Why you would turn off comments

Just over a month ago I wrote a post that questioned why would you turn comments off?

The article was rather short, as I basically posed a question and then asked for responses. To quote me exactly I said

The real juicy content in this article will hopefully be in the comments!

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and so we scroll down… 😉

DiNaRa claimed that some bloggers may not no how to turn comments on. Fair point. Although if ever I don’t know how to do something blogging related, my first point of call is blogging forums and search engines, and usually I will have my answer in a matter of hours/days.
I see where you are coming from DiNaRa, but I do not promote lazy bloggers.

Raymund from Canon Toner said how he turns off comments only on pages, like the about page, the contact us page, the ‘advertise’ page, etc. He then went on to say that he would turn off comments on “any page that does not invite discussion” a fair point. We don’t allow comments on any of our pages. Why? Well they are part of the fixed structure of the blog. Got an issue with them? Use our contact form.
Raymund, I agree.


Joshua said how he would never turn of comments. Comments are vital, even if they are (as he puts it) ‘annoying’. He says how its our blog, and you can rule it how you like.
I agree with all that Joshua said, but if bloggers decide to ‘lock down’ comments, then they are unlikely to get many loyal readers.

Jakk from Technology Blogged mentioned how some sites turn of comments as they would rather people would interact via social media, partly as this requires a lot less management. He also said how “If you recieve over 1000 comments a day, and have limited resources, turning them off is the only thing you can do.” I disagree. Using multiple spam filters (like we do here) and having multiple comment moderators can easily solve this problem. Too much traffic? Don’t complain, put ads on your site, and use the revenue to pay for better hosting.
Jakk I see your point, but I disagree – again, I don’t promote lazy blogging.

Barbara used a great analogy: “Turning off comments in a blog is like refusing to speak to your partner in a real relationship. Who would do this?” apart from knowing a few people to whom this might actually apply, I think that it’s a great little quote.
I agree with you too Barbra.

Here are some more great responses:

Chadrack's response to 'Why would you turn off comments?'John's response to 'Why would you turn off comments?'Diana's response to 'Why would you turn off comments?'Thanks also to everyone else who left a comment, but wasn’t mentioned. There were loads of other great responses, so I urge you to go and check them out! Click to view the comments on ‘Why would you turn comments off?’.

So, do you agree with my opinion?

Did you miss the article and want to add your view now?

Comments are open to all, as usual 🙂

Why would you turn comments off?

Why would you ever turn off comments?

There is the question for today. I can see no valid reason. I have already written about how comments are the fire of the blogosphers, how they are (in most cases) vital to success.

Technology Bloggers readers, I ask you why would you turn off comments and prevent people from broadcasting their opinion via the medium of commenting?

Technology Bloggers LogoWhen I find a blog that has turned off comments, it really annoys me. I can’t work out why you would turn them off.

Do you turn of comments? Why?

Do you know someone who has turned off comments? Ask them why.

The real juicy content in this article will hopefully be in the comments!

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The importance of comments

For 99% of blogs, comments are vital. They are the power behind blogging. People voicing their opinions on things that matter to them.

Not getting me? The comments are the fire of blogging, leading me perfectly onto my analogy of what comments are.

The analogy!

When creating fire you need three things:

  1. The right atmosphere (oxygen rich)
  2. Fuel
  3. Heat

These create fire.

Comments works in a very similar way. Comments also need three things:

  1. The blogosphere – when and where everyone meets and interacts (like the atmosphere)
  2. Articles – the substance to debate argue and discuss (like the fuel of the blogosphere, what it runs off)
  3. Opinions – these are people’s views on things which then cause them to write (like heat)

These three powerful elements create comments. The environment is set, the content is there, people’s opinions are brimming, bring on the comments!

Without comments I doubt that blogging would still be going now. Yes blogging is said to have died multiple times in the last decade, but it still lives on strong, and people like us are leading the community, pushing the boundaries to find new frontiers!

Thank you

As comments are so valuable, I though it would be a great idea to thank the commenters of this blog, as a way of saying ‘welcome to the community’!

Thank YouBelow is a list of the names of all the authors and commenters that have helped Technology Bloggers through the first 18 days of it’s life.

Over 100 comments from 26 authors (including me) – Wow! Well done everyone 😀

Authors

Commenters

  1. Wayne John from Southern California Web Development (8)
  2. Maria Pavel (5)
  3. SEO Gurgaon (4)
  4. Anna (3)
  5. Jakk from Technology News (3)
  6. Lillie Ammann (3)
  7. Marc (3)
  8. Nasif (3)
  9. Samantha Dermot (3)
  10. DiNaRa (2)
  11. jason from car Insurance Tips (2)
  12. Jimmy from wordpress themes (2)
  13. Jordan (BHATTMAN) (2)
  14. Chadrack from Making Money Blogging (1)
  15. Dana (1)
  16. Enfotainer (1)
  17. James (1)
  18. Justin Germino (1)
  19. Matt (1)
  20. online jewelry (1)
  21. Radithya from cirrusdance (1)
  22. Rojish (1)
  23. Tammi Kibler (1)
  24. Tony from Technology News (1)
  25. Travis from TradeTechSports (1)

Thank you all 🙂

Good bye April 2011, hello Technology Bloggers future!