Should you allow comments on your blog?
I get asked this question a few times a month, but most recently, Kelly Livesay asked it via Twitter and wrote about blog commenting and your community. Every once in a while some influential blogger closes the comments on her blog and it causes a stir, and this time it was Danielle Laporte who needed to make some space for creative credo.
That seemingly simple question doesn’t come with a simple answer because it all depends on what you’re trying to do. Without knowing your end goals, I can’t say whether you should or shouldn’t allow comments. What I can tell you, though, is why I leave comments open.
Keep in mind that I’ve already talked about not being able to answer every comment. I’ve experienced the frustration of not being able to keep up with comments, as well as the feeling that I could write so much more if it weren’t for them. For a while, I even stopped answering them. In some ways, it would be a lot easier if I did close the comments and deal with the two weeks of backlash until people got used to it and later forgot that they were ever open.
But that doesn’t fit well with how I see this website and our connections. Over the past few years, I’ve learned a lot from you because of your comments and reactions. You’ve also given me plenty of things to think and write about, and I would miss learning from you and writing about things that I know you’re interested in. When I stopped answering and paying as much attention to comments, I felt more disconnected from you all and my writing.
As I’ve said many times before, you all have played a critical role in my own life and success. As momentarily frustrated as I may get with some aspects of tending to the mechanics of this space, the fact of the matter is that it’s not just about me anymore. Whether or not it shows, a lot of thought goes into each and every element of this website, and one of the primary considerations is how potential changes affect you. Removing comments makes it harder for you all to find and talk to each other, and we weirdos have to stick together.
I like to think of this website as a place where we all learn to flourish together. We share, we talk, we think, we understand, and we disagree – but we do all of this together. Were I to shut off the comments, I’d diffuse the conversations that happen here. There’s a lot of value to smaller, fractured conversations, and there’s also a ton of value in having a coherent, unified conversation in one place. I want to leave the options open for both to happen.
In case you’re curious, this is one of those cases where I’ve aligned compassion and strategy. Being more connected to what’s going on helps me create content that gets read and shared, so the audience grows. Commenter psychology is such that you’re likely to return if you’ve left a comment, so that increases the chance that you’ll read and share other posts, which agains grows the audience. Since this is a commercial blog, increased viewership on relevant content increases the chances that people will buy something from me, hire me, or attend an event – people supporting the commercial end of this blog helps me continue to do what I do, and the cycle repeats.
So, leaving comments open enables us to learn and grow together as well as put food on my table. Turning them off might make my life easier in the short term, but it seems to go counter to my long-term vision. If things change dramatically, I might reconsider, but, for the foreseeable future, it’s more effective and resonant for me to change my own habits and perspectives than it is to do something that requires you to change yours.
I ask for your continued patience and understanding about the fact that I may not be able to respond to all or any of your comments. I enjoy doing so and I care, but my time, energy, and attention are just as finite as yours. Deal?
I can relate to it being tough to keep up with comments, but I can’t imagine closing them. Connecting with others is a big part of what my brand is about and who I am as a person. I honor others’ choices to close comments and would never stop reading a favorite blog because of this, but it’s definitely not a path for me.
I am so glad Jean is NOT closing comments and I wouldn’t either – in fact I devote time and energy to responding to every comment because helping and connecting with my readers are my golden opportunity to shine! Of course at some point, the scale may tip and it becomes a matter of keeping up…..Thank you Charlie for letting us (at least for now) express our thoughts!
Charlie,
Bless you. I was beginning to think I’d gone completely nuts in finding that everyone was in agreement over closing comments.
But you said it best here:
“Were I to shut off the comments, I’d diffuse the conversations that happen here.”
I really think that was my biggest point/gripe. Yes, I can find folks on Twitter and Facebook but the place that makes the most sense, and offers cohesion and monitoring, is the blog itself.
As I said to Marissa when she commented on my post, without comments the awesome Launch post of hers on this site would have not made near the impact it did. I gained a lot of understanding and found new friends. I’m not sure that would’ve happened as well if it were scattered (though the topic was such that it would have had legs regardless).
Many hugs to you, my man, for hearing my little tweet! 😉
Kelly
Please keep comments open! Although I logically understand, there’s an emotional disconnect to bloggers that disable comments. To me, it’s a very subtle way to say, “Your thoughts are not worth my time.”
Ahh.. the “it depends” response. 😉 I leave mine open for the same reason you leave yours open. And others close them for completely legit reasons.
In making risky choices, one often tries to find comfort by moving in packs. But sometimes that’s not possible, and making the risky choice means going it alone- or nearly alone.
The risky choice can be completely right for the person making it, and completely not right for anyone else. Which is just another way to say that I agree with what you wrote.
“I like to think of this website as a place where we all learn to flourish together.”
Charlie, this is where it’s at for me…The Comments section is where I feel like I can have a conversation and dialogue with the blog author AS WELL as the other commenters on the post.
I think of it like virtual grad school 🙂
Everybody chiming in on a topic to share their thoughts!
Charlie, I really love hearing this from you.
I learn so much from comments and thrive on the connections and can’t imagine that changing for me.
