Mar
20
Should We Bring Back Comments?
Fucking conferences. You meet cool people with really cool thoughts and then you start thinking. I blame Chris Guillebeau. He is generally the one responsible for me deciding to do stupid shit like change my entire business model to live on a houseboat. God dammit. (DO NOT email me to ask if I am really going to live on a houseboat. As of now, no, but if I keep talking to Chris, it’s always a possibility.)
I was going to write a post today about Zappos and how much they suck. (Only on IttyBiz, people. We like to buck the trends.) But when I went into my admin panel to start typing, I saw… comments.
If you don’t have a blog, you probably don’t understand that this is VERY DISCONCERTING for someone who does not have comments enabled on their site. Comments came out of the ether.
Turns out it was not, in fact, the garden fairies that made the comments come, as was previously believed. I was just a dumbass and forgot to disable them from the starfucking post because I was all jetlagged and shit.
OK. Now this is the part of the post where I stop any pretense of making sense and just vomit it all out on the page. If you can make anything out of it, you’re a better person than I. I just do not have it in me to be coherent about this issue.
Here’s the thing. I liked the comments. They were good. They were not left by assholes or stupid people. And for a little moment of weakness I thought to myself, “Hmm… maybe it’s time to start rethinking the comments thing.”
(If you’re new to the blog, I took comments off to much public fanfare and/or derision. Some people said it was awesome. Some people said they gave my business six months before it collapsed in a blaze of fire and brimstone. What is brimstone, by the way?)
Anyway, I’m just all fucked up about the whole thing. Here are some random thoughts:
1. If I have comments back, am I going to have to respond to everybody?
2. Is the comment quality high because the ability to comment is rare? Will the comments become shitty if everybody gets to do it all the time?
3. Do you guys even WANT to comment?
4. Would you comment if you knew sometimes I couldn’t respond?
5. Is it reasonable to have a comment policy that consists of “If you’re a dick, we’re deleting you” and nothing else?
If you have anything to contribute on these or any other marginally relevant topics, I would appreciate it. Naturally, comments are open. :)
I think you should open comments for those posts you think discussion would be most appropriate. People want to dialogue with you because you are engaging, therefore I believe you should make this a semi random possibility. No, you don’t need to answer every comment, but yes you should chime in. You have the type of community that will carry on without you, so even if you just opened comments and let people banter amongst themselves, this would afford you the opportunity to weave in and out of the conversation at those intersections where you could be the most clever.
Well, I’m a Dick. So delete me.
I’ve never expected you to reply back. I don’t see this as some kind of conversation — I’ll send you mail if I want that. (Unless you’re some kind of psycho who decides not to use email anymore…)
I heartily approve of either having to log in or just deleting the idiots.
I sometimes want to comment, usually not.
I can’t remember what the numbers were, and didn’t answer in order.
Why doesn’t this post have a curse word in the title? Are you ill?
@ Dick — If by “ill” you mean “just spent way too much time with Havi”, then yes.
I think it would be a bit stupid of me to say no to comments as I comment here.
I think you should do whatever the hell you like. But seeing as you asked what I think, I would love to see comments as I find the coolest people by following through from comments on the coolest sites (Havi’s for example).
I totally don’t mind if you don’t answer. I reserve the right to run around the room flapping my arms like some sycophantic idiot if you do. I will not be offended if you don’t – you’re damn busy and that’s cool.
I hope that helps. I screen comments on my teeny weeny blog that has no hope of having the same potential problems as yours, but if someone ever did say something that upsets me, I wouldn’t post it up, and so if you do the same, I would obviously be on your side.
I’d better go before I say something really silly, like gushing about how ace you are and all. Very un British :o)
I remember when you disabled comments I was disappointed. I enjoy your posts, but some of my favorite parts of this blog were your witty replies to comments.
You have a following that would probably like to engage in conversations with each other, even if you might not respond to every comment yourself. I say turn it back on with the dick-delete rule in effect.
1. No, you don’t have to respond to everything. I would just make chicken soup and wrap myself in blankets and tell myself it’s not you, it’s me.
2. I would let myself go, totally. It would be like getting to eat bacon for breakfast every day.
3. Very much so.
4. Yes, because it would feel I was wooing you.
5. I would like you to rule your Comment Kingdom with an iron fist. Delete with abandon! This is not a democracy!
1. If I have comments back, am I going to have to respond to everybody?
NO. In fact, you could respond to absolutely nobody and it could still be a freaking awesome decision.
2. Is the comment quality high because the ability to comment is rare? Will the comments become shitty if everybody gets to do it all the time?
