First Time I Disagree With Marc

Regular readers know that I am in love with Marc Andreessen's blog. I read it daily and he has not let me down yet. He has a post up on the 11 things he's learned from blogging in the past "fucking five weeks" (that's a inside reference).

I agree with all of them but one. You can't turn off the comments and have a truly interactive blog with a community. Comments are where it's at in blogging. If I turned off comments, I'd quit blogging.

It's all of you, the people who take the time to read this blog and let me have it in the comments, who keep me doing it. Trackbacks and other forms of social media interaction are fine, but comments are the first line of interaction, discussion, and debate in the blog world.

I know there are plenty of high profile bloggers who don't have comments, including my inspiration for blogging, Seth Godin. But when you turn off comments, the blog stops being a blog in my mind and becomes a publication. Seth and Marc will say that if you have a high profile blog, you get too many nasty, mean, ugly comments and spam to boot. True. I've had the same problems, maybe not of the same magnitude. I don't care. You have to deal with it.

A blog without comments is a one way medium. And that's not as good as a conversation.

Comments

[Geoff]

Well said Fred, I totally agree - a blog without comments isn't really a blog at all.

The strange thing is he actually thanks the commenters "especially the people who posted comments before I turned comments off!" in the piece.

The spam argument is spurious IMHO. Spam karma and Askimet kill all the spam on the blogs I admin.

[CoryS]

I could read between the lines on Marc's blog that he may have a motivation behind turning off comments, while saying that he reads Technorati, Google Blog News, Digg, etc. references to his blog.

When seeking prominence in the blog world, a blog needs link referrals to build credibility, page rank, etc. Turning off comments, but saying you track what others say in the wild is a way to foster that.

Maybe I'm being overtly skeptical.

[Tony Alva]

Without comments it's nothing but an e-mail newsletter. Comments are what make a blog.

[Shripriya]

I agree with you, Fred. When I saw Marc's post, I was disappointed.

To me it indicates he wants to talk *at* me and not *with* me. Not that interesting.

I also get a sense of "Now that my blog has gotten all these rave reviews and I'm established, I'm too important and too busy to bother with comments..."

That might be a harsh interpretation of his decision, but it may have merit.

[Martin Gordon]

I agree with you 100%. Not just because it stifles conversation, but because it sends a signal to readers (intentional or not) that the blogger is too good for our ideas.

Now my POV may be skewed because I don't generate as much traffic as Marc or Seth, but dealing with spam is a small price to pay considering the value you get out of frictionless discussion.

[Robert Dewey]

I agree with you and the other commenters. I'd like to think of "blogs without the option to comment" as being the same as traditional media - how is it different than a closed article residing on CNN or Fox News?

Comments are what make blogs. Blogs without comments are nothing more than a Geocities webpage... whoops.

[RG]

Fred,
I totally agree with you! I read both of your blogs daily and sometimes the best part of a post is the conversation taking place in the comments. I really hope Marc will reconsider. If he's too busy, maybe he can hire a summer intern to moderate his comments or something. Do they have Akismet spam/content filtering on typepad?

[josef]

Hopefully this isn't "too nasty, mean, OR ugly" but your new Voki is kind of creepy.

PS - heard the new Spoon record? It's amazing. Free show in Battery Park tonight.

[jackson]

Without comments, where would I be? I wouldn't be #1 anymore. Thanks for your loyalty. I promise to keep you laughing and crying.

[Rick]

I think his point was that he'd like to see the conversation happen within trackbacks between different blogs... people with a blog have to be more responsible with their words.

And your avitar thing is really creepy, I agree. Looks like it's wearing some sort of helmet.

[Commenter]

Fuck you.

[Dave!]

I agree. Comments are what makes blogging a community activity and not just jerking off on a soapbox.

As for Seth Godin, I love his blog--even without comments. But I will note he still supports trackbacks (which also encourage dialog) and when I have had a very specific response, I e-mail it and have never failed to receive a response... so I don't feel like he's just talking to himself.