I can only imagine how overwhelming it might be for people who have a large readership. I accept people’s choices, like Danielle’s. But it changes my relationship — even if I rarely post a comment.
Good post. To me, it just seems like a blogger refusing to take comments would be like an artist refusing to take part in a critique.
I’ve never been bombarded by comments or emails (I don’t even get spam in my inbox!), but I can see how reading comments can take up time (sounds like time well spent, to me!).
It just seems to me that an artist’s existence is entirely based on audience… without an audience we are nothing. Without encouragement and thanks we might lose self esteem or get in a slump. Without suggestions we are without help when it is needed. But most of all, without critique we might repeat the same mistakes over and over and over.
I waste as much time as the next person, but I don’t think comments could be put on the same level as facebook gossip, could it?
I waste as much time as the next person, but I don’t think comments could be put on the same level as facebook gossip, could it?
I’d agree with you on this. As you say earlier, reading comments is time well spent.
it’s gettin’ hot in this kitchen. excellent. Charlie, I love how thoughtful you always are. I’m going to take this deeper…into the recesses of my psyche, and write about it in the next few weeks, post road-tripping.
Vive la difference.
I agree with almost every point of view I think! For some people it’s absolutely right to turn off comments, and others will decide it’s not for them.
I am more in the camp of leaving comments on though, for many of the reasons already expressed. For myself I’d probably stop reading a blog where the comments were closed; I might not comment often, but I want the choice to respond available to me.
I guess the exception to that is the purely informational, technical stuff, e.g. WordPress code when all I want is the answer!
I must be honest here, I love receiving comments. I could never think of closing my comments, I don’t even want to close comments on old posts that suddenly start attracting spam comments.
Charlie,
I appreciate your sharing openly and honestly on this topic. I love your diagram of how comments feed your creativity.
To be honest, I don’t feel drawn to reading blogs – even the big ones – by authors who turn off their comments. I understand the challenges of managing comments on a big blog. But somehow, turning off comments feels disloyal to one’s readers.
AMEN!! I hate blogs that don’t have comments open 🙁 I like being able to express my opinion about the author’s work – even if they never reply back.
Thanks for keeping yours open 🙂
Why even have a blog if you don’t want to interact with your readers?
Charlie, I agree with your position on comments. And I like how Mark Silver emphasized the point that it depends on what a bloggers goals are. With a main objective being to create connection and community I would think that would be much harder to achieve in a concentrated way with comments closed. Thank you for bringing this topic up for discussion (ah discussion another great function f comments!) 😉
😉
Amy Miyamoto
Charlie, I think having comments open is good. Just having the option to answer when a thought occurs while reading the post creates some sort of synergy. I understand how it could become time consuming when there are a lot of comments. For now, I’m glad you’re keeping comments open.
I’m with Sandra and Elaine and Katie.
And, no offense Charlie, but I enjoyed reading your readers’ comments as much (maybe even more) as I did your most excellent post. 🙂
I don’t (return) visit blogs that don’t facilitate and allow conversations. I especially love blogs that encourage and inspire them, like yours.
Namaste, fellow Weirdo. 😉
Charlie, thanks for this post – it was thought provoking and generous. I’ve just opened comments on my blog, after 5 months of finding my feet (well, I think that’s what I was doing) as a new blogger. Not having comments activated had nothing to do with not wanting to have a dialogue with my readers, and everything to do with my own confidence (creative and technical) and the time I knew I’d have to spend in the comments to ensure it was, indeed, a dialogue.
We apply offline rules to online discussions and I wonder how helpful and applicable that really is. If we were actually talking, say at a cocktail party, with food and drinks and stuff, the conversation wouldn’t look like this stream of comments at all (or if it did, it would be very strange). So we need to accommodate the idiosyncracies of the medium when we talk about the message.
And I agree, I learn so much from comments, even from beautifully thought out and expressed pieces like this.
Well, you know what they say. Wherever a comment section closes, another one opens. Someone writes a post, sparking someone else to write another post, and then another post, and then another. Blogs are one giant meta-commenting system. And so it’s impossible to truly close comments. You’re just giving people more time to think about it before they decide if they want to write a response. And then, when they do, it’s on their own blog. Or on Twitter. Or anywhere, really. And yay for that. I like knowing the people who have comments on WANT to have them on. Because if they didn’t, they could close them, and that would be fine, too. Knowing someone wants me to leave a comment makes me feel good about leaving a comment! And I do like to feel good.
Leaving blog comments open is a good thing. There are no hard rules that you have to answer every one. Just to see that you do respond at some point connects with readers, even if not directly.
Think of all the amazing people we’d miss if we didn’t see comments! What a loss!
Well Cynthia, you may be one of them! I think we first connected via comments, hard to remember now.
I can relate to what you’re saying, Charlie, on both sides. It’s hard to keep up, I wish I could respond to more of them – but it would be unthinkable not to have them on. One of the best things about blogging is the opportunity to start conversations, so I can’t imagine switching the conversation off.
I love how thoughtful you always are.
Most bloggers now don’t open up their comments section, almost everyone has it moderated because of the spamming going to promote websites.
I do love to comment on good reads and it’s a great conversation starter.
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