

Winer decides to turn off blog comments - larrys
http://scripting.com/stories/2012/02/19/noComment.html
This is the post that put him over the edge:<p>http://scripting.com/images/2012/02/19/somePeopleAreVeryVeryDim.gif
======
icarus_drowning
I'm frankly not surprised-- Winer has complained in the past about comments.
From the perspective of someone who often disagrees with him, I've never
really understood why he had them in the first place, as he simply does not
tolerate alternative views well.

~~~
hollerith
The reason it took so long is probably that people who do not tolerate
alternative views well do not usually like to think of themselves as people
who do not tolerate alternative views well.

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philwelch
Comments are often worthless, and the reason comments are worthless is because
there's no identity invested in them. When sites like HN and Reddit work
(which isn't all the time), it's because there's a community of identities
which are invested in the comments. When a site like HN or Reddit grows too
much, though, most of those identities disappear.

Publishing your own blog post as a rebuttal, or emailing the author, are
generally worth more, not only because of the identity involved but because
there's a barrier of entry you won't bother crossing unless you're sure you
have something to say.

~~~
davewiner
I agree with this.

A lot of it is people using your space to say random things that have little
to do with the blog post they're responding to.

At one point I realized that's just another form of spam.

Why not post your screed in your own space? Because you have readers and I
don't. Oh. Thanks soooo much. :-)

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g-garron
I was thinking about doing the same thing, but then I've decided to keep them
open, but just for 15 days after the publication date of the post. That way it
is easier to moderate, and I can still have some valuable comments from the
real followers of my blog. Just my two cents.

~~~
larrys
Your strategy makes sense. He's also deleted all the comments today that were
based on this story here:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3609912>

~~~
davewiner
The comments are still there, I just changed my site template so they're no
longer part of the rendering. If you have an account on Disqus you'll find
your comments are just fine.

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kevinpacheco
Scripting News has gone the way of Daring Fireball. It was bound to happen.

~~~
tptacek
Has Daring Fireball ever had blog comments? I don't think it has. Neither,
from what I can tell, has Kottke.

~~~
idoh
Kottke used to occasionally open up posts to comments but hasn't done it in a
long time.

<http://kottke.org/plus/misc/opencomments.html>

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rdc5003
I guess he figures people will just discuss the articles on sites like this,
and he'll no longer have to worry about doing the moderation work. Lazy, but
it could work.

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tristan_louis
The amusing thing about this is that Dave Winer used to be quite vocal about
comments being one of the defining criteria of what makes a blog. I guess his
thinking on this has evolved. Sad to hear that he will be shutting down
opposing viewpoints on his site.

~~~
davewiner
You have me confused with someone else. I often said quite the opposite.

~~~
tristan_louis
Dave: weren't you arguing, back in the early days of blogging, that a blog
without comments available did not fit the definition of what a blog is?

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webwanderings
Agree with this. The best is to have once-a-week or something moderated Open
Forum type post and solicit comment there on all or any given topic. We were
living in the world of sanity in the days of editorial page with letters to
editor, but blogging brought that model upside down. In the long run and
collectively, the comments have not really helped other than where they are
specifically appropriate (like link sharing sites like HN/Reddit etc).

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spullara
Since the only time I have ever commented on his blog was to make a correction
or help him out, I guess I've just been saved some work.

~~~
davewiner
Those are useful comments, and I wish there was a way to just limit it to
that. In any case, thanks for your offering of corrections and help. I still
have an email address for that kind of stuff.

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riffraff
sadly, if comments were open, I'd point him out he may want to hide the email
of the guy who annoyed him.

------
larrys
This is the comment that put him over the edge apparently:

[http://scripting.com/images/2012/02/19/somePeopleAreVeryVery...](http://scripting.com/images/2012/02/19/somePeopleAreVeryVeryDim.gif)

~~~
davewiner
Actually, that comment came in as I was turning off comments. It just verified
that I was making the right decision.

