I’m going to jump on the very full bandwagon and point to Seth Godin’s arrogant comment about comments. As a reader of his blog and skimmer of a few of his books, I’m offended by how he takes me and and others for granted — people who’ve been gracious enough to grant him their attention. I’m also surprised at how contradictory this post is versus many of the principles he preaches. He says:
Why I don’t have comments
Judging from the response to my last post, some of my readers are itching to find a comment field on my posts from now on. I can’t do that for you, alas, and I thought I’d tell you why.
I think comments are terrific, and they are the key attraction for some blogs and some bloggers. Not for me, though. First, I feel compelled to clarify or to answer every objection or to point out every flaw in reasoning. Second, it takes way too much of my time to even think about them, never mind curate them. And finally, and most important for you, it permanently changes the way I write. Instead of writing for everyone, I find myself writing in anticipation of the commenters. I’m already itching to rewrite my traffic post below. So, given a choice between a blog with comments or no blog at all, I think I’d have to choose the latter.
So, bloggers who like comments, blog on. Commenters, feel free. But not here. Sorry.
His "Why I don’t have comments" post is precisely why I don’t have him in my Bloglines reader anymore. I never liked his no-comment policy, but now he’s lost my attention. Later, dude!
I’m a little guy with far less popularity and readers than Seth Godin, so feel free to leave comments here on AttentionMax.
{ 2 comments }
Max,
Your observations are in line with something that’s been simmering in my pot-o-blog-posts for a while: influence, in a social network, is related to a low ratio of reciprocity. In other words, the influential people are those whom we know, but are unlikely to know or acknowledge us. I’ll try to get the full post up soon.
Well, it is his blog, and the blogosphere has no rules — despite what many think.
That said, I do wish he enabled comments, but he does accept trackbacks which is how your words showed up on his blog. He also answers emails.
Hmmm, two feedback mechanisms, just not your or my favorite . . .
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }