Blog Comments or No-Comment Policy

When Engadget turned off comments on posts they started a lot of discussions about the value of blog comments in social media.

blog comments

I’m a big fan of comments and rarely get enough of them. When I do get comments on my blog it makes my day. Comments tell me that people are reading my posts. It tells me someone cares about my writing, enough to either critique it or compliment it.

For better or worse I’m a big fan of comments. In many posts I find the answers to my questions not in the original content, but in the fan replies or people who tested theories and responded with their own results.

Is a No-Comment Policy Snobbish?

A blog that doesn’t allow comments seems to me to be saying “this is the final word on this topic.” –Gigaom.com

I love reading comments, sometimes learning a lot from them or being amused by them. However, I do get bothered by snarky comments, so if a site gets inundated with them perhaps turning off the feature is best or letting readers report the abuse with a click to help the site monitor junk comments. — Marie (a blog commenter)

There are many “A-List” bloggers who do not allow on-site blogging. I say on-site, because bloggers like Seth Godin encourage readers to respond via their own blog. Some sites do it because they don’t want to directly respond to commenters, some do it to avoid comment spam, and others do simply to control their site. They want to control their website and what they have to say. This model is a lot like the broadcast model, I want to talk to you and tell you what to do but I don’t want to have to explain myself or hear directly from my fans.

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Luke 6:37

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.

Proverbs 9:9-10

Spamdexing

Blogspam is more than just internet trolls and lame commenters who self-promote on your site. Another common meaning of blogspam is someone who writes posts with little to no value and then submits them to hundreds or even a just few sites in hopes of self-promoting. Spamdexing, internet trolls, and spam commenters really bring down the quality of content and conversations held on the web. Heck the number of spammers who try to post irrelevant content in some of my posts far outnumber the number of real quality comments I get in any given month.

I would rather put up with snarky internet trolls then internet spam, wait no that’s a lie. I’d rather not deal with either.

When we make wrong decisions we must accept our mistakes and apologize. The way we handle criticism is crucial. As Christians we must not become defensive or react in anger. We are called to be patient and wise when we deal with disagreements and conflict. We must listen carefully and respond lovingly. Our response to criticism must be done in a godly manner. As Christians we must accept our mistakes and trust God to set things right. 1 Peter 2:23

Photo by flickr user Desirée Delgado, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0