Is it a Blog if It Doesn’t Have Comments?
by Patrick Ruffini :: January 1st, 2007 8:21 pm
Michael Arrington says Google doesn’t have a real blog because it won’t allow comments. I come down pretty strongly on the other side of this argument.
At the end of the day, a blogger is judged by his or her own content, not that of commenters. How a blogger carries on the conversation, whether through comments, trackbacks, or e-mail, certainly affects the quality of that content and enhances the personal voice so essential to blogging. But we seem to be wading too deep into semantics by using strict technical criteria to define blogging, be it comments, reverse chronological order, etc.
What matters in blogging is voice. I can post a single page article on a website written in my own voice (not PR-speak), sprinked with hyperlinks, with nothing more than my e-mail address for feedback purposes, and it would be more bloggy that a press release that allows comments and trackbacks.
During the last presidential campaign, they said we didn’t have a real blog because we didn’t allow comments. Say what you will, but the vast majority of the content was original and not repurposed from other sources. What I’m saying is that you have to judge the source before you judge the feedback mechanism. If Google’s content sucks, if it’s just recycled press releases, then you can say it’s not a blog. Companies and organizations that truly listen (and that includes comments as one of many tools) will be all the more successful, but if you don’t have interesting content, you are nowhere.
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I tend to agree with those that say a blog should have at least comments or trackbacks, and I am very pleased to see that you have both.
Comments are necessary in the participation age, if you really want to engage your audience. Sure, the junk shows up, the flame wars show up, but the astute reader learns quickly to ignore those and engage the conversation.
Comments make a blog much richer. I want to read what the blog owner has to say, but also appreciate what readers have to say about it.
Blogs don’t need comments - it’s a feature not a requirement.
Kathy Shaidle (at relapsedcatholic.blogspot.com) has had a blog for over 5 years now, been quoted by Mark Steyn and many others, always has something good and tart to say - and has never had comments. Dylan’s quite right - it’s a feature, not a requirement. People just get so used to them on the majority of blogs, that they get peeved with the blogs that don’t have them.
Comments might make a blog “richer”, but, *especially* with blogs touching at all on politics or religion, you will have naughty folks putting up not-so-nice comments, and then it’s your responsibility, as the blog “owner”, to weed those out. (And when you do, some of those naughty folks will comment again and say you’re suppressing their right to “free speech” for taking down their comment, as if they couldn’t go start their own blog! LOL!) Some people, especially very active bloggers, just don’t want the hassle, and I can’t blame them.
BTW, Patrick, nice to see you back. Gonna be an interesting 2 years, isn’t it?
Thanks for your site!
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Instapundit doesn’t have comments. Case closed.