Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ On no comments

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
D'Arcy Norman has no comments (part one, part two) on his blog. "Without comments and stats," he writes, "my blog feels mine." That's fair enough, though I miss the chance to just fire him back a quick quip (or even a kudos) en passant. But he's right, if it's important, I can always blog about it. He links to a longish post surveying various bloggers, some famous and some less so, on whether they allow comments. It's good reading. I guess my own feeling is that I'd rather have comments on so that people's responses are public. The major problem with comments (besides unwanted advertising messages) is the comment troll, but I have a totally no-nonsense policy about abuse: it gets deleted, nobody sees it, and I don't get into an argument explaining my reasons. Of course I don't really get enough comments for any of this to be a significant issue. I've always encouraged people to post on their own blog (partially by means of a quirky and not always functional comment system). Would I get more comments if, say, I used Disqus? Maybe - but I think of comments like gifts, I read every one (it comes in through my email) and I like to leave them displayed on the mantle, in my house, not the shed out back.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Dec 25, 2024 08:08 a.m.

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