On comments
Joel Spolsky: “Dave [Winer] is absolutely right. The way to give people freedom of expression is to give them a quiet place to post their ideas. If other people disagree, they’re welcome to do so… on their own blogs, where they have to take ownership of their words.”
I know I’ve voiced about comments before, but I think I like this form of commenting better—because for one, you’d write a reaction (to someone’s post) on your own blog only if you cared enough; and two: you’d not be tempted to post a regretful knee-jerk reaction. Even if you did, you’d have the control to correct the err and apologize.
Update: Clay Shirky responds.
Update2: Joe Clark replies:
Some of us have no interest in blogs as conversations. It’s a buzzword that represents an insidious peer pressure. Like other proponents of comments on blogs, you don’t merely underplay the harm caused by intentionally abusive comments, you ignore it completely.
Let me put it to you this way: Anybody who’s been picked on a lot is going to hesitate before turning on comments. You are hurting such a person by subtly insisting that their blog isn’t real or is second-rate without comments. Some of us put self-preservation higher up on the priority list than other people’s idea of “conversation.”