It’s not that I don’t care about what you have to say
So why don’t I have comments turned on? It’s a completely reasonable question, and in some ways by writing this I’m undermining my own answer, but here goes.
When I first started blogging, one of the most aggravating aspects was the commenting system. Not just because it invited the most down-market spam imaginable, but because each and every comment seemed to beg a reply. Or rather, I couldn’t help but reply to each and every one.
And so each post became a nearly endless conversation, confined within the meager bounds of my little blog.
Markets are conversation, I admit. And it isn’t that I’m trying to avoid the conversation, nor is that I’m solely interested in making a statement and not dealing with the aftermath. There’s a place for ongoing commentary, the back-and-forth reply and counter-reply of a good old fashioned debate: it’s called The Internet.
Self-publishing has become so simple - the barriers are so low, they don’t even exist - that I just don’t feel obligated to provide a forum for others to express their reaction to what I have to say. That sounds a lot more elitist than I mean it to be, so let me try again:
If what I have to offer inspires you to respond, you have the means to do so in far more engaging, open and interconnected venues than I can offer.
And if what you have to say invites a reponse you’d rather keep between the two of us, then there’s ways to do that too.
2 years ago • Notes