Many have noticed and pointed out that this website does not allow comments. This past week alone, I have been asked why twice. Having previously communicated my personal dislike of comments, I find it difficult to escape from this merry-go-round.
There is a conversation doing the rounds: here, here and here, stemming from here.
I’m not alone in this, and have seen that this trend is actually quite wide-spread. Personally, my thoughts on not allowing comments is to primarily shut out the noise.
Pre-2022, I blogged elsewhere (under a different pseudonym) and initially, the site had comments enabled. Immediately, the spam started and so, without thinking too deeply about mitigating it, I shut the whole commenting system down after a month or so. Yes, some genuine comments came through (a belated “thank you” from me from another life), but if I had to put a number on those, I would say that it was 5% genuine comments versus 95% spam.
That is (was? no, is) the state of the Internet; the bad with the good where, unfortunately, the bad seems to always outweigh the good. I really, really, really do not have the time nor the patience to deal with all that noise, let alone having a full-blown backend system to manage…what? Comments mixed in amongst the spam?
I read the FT daily, and occasionally venture into the comments section to gauge the “feel” and “mood” about the news being reported. FT has hidden their comments behind a click — perhaps to reduce clutter — but my gosh! I’ve seen some crazy stuff in there. It mostly gets removed, but thinking about the moderation overhead this involves for a site as large as the FT numbs my brain.
If it doesn’t makes sense, then don’t do it
Words to live by. Plus, everyone has an e-mail address, myself included. Online life today is virtually impossible without at least one e-mail address. Oh, spam does arrive there too, but at least (i) I’m the only one who sees it, and (ii) I can delete it and block the sender.
I personally prefer one-to-one conversations, as I find that connections are better made and maintained that way. It is the same for me on WhatsApp — family and friends have added me to group chats and it always ends with me leaving unceremoniously.
How unsociable
Well, I do declare! How so?
Lookit, by having comments enabled, I would have to be glued to this website. By participating in WhatsApp group chats, I’d need to remain tethered to my phone. For family and friends, they have FINALLY realised that my phone number actually works. A real person answers on the other side and they can actually have a conversation!
For everyone else, there’s e-mail.
Yuk, e-mail?
Yes, e-mail; you need to type-in your message and hit “send”…like you would a comment! :-)
I think I might add a “reply via e-mail” link at the bottom of each post…
Oh, look! Here’s one! ↙