I see some folks enabling comments just on particular posts, then shutting them off after a certain period of time. I imagine this does increase comment quality — the trolls who don’t pay as much attention as the fans don’t see commentability coming until it’s too late. Of course, there are always the trolls who DO pay as much attention as the fans, but there you go. (Anyway – it looks like this works for Dooce, as far as I can tell from my limited vantage, and she gets SLEDS of hatemail.)
3. Do you guys even WANT to comment?
You write a lot of eminently commentable stuff. Also, we like to send kudos. We can do that in lots of ways, but commenting is a familiar, friendly method. :}
4. Would you comment if you knew sometimes I couldn’t respond?
I think most people assume an author won’t respond, especially if they’re busy. I generally consider it SUPER OMG BONUS if the author responds, but otherwise don’t think much on it.
5. Is it reasonable to have a comment policy that consists of “If you’re a dick, we’re deleting you” and nothing else?
Not only is it reasonable, it seems pretty common.
Other thoughts: Spam annoyed the piss out of me for awhile, but I dropped in Disqus and that stopped being an issue almost ENTIRELY. Closing comments after a period of time also was super useful. Also, I’m biased towards comments for the most part, because I’m biased towards conversation. There are some circumstances — the tendency to write material FOR comments, for instance — that I think suggest that including comments isn’t the greatest idea. My decisions usually fall in favor, though.
1. If I have comments back, am I going to have to respond to everybody?
“Have to” is a hard phrase. It’s hard to respond to 100 “Nice posts! I love you!”
Then again, there’s the conversation thing. Kind of nice to have that going (like now).
I say you don’t have to, but it’s cooleriffic when you do.
2. Is the comment quality high because the ability to comment is rare? Will the comments become shitty if everybody gets to do it all the time?
Yes and Yes. You are going to get tons of shitty comments when you open it up. Then again, I think that the real thinkin’ people just scroll past and ignore.
3. Do you guys even WANT to comment?
Sometimes. Only if I think I can ask something relevant or contribute something valuable. Then again, I could e-mail you and we could converse but then others may not benefit.
4. Would you comment if you knew sometimes I couldn’t respond?
Of course. Sometimes I like to converse with other commenters. I don’t comment back on my own blog unless I can add something or make it fun. If I can’t then I stay the hell out. It’s better for everyone.
5. Is it reasonable to have a comment policy that consists of “If you’re a dick, we’re deleting you” and nothing else?
100% yes. It’s your house, Lady.
I agree with the folks who say enabling comments on some posts would be awesome. Also, the sheer randomness of “sometimes comments” helps both weed out the dipshits and encourage those of us who want to have our say sometimes. ;)
-Erica
1. Absosmurfly not.
2. Some comments may become shitty over time. But I hope awesomeness will always rule. (And the policy outlined in #5 should take care of any shitty comments.)
3. Yes, please. If for no other reason than to tell you that you’re a genius or to say thanks. Or to talk about ninjas. (Can I talk about ninjas here?)
4. Absosmurfly.
5. Yes, yes, yes.
Thanks for everything so far, y’all. Please tell all your friends to come here and tell me what to do as well. :)
@ Fabeku — Discussing ninjas is really the only reason I have this blog. Havi calls this my secret mission.
Quick response: You don’t have to reply, we understand that you’re busy. We like to comment, but we can get distracted (ooh shiny!) and not leave a comment every now and then too.
Comment quality might be up because of rarity, but it might also be that trolls decided to move on? Oh, and please just delete the being a dick comments, it’s better for everyone. :)
If there are too many trolls, then just opening up comments now & again is probably fine for us fans.
P.S. We love you Naomi!
I won’t lie. I missed comments here. This is probably the only blog I ever left regular comments on, but I understood when you decided to take them down. So, answers to your questions:
1. No response expected by me.
2. Maybe you should just leave comments on on particular posts that seem more discussion worthy?
3. Yes please.
4. Yes
5. Totally reasonable. It’s your party and you can delete if you want to.
Long live ninjas!
Long live secret missions!
Long live Naomi, the ninja-loving uber genius!
Brimstone is also known as sulfur – yellow stinky powder. Apparently hell is supposed to be full of it.
Wonderful definition with cool experiments – http://www.periodicvideos.com/# and click on the S
What is brimstone, by the way? Sulfur.
1. If I have comments back, am I going to have to respond to everybody? No.
2. Is the comment quality high because the ability to comment is rare? Will the comments become shitty if everybody gets to do it all the time? No.
