The Power of Commenting

Some would say that if a blog doesn’t have comments then it isn’t really a blog. Some would disagree with that point of view. Personally I find that having comments on my blog is for the better. They make it easy for a reader to post their views without going through the hubbub of finding the email address or contact form and it has become such the norm that I think some people would be a bit taken aback by find a lack of a comment system.

Why do people comment?

It’s an interesting thought. Why should I write a comment on this blog post?. My main reasoning for posting a comment is because I feel I have something to add to the conversation or maybe feel that the author has taken the wrong direction and you can point out how. There is of course a different point of reasoning for why people comment, not to enhance the post but to gain from it. For instance if the blog has the DoFollow Wordpress plugin (I don’t have it installed currently) installed the commenter might simply be writing to gain a few more links to his site. Of course these attempts are blatantly obvious and kind of pathetic. Nine times out of ten the comment looks like this: “Great post, keep up the great work“.

I find when looking through my referrals quite a lot of people come and visit my site through the comments I leave, this for me is an added bonus. Through stating my views I am also basically saying, if you like my comments you might like my blog!

Is a comment always necessary?

Sometimes when I’m reading through the comments on blogs I get kinda frustrated with some of the comments left, not because they are useless or as mentioned above, just looking for links but because a comment wasn’t necessary. For instance, when people point out a spelling and grammar mistake in a post. Sure, it’s helpful the author but it just clutters the comments. All that is really needed is a quick email pointing out the errors and then moving on.

“This post was the last straw”. Quite often around the interwebs I see these sort of comments, thankfully not on my own blog. They go on saying how “they used to like the blog, but now the content is rubish - I’m never visiting your site again!”. I have two problems with this comment. They will come back, at least once to see if you have respond and anyway if they’ve been reading a blog for that length of time there must be something in it that they like.

Conclusions

There is a fine line between a helpful and insightful comment and a useless and rude comment. My suggestion is that if you are unsure of any of the content of the post - don’t hit the comment button. Commenting has to be one of the biggest breakthroughs in the history of the web. Without it we would be a step back in the terms of the web.