My long-time friends over at Copyblogger shook up the blogging world yet again by announcing they were removing comments from their blog. A few weeks prior to that, I noticed that Bernadette Jiwa also closed the comments section on her blog, too. Both posts touched on many of the reasons why I’ve been considering removing comments from PF since 2012.
Statistically speaking, you probably won’t care whether comments are open here or anywhere else on the web. If you’re one of the 7 out of 10 people who don’t care, no worries – you can stop reading and go on to something else that matters to you.
A few years ago, I wrote Why I Leave Comments Open, and much of that post remains true and relevant. As I mentioned in that post, every few years some influential blogger or blog closes their comments and there’s a dust-up about it. In a world of hyperpresent publishing, it’s easy to forget that this isn’t a new discussion; there are just new voices in a new medium to a much, much older conversation that creatives have been having for millennia.
Before we go on, though, I want to highlight the point that Sonia made in her announcement on Copyblogger and what I said a few years ago: there is no one perspective on blog comments that works for every blog and blogger. This also isn’t a “big blog” versus “little blog” discussion, either. It’s a discussion about how comments fit into your communication strategy and creative process. (Click to tweet – thanks!)
You might notice some tension between my earlier admission that I’ve been considering closing comments and me saying a few sentences later that my earlier position remains mostly true and relevant. Whence the tension?
When I wrote that earlier post, the particular catalytic moment was fused to my growing frustration at having to choose between responding to comments or writing more. That post was written in August 2010 and that was right at the point in which social media really took off as far as mass adoption goes. “The conversation” shifted from blogs, websites, and forums to Twitter and Facebook, and, later, to Google+. Those platforms simply had a much lower barrier to entry and relevance to the majority of people; people didn’t have to become bloggers to join the global conversation.
Aside: you’ll hear me talk about “global trends,” as I mean to take more of a sociological-historical view of the trends we’re experiencing. There are many tribes still having lively on-blog discussions, especially in those communities that find social media to either be distracting, juvenile, or insufficient for their expressive and connective needs. If you’re a new blogger, be careful to not assume you’re going to be one of those community hubs.
Since readers were increasingly sharing, commenting, and connecting with bloggers on social media, most bloggers went where their readers were. In some ways, the mass adoption of social media was the death knell for commenting on blogs as normative practice in much the same way that video killed the radio star. I would argue along with Brian Clark that it also lured many creatives into digital sharecropping, which only accelerated more and more conversations happening on Social Media.
So, in many ways, the Copyblogger team’s decision just affirmed what many of us have seen going on since 2008 anyway: the majority of “the conversation” is happening on Social Media.
The Sophistication of Spammers
At the same time that on-blog commenting was starting its rapid decline, spammers became all the more sophisticated. As much as I want to avoid the big blog vs. little blog discussion, what must be pointed out is that big blogs are heavily targeted by spammers, scrapers, and hackers. Productive Flourishing isn’t a HUGE blog, but it’s big enough that we have 3-7 spam comments get through a day out of about 1500 spam attempts per day. Based on some quick analysis, Copyblogger gets roughly 5 times the amount of visitors per day as we do, so you can bet the order of magnitude of their spam problem tracks that.
Or, look at it this way: they’d get more spam comments per day than the amount of real comments that most bloggers get per month.
And that’s just accounting for mechanical spam. Copyblogger has considerably more people comment for the express purpose of either building backlinks to their site or to pull people from Copyblogger to their own site. So they have to read beyond the Russian wives spam comments (are there really that many Russian brides available?) to make tough calls about whether some real person is legitimately engaging or comment-jacking.
So, when they say that it takes a lot of work, I don’t have to take it as an article of faith. We’ve had to build more and more processes here to keep up with spam, too, and we’re barely keeping up. I also know that as our traffic and readership continues to grow, we’ll have to spend more and more time keeping out spam.