3. Do you guys even WANT to comment? Sure, sometimes.
4. Would you comment if you knew sometimes I couldn’t respond? Yes.
5. Is it reasonable to have a comment policy that consists of “If you’re a dick, we’re deleting you” and nothing else? Yes.
1. No.
2. You set the expectation. Even then you’re gonna get some dumbshits and assholes. Deal with it.
3. Depends.
4. Yes.
5. Yes. John Scalzi, an award-winning SciFi novelist and early blogger, has an insanely popular blog that runs the gamut from Bacon Cat to politics to religion to here’s a picture of the sunset. His comments policy is awesome. More words to say the same thing, but still pretty clear on what the expectation is. He rarely has problems, yet people mix it up frequently.
I’ve missed the comments, but I totally understand if you don’t want to have them. And you should feel free to delete anybody you like.
So I guess I am giving you permission to do whatever you want. My mom always says it is nice to be asked, and she is right! So thanks for asking!
Jesus Fuck, can’t you make up your mind? I want comments. I don’t want comments. Well I’ll allow them this time ’cause I fucked up. Do I *really* want comments?
It’s almost like you’re a fucking *human* or something, like you believe there’s valid points on both sides of the argument. This is the 21st Century, the world of black and white, you’re for us or against us, if you’re not part of the problem you’re part of the solution, so *PICK A SIDE*.
Or, you know, like … change your mind. That’s cool too.
Or you could do like Steve Yegge. He decided he was tired of the trolls at one point. So he just announced, “Go ahead and comment all you like. I ain’t gonna read ‘em.” If people really want a conversation with you, they can find your email. Comments are really for other readers lots of times. Except this one. This one’s for you.
I don’t expect responses to comments. Though sometimes a conversation gets going in the comments and you participating in that might add something.
You can have a comments policy that says “This is my space and I reserve the right to delete anything I think doesn’t belong here.” However you want to say that. This is not a public space. It’s more like an open house party. And if you had an open house party and someone was being a dick you’d kick them out. And if their friend’s complained, you’d kick their friends out. And no, you wouldn’t let them get their beer out of the fridge.
But I agree with the first comment above that you can open comments for only some posts. If discussion might add to the general benefit of the post, open them. If not, don’t. And it’s your space so you get to decide.
If we want to discuss what you wrote, there is nothing stopping any of us from writing a blog post of our own referring to yours and having the discussion over there.
1. If you want, but I think any regular readers of your blog know you’re pretty damn busy so you can’t get back to everyone. Hell, if you do you’re really just doing free consulting for us (thanks!)
2. Probably on both counts, since the internet doesn’t seem to have gotten much smarter over the past year. Then again, maybe the assholes have just found better places to hang out.
3. It’s nice once in a while. Except for about two sites I usually just lurk, and more often than not don’t read the comments anways. But that’s because those sites are all full of worthless “first!” spam and random arguments. Moderating with a heavy hand goes a long way, even if it pisses off all of the people shouting censorship.
4. If I was going to comment anways.
5. Yes, and that’s the best way to do it. Seeing the comments from dicks is a turnoff to looking through any of them, especially if that’s what I’m seeing in the first few comments. If I wanted to read idiotic banter online, I’d go read the comments on youtube.
Wooohoo! Comments!
1. If I have comments back, am I going to have to respond to everybody?
No, you don’t have to respond to them all.
2. Is the comment quality high because the ability to comment is rare? Will the comments become shitty if everybody gets to do it all the time?
I don’t know. Probably it will never get as bad as Techcrunch due to the fact that enormous blogs attract everybody. You could always shut it down again too.
3. Do you guys even WANT to comment?
I do!
4. Would you comment if you knew sometimes I couldn’t respond?
Yes. But I’d like to pretend that you’d actually read my comments.
5. Is it reasonable to have a comment policy that consists of “If you’re a dick, we’re deleting you” and nothing else?
It might be helpful to be a bit more specific and less harsh, but that’s just my take. It’s definitely cool to have limits.
Like you said when you turned comments off, this blog is a lecture, not a poll. I respect that.
Having said that, I like to comment here because I know there’s likely nothing to come out the tips of my fingers that would offend your sensibilities, given my insistence that sometimes there just is no more appropriate word to use than FUCK! You obviously ‘get’ that, too. Love that.
Would I like to comment here every now and then, once again? Hell to the yes! Will I be mad if I can’t (after this post)? No. Will I keep reading? Yes.
Do with comments what you will, girl. It’s your party and you can handle comments however you want to.
