To Disqus or Not To Discuss: Thoughts on Comments, Conversation, and Community (and John Mayer)

John Mayer’s recent post and David’s response got me thinking about comments.

Comments are a highly contested subject. You’ll find some people out there who utterly despise them, and you’ll find others who believe they’re an integral part of the web. Both arguments have merit. The issue isn’t whether or not comments are a good or bad, it’s whether they add relevant and meaningful contributions to a topic.

Let’s take a look at two blogs at opposite ends of the spectrum: AVC and Marco.org.

AVC is Fred Wilson’s blog. Fred has enabled Disqus on his site, a powerful tool for empowering comments and conversation, and as a result has spawned a community of dedicated readers. Most of his posts have anywhere from 200-300 comments. That’s a shit load. Fred has even argued that the real value of his posts are in the comment section (forgive me, I can’t find the exact link). If you read through the comments on his blog, you’ll notice that there is seldom any negativity. Almost all of the conversation is productive and engaging. Sometimes there’s some name-calling, but overall it’s remarkably civilized and informative. For Fred’s blog, comments are a positive, value-added service.

Marco.org is a blog written by my co-worker, Marco Arment, where he waxes poetic on all things Apple, internet, and sometimes politics. Marco is not a fan of commenting. You need look no further than a couple of his posts to know his thoughts on the matter. Comments are the dregs of the internet. For proof look at any Youtube comment thread. They’re negative, vile, and add no value to anything. Marco’s blog does not permit commenting. It doesn’t even display the Tumblr note count (which isn’t negative by any means - if anything it reinforces the popularity of his posts). Marco’s lack of comments doesn’t preclude the popularity and stickiness of his blog. In fact, you could argue that it makes it even more attractive. It’s his own space for his own opinions - not yours - and people clearly like and want that. (Daring Fireball is another good example of a no-comment medium.)

Fred and Marco provide a perfect example of how comments, or lack thereof, can be both good and bad. They’re both right. I’m in the camp that comments are a good thing, but they should never be mandatory or forced upon you. I love the way Tumblr approaches comments (I’m admittedly biased). We have no built-in commenting system and I don’t see any reason why we ever would have one. John Mayer laid it out succintly:

This is where Tumblr comes in. It’s the future of social networking if your image of the future features intelligent discourse. I love reading other Tumblr users replies, because they’re thoughtful by virtue of the fact that if they’re not, they’ll bring the intellectual property value of their own blog down, and that’s a commodity on Tumblr.

And David’s response was right on point:

After three years at this, I can’t begin to describe the feeling of having this philosophy — the reason Tumblr will never feature a legacy comment system — described so perfectly.

Everyone is entitled to a place where they can share their ideas without criticism. A space where they can curate, create, and broadcast the things that are representative of who they are. I believe that Tumblr is the platform for this type of expression and social engagement.

Like I mentioned before, I’m not a believer that comments are an inherently bad thing. There’s a time and a place for them and they should always be an opt-in feature. I’ve enabled Disqus on my blog because 1) I think it’s a fantastic application and 2) I enjoy reading people’s comments and conversing with them. Most of my posts don’t even receive comments, but I always have fun with the ones that do and do my best to respond to everyone’s contribution. I’d say that 90% of the comments I’ve received thus far have been positive, meaningful, and taught me something fun and new.

But that’s just me. There’s no finite answer here - it’s just a matter of opinion. Collaboration, community, and conversation vs. one person’s opinion. I’m curious to hear what others think about the matter - there’s a big grey area here which begs to be debated.