And, honestly, it’s easy to start wondering whether you’re better off just closing comments if you’re having to spend an hour in soft costs to get rid of spam when, in reality, readers rarely comment on your website anymore.
It’s an interesting turn of events. Whereas my past tension was about not having time to both create and respond to comments, the current tension we have here at PFHQ is whether we’d rather spend the time engaging on Social Media rather than fight spam. Two different options, coming from one source: comments.
It’s About More Than Social Media Though
While thus far I’ve named Social Media as the driving factor for the demise of on-blog commenting, we also need to recognize some other contributing developments since the time of its creation and rise as it relates to commenting. Here are a few to consider:
- Blogging was considerably harder and micro-blogging services like Tumblr and Posterous were either absent or in their nascent form. Given that blogging was harder and less understood – I remember the days when admitting you were a blogger was on par to admitting that you played D&D – fewer people were doing it, so it was easier to keep up as a reader simply because there were fewer voices in less of an echo chamber.
- RSS-to-email technology hadn’t been developed or wasn’t used to the degree it is now. People were reading on the web, via RSS, or getting newsletters with a rollup of content. Without Social Media, RSS-to-email capabilities/norms, and microblogging platforms, the path of least resistance to respond to a blogger if you felt compelled to do so was via web comments, and the smaller number of active blogs made it more likely that people would comment on the 15-20 that they actually read and cared about.
- Monetizing blogs was still an emerging science. Some of the earliest lightning-rod conversations at Copyblogger revolved around their audacity to try to show an ethical way to monetize a blog. Newsletters and other media were fine, but blogs were thought to be sacred space. People sold less and shared and conversed more because the values of the community were different, the tools weren’t as easy to use, and the science of selling via blogs was simply too nascent. And because bloggers gave more without asking for an economic exchange, readers gave more and didn’t feel like a customer-in-process.
That little historical diversion highlights the fact that, while it’s true that the mass adoption of Social Media was likely the biggest contributing factor to the neglect of commenting on-blog as a global practice, it was the most powerful of many converging factors which need to be accounted for. The first two of the highlighted factors changed the methods of engagement, and the last one changed the motives of engagement.
Whether you consider this period – roughly 2007 – 2010 – the Good Old Days or the Dark Ages, there’s no going back. I recognize how odd it sounds that 7 years ago could be ancient history, but that’s a hallmark of the hypertimes we live in. Think about it: that was before the economic crash of 2008, President Obama’s historic election, the iPad, and Jobs’ and Mandela’s passing.
My how the world seems to change so quickly.
What’s the Value of Comments, Anyway?
It’s interesting to live and work in a rapidly evolving medium. Just about the time you get something figured out, the landscape changes, and you have to start figuring that out. In a real sense, you’re either always behind trends or ahead of trends, but never quite in lockstep with them.
And one of the ways we get tripped up is not seeing when there’s been a change in the instrumental value of things we’ve been going after. The value of comments possibly shifted without us realizing they had. I think Copyblogger’s lightning rod post exposed this value shift and we’re having to rethink some of our past assumptions.
Before Social Media, comments were a source of community, social proof, and customer feedback/research. You knew who your core readers were because they talked to you, for they didn’t have either the quick dispersion vehicle of Social Media or the amount of distractions it provides. Having a lot of commenters was also social proof that your blog was popular; we readers and bloggers simply paid more attention to posts that had more comments (I’d say we still do). And, lastly, you knew that you were onto something when people talked about it a lot. Leaving a comment wasn’t like a click of a share button and most people don’t like just saying “great post!”, so they actually took some time to write a substantial reply, even if that reply was only a few sentences.
While comments were never necessary for building community, social proof, and customer feedback/research – people have been getting those for millennia prior to blogs and comments – they were often sufficient. The funny thing is that once you look at it from a place of sufficiency rather than necessity, you start seeing that there are other way to go about getting those same three things AND you wonder about the efficacy of the particular method in question.