Hi Naomi,
Now that you have had the best of BOTH worlds (having experienced the flickering hell-fires & heavenly highs from the comment cosmos)….the only REAL choice here is one.
What’s good for YOU?
Make a pro/con list (no, really, I’m serious)…whichever side of the list outweight the other – wins.
I stopped paying attention when the comments went away. This is the first post I’ve read completely in months.
I always enjoyed reading comments here (well, like most of them..), and like the others I won’t expect you to respond (but am delighted if you do, as in “Hah! See! the great Naomi has deemed me worthy of a response!”).
But if you don’t turn the comments back on, I can always respond via Twitter or such if I can’t shut up :)
I was disappointed when you turned them off. I always liked coming here to build backlinks to my own blog, and I lived on the hope one or two of the really cool people who read your blog might come over and start reading mine.
I also liked dropping your name and saying things like, “The other day I was telling Naomi . . .” Or if you happened to respond to me with something like “Buzz off jackass” I could say, “The other day Naomi and I were talking about buzz, and how everything we knew about it was totally off.”
Are you seriously asking me these questions? Did you even read Havi’s Blogging Therapy Series?!
*slaps face, grabs collar, shakes like crazy* Where’s Naomi and what have you done with her?!
Answers: No. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Now quit shoulding all over yourself and just do what your heart tells you to before I drive down there and hug you into submission.
BTW: I believe the best comment policy is: If I don’t like it, tough shit. (And starfuckers and ass-kissers get deleted because reading 20 “Wow, yeah, that’s great”s is for blogs that don’t have something useful to say or are all about validating people’s feelings).
P.S. Who said the comments were about you anyway? The best comments are mini-blog posts to your readers. *waves to readers*
P.P.S. The above rules obviously don’t apply to my blog, where reading 20 “Wow, yeah, that’s great”s would be fucking awesome because frankly I write a pile of drivel that’s all about me and who gives a crap about that?!
@ Suzanne — We need a swear jar. Imagine if we got everybody in here and swore for charity. That would be cool.
When you’ve got the dick-auto-deletion plugin built for WordPress, we’d all like a copy, I’m sure. =)
@ Andy — Fuck. Now I have to get into the plugin business?
And now I said the F word so I’ll have to put a pound in the jar. Dammit.
Hi Naomi!
I love your writing but don’t often feel the need to comment. As for #1 and #4 I think it’s nice when writers respond to comments but not necessary or expected.
As for #5, absolutely YES. And please highlight your comments policy in a big pink box somewhere on your homepage. With glitter ;)
Let people comment. Don’t respond if you don’t feel like it. Don’t even read them if you don’t feel like it. And if you do read them, don’t let the dicks bother you – but calmly delete them from your universe.
I think you’re posts are more interesting when you have comments turned on.
It’s like the difference for a “stand up” performer or a musician — working live on a stage or making a recording in a studio. The delivery changes if you’re conscious of a real live audience, especially one that will or can respond. Eric Clapton is brilliant in the studio — he’s beyond defining on-stage.
Maybe knowing that comments are turned on makes you more aware of your readers, tunes your words in a different way. I do know that those posts engage me more, whether or not I comment (I usually don’t).
I’ll continue to read what you write, with or without comments. I’ll just enjoy it more — and learn more — when comments are turned on. It changes the way you write.
What? Comments are on? These aren’t the little voices in Naomi’s head speaking their piece at the end of her post?
Yah – like the other people said – do as you wish, this is your Queendom – I like reading what you write either way.
I never expect people to actual write back to comments. In fact, I rarely, if ever go back to even see if anyone wrote back to my comment. Come to think of it, I rarely read comments that other people write…hmm. When I respond to comments on my own blogs, I tend to do so through email instead of comments. But that’s just how I roll ;-)
So I say have some fun with it and change it up from time to time. Some days you leave things open to comments and other days you shut it down. It’s all in the element of surprise and unpredictability ;-)
1. No. You might begin to sound phony and it would become a nettlesome time suck. I’m with the others who suggested allowing comments only when you want useful and/or entertaining back and forth with readers.
3. Sometimes.
4. Yes.
5. YES. And if you’re not the one who can show others how that’s done, I don’t know who can.
Yes, but with the caveat to all that this is your site, and you can publish or delete any comment you like, and only engage when you have time to.
Yes, I was actually thinking this morning yours is a blog I would like to start commenting on
I have several thoughts:
* You should bring back comments because blogging is about interaction. And newspapers are about politics. Everyone knows that.
(Nobody respond to that. It’s a joke.)
