Duncan Riley> I just went to post on a blog (Zoli’s Blog) in relation to some commentary in relation to another one of my posts and I was disappointed to find that the only way to post a comment was to register to do so. Now, this is not having a go at Zoli Erdos, because firstly I respect his opinions on the matter (even if we do disagree…and I just added his feed to Bloglines!), but its probably more to do with BlogHarbor, the host of the blog, who also hosts another blog I read, Thinking Home Business from Des Walsh. But what does it all mean? it means that for both blogs I won’t be leaving comments, and neither will a whole lot of other readers who visit the blog, particularly if they are not regular readers. In the age of comment spam you may well ask: well who cares? well I tell you what a lot of people do care. There’s been a lot said in the past that a blog isn’t a blog without the ability to comment, and there is some credence in this theory, but a blog that allows comments only with registration is saying “listen to me but don’t provide me with feedback”. It literally breaks the 2 way conversation that makes blogs so special and stand out from the crowd in the first place. If you are thinking about a starting a blog or even dropping open comments from your blog I’d urge you not to do so. Sure, we all suffer from comment spam, but a little pain results in a lot more long term gain as you build your readership and interact with other bloggers.
Food for thought.