Or, more clearly, we can now ask: “Is there a better way to build community, show social proof, and get customer feedback/research than comments?” Clearly, Copyblogger thinks so. They have a sufficiently large social media network that’s already engaging with them, a well-read and popular blog, and feedback mechanisms through Authority and direct customer engagement. The fact that they’ve caused such a ruckus – and that other bloggers like myself are reacting on our blogs – is proof of concept for them.
Suffice it to say, many of us don’t have those factors working for us. This is why it’s important to take inspiration from other online publishers and consider their tactics, but not necessarily attempt their strategies. The nature of online viral effects are such that they amplify successful publishers’ strengths and advantages; they get exponentially better results than other, less-established people who try the same things they do. It’s not just “your mileage may vary,” but, rather, “your car may need a different kind of fuel.”
It’s About More than the Comments or Commenters
I mentioned at the outset that 7 out of 10 people wouldn’t care about this topic. They neither read comments nor leave them. As I was reflecting about our current options of keeping comments open or closing them, I took stock of who would actually be affected and who would care.
Interestingly, my original estimate was 1 in 10 readers, but that was based on commenters alone. We generally assume that 10% readers actually engage with our content in different ways based on the well-supported 90-9-1 rule. To recap, that rule shows that only 10% of the people who read your site actively engage with the content via commenting and sharing. (I’ve translated the findings of that rule from forums to websites, in general. There do seem to be ways to alter the amount of people who actively engage with your content and the rule doesn’t apply to every community, but it’s a decent enough assumption to start with until the data tells you otherwise.)
While it may be true that only 10% of people would be inclined to leave comments, that doesn’t account for people who enjoy reading comments but don’t leave them. There are a host of reasons people do this, but many readers tell me later on that they actually found Productive Flourishing through comments elsewhere or that they’ve been actively reading comments but didn’t really feel inspired or comfortable to say anything until the point in which they’re talking to me.
One of the things you have to get comfortable with as a blogger and author is the fact that you won’t always see the effects your actions are having on your reader. There’s a small minority of people who actively interact with you and, given that you’re human, it’s easy to only count what you see. But just because you can’t see the effects doesn’t mean they’re not happening.
Comments fall under this type of “unseen value” for me. It’s hard to quantify how many people actually read the comments without leaving them – we could, if we wanted to bad enough – but it’s likely to be around another 20%.
So let’s say it’s 30% of readers who actually care about whether there are comments open here. A statistician would rightly point out that that leaves 70% of people who don’t care.
What the statistician would miss is that those 30% of people are the ones who probably care most about us and our community of readers. They’re the ones that are going to reach out to other readers and support them. They’re the ones who are going to pipe up and say something when the time is right for them. They’re the ones who see that what we’re doing here transcends a content vending machine. They’re the ones keeping our lights on.
So, it’s important to me that we keep the on-site conversation open.
Do Unto Others
I still read Copyblogger and likely will continue to do so, but it’s now a more hollow and transactional experience for me. As any given post starts wrapping up, I start checking out, even though there’s a part of me that’s used to jumping past the post gutter to see the conversation that follows.
I don’t want to wade through Google+ or Twitter to follow the thread. More than it being inconvenient for me is that it’s easy for me to get distracted and lose the train of thought that the author worked so hard to keep me on. It’s like going from a nice, quiet orchestra hall and stepping into Times Square.
Likewise, I don’t take their decision to remove comments personally. They haven’t betrayed me or the relationship we’ve had since way, way back. I haven’t removed them from my phone and I’ll still goad Brian into a rant about digital sharecropping if I see that he hasn’t had one in a couple of weeks. They did what made sense for them, all things considered, which I’d encourage anyone to do.
But their choice has removed some of the joy that I used to have as part of the Copyblogger experience.
That’s something I don’t want to do for you. I want you to get what you need here, whether it’s insight and ideas divorced from conversation, a place that’s easy to have conversations about things that interest you, a chance to see what other people like you are saying, or just the reassurance that you have a voice here, even if you choose not to use it.
