The blog post before this one (here) refers to extensive comments on a 2017 blog post. And also this weekend, I had occasion to revisit comments in another post, from 2019. I ended up incorporating in an article I’m writing the gist of comments by three regulars.
Comments on my blog have been vital over the years. But they’ve dropped off precipitously over the past few years.
One reason is that much traffic that used to go to blogs now goes to Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. That’s understandable: compared to commenting on a blog, more people get to see your comments.
But it comes at a cost. Twitter allows you to get the word out, but it’s not a place for sober discussion. And as I noted in this post earlier this year, LinkedIn isn’t the marketplace of ideas. So discussion has become impoverished.
And I haven’t helped matters. I’ve become a little complacent, or jaded, or distracted. Heck, at some point I stopped receiving emails notifying me of new comments, and I didn’t do anything about it. So for the past couple of years I’ve been slow to respond.
But I’ve now been reminded of the value of the thousands of comments posted over the life of this blog. If you want to explore topics I discuss on my blog, I suggest that this is the best place to do it. I’m prepared to recommit myself to keeping the conversation going. I invite you to do so too.
[sheepishly raises hand after replying to your post on Twitter]
Hey, every outlet has its uses! (And to test the system, please let me know that you received an email alerting you to this response. I’m still not getting emails notifying me of comments.)
I built a solo law practice without LinkedIn. Quitting Twitter was one of the best moves I ever made. My blog has been a constant boon. Would that I’d spent all my Twitter time blogging…
As for the blog, I put “Your thoughts and and feedback are always welcome by e-mail.” at the bottoms of all my posts. And I get wonderful e-mails…when I publish posts that warrant them. Sometimes I don’t. And I’m better off not reading e-mails about those posts.
The people who can really make my day don’t experience e-mail as a barrier. E-mail fits the considered way they want to share considered thoughts. Many of the same people also use mass-market, public social media. But they’re incomparably better by e-mail, when it comes to these things. So am I, which is half the reason I quit.
If e-mail’s not a barrier, the difference is down to effort—things you’d otherwise mutter under your breath can almost as easily become communication. Public communication. I don’t mind low effort in my personal life. Plenty of friends text me “hey, what’s up?” and I’m glad to get it, privately. But when it comes to work that takes focus, hip shots are worse than worthless. They’re just a waste of all our time. And there’s no pretending Twitter or LinkedIn serve up representative samples of any broadly meaningful sentiment. Aggregating low-effort warble doesn’t somehow yield gold.
I might actually be more candid in comments to your blog via e-mail. But plenty of folks prefer a public comment section. Disqus isn’t too annoying. But I only use it for your blog.
Putting a note like that at the bottom of each post might be a good idea.
I’m not on Twitter, and from following links on other blogs to elaborate Twitter threads, I agree with the point about its not being fit for intelligent discussion. Also, I read LinkedIn seldom enough that it also doesn’t substitute adequately for the kind of colloquy you can get in places like this. So don’t be discouraged, and keep on posting here.
Noted!