* Just because you’re the more popular ninja blogger doesn’t mean you’re the only one. Don’t go getting all ninja uppity. I talk about ninjas from time to time and even talked about how they can suck their balls up inside of themselves so that when they get kicked in the groin, it doesn’t matter because their balls are like little independent ninjas as well.
* My question would be, Why NOT have comments? So you can flip that around to find my real answer.
* You can delete dicky comments without ceremony if they’re spam, but I think it’s more fun to respond to them if they’re just plain dicky. Respond totally inappropriately and watch the anger. I remember back before I had a blog and someone commented on my personal website that I was totally misinformed, naive, and wrong about something. That was fun.
* Ninjas all wear black all the time. I’ll bet ninja formal dances are boring as shit.
Naomi,
For a chick who’s very, very secure, comment-stuff sure gets your knickers in a knot. :) Commenting, jerks, etc., has been talked out here at least a couple of times. Do what you like, really.
But… not commenting does change the character of the blog (it has already). As was mentioned above, it may not get read as often, because there’s no urgency to read and discuss. In fact, there’s no urgency to read.
As an experience designer I could go on and on. But I’m not gonna. If you wanna bring comments back, go ahead. Warning: in a while it’ll approximate what you remember fondly, but it’ll never be the same.
And you’re never getting a pound out of me for charity in that way. I don’t swear on the www for all eternity! Which is why you love me.
Regards,
Kelly
@ Kelly — Yeah, we’ve talked about comments here a lot more than a couple of times. We’ve talked about a lot of things more than a couple of times. Kinda the way a chronological blog goes, really.
I think it’s pretty clear from the comments on your own blog that you (and your commentors) and I do not share the same opinion about experience design. Normally, I don’t think it’s going to be necessary to hash it out with you about it, but on this one I do have one thought. Bonding together over group derision is something I certainly engaged in once, but it’s not something I want to do again and I think it does nothing for the customer experience.
You are so correct that it will not be what I remember fondly. At the same time, there are many things about that time that I do not remember fondly. Fights and character assassination in the name of “community” and “discussion” and “conversation” are among them.
My 2 cents …
I say do what works for you. However, if the majority of your core audience has a desire to “dialog” and discuss your posts, disabling comments could degrade the “experience” for them … over time.
Given the popularity of your blog, I think it would be unrealistic to expect you to respond to every commenter. Many times the dialog occurs between the readers.
Happy medium: Perhaps you should only enable commenting on the posts that are discussion-worthy?
BTW Great blog; I would follow with or without comments.
Hey Naomi,
One of the biggest reasons i miss the comments on your blog is the folks who did a lot of the commenting are smart, funny witty folks as well. By the time I got through the comments, I would generally be laughing out loud. I need things to laugh out loud about more often!
You don’t need to comment back unless you want to. I loved your ongoing conversation, but I think we all know how busy that can get, so, hey- do what you need to do, woman! We all get that!
Delete whoever, whatever, whenever you want!
I would be thrilled to see you return to comments on the blog.! The interaction was a blast!
Thanks for thinking about it- and thanks for asking!
As for the curse jar, whew, do you really have THAT much money? Holy Shit!!
Namoi,
You stopped comments because they were confusing your clients.
Reread that.
Now what would a marketing consultant tell you to do?
I vote for random, as writerdad said. That makes it a special event and appropriate where you would LIKE discussion. You can tweet it.
Join in. That makes it fun.
Quality predictions? Toss the challenge grenade right back out there. Bring the sparkle folks.
And toss the trolls to the abyss.
I read without the comments just fine. Take the gems and use them. And think “that Naomi knows her stuff.” Or, oh she is ON today. If I want to chat, there is email. You’re accessible.
But it would be cool every now and then to open discussion up. Cool for you too.
Here are my answers to each question short and sweet.
1. No
2. Probably to part one of the question, Test it, find out.
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Yes but I’ll miss you when you delete me.
Someone already beat me to “Jesus Fuck,” so I’m going to go with “Fuck-a-doodle-doo!” If you were going to judge whether or not to allow comments by shere *volume*, I think you have your answer. …but to hell with us unwashed masses (I’ll get a shower later)! If you want to hear from us, leave comments on.
Delete whatever comments you think don’t contribute anything useful. We’ll probably learn pretty quickly where the bar is set, and aim higher if we want to be heard. Hell, maybe you’ll get lucky and after a while you won’t even need to govern the comments with an iron fist – we’ll just moderate ourselves into something, dare I say, *useful*.
