Comments on: Blogging with or without Comments?

By: MichaelKPoh

MichaelKPoh — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:01:46 +0000

Darren hi,

Before I started my blog, I spent considerable time reading and watching a couple (actually several) of your video-posts. I also read some of Yaro’s Starak’s. The general consensus – except I am mistaken was to start with a ‘Comments’ Section. My impression was that starting without a ‘Comment’s section or facility was not on.

The best way to find out anything for oneself is to experiment; advice by itself is static at best, experience is live and provides valuable feedback.

It has been my experience – after 12 days of blogging – that blogs with a “comments’ section or facility is not only helpful but critical.

Comments of feedback from visitors (traffic) allows a blogger to determine if what he or she writes resonates with others. And that is the key. If you want to build a dedicated audience, it is important that you have an idea as to what and how that audience thinks. It is the age-old concept of ‘feedback’.

Feedback lets you know if you are on the wrong or right track. Of course it is possible to have a heavily-trafficked blog with minimal feedback since feedback or comments are not the most effective way of measuring traffic.

Nevertheless the nature of comments – positive or negative, agreeable or disagreeable – helps bloggers fine-tune their message.

We have a saying in my country, Ghana, West Africa; ‘the one hewing a path through the grass cannot tell if he is hewing a crooked or straight path’. Except, of course, there is someone standing behind him (Feedback) telling him if the path is crooked or not.

By: Should Blogs Have Comments?

Should Blogs Have Comments? — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 14:24:38 +0000

[...] Blogging with or without Comments? [...]

By: sushanttt

sushanttt — Wed, 07 May 2008 08:29:26 +0000

Hello,

I can relate to this one real well. When I stated, I didn’t have any comments section at all. I found a lot of blogging sites wouldn’t exchange links or interact under any circumstances. BlogRush is just one example. I put the Comments section in and litterally the same day I had 1,500 hits. I have very few commwnts but the fact that the section is present seems to help drastically…. live and learn I guess.

By: NAtS33

NAtS33 — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:58:06 +0000

Good day! IMO, comments or no comments, I think it comes down on how interesting and informative the topic is. No matter whether you leave the comments on of off, people will talk about your blog if it’s interesting. Be it in the comments section or some other blog as the case with Mr. Godin.

By: Mar Matthias Darin

Mar Matthias Darin — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:39:37 +0000

Hello,

By: www.r10.net küresel ısınmaya hayır seo yarışması

www.r10.net küresel ısınmaya hayır seo yarışması — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 02:16:24 +0000

I remember reading somewhere that Seth Godin only allows trackbacks so that people will have to be accountable for their comments, because after all, you’re publishing those words on your own blog. :S

By: Jose

Jose — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 19:10:18 +0000

I think a blog without comments isn’t a blog at all. It destroys the community feel of things.

By: It Is Simply One Person’s Opinion

It Is Simply One Person’s Opinion — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 23:40:47 +0000

[...] of which, some offer solutions that will fit most situations. This is just one. Tags:blog comments moderate blog comments turn off blog comments turn on blog [...]

By: Dana

Dana — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 05:32:00 +0000

I get more frustrated with blogs I have to register to comment on than those with no comments on all. The first is like “bait and switch.” The other states clearly that there isn’t discussion on the blog.

It depends on content, though. Some things just can hardly be commented on, so there is no point to comments. But others seem a natural place for comments. I think when there are over 100 hundred comments on an entry, most people realize that the blogger cannot possibly monitor them all and don’t worry so much about spam and other things that happen in those blog comment boxes!

By: iPhone

iPhone — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:39:48 +0000

I think you should leave comments on.

By: Badge Market

Badge Market — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 08:37:40 +0000

A blog is a log of stuff, on the web. Comments are secondary. I reckon it doesn’t matter too much as long whatever CONTENT is there is quality.

