Chris Holmes Online

Are comments on blogs worthwhile? That’s the question some folks are asking (and answering), namely Adi, Joel and Dave Winer.

Dave puts it like this:

Do comments make it a blog? Do the lack of comments make it not a blog?

Here’s my answer: Comments don’t really have anything to do with the core concept of a blog (self expression). They’re an optional feature. Whether they can add value to a blog depends entirely on (a) the quality of the comments coming in and (b) how the author handles them.

Dave and Joel don’t apparently think they add much value, regardless. Joel writes:

Look at this innocent post on a real estate blog. By comment #6 you’re already seeing complete noise. By #13 you have someone cursing and saying “go kill yourself.” On a real estate blog.

Dave and Joel seem to think that if you’ve got something to say then you should just start your own blog. That idea doesn’t strike me as particularly practical.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I don’t see blogging as a medium fit for everyone (that one-size-fits-all problem again). I think you have to have a little bit of extrovert in you in order to write a blog. Plus you have to, you know, actually like to write. Then on top of that you have to buy web space (preferably with your own domain name), install blogging software, and then blog. Regularly. And not suck at it.

That seems to me like a lot of work for someone who might just want to respond to something you wrote one time, and maybe they’ve got something worth saying.

Isn’t it worthwhile to hear what they have to say?

Adi seems to think so:

…I don’t see anonymous comments as the evil Joel compares them to. I have read many blogs from Jeff Atwood, Scott Hanselman, Phil Haack containing meaningful and entertaining comments, some of them anonymous. Someone may have great ideas and the desire to express them, but no desire to open a blog, and you can force that person to start blogging.

I’m with Adi here. I think there’s a lot of value in other people’s opinions. It’s how I learn. It’s how my own ideas get challenged. For me, a blog post is a starting point. It’s a placeholder for a potential conversation. Without comments, that’s a pretty one-sided conversation.

As for the really idiotic comments, well, that’s where moderation comes in. Now, I admit my site isn’t a juggernaut like Scott Hanselman’s, so maybe there will come a day when moderating comments gets to be too much work. But I think for the vast majority of blogs, moderating comments is well worth the effort. It lets you keep the crap out, while giving people who actually have something interesting to say a place to say it.

Plus, I think there’s another benefit here: It makes people who visit your blog feel welcome. It encourages them to contribute to the conversation; to read; to have their own ideas challenged; to learn.

I feel like my blog is an extension of me – of my house, if you will – and when you’re reading my blog you’re visiting my house. Now, I could go all Soup Nazi on my visitors and tell them to take off their shoes, not walk on the carpet and keep their mouths shut while they’re in my house. But I prefer to make them feel at home; welcome; like they are an invited guest.

Of course that’s just me. Your mileage may vary