Why do great blogs like Aaron Swartz's or Svbtle blogs not have comments? - bluepanda_
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speeder
I am creating my own new blog.

I removed the comments system from it, because in my past blogs, comments were
rarely useful. If a post is interesting enough to need comments, it usually
ends on social media anyway, where people can comment there (like HN, Reddit,
Facebook, and so on)

~~~
rdmckenzie
I have to chime in and agree with this approach. When I built my blog, one of
my "must-have" features was a comment system free of 3rd parties such as
Reddit and FB. After some soul-searching and an honest look at my traffic logs
I decided that as the primary purpose of my website is to serve as a resume
and archive that anyone who wished to comment could simply email me and that
lacking an embedded comment system

\- Freed me from having to monitor any conversation and its contents

\- Helped disguise how low-traffic the blog is (nothing says low traffic more
than a single comment)

\- As the Svbtle guys point out, most comments are relatively uninformed and
tend to add little. There are exceptions such as HN and the StackOverflow
family where intelligent(ish) discourse is the norm but the internet at large
is wild and untamed.

\- Were I to run my own comment structure I would feel obligated to provide
security the guarantee that there are no XSS or other code injection
vulnerabilities stemming from user-submitted text.

Consequently my blog has no commenting functionality.

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zellio
Because the comments of the unwashed masses are largely useless and obnoxious?

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baak
Go to aaronsw.com/weblog

Click on the title of any blog post.

Scroll to bottom and click read comments?

Am I missing something?

~~~
bluepanda_
No, I missed it, thanks. How about Svbtle?

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jvzr
Because platforms like Hacker News and Reddit are far better tools for
commenting on a subject than any comment system will ever be on a blog.

SSO, threaded comments, reputation/karma/pruning, etc. are features that
seldom exist on blogs.

~~~
minimaxir
Integrated comment systems like Disqus offer all of that functionality.

(Yes, if you use the default Wordpress comments, don't, but that's another
topic.)

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minimaxir
Because a) they don't care [Swartz] or b) they are worried that having
comments brings down the quality of the article. [Svbtle] [1]

imho, the latter reason is idiotic. It's the quality of writing that
determines the quality of comments. (I have written quite a few blog posts on
the topic, as I sorta gained my fame/infamy through blog comments)

[1] See Medium's reason for dropping comments.
[http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/21/medium-becomes-a-more-
full-...](http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/21/medium-becomes-a-more-full-
featured-writing-platform-adds-stats-and-explains-lack-of-commenting/)

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m_gloeckl
Sometimes it's for legal reasons. For example: In Germany, the website / blog
owner is liable for any kind of content that is shared through comment
systems. You have to continuosly monitor your blog for any comments that might
contain illegal material.

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ksherlock
Why do people comment on hn/reddit/slashdot/etc about a blog that allows
comments?

~~~
wmf
Less friction, established community, etc.

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csense
Because by enabling comments, you're committing to monitoring the blog on a
regular basis to combat spam.

~~~
phaus
Spam is a problem, but other sites have even worse things to worry about. As
an example, I read a variety of news sources in an attempt to maintain
objectivity, and I've noticed that conservative news sites that allow comments
are plagued by a bunch of immature, white supremacists. Another example is
Reddit. Some of the subreddits are absolutely amazing, but for the majority of
the site, comments rarely seem to have anything at all to do with their
associated posts.

