When I most recently started blogging again, I enabled comments mostly out of habit. My old blogs (circa 2003 – 2005) had always had comments, and a rather healthy flow of them to boot. However, I soon noticed how many of the blogs I had come to enjoy reading the most (Shawn Blanc, Pat Dryburgh, and Jorge Quinteros come to mind) were comment-free and I started to wonder what value they truly added. I removed them and didn’t look back, largely because of the healthy and vibrant conversations I was having on Twitter.

It wasn’t until I went back and started rereading my old blog entries on Archive.org that I truly realized what great value they added. I came to realize that it was the community that I experienced through those comments that made blogging so enjoyable in the first place. I’ve since restored comments (now powered by Disqus), and while I haven’t yet received one since I’ve found that the mere possibility makes my blog feel—to me—to be more inviting.

An explanation of why I’ve recently added comments to the site, written in response to Sam Brown’s post on the benefits of allowing comments on a blog. I thought it was a story worth sharing.

Tagged: Blogging

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