I agree with Writer Dad – mix it up by keeping comments on for some posts, off for others. You decide. It’s YOUR blog and you’re in charge. You’re creating a space (or not) for others to dialog on your turf, but you’re under no obligation to do so. You don’t strike me as wishy-washy in the least so make your decision, establish your policies and OWN them.
1. No, you do NOT have to respond to everybody. Are you (or were you) under some impression that you do? If so I’d look closely at that. Who makes the rules anyway?
2. I think your comment quality on this post alone is incredibly high. My guess is your comment quality will generally be much higher than the average blog. Why? Because you’re smarter/funnier/wittier than average and you attract the same. If not, remember you’re in charge and get to delete the crap/spam.
3. Sometimes, absolutely. But not always.
4. Definitely, yes. I for one don’t comment to get a response. I comment to share or express. Responses are never necessary but always welcome.
5. Like someone else said, if YOU can’t teach ‘em how it’s done, who can!?
I love the context of your blog. I love the truth of what you say and the funny edgy honesty with which you say it. I love the intelligence and perspective of the people it attracts. Having the chance to interact with that kind of community is fairly rare, so I’d take it. Plus, I wonder how much your community has grown and changed since you last had comments on? Maybe there would be some pleasant surprises in store not just for us, but for you too.
1) No you do not need to respond to everybody, but it helps to be engaged to some level, which I see you have been on this one.
2) No I don’t think the comment quality was high because it was rare, as I think there will always be good commentators. At the same time I also think that you are bound to get shitty commentators – just the nature of the beast, I suppose
3) Yes we want to comment sometimes, but not all the time.
4) You being able to respond will affect me neither here or there if I wanted to comment. If I really needed dialogue, then I suppose I would email you or Jess
5) I think your proposed comment policy is brilliant!!
And that’s me commenting without reading any of the other comments.
Many a time I’ve read one of your posts and wanted to add something, clicked to travel through and… Crap, Naomi has no comments.
*insert muttered curses*
I’m all about being social. (Okay, and being the center of attention.) Turn the comments back on.
I like the comments on, please. I often learn as much from some of the smarties that read & comment on these posts as I do from the posts themselves.
And no I don’t expect you to reply to comments because I am just a starfucker anyway.
Yes. Comments. Don’t respond to any of them. Delete who you want arbitrarily and at random. It’s your blog. Do what you want.
I just want to see my name in lights.
You asked for my thoughts on comments.
I don’t think you have to comment on comments (unless you want to).
I don’t think you have to let all the comments through – or justify your choices. If a comment doesn’t serve the community, then nix it. Your place, your choice.
Yes, I like the Naomi-ish comment policy. It is nicely sticky.
Obviously, I like to comment occasionally, but the lack doesn’t stop me from reading your blog. Frankly, I come for you. (Sorry, that doesn’t exactly sound good, but I hope you know what I mean.)
Best of luck with this one.
Meredith
Naomi, my dear Naomi
You of all people don’t need any of us to tell you to not do anything you don’t want to do. Comments or no comments, it’s all good. Delete or don’t delete, it’s nobody’s business except your own. Personally, I’d like to see comments return. . . however, you need to get a machete and wield it whenever necessary. Post your comment policy and call it a day.
BTW, I’ll follow your blog regardless of comments.
In answer to Q3, I don’t care either way. I like reading your stuff, skim thru the comments and hardly ever comment on your posts.
Comments, yes. Respond if you want. Make them special occasions. There ya go. :-)
Affirmative on the comments, and a big YES on deleting those with ghastly manners.
@ Preppy Princess — Dude, “ghastly manners” is the best turn of phrase I’ve ever heard. Well said, my favorite preppy. And thanks for stopping by.
Ode to Comments on IttyBiz – a Haiku
Mandatory are
Comments for, without them there’s
No blog, just a page.
I love your comments and have missed them, but don’t do something that will make you psychotic.
Could you perhaps get your lovely assistant to pre-handle all the comments and delete the ones that will make you psychotic?
I forget what all the questions are but the answer to the last one is yes.
I like the sometimes-on, sometimes-off idea. When you are being Queen Bossyboots, they’re off. When you’re getting a body part stuck in something to general mirth, they’re on.
p.s. they don’t even have to be a dick. If they just make you crazy for no reason at all, that’s a reason.
Hi Sweet Girl,
Comments? Do what you want. Of course, that goes without saying! But I love the comments, love being able to comment and don’t expect you to respond AT ALL. Unless you really really want to and it’s TOTALLY fun for you.
