cubicle17

I received an e-mail yesterday, which in and of itself was nothing special, but this e-mail asked for my opinion (I typically just give my opinion, so having someone ask for it was notably exciting). Here’s the relevant portion of the e-mail:

I just added comments to my blog (http://newsroom.tumblr.com) and I’m curious what you think about comments on a blog. I notice you have none.

Comments are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, comments provide a mechanism for instant feedback from your readers that doesn’t require the structure or formality of e-mail. Comments, assuming your commenters aren’t stereotypical trolls, can be as compelling as the article to which they’re responding, and that’s a kind of content you can’t get anywhere else. So, more than just a means to hear what your readers think, comments allow the readers to interact not only with you but with each other, and I think that’s a big reason to have comments on a blog.

That said, comments aren’t without a dark side. Comments provide an anonymity that e-mail does not, and a certain kind of behavior follows that anonymity (I could probably write an entire post on people’s jackass-like behavior when they’re anonymous). Along with the “anonymous behavior,” there’s spam. Comment spam is on the rise, and is nothing but a giant pain in the ass. For these two reasons alone, comments almost require moderation, and make no mistake: moderation is work. If either of these things become a problem, and you’re not willing to put in the work necessary to let comments be user-generated content instead of a spam pantry, then comments may not be a good option.

Depending on the size and quality of the readership, however, it’s possible none of this will be an issue. For an interesting point-counterpoint on the topic, I recommend reading Why Daring Fireball is Comment Free and The Dilemma of Comments. Both blogs have large readerships and both make an excellent case for their particular side.

Personally, I fall on the side of no comments. I didn’t have comments initially because Tumblr didn’t offer them, but now I’m not certain I’d enable them even if it did. True, I don’t get as much feedback as I might like, but I also don’t have to deal with spam, and right now, that’s all the justification I need.