[Ken]

I have had comments off on my blog for several months. For even a low profile blog like mine the ratio of spam to valid comments was way too high. I don't think Marc was saying he doesn't want the comments but rather that he didn't want to overhead of having to filter out the spam.

I agree with Marc. There has to be a better way than comments to provide the same public conversation without the maintenance headaches.

[Jonathan Peterson]

I agree as to the importance of comments - but is comments are so important, why is it that proposals for standards and/or APIs that would interconnect blog comments and trackbacks to enable cross blog conversations have languished so badly while all this money is being thrown around at social software that isn't NEARLY as useful?

[Gerald Buckley]

Just like I said about "You're getting an iPhone dude" (and it looks like you did/will) Marc will turn comments back on OR... he'll have some sort of NING play which manages comments for him.

There are a few "blogs" I'd read even without ability to dialogue with others. Seth Godin's is one. Guy Kawasaki's would be another. Malcolm Gladwell! There are quite a few actually. The pez-like wisdom dispenser that is pmarca is just too good to pass on just because of deactivated comments.

[jackson]

Creepy is in the eye of the beholder.

[avg_commenter]

i hate you! more cowbell!

[Ann Bernard]

Glad to hear you care that much about us and will keep your comments going...even if it does require some extra work ;)

I was pretty bummed that Mark turned his off. The content of his blog is top notch and I'll keep going back to read more, but the comments also had additional good little nuggets and pertinent information.

That's the beauty of comments on highly popular and well written blogs...it attracts others who have strong inputs, opinions and two cents worth reading.

A blog is strengthen by it's readers and commentors.

[David Burn]

For a contrary opinion on the need for comments see: http://shawnblanc.net/2007/why-daring-fireball-is-comment-free/

[Phil]

I was thinking the other day- if I had comments, I'd use the Facebook API to require FB authentification for comments. You'd get a rid of so many trolls, but not sacrifice a lot of usability.

[Chad]

Right said, Fred! ;-) A Blog without comments is like a night without stars.
Best, Chad

[cfw]

Fred is right. Comments are sort of a peer review or reality check. Even if the blogger does not read them, they are helpful to blog readers in testing and evaluating the points made in the blog. MA laid an egg - hopefully he will reconsider.

[Geoffrey McCaleb]

Totally agree with previous comments and of course Fred. Blogging without comments is like publishing a zine. What's the point. It is odd that he mentions in 4) that he loves how blogs enable communication, then follows that up with saying 5) that the communication would be slightly one-sided.

I don't buy anyone who says they turned off comments because of the spam. My low-profile blog catches roughly 200 spam comments a day. I cant remember the last time I had to actually moderate a comment.

[rick gregory]

Actually, this is the first post by Marc that seems, well, clueless:

"Anyone who says blogs are not widely read is incorrect. I have been absolutely amazed at the range and diversity of the people who have been reading this blog, and so quickly."

Oh please. He's Marc Andreesen. OF COURSE he got a lot of link love and readers within the tech community. Yes hists posts are of very high quality, but it's just not surprising that he got a lot of people looking at his blog.

"one of the best things about blogs is how they enable a conversation among people with shared interests."

So he turned off comments?? Right... First off, there are very good spam controls out there. That's really not that much of an issue anymore. Second, the comment that he "turned off comments on this blog because I was no longer willing to spend the time required to moderate for relevance and civility" implies that he SHOULD be filtering the comments for content. Um... no. CAN you? Of course. But except in egregious cases, why do it? If you want authentic conversation, don't filter the comments.

Finally, trackbacks are a poor way to converse - I'd have to use a blog post that is a comment on another blog post. My readers don't have context since they don't see the original post and I'm forced to use a substantial portion of my posts to comment on others which makes the blog less my place and more driven by others.

[Nate Westheimer]

It is unfortunate he turned off commenting to say the least. To say the most, it raises suspicion of his motives to blog (which is what's making us say: "hey! we all thought you were in it for the conversation!). If it's all about broadcasting his thoughts, name and his company's name, more power to him, but he should have then partnered with an existing publisher and made them worry about the comment moderation issue.