And yes. Delete, delete, delete to your hearts content. If someone is ghastly, if someone is rude, if someone is obnoxious, if someone is being boring or stupid or an obvious starfucker or for ANY REASON WHATSOEVER…. just because you’re cranky that day or because they’re being too prissy or namby pamby or not saying FUCK enough- off with their little commenting heads!
And of course you don’t ever have to do comments at all. Ever. Make yourself happy, darling. You’re already doing that plenty for the rest of us. Comments or not.
I’m always lurking and thinking what I could write in a comments. How smart and witty it’s going to be and than I think maybe I should wait another day because after all I cannot edit it and, oh embarassment is coming, I spelled your name wrong…
So I have never done this before.
But the possibility was there and than you shut the comments and I thought, shit, nobody will ever know I am REALLY reading your blog, not just thinking about it.
And I suppose there are many people that thought like me – one day they would have post a comment, for sure – so pretty please keep them open at least on some of the posts.
And delete as you please, after all it is yours, it’s given to you.
PS
One thing I would not like to see is like some people have done – no links for commentators. That’s half the fun exploring all those links in comments. And you know straight away when you click on a link there is something in common – reading this blog and having the courage to respond.
Naomi I don’t care what they say about you…honey you rock and I love reading your stuff..
Blessings and getting drunk with Huntington…my dream..you two in the same room has to be a blast..even for this 62 year old granmma.
Blessings..Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com
Fuck it. Do what you want.
Life’s too short to worry about trolls and assholes.
The rest of us will keep reading – whatever you decide to do – because you rock.
I was just scrolling through this comment stream and was going to tell to you “to hell with it, it’s your site, so do what YOU want to do” but Casey beat me to it! ;)
So, I’ll extrapolate:
In answer to your questions,
1. Only if YOU want to
2. Only time will tell
3. Well, that depends on how provocative the post is.
4. Almost certainly. People love to talk.
5. Absolutely.
So no hard and fast answers here; but that’s life.
Keep doing what you do: keep educating us and if you want us to publicly tell you what we think of this education then hit the on switch, if you don’t, don’t. Get a latte, or a massage, or some other work done, but don’t worry about it. Worrying is for people who don’t have half as much of their shit together that you do.
:)
I’m just coming out from under whatever Face Eating Aliens Wonder Plague I caught at SXSW, so color me late to the party.
Also color me Whatever, because while I come here for the Naominess, I also see some fine peeps and peepettes among the commenter list. So this answer is probably Helpful As Fuck All, but in some areas I’m just easy to please.
Cheers!
I don’t really care if you enable comments or not for my own sake. I’ll read your posts anyway. However, in reading the comments on this blog and you Star-Fucking post, I have to say your readership is hysterical. The comments make your blog even better.
1. No
2. I think most of the comment will be good. Just delete or ignore the ones that are not, and that’s it.
3. Based on the number of comments on this post, yes. :)
4. Yes
5. Yes
If anyone gets upset that you haven’t responded to them enough for you to know about it – you probably don’t want to deal with them in the first place. Got no time for you, Sensitive Sally.
I would tend to think that comment quality is high because of the random commenting opportunities as of late. But then again “comment quality” sounds like some weird metric used by Acme Blogs Co. to determine what the next topic should be (also based on last months response rates and exit page logs).
Occasionally I do want to comment but this is actually my first time commenting, I think. Note: I’m a yellow-belly lily-livered coward.
I’m commenting now assuming you won’t respond, because who wants to respond to comments for 15 hours a day? Of all people on the internet – I wouldn’t expect this of you.
As for the comment policy – I look to various people for inspiration and answers to the tough questions. In this case I look to Coolio.
“If you got beef, then eat a porkchop”
I know you are busy…I’ve never expect a direct response via your blog. Besides, I already have your email address plus, you’ve given me permission to shoot you and you said something about 2%.
If you have comments combined with dick rule how the hell are you going to find the time to screen? Yah, at the rate you get comments I’d call that job security for Jess. Not to mention you might need ANOTHER assistant. I’m available. Just sayin’.
I second Kelly Parkinson. This is your world, you should rule it with an iron fist.
If you don’t, it’s just another Internet chat room. We don’t need that.
Perspective: *Good* comments genuinely make your post better because they’re thought-provoking and because *healthy* disagreement is useful for everyone. Including you!
Bad comments or even just content-free mild comments are just noise and SHOULD be deleted.
p.s. the houseboat sounds pretty nice. I have always wanted a nice houseboat. I picture myself in an adorable housedress hanging attractive laundry outside it, looking a little like a pink-haired Sophia Loren. Please allow me my illusions.
