Blogs without Comments?
It may seem crazy, but in all honesty, many blogs are taking a different approach to the whole commenting system. We’ve always come to view comments as a major part of a blog, and in truth it is, but what happens when things get out of hand?
If you’re a regular at Engadget, you are aware that commenting is turned off temporarily. Stemming from the media frenzy concerning the iTampon iPad, many of the commenter’s became fed up with the excessive coverage of the device. That led to quite a few heated debates, and according to Engadget “threatening in some situations…” While I have not seen read anywhere in the comments where threats were carried out, I can personally say that the comments were beginning to look like Bagdad.
According to Engadget, turning off comments is not hurting the majority of their readers because the majority of their million plus readers never comment. This is true as statistics have proven that less than 5% of readers actually comment on the article they are reader (which is why 90% of comments are spam). However, that doesn’t mean that comments do not matter to most readers. It is true that many readers will not comment, however they will read comments and if the option is available, rank up or down comments they dislike.
Personally I know that after reading any article on any major website, I generally read a couple of the comments. Why? It gives an idea of what the audience’s reaction is to the post. More importantly if rating is available, you can have a better idea of what visitors consider useful comments and how they affect the article.
Except for controversial topics, comments are a vital part of any blog and while the majority of viewers will not comment, they will read what other readers have to say. That’s just my opinion however, what are your thoughts?
It’s so tempting to say “No comment” but I won’t do that.
Commenting is part of the blogging community interaction system. Certain blogs such as Engadget may have to cut the comments. For most of us I don’t see a need to do that – we wish we had someone, anyone who would leave a comment.
Maybe instead of turning off comments they should be controlled by large blogs. Amazon does a fine job of that with reviews.
There is no denying the fact that many do not bother to write comment. But that should not worry any serious blogger. Statistic has proven that many find it difficult to put pen on paper(or use the fingers to click).
whatever happens, have a goal to be valuable and leave other factors to chances otherwise a blogger becomes tired, worned- out because of lack of encouragement. Other encouraging tool is to put site metre that will help you understand traffic.
comment helps feedbacks and bonding though.