The Great Comment Debate
Posted by Rhiannon Louise on July 03, 2007
Filed Under Your Online Business
The Great Comment Debate - Do You Need Direct Feedback to Every Post You Make?
I’ve just spent a very enjoyable fifteen minutes or so reading through a trail of comments that Brian Clark invited for a post he produced on his CopyBlogger website.
Brian always has comments open on his site and often directly involves himself in the comments and feedback he receives as a result – in fact his comment series usually resemble something of an active forum string as commentators interact with each other and the author of the post.
After chuckling at some of the arguments and misconstrued points that popped out the back of Brian Clark’s post it led me to bring up that age old debate in my mind once again – the great comment debate – i.e., do you need direct feedback to each and every post you make or are you actually courting distraction at best and brown-nosers and forum freaks at worst? (You know the ones – they pick a fight with you no matter how neutral your question or comment.)
In my personal and humble opinion there is a time and a place for switching comments on and that is not on every single post you make.
If you’re running an informative information resource on the internet – call it a blog, call it an online resource call it a website or whatever you want – you clearly need to have a point to put across when you begin to write your post or article.
Why then do you want to court instant response to your informed opinions when your point has been made by the very act of you completing your piece and publishing it?
Surely that will just distract you and distract your readership – distract you because you will need to moderate the responses and distract your readership because they have come to your site to hear from you and not fellow readers.
Of course those who disagree with my opinion will immediately counter – ‘but how will you know you’re reaching your audience if you don’t court their opinions?’
Well, in my experience if someone has got a strong opinion about what you have written – either positive or negative – they will take the time to read your ‘contact us’ page and send you an email. You can then read that email at the time you appoint daily for dealing with correspondence and ensure that dealing with comments doesn’t become a full time distraction undermining your point of view and eating away at your work day and your precious time.
If you do produce a piece that you would like feedback on or you require responses to a specific article you’re writing or report you’re compiling then and only then do you need to switch comments on, add a form for comments or provide an active link to your email address.
If you’re serious about running an online business you need to treat your business seriously – i.e., many of the fundamentals of running an offline business translate directly into the online world of business. So yes - consumer feedback is sought by retailers and manufacturers in the offline world – but it is sought and courted only from time to time when feedback is required and it is done in a structured and well managed way.
And finally – a note to those addicted to positive feedback – if you need ‘great post’ comments after each and every one of your articles you need to spend some time reading the personal development section of this website!