Comments would be cool, and you certainly don’t need to respond.
As for quality… there’s only one way to find out. If it doesn’t work out, you can always change your mind. It’s always fun to take things away now and again to see how upset people get about it.
Re: what to do if someone’s a dick – yep, delete them. Or sit back and watch your regular commentors eviscerate them. I’m guessing that your regular fan base is a pretty articulate lot (and generally over the age of 14), which means that disputes should be entertaining and constructive, rather than tiresome flame wars.
@ Sonia — I didn’t say YOU couldn’t live on a houseboat. But a houseboat in Colorado might not be the best plan. Back to the drawing board go you.
“If you’re a dick, we’re deleting you” – Is exactly what needs to happen. And then you can have a minor second rule: “I’m not a dick, but don’t expect a response”
Two questions:
1) What motivates people to comment?
2) What do you like about them?
If I knew you personally, I would say that on some level you like a) conversations and b) being thanked for the awesomeness you put out.
So, if people are adding value to the conversation and are being generally cool and gracious, then the only reason to dislike comments are trolls, dicks, and time suck. (Note the order of things to dislike – not intentional, but I kept it.)
Invoke the rule you discussed. Understand that, if you have to choose between writing something else and/or connecting with us elsewhere and minding comments, we want you to do the former.
Host the party, Naomi – you don’t have to be the party.
Personally, I don’t feel the need to leave comments on your blog. Frankly, I love the rule “If you’re a dick, we’re deleting you.” I think I may begin that rule on my own blog, I like it so much! :)
Corinna
Sometimes, it takes me awhile to mull things over. That’s why I’m late tossing in my $.02.
Naomi, you have, shall we say, a distinct style that likely appeals to only a certain type of ultra-cool person. If someone doesn’t dig your style, they’re probably not cool and probably won’t stick around long.
So, you got all these cool wackos reading your shit. Some of them seem damned interesting. If you’re not allowing comments, how the hell are you going to enjoy the awesomeness of all these weirdos you’ve collected?
If you don’t enjoy them, delete them. And if reading comments gets to be too much of a hassle, shut ‘em down. You’re driving, honey.
As far as responding to each comment goes, don’t you have anything better to do?
Not only to people not expect comments, but I think most people don’t notice if you do follow up. Blogs don’t lend themselves to discussion in the longterm. After a day or two, we’ve all moved on to the new post. It’s sad. I like long drawn out debates. :(
Yes, you should enable comments, and no don’t feel any obligation to reply. Think of it more like if you started a thread on some webforum, and people replied — would you feel obligated to reply to each one? I would think not, unless they were asking you a question or said something that you were particularly moved to say something about. I think comments on blog posts are more for the benefit of discussing with other readers, and for us to pimp our own ittybiz sites by giving the link back…
Naomi,
I’m a reader who also occasionally links to you on my own blog.
The truth is, whether you have comments or not does not affect how likely I am to come back. It’s your content that really matters.
While I personally like to give my 2 cents, I know how difficult it can be to deal with people whose behavior gets out of line.
If you decide to allow comments, you have to accept that eventually the trolls will come. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it is inevitable.
Be willing to ignore them. Or delete their comments if you have to.
But don’t feel the need to respond. Even good comments don’t need a response from you. If you’re too busy or it feels like work or whatevever, just forget about it.
You’re the content provider, not the one-on-one comment discuss-er. Provide the content, and let your readers provide the discussion.
What they said!!!
I vote for custom “Thumbs Up” buttons on your posts, so we can all chime in with the “Woot awsm post Naomi RAWKS!!!” (ahem I mean “Thumbs Up: Ninja POST! Fuck Yeah” “Thumbs Up: ‘Time for Drinkies’, etc!)
Special props to the reference to Scalzi’s blog comment policy. Worth noting that Scalzi also makes those who’d like to comment join the blog, and opens only Once Monthly for registration – http://whatever.scalzi.com/about/site-disclaimer-and-comment-policy/
Disqus serves the same need, so that those commenting have to own up to who they are. (vs “Anonymous Dick” who thinks time-wasting and annoying is fun.) http://disqus.com/
Said differently, Disqus (and the other new login sharing tools like “Login with Facebook,” Google Connect, etc.) encourage community comments while enhancing personal branding (or something, clearly I need that drink.)
I say turn on comments for all posts, but make it a policy to not reply to them. “If you want a reply send me a fucking email” is a perfectly acceptable policy. Also, “I reserve the right to delete any comment at any time for any fucking reason” is acceptable too.