Is it work to fight the spammers off? Yep. Have trends changed such that people don’t comment as much as they used to? Yep. Are there alternatives to comments that we could use? Yep.
But does it align with our values and intentions to close comments? No.
So open they stay.
Totally agree with you, Charlie. Based on my values alone, I doubt that I’ll ever close comments on my podcast / blog.
Happy Wednesday, Stephen! In the end, strategy should be built from values, not values from strategy.
And how is it that I summarize so much of this piece in 10 words? 🙂
Thanks for keeping the convo open.
Excellent commentary and “food for thought” esp. as I have considered the same. It’s challenging to find the best option for each of us as individual creatives — and that’s what matters. Following the crowd has never been the cure.
It’s challenging, right? Because rejecting going with the crowd because it’s a crowd a-going really isn’t a cure, either.
It’s a grey and great world.
Thanks for joining the convo, too. I believe this is your first comment, so welcome! 🙂
Great thoughtful post! Like so many decisions, business or personal, it’s more about thinking through what something is doing for you, rather than blindly going one direction or another.
I have my own moments of missing our comments section, even with all of the benefits we’ve seen. 🙂
Thanks for weighing in, Pinky. I must say, y’all made some fantastic points about it and I appreciate you doing so. And not just because it gave me something to write about. ;p
I have a new website that I have not even advertised to my friends and contacts, because I still have so much to learn and to update. However, I like what you say. I enjoy social media as a way to interact socially with friends and family–to see photos they post and comments (usually only a few words) and I post. I don’t regularly go to Facebook for any kind of business activity. I’m quite certain this is my first comment I’ve made to you, but I read your blogs and I look at comments.
Thanks for joining the conversation, Charlotte, and for letting us know you’re reading.
Regarding your website – if I may – I hope you’ll share it soon. Websites are never done and we all have so much to learn and update. And, by “we,” I mean we, as in TeamPF, too. If you could only see how much we need to get cracking on!
Stand tall, Giant Charlotte. 🙂
Very well articulated. I especially appreciate the way you track the changes in the blogosphere over the last 7 year period. It helps us (as bloggers) understand that we’re not going crazy; something has indeed change. Thank you so much for these invaluable insights.
Why hello again, Sandra. I’m glad the post landed and you found it useful. Also, thanks for sharing our content on your website, too.
Of course, it is debatable about whether we’re going crazy, but it’s not about comments. 😉
Well of course I have to comment on this post! LOL
I am one of your lurkers, Charlie, and I often don’t even come over to your website, but I read every single one of your posts delivered to my inbox, and I buy many of your products. You nailed it, I like to think that I am one of your keep-the-lights-on customers. And I love the symbolic aspect of your decision: that my voice, my perspective, and my questions are always welcome here.
Keep up the great work. <3
Julica! It’s been awhile! Thanks for peeping up. You are indeed one of the people keeping the lights on and you’re quite welcome here.
Lurk away! 🙂
I watch with interest how, frequently, when the “big hitters” take a turn in direction that so many other people rush to follow suit, just because they are doing it.
Yes, it is good to watch what other folk do, be aware of trends etc but I think we need to process that information in line with where each of us is and our own strategy and most importantly, as you point out, driven by values.
Following like sheep is never a good strategy – in business or life.
Yup. Just because monkey sees doesn’t mean monkey should do. 🙂
Hi Charlie,
This is the best article I’ve read so far this week (with only two days left.)
What resonates the most with me in your articulate piece here is the point about individual blog needs and how there’s not a simple “this or that” answer to the “comments controversy.”
At this point I’m definitely keeping comments on my site, which is only about 6 months old…personally the positives greatly outweigh the negatives so instead of just blindly following a big dog’s decision, I like how you challenge each of us to give this thoughtful consideration and go with it.
