For Dammerung

Okay, so Dammerung just linked me a post about blogging (here) while I was writing my blog. I naturally stopped to read it, I'm ADD like that. If you want to read it you can, if not I'll try and sum it up a little for ya, please bare in mind I didn't like it: Conversations are bad, blogs are for making statements. Also it uses far to much language for my taste, considering that it's supposed to be a business blog, please take into account though that I only read two posts and neither of those weren't exactly happy ones.

Now I feel like responding, because well, I suppose I got my back up some. Been in a fightin' mood lately. He makes four large points that I care to talk about. First that blogs don't have to be conversations. Second that comments can be detrimental. Third that people commenting were leaving bad advice. Fourth that he's trying to run a business and comments don't matter.

First, well he has a point, the giant successful blogs, like 3B's, usually aren't very conversational. 3B is well informed on his topics, and blogs to inform other people about them. Banana Shoulders is much the same, and I'd assume BRK is too. They're run by people who, lacking the internet and games, would probably be found in local government. Local politicians who have lots of experience in their field, or perhaps speakers who go from business to business teaching people how to do what they do.

Second he says that blogs aren't necessarily supposed to be conversational. Well, I kinda disagree here, and hear me out. In my opinion blogs are about communication, they're kinda like forums, only more spread out and everyone gets to make their posts look pretty. You share information, and people give feedback. I guess what I'm saying is that if you remove you comments you are commiting blogger suicide. You no longer have a blog, you have a newspaper article, online. You've removed the social part of it. At best, if you have an email where people can get ahold of you, you're an online version of Anne and Abby. There is nothing wrong with this. But it's not a blog.

As for his third point, well, yeah, it happens. It's like being the host of a computer lab and 'volunteers' giving advice to people, they leave confused and with a bad taste in their mouths. After all, they went to you for clarification, and came back more confused. Welp, ya got a point there, other than monitering your blog carefully and deleting any stupid comments and hoping those people didn't come back, nothing else to do but remove comments.

His fourth point I find somewhat amusing. Quote: "I'm trying to run a" wonderful "business here." (Yes I changed a word in there). Welp, you're running a business, not very professionally, but it's running. I see this post as something like an irate manager taking away an often used comments box and leaving a sign saying "I took it away because I'm trying to run a wonderful business here!". No problems, but perhaps not the best way to do it. But then again, I don't run a business.

Now for reply to Dammerung. This post honestly has nothing to do with mine. Your first comment was that my blogs need to make sense, his post has nothing to do with that. Then you posted the article, which has to do with why his business blog stopped allowing comments. And that deals with an entirely different problem. His issue was having to many comments on a business blog, and mine is to few comments on a private blog. Perhaps you need a new article to fight for you? I seem to have slain this one.

~joe/ishvi