I recently removed the comments widget from my blogs not because I get an overwhelming number of comments (I wish…) or because I get excessively negative/personal attacks but because I felt it served no real purpose. Most of us leave a section to allow for readers or consumers of our content to place their comments hoping that this will lead to validation of the content or a thoughtful discussion of the topic at hand.
Upon reflection and some deep soul searching though, I realized that the primary purpose (at least for me) of allowing comments on my blogs was really for validation and support of my ideas rather than any real desire to encourage discussion. I found this to be a not so attractive aspect of my character and thus decided to remove it.
On the other hand, I asked myself, why would a content creator like a major news media company have the need to allow readers to comment on their posted articles? Is the reason genuinely because they hope that these comments will generate new insight into the subject of the article? Yet, such sites also allow contributions and feedback from readers on a more formal basis than a blurb at the end of an article.
I expect, more often than not, the comments feature is included simply because “everyone else has it on their site” with the rationale that it encourages engagement with readers. Yet, is this really true? Why is it that a great number of sensitive articles end up being dominated by trolls? Ultimately the reason is due to a dissociation between the casual reader and the content creator.
This follows a standard flow of logic.
Anonymity: As readers perceive themselves to be anonymous they therefore have no identity and therefore no reputation to protect.
Lack of Community: If all commenters (yes, there is such a word, I checked) hide behind this, then it is impossible to create a community and hence there is a feeling that they have no accountability.
Extreme Views: This tends to bring out the worst in people, the extreme opinions that would never surface in a casual face to face discussion with them, but are always lurking somewhere below the conscious level, tend to rise to the surface in vitriolic comments that lead nowhere, leading to…….
No Valuable Discussion!
I am aware that some content creators moderate the comments, however, by this action, are they not making a mockery of the original purpose of the comments section? I would rather just leave a contact form at the bottom of the blog for those who wish to discuss the content further with me!
Some Meowsings...... 