Comments

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In days gone by comments on blog posts used to be the only way to really get feedback on my blog posts, and a way to continue the conversation with my readership.

It’s a bit different these days, as highlighted in one way in my previous post: Blog vs Twitter vs LinkedIn. Developments in the platforms and channels have made them more sociable, with things like LinkedIn ‘sentiment’ tools and comments/posts, etc. and Twitter lengthening a tweet from 140 to 280 characters.

I’m also seeing a marked degradation and slowing of blogs and websites loading as the number of tracking/ad cookies and complexity of publishing platforms and the plugins that help make them personal grows. This is one reason I recently turned the comment feature on this blog off. About 8 years ago I switched from standard WordPress comments to the Disqus system, to manage and remove much of the spam comments my blog received. But recently the bloating of cookies and loading times here and other blogs have just annoyed me so much … and the fact I rarely get any original/genuine comments any more.

The main types of comments I have been moderating over the past few years can be summarised as:

  1. ‘I like your blog, here’s mine, please push my blog and let me write for you’. This type of commenter is using me and my hard work to promote them. No, this blog is about my work and my effort. Comments are welcome that further the conversation, the post topic, the thought process and the learning, but I’m not here to be used.
  2. ‘I want to ghost write for you’. Nope. I write my own posts and it’s fine if I go a week or more without one.
  3. “I’ve read your blog and it’s great, but it’ll be better if you insert my links in your old posts to a completely different subject area, and I’ll guarantee a better search engine response’. This may not be the most searched blog in history. I’m fine with that. I’ll take authentic and honest blog posts over click-bait and ‘massaged’ content any day.

So, no more comments on my blog. Sorry. I’ve noticed an increase, although only marginal at the moment, in my blog loading time since I removed the Disqus system, and I’ll continue to monitor it and mybe remove some more plugins (social sharing, theme, etc.) in an effort to get this loading quicker.

I’m still happy to continue the conversation elsewhere, while I’m there ;-)