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Shel Holtz
Communicating at the Intersection of Business and Technology
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Comments vs. a little green icon

Every time I turn around, there’s somebody telling me (and the rest of the world) that a blog isn’t a real blog unless commenting is turned on. Blogs, these commenting advocates insist, are all about conversation and, they conclude, you can’t have a conversation without comments.

While I love comments—and would never consider turning them off on this blog—I don’t quite grasp the notion that the conversation is somehow inhibited without comments. Blogging godfather Dave Winer hasn’t offered comments on his blog for a long time, and has publicly dismissed the notion that a blog without comments isn’t a blog. In a 15-month-old article in the Online Journalism Review that dealt with blog spam, Winer suggested it’s painfully easy to comment on blogs that don’t support comments: Commenters should simply run their own blog if they want to comment.

imageTo that end, Winer recently introduced a subtle new feature to his blog. The little green Technorati icon appears above the fold in the right-hand column. Click it; it takes you to the Technorati page showing all items that link to Winer’s blog. In other words, it’s just like reading the comments left on a comment-enabled blog. Today, Winer notes that the tag has been successful (aside from some “snarky” feedback).

One argument against the idea focuses on those who read, but don’t write, blogs. Where would they comment? Conceivably, I suppose, they could comment on the blogs that others have written and linked back to Winer. Better, if they think they have something to say, they can take two minutes and start a blog at one of the several free services available. But I like the idea enough that I’ll supplement the comments this blog gets with a little green icon of my own.

12/15/05 | 11 Comments | Comments vs. a little green icon

Comments

  • 1.I'm not convinced. Sure - it shows all the items that link to Winer's blog, but:

    1. It only shows the items that Technorati knows about.
    2. It shows the items that link to his blog, not to the post you happened to be reading - how the hell are you supposed to following a conversation on something he wrote?

    I don't care if people don't want to allow comments, but I don't think this is a very useful compromise.

    Niall Cook | December 2005

  • 2.It's not as elegant a solution as it could be, but I still like it. As for the "conversation," I find that to be distinct from a thread on a particularly post and more along the lines of the trend search on Blogpulse. As for the fact that it searches only Technorati, it's still going to reveal a lot more than trackbacks, which include only links that individuals have deliberately added. If somebody comes up with a means of aggregating the various blog search engines, I'll be all over it. And, like I say, I'm not eliminating comments -- just supplementing them with this idea. Incidentally, here's what Dave said when he implemented the concept:

    "New feature in the right margin. Click on the green Technorati logo to see who's pointing at this site. It's an experiment to see what will happen. Now there's a way to trackback to Scripting News. If you have something to say about something that's posted here, try commenting on it on your blog and point to the post on this site. If it proves popular there are some obvious ways to enhance the feature."

    Shel Holtz | December 2005 | Concord, CA

  • 3.I'm still not convinced. Others have had Technorati "Blogs that link here" icons and links on their blogs for a while now (your FIR co-host included). Anyone would think that Dave had just invented podcasting! - we all know that was Adam Curry 'cos BusinessWeek said so ;-)

    All this "feature" does is simple expose posts indexed by Technorati that link to a blog. That's quite distinct from comments and trackbacks in my book. Whilst it is useful for the author of the blog, I don't find it particularly useful as a reader or a commenter.

    Maybe I'll just have to wait for the "obvious ways to enhance the feature".

    Niall Cook | December 2005

  • 4.Not trying to convince you, Niall. I just kinda like the feature as an enhancement; that's all. Certainly doesn't hurt!

    Shel Holtz | December 2005 | Concord, CA

  • 5.As an enhancement, it's fine.

    Niall Cook | December 2005

  • 6.In my opinion, a blog is no less a blog without comments.

    Conversation is possible without comments. However, the conversation being disjointed is the likelihood.

    The reliable linear chronology of a post with comments will not exist. Even though technorati will bring up the referencing posts in chronological order of when they were posted it will not be chronological in terms of the information being used.
    This is because you can be assured that someone will be posting late about the original post without looking up the conversation elsewhere.

    Comments and technorati searches provide two entirely different conversations, both equally valid, but with the latter being harder to follow.

    Commenting advocates that do not see the merits of search are looking for an easy conversation, not the whole conversation.

    Dan Hill | December 2005 | Hampshire, England

  • 7.The contentious item is conversation. Can you have a conversation without allowing comments?
    My short answer is a very simple yes. My longer answer is yes, but it's a different conversation than could be had by comments only.

    They fill entirely d...

    http://fabadger.blogspot.com/2005/12/comments- | December 2005

  • 8.Shel,

    You kind of cover my point, but I respectfully believe Dave is dead wrong on this one. There are maybe 20 million bloggers, probably less. So there are several billion people, that Dave's system locks out of the conversation. That is elitist and limiting. It's a real pain to keep spam and porn out of your comments. I got hit by one spammer 86 times this Monday morning. But it ain't a complete conversation unless all legitinmate people have access.

    Shel Israel | December 2005 | California

  • 9.Shel (Israel -- just avoiding confusion), I believe Dave would say, "Let 'em start a blog." I'm not saying that's necessarily the right answer, just what Dave would say. ;-)

    I also think Dan Hill has a valid point -- the conversation contained within comments is extraordinarily limited vs. the broader conversation represented by in- and outbound links.

    Shel Holtz | December 2005

  • 10.Excuse my cynicism, but isn't the prevention of comments more to do with getting more inbound links?

    David Tebbutt | December 2005 | London, England

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