Comments on blog posts bring fresh perspectives
and unknown issues to attention.
Wise, interesting and thoughtful comments come
from people in all walks of life, many of whom would never think of writing a
letter to an editor or calling a political office. Not all points of view need to agree either –
an exchange of views can enhance the posting under which they appear and
benefit many readers. Comments can also
be a source of considerable disdain for the posting author and many who read
the comments section.
Posts on this blog frequently tackle the huge and
uncomfortable issues facing this province, exploring hard issues that the
mainstream media cannot or will not cover.
As the Uncle Gnarley blog has become a vital source of information,
analysis and critical opinion, the comments section has steadily become a focal
point in itself. Given the lack of another
common public forum, the administration policy toward the comment section has
been routinely hands-off except for the most egregious transgressions.
The steady growth of the comments section,
routinely many times the length of the blog post itself, has become a
liability, particularly when many of the comments lack relevant substance or
adopt negative qualities. While there
may be wheat among the chaff, few readers will find the good stuff when they
are buried in information they consider unnecessary or offensive.
All regular commenters should be getting the
message by now. You shall help to clean
it up or you will find your own messages subjected to the most sacred and
important blog rule: the administrator holds exclusive authority to delete
posts and ban commenters as he sees fit.
If you don’t want the sheriff taking you down, you need to help make a
cleaner, leaner comments section; one that can be appreciated by all.
Here are just a few tips to hopefully reverse the
most obvious habits.
Comments should be brief – like this paragraph. If you want to write comments as long as the
post and you want to do this over and over again then you are a prime candidate
to get out and start your own blog.
They’re free – give it a go. If
we respect what you’re doing, we’ll link with you.
Comments should preferably be on the post or
closely related. Dredging up old
irrelevant topics and leading readers down long useless rabbit holes is a high-risk
behaviour.
If introducing a new issue, make a good case for
why it deserves attention. Remember, you
have purposely disrupted the flow, so you had better make it good.
If a comment simply can’t be brief, consider your
quota for the day used up. If an
exchange runs long and sideways, you should be aware that the entire set has
little value to any but the direct participants. In that case, you really need to find a chat
forum somewhere.
Comments should not be repetitive. Repeating the same argument within multiple
comments of a single post or repeating the same argument week after week is a
wrong-headed tactic and savvy readers expect more.
If you do repeat something, keep that part brief and do so only in the
context of bringing something new at the same time.
Don’t let the blog own you and don’t try to own
the blog. Things do get warm here and
lots of people have a hard time not having the last word. Some people want to try to answer all
questions. Give others space.
That should be enough for now. The sheriff is on duty.
