Shawn’s recent update on comments has a simple yet powerful message:
“.. on a site with comments disabled there is no pressure. Once you’ve read the article that’s all. The author requires nothing of the reader but to enjoy the content. There are no awkward expectations. The article is a gift.”
A thought that is, ultimately, reflected in the general shift in readership here, over several months — many now read, yet few openly comment. Yet more of you drop by every day.. and still, few comment. Are comments so valuable they mark success? Shouldn’t we all strive for comment nirvana? Are they the yard-stick, or a yard-arm?
How often have you read an entry, followed by hundreds of comments, all arguing a point long since lost? How often have you discovered comments greedily stealing focus from content? And by God, shouldn’t I be expected to provide such an avenue? Isn’t it wrong to silence comment?
No, dear readers, not today. An experiment in dialogue that never truly offers all that it claims to provide, has finished. Perhaps that is why so many fail, so many waste so much on managing comment, rather than discovering and engaging in content.
Instead of one entry, spurring another, and another, and yet another, we engage in often meaningless commenta, breaking shared consciousness, in favour of a quick retort. It is a rare (yet beautiful) thing to see article and comment stand side by side.
In a world of shared experience, via twitter, pownce, tumbler, jaiku and others more, with their pervasive and instant comment satisfaction, comments via blog are all but redundant. I can comment and converse on any topic, more effectively and efficiently via such means, than I ever could via comment alone.
This author has re-engaged in content, comments are now closed.
Entries will stand, or fall, on their own merit — comments no longer rule, content is king. Response?
Email, blog or referral links, are all most welcome.
≡ This is a journal entry relating to the topics of journal, presentation, reading, updates.
Brendan Borlase is a Systems and Network Administrator living in Adelaide, Australia, having lived, worked and breathed Information Technology for over 12 years. Learn more.
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