I’d love to sit at a dinner table with Dave Winer and Everett Bogue.
In his latest article on blog comments, Dave writes:
Why I have comments: I hope I might learn something new from the people who read the blog. It’s mostly selfish. I like that there’s a side-benefit that it creates a record for other people to learn from in the future. I get a lot out of that on other forums on the net. Esp when it comes to technical problems, these discussion threads can be invaluable.
Everett disagrees in his latest, also on comments:
You might have noticed that I’ve had commenting turned off for the last 4 weeks. This is partially because I was taking a digital sabbatical, and I needed peace of mind while I was gone. Well, I’m back now, but comments aren’t.
I realized while I was gone that perhaps the most important thing I could ever do to help you, is to turn comments off on my blog.
Why? Because the comments you leave on my blog are wasting your time — you have better things to do than to comment on my blog.
Considering Dave created a blog in 1996, long before the term “web log” was adopted, it is fair to assume Dave knows a thing or two about blogging and the social supplement of commenting. He grasps the online relevance of having a conversation and your willingness to share an insight and help someone else.
Everett thinks you are wasting your time by leaving comments.
Two bloggers, two opinions, and we are no closer to a universal standard of commenting.
I must side with Dave. And you?
About Ari Herzog
Yep, Dave it is
You’ll never know what’s coming from your readers, it’s also important to hear other people’s thoughts to truly weigh your own judgment about a certain topic.
Awesome new layout Ari! I liked this one, especially the homepage, clean and sharp. Congrats!
Regards,
Jason
Do you read everyone’s comments on other blogs you comment on, or just your own blog?
Thanks for the compliment, Jason!
I never knew there are still such stupid and idiot person like Everett on earth.
I guess he is maintaining a personal blog and has no intention to build relationship with others. Let’s not be cave-bloggers like him.
I wouldn’t call him stupid or idiotic. Silly, yes.
I was wondering if the standard of commenting had just declined recently, or if people just couldn’t even be bothered to vote on comments any more.
Comment voting? How so, Robert?
I have to side with Dave as well. I cannot count the number of times I have had an error or virus or something wrong with my laptop and have found the answer on a web log site. I had a google search redirect virus once that was not malicious but it was very annoying. Just as I was about to spend $75 on a fix program, I found a fix for free on a blog.
Blogs or discussion forums?
Ari,
I can see both sides of the argument. While Everett has a valid point, and most comments can be insignificant, I side with Dave knowing that somewhere out there are people who will be helped with the conversation and take the writer into even deeper waters than they had considered. Thanks for sharing these two views!
people who will be helped with the conversation and take the writer into even deeper waters
It goes beyond for me, as I sometimes comment to another commenter and not to the original writer.
Blog comments are like letters to the editor in a news paper. Since blogging is basically writing, I think it’s must to have comments. However, one can blame Google for publicizing this link building thingie, ranking algorithm and building a business around it, which essentially spoiled the essence of blogging.
How’s that, Ajith? How is Google ruining blogging?
@Ari, I am not sure about your comments. But 80% of my commenters do write comment to get a back link
Imagine the situation where Google never talked about SEO benefits due to backlinks. We would have actually got only genuine comments.
I agree with Dave because sometimes when you encounter a problem, there is high possibility that you might find an valid solution over some blog and its comments. The comments posted also helps the writer to improve himself if needed. But Everett is not completely wrong. Many times people just comment something that is irrelevant to the topic and not at all helpful. Its like two sides of same coin.
Which coin, Mike? A dime or a quarter?
Ari –
I’m a bit disappointed in Everett, too. And I’ve written a post about it, too. If you or your readers are interested, here’s my take on this. It just went up this morning, so very few people have seen it yet. Unlike Everett, I welcome and encourage your comments.
Gip
I wonder if Everett is monitoring the blogosphere’s response to his insights.
It all depends on the quality and relevance of the comments. I think that people are wasting their times with silly little spammy comments that don’t make any sense to the original posts, but as long as your post adds value, you’ll get value back in some form.
Good points, David.
I have received countless benefits from the comments on my blog. It has allowed me to connect to people that have opened the door to new business opportunities; helped me solve business problems; contributed ideas for new blog posts; opened my eyes to new perspectives; created a sense of loyalty and community that has spurred readership; and most of all — created bona fide new friendships. It’s curious that anybody who has given blogging a real chance could seriously have a negative view of comments.
Would your view be different if one has blogged for x years vs y months? Does frequency of writing and/or of comments make a difference?
Great points, Ari! For me, to write a blog and close off comments, is not an option. Then it becomes more of an automatized article publishing vehicle. Comments on my blog often make me think and when I comment on other people’s blogs, it does several things. In this case today, you made me think about your question and it is a topic that interests me. The other thing that has happened with commenting for me personally is that I have built relationships with other bloggers because of the comment and comment replies. I have taken many of those relationships offline. This week alone, I had hour plus long Skype conversations with three bloggers, Skype chatted several times with several more, consulted with several more over the phone, and interacted with more on Twitter.
Building community is what I believe social media is all about and done in a respectful way, I think great friendships can be grown. Thanks for an insightful and thought-provoking post.
Hmm. Do you consider blog commenting a facet of social media, Julie?
I do! – you drive traffic from social media from various points, then you continue the conversation on blogs which often moves back to Twitter, etc. with a continuous conversation. Whether you consider a blog social media or not, I think I do, it all goes together for me. I don’t think I would have moved to blogs without Twitter or found so many good ones.
I definitely side with Dave. I’ve learned a lot from comments on my blogs and other blogs.
Comments also allow people to share their own experiences. I just wrote on my hiking blog about my recent backpacking trip, and one reader wrote a lengthy comment about a similar trip.
On the other hand, I do respect people who turn off comments, people like Seth Godin. Dealing with comments can take a lot of time, and some bloggers are just more interested in presenting information to people and less interested in the interaction.
Seth Godin has recently introduced a Twitter button on his blog that enables readers to tweet links to his articles. So, even though commenting is turned off, he encouraged tweeting and other forms of shares. Makes you wonder if a retweet is different than a comment, eh?
Hey Ari,
Nice Post. I’m totally agree with Dave.
Recently i was able to build awesome relationship with great bloggers because of blog commenting.
Blog commenting is much more than just sharing your views or thoughts.
~Dev
I for one enjoy reading the comments posted by other readers. True that many post nonsense, but it is up to the reader to sift through those to find the ones that are meaningful and helpful.
I think both Everett and Dave have valid points- as Ajith says the whole backlinks for good rankings in google has tainted the healthy interactions on blogs. I agree with Ajith but I still would side with Dave. The benefit from forming online connections and relationships is greater than having to deal with spammers. And yes I do love the fact that your blog is still ‘dofollow’ inspite of the fact that it could invite spammers. Great going!
I definitely think commenting helps. Commenting’s benefit lies in human motivation. The reason people post a blog is to either feel important or be important by helping others. Leaving a comment makes the author feel important or know that author truly did help someone. They are a part of the whole.
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