I agree, there is now a “hollow” vibe with Copyblogger where there once was a warm and affectionate feeling I had when reading their stuff before. But they have to do what’s best for them. Personally I’m not seeing the same robust conversation on their social media, but if they think it’s successful, more power to them.
Thanks, Matthew. Also, I believe this is your first comment because I would have remembered Kaboomis. Welcome!
Thanks for sharing this, too. I wondered whether it was just me.
Keep kabooming!
Absolutely will do that, Charlie!
Glad I stumbled onto you today. 🙂 I’m on your email list now and I’ll be back.
Thanks for this article Charlie. I found it very valuable. It also convinces me that I want comments when I set up my website and blog.
As a fellow blogger, I give you props and respect for leaving your comments open. In the case of Copyblogger, it was literally a slap in the face for every person that were leaving (good) comments on their blog.
In my honest opinion, when starting a blog one of the very first things you should consider is whether to run the blog with commenting system enabled or disabled. You shouldn’t just suddenly up and close comments like that, it can be quite devastating.
I’m also proud to say that I will keep my comments open on my blog until the end of days. It provides me with interaction with the people that leave comments as well as being able to spark a discussion about the post in general. Granted my blog is still new, I do hope to one day be able to experience the level of greatness of having more than a few comments over a days period.
Thanks for weighing in, Daniel!
As I mentioned in the post, I don’t see it as a slap in the face or anything personal for me. Times have changed and their response to the change is different than mine. And, as Sonia has mentioned, the verdict is still out on whether they’ll keep comments closed.
I’ve been thinking a lot more about it and wondering what would need to happen for me to change our stance on comments, largely so that I make sure that it’s not just a conservative, “change-be-damned” approach to it. I’m not sure about the answer yet, but it’s something to ponder.
It’s an interesting topic and I’m glad that you’ve decided to keep comments open over here. I agree with you that they add richness and conversation to a blog.
It’s like taking a correspondence course (with no human interaction) as opposed to a university course or another group based course. You get so much more out of the second because of the interaction and the challenging of your opinions and assumptions.
It can also be a valuable way of gauging where your community are at and what their needs are.
Interesting to note that Mitch Joel has just switched comments back on over at Twist Image after managing to get to grips with the spammers.
Hi Kittie! Thanks for pointing me to Mitch’s post. (For people curious about the conversation, it’s One Last Comment About Comments.) I resonant with his conclusion here, for it’s what I’ve seen happen:
Even for those posts that don’t have people enter the place after I write the last paragraph, something would be missing for me if it was’t there.
Hey Charlie, you’ve struck a chord here. Filtering out the genuine comments from a sea of spam is a big chore and takes up valuable time when managing your blog. But like you, I like to see comments on a post, especially if they add value to it. There is something evergreen about a good comment. With social conversations, I feel these are more quicker, snappier, and throw away. It has made me thing though! what could I do more with the time I would save…
Hi Charlie,
What a joy to be here today!
I am here today via Inbound, wherein you posted your valuable insight into the much discussed about subject “Blog Comments” Thanks for that.
Yes, It is indeed a very intriguing decision by the copybloggers in regard to comments.
In fact it is really funny to note that, as if they are telling that, if you want to react or say something about the post, go to the social media and share your views there! Very funny indeed!
Anyways, I am glad that you haven’t taken that nasty decision of removing blog comments!
You and I know verywell that how difficult to post a constructive comment after thoroughly reading a post.
Anyways, those who shut that option to its readers i am sure they will lose them in their future write-ups.
Thanks Bro. for sharing this indepth post on this subject
Nice that i found your page today.
Keep writing
Will check out other posts too later 🙂
Best Regards
~ Philip
Thanks for the great question on inbound and letting me know where you came from, Philip. I miss the comments on Copyblogger, too, but as I said here, I wouldn’t call it a nasty decision and I wish them well, especially since they’re friends and colleagues. It just doesn’t fit me and this community. 🙂
great site.
This is very nice