By: Picture Perfect Paranoia » Comment Control

Picture Perfect Paranoia » Comment Control — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 03:05:25 +0000

[...] Well, to prevent sudden influxes of comment spam on my blog (I mentioned it in my New Year post a few days back.), as well as my lack of technical experience in installing and managing Wordpress plugins (particularly the Spam Karma add-on; the last one I installed was the Gravatars plugin, back when I was starting to get used to the Wordpress blog backend interface; I haven’t used it since.), I had to uncheck the “Allow Comments” option on every post that I made. I noticed that the comments spams are mostly from my older entries, dating way back some months ago (including the “Decreased Posting Frequency” and “Women and Traps” posts). Some are even referencing my anime reviews from last year. So I decided on that course of action, even if that action was unadvisable. [...]

By: BlogChalkTalk

BlogChalkTalk — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 05:45:26 +0000

Pros and Cons of Enabling Blog Comments…

Blog comments can be an important and powerful part of your blog. Some have argued that a blog without comments or trackbacks enabled is not a blog at all. (Bloggers Blog takes a pretty strong stance against this argument. I……

By: David Cheong

David Cheong — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 09:53:43 +0000

hmm… true. But my blog is the worst in the world internet blog webmaster ever make, infact, doesn’t have much comments from visitor, really envy problogger that always have other commenting on post. Salute to ProBlogger

By: Bright Meadow » Sunday Roast: in my country only women drink their tea with milk

Sun, 12 Feb 2006 14:10:32 +0000

[...] Following up on that, Darren asks if a blog without comments is still a blog? The answer for me is yes, it is still a blog (a blog being really just the back-end publishing system), but it is probably not a blog I want to read. [...]

By: Flora Morris Brown

Flora Morris Brown — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 09:07:15 +0000

As a fairly new blogger (86 posts so far) my blog has had precious few comments. As a matter of fact, I have one faithful reader who comments to each post. Even my kids and close friends have been hard-pressed to manage a comment even when they made those infrequent visits.

So, I essentially have a blog that almost has no comments, but I’m not discouraged and it hasn’t inhibited my writing one bit. Since blogs are journals for sharing your ideas, no one needs to comment for your blog to be effective. You get your thoughts out, share information, enlighten the world and that feels good. Even if your blog is intended to bring in revenue, clicking on the links back to your site and your Google or other ads is what makes money, not the comments.

By: Brian Clark

Brian Clark — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 19:59:38 +0000

I remember reading somewhere that Seth Godin only allows trackbacks so that people will have to be accountable for their comments, because after all, you’re publishing those words on your own blog.

Probably the wave of the future when you think about it… a lot less hateful comments fueled by anonymity.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 17:21:09 +0000

I mentioned this exact point a few days back in response to your “What’s Wrong with Blogging” post, but as everyone else had moved on, I had the last word on the subject, so to speak.

I have a problem with the premise of the original question (Is a blog without comments still a blog?) because it implies that every blog had comments functionality. Some of us who publish our blogs without blog software. That hardly renders us unfit for the blogosphere.

I wrote a response to this question in January here. In brief, a blog is, at its heart, a web log, discrete chunks of content organized in reverse chronological order. The bells and whistles can be fun, can be distracting, but are hardly necessary to a blog’s basic function.

By: HalloMarkus

HalloMarkus — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 14:05:36 +0000

I can clearly see an advantage in comments as they offer an exchange and thus a stronger user binding. Other companies have to install 0800 numbers for “information” hotlines which are often nothing else than a chat with a customer.

There are more technical “Middle Ground”solutions. You may ask users to log on (become a member) to post comments, you may offer a forum plugin or bridge witihn your site for further discussion; e.g. http://www.geeklog.net open source blog / CMS can do that.

What could be better than having a good forum to acompany your blog? There will certainly be people to volunteer for moderator.

By: Alex Morganis

Alex Morganis — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 11:48:03 +0000

I agree with Russel: It’s his blog and he can do whatever he wants with it. Trust me, comments can take time to answer and even more time to moderate. Sometimes people don’t have as much time to blog as others do.