaction and being able to share ideas. If you can’t agree, disagree or offer your opinion, what’s the use of reading it? Might as well get a subscription to USA Today.

Popular blogs not enabling comments–I can understand. There’s no way they’d be able to moderate them all, plus they’re already an established resource with huge reader bases.

Blogging without having comments is like talking to yourself. Quite pointless (and is it not the first sign of insanity? Or is that hair growing on the palms of your hands?)

Lulu - I’m the same. It’s the BEST thing about blogging in my mind so I guess I also don’t understand the tendency to close comments. The comments are what keeps me writing. Makes me feel like I’m talking to real people (which I am of course but the comments make it all feel more real).

Ian - now I was of the understanding that hair growing out of your palms had something to do with werewolf’s or something like that???? LOL. I wonder if commenting on your own blog is the second sign of insanity (like answering yourself)???

It seems I agree with everyone here. What’s the point of having a conversation with someone if you’re not willing to hear what they have to say about the subject. The only reason I can think of to disable comments is because of spam but there are extensions to take care of that. Maybe if you simply don’t believe there is another side to the discussion you don’t need comments??

Lightening, I don’t think you’re over reacting at all. I’ve seen Steve Pavlina’s blog but am not subscribed. I’ve also seen Seth Goden’s blog, but I’m not subscribed to him either.

Apparently, both of those blogs are very high traffic blogs, but I don’t care. I don’t want to subscribe to blogs that are simply talking AT me, rather than talking WITH me.

I would never, ever disable my comment section, including those deep in my archives. Several of my archived posts, especially those dealing with “helping vs. enabling” continue to get a lot of web traffic, and many people continue to comment with questions about their situation and are asking for advice. Others choose to email me directly rather than posting in a public setting like the comments are.

I’ve forgotten now who it was but, you and I had discussed some time back about an Aussie blog where comments are closed sometime after posting. Very sad and disappointing to say the least. I will not ever subscribe to a blog that closes their comment section.

I don’t think whether you allow them or not has anything to do with whether you’re a blog or not. In larger sites, the decision could be based on whether the person considers their blog to be a monologue or a dialog.

To me, blogging is like being a literary DJ. It’s mostly a monologue, and I’m going to do what I’m going to do, but if you want to chime in, I welcome it, but whether people comment or not, I’m still going to be doing what I’m doing.

I don’t have a problem with sites who go fully monologue and shut off comments, but I do allow comments on mine. I enjoy them and actually try to respond to them all, but only a very small percentage of people who read actually leave comments, and a number of them are commenting not to add, but to advertise. I can see how larger sites might shut off comments and focus on writing more than responding, because at a certain level, I would imagine that it becomes impossible to respond to comments anyway.

Mikey & Razor - thanks for weighing in on the discussion and putting your views forward.

Lin - I guess the disabling comments on older posts is a spam prevention thing and sadly does work because the older posts are what gets targetted. You raise an interesting point about people wanting to comment on older posts though. I have had the same thing happen - a comment will appear on an older post, particularly if it’s something that has search engine traffic and someone enters the blog via an older post. You don’t want their first experience to be “oh, I can’t comment”.

Jon - thanks for weighing in with another perspective. I guess how we approach blogging is going to vary as much as anything else about our humanity varies. My blogs are usually written as if I’m speaking to my audience and I’ll often ask questions. So I guess I don’t consider them to be monologues so much as “conversation starters”. Which of course doesn’t mean that EVERYONE should blog that way.

I was thinking of closing the comment section of a post which invited plenty of spams. But I didn’t make an attempt. Lately, spammers attack my other posts as well.

I saw one blog with comments closed on certain posts. It was a paid post and he certainly doesn’t want someone comment on it.

I don’t have problems with blogs that don’t allow comments as long as they have valuable contents. If I disagree with any of the topics they discuss, I can always blog about it.

I have just read this post and I share your wonder at these blogs that prefer not to encourage feed back in the form of comments. I think that this must be due to unmanageability of the numbers if they do, and possibly a high self opinion of the blogger. I would not do this on my blog.