Seth Godin Comments On No Comments

It was just another Lazy Sunday, until the Blog world got its panties in a knot because of a post on the Blog of Seth Godin titled, Why I Don’t Have Comments.
I read Godin’s post prior to seeing the hailstorm of comments from other Bloggers and thought it was a more-than-interesting take on how he feels about the comment component of Blogging.
To be honest, I did not take exception to it – I actually thought, “it’s his Blog and he can do what he thinks is best.” Most everyone else thinks this is about Godin trying to protect or control his brand. I don’t think it runs that deep.
My guess is that Godin is a busy guy. He loves to write and would rather spend his energy on his bigger projects, while using his Blog to frequently please his fan base with small and pithy Godin droppings (which, for the record, is just fine with me).
I know people like Joseph Jaffe disagree (see his post, Godin The Flip-Flopper) – I also agree with Jaffe’s side that this is all about conversations and opening up.
Just two weeks ago, I spoke to the IT team at Twist Image about turning back on my comments and trackback features.
Why were they not on? Was I not part of the conversation?
Not at all.
I was constantly being hit with Splog (Blog spam) and this was coming through in comments and trackbacks. It became unbearable to deal with – especially because my Blackberry was getting all of these email confirmations. I’m going to try it again and see if it’s now resolved (they should be enabled in the coming days).
The other reason I did not have my comments turned on? I felt that if people have a comment, they can email it over (if it was strong enough, I would be more than happy to post it).
You can read my thoughts on this over here: Comments On Comments – which was written last October.
In the end, it’s not about whether Seth Godin or Joseph Jaffe is right, because they both are. I think you need to have a plan for your Blog, know where it’s going and what will get you to that destination. For some, having the ability for people to comment on your postings is that destination. For others, the main goal is to share what’s in your brain.
Either way, the conversation is still taking place.