Does a Blog Need Comments

No, a blog does not need to be enabled to have comments, it is an option.

Rhetorical question, does a blog need to have comments to be called a blog? I can shut my comment off if I wish using the Blogger.com system.

A BLOG can be a BLOG without comments. But us readers like to hear ourselves talk, so it encourages people to read the blogs. For me, the comments draw me in almost as much as the articles.

I would like to see an easier way to see what new comments there have been, say in the last month.

Bob L

I would personally switch comments off. I'm building a website right now with a blog, and it has comments disabled.

Blog comments encourage anonymous participation in a conversation. This tends to amplify the noise and make people behave badly. (see http://fishbowl.pastiche.org/2004/04/02/penny_arcades_greater_internet_fuckwad_theory/ )

However, I think trackbacks are a fine thing. They encourage thoughtful responses from people with their own blogs. They won't have the veil of anonymity and will have a reputation to worry about so their responses will be appropriate and probably much better (although less numerous).

As to the 'philosophical' notion of 'is a blog a blog without comments?'... well, i don't think the precise definition of blog really matters that much.

I'm not one for semantics, so I don't really care how a blog is defined. But I do know that a blog with interesting comments is a lot better than one without.


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