Thursday, October 16, 2008

The Comment System for Blogs

The Comment System for Blogs is something usual that you can find in almost any blogging platforms nowadays. It is a component that is rather important to bloggers while at the same time can be something that might just be unnecessary for some. Comments are usually placed after the content’s section of a particular post. It can be shown by default or hidden depending on how the blogger wants it. The comment system can be turned off as well.

Necessity issue

Determining the use of blog comments can be very subjective. It relies greatly on how the blogger sees the importance of having it. It can be a necessity or otherwise. To look at this, let’s observe what anyone can do with blog comments.

Blog comments are necessary or advantageous for

  • Gaining input or feedback from readers – a blogger can use blog comments as a mean for getting input from other readers or visitors. It is often useful to know what others think of the post and to get some constructive criticism to improve the blogger’s post.
  • Keeping the discussion alive – without blog comments there is no public medium for readers to reach the blogger to communicate and keep the discussion alive.
  • Measuring post’s popularity – the number of comments for a particular post usually can be used to measure the post’s popularity. How interesting was the post? How did it affect readers?

On the other hand, blog comments become not important or disadvantageous if

  • Used as a medium for spamming – sometimes or most of the times, blog comments are misused as a platform for website owners or other bloggers to promote their own site. This can be annoying not just for the blogger, but for other readers as well. It can feel like a sudden interruption that distracts an ongoing conversation.
  • Used as a platform to promote hatred – sometimes the blogger becomes a target of bad people, foes or strangers. Negative or destructive comments can be posted to promote hatred and done for various reasons be it personal or simply to provoke and to get involved in a verbal assault.
  • They become too overpowering – there are times when a post can get lengthy and plenty of comments that in a way can overshadow the actual origin of discussion. It can get worse if the comment spans over pages.

Options

Blogs in the first place were known as weblogs or web logs. A web log was used similarly like a diary or an online journal where a user keeps his or her real-time thoughts. I used the term “real-time” to denote the spontaneous way of how the user delivers his or her thoughts. It is not like a properly planned or structured writing where edits can take place later.

Nevertheless the comment system for blogs is improved by developers over time. More features or functionalities are incorporated in the future versions of the blogging platform. Blog comments can be moderated before being approved for others to see. Anti-spam components such as CAPTCHA can be used to prevent spam.

In conclusion, blog comments can be used or put aside depending on how the blogger sees it. I personally prefer to have comments. The moderation and anti-spam components found in most blogging platforms today are here to help filter unwanted comments or to curb comment spam.