It has been suggested that posts which have not received comments in quite some time have their comments section closed. When comments are closed, all existing comments remain in place, but no new comments may be added. The idea is to cut off situation in which a very, very old post is found via a search engine and is resurrected for at least one comment. The person suggesting the limit pointed out that usually those comments are not very productive, often foul, and generally useless.
I'm of mixed minds, knowing the post which prompted the suggestion, but also knowing that some posts come alive after long stretches of inactivity.
What do you think? Should a post that has no comments posted for a month have the comments automatically closed?
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jim Carruthers
Since I still get comments about an offhand post about pop tart food-like product Avril Lavigne, I am of two minds.
Obviously, people not yet born will want to comment on posting.
But, if an article spins off into the blackness of cyberspace, well, why not just let it.
Or is this a database problem? In that case, damn them! damn them to hell!!!!
2 - Mark Saleski
...on the other hand, what's the harm in leaving things the way they are.
the 'late' comment may be 'unproductive', but there's no harm in that.
foul comments can show up anywhere so i don't really see that as an issue.
3 - Tom Johnson
I like seeing the old comments because it gives me a chance to add a funny comment in response. ;-)
I've been getting comments every week or so about a post I made months ago and I find it kind of intriguing that it's still alive out there. But as Jim pointed out, if it's a maintenance issue, it's no big loss . . .
And yes, my comment on the above-mentioned post was indeed 'unproductive' (ahem - see my site.)
4 - The Theory
i say leave things as they are. I like seeing the random old article resurface.
5 - Eric Olsen
Similar to the above, I find it interesting and often hilarious when an old post is resurrected by Google or a message board or whatever. I say leave them open.
6 - Phillip Winn
There are no technical issues one way or the other. Actually, it would probably take a bit of work to close comments on idle posts, so inertia favors leaving things as they are.
I'm even more inclined than before to leave things as they are, but I'm still open to comments!
P.S. It is currently technically possible for people to post while disallowing comments or trackbacks or both. So far, I believe that I am the only one to ever do that. Should that change?
7 - Phillip Winn
Here is another example.
8 - Eric Olsen
The Cruise post is the classic - it even inspired not one but two recent answer posts. Let the comments live!
9 - The Theory
I have pondered using that "do not allow comments or trackbacks" feature, but honestly, no one comments on my posts anyway so it doesn't make a squat of difference.
10 - TDavid
Phillip, you've been around awhile and should know that threads never die. If I were you and was changing anything I'd change Jan Herman's columns to show in the comment list. That poor guy if you comment on anything from him it's in no man's land to see it. When you click on his articles you have to click again to get to the comments. No wonder he doesn't get much feedback ... and it is too bad too, because he writes really well.
And TheTheory you must be mistaken with the "but honestly, no one comments on my posts anyway"? Didn't you start the Rolling Stone Top 100 guitarist thing that has like 220 comments and counting?
Now me? sniff sniff, only 2 comments for my small few posted reviews :( Nobloggy bloves me.
hehe ;)
11 - Dew
If it's not broke (fill in the blank)
12 - TDavid
Dew - you missed a prime opportunity to say: Just (don't) dew it!
I like what you did at your blog with all those play on dew word things, btw ;)
13 - The Theory
TDavid: Guilty as charged... but that wasn't because I wrote it. Rolling Stone wrote it.
14 - Dew
Dang it!! I usually capitalize on all the opportunities I can to do so!! I shall pay closer attention...
;-)
15 - Phillip Winn
TDavid (#10), I'm working on it. My first attempt uncovered a plugin bug, but it should be patched now. I'll try again.
16 - Fireater
I think with perma urls and indexed(by search engines) pages then closing comments is not the wisest of ideas. If I happen to come across a post even years later I may wish to leave a comment. Maybe the blogging tools need to raise the attention of the blog somehow that a new comment has been made on an old blog.
17 - Phillip Winn
Attention is raised for a while, because the comment appears in the "Recent Comments" listing on the right side of each page. Also, the author of the piece should receive an email.
One of the out-there items on my todo list to create RSS feeds for the comments on each post, which might or might not help.
Incidentally, TDavid, I just tested the patched plugin, and it works, so Jan's comments will show up in the listings later tonight.
18 - Dew
Speaking on this tech savvy stuff... I'm looking to get a very CHEAP simple server or second hard drive to store blogs and databases on. Any suggestions? I keep seeing reference to FTP and SMTP not sure what is what. I have tried searching for tutorials on this stuff (besides HOWSTUFFWORKS) but everything is pay-per download...yikes!!
19 - Phillip Winn
TDavid, Jan's comments are included now. My todo list shrinks by one! Two, even, since the comments are trending against closing old posts. Woohoo!
20 - Phillip Winn
Dew, feel free to email me at pwinn@blogcritics.org (you might have to deal with a spamarrest message, since I don't think you've emailed me before) so I can find out exactly what you're looking for.
Generally speaking, I wouldn't think you need to pay to download information like this when there are so many geeks out there who feel better about themselves when they help others. ;)
21 - Temple Stark.com
I say - keeep em - as evidenced by te fact that the reviews might be an entirely different animal and people can comment on those for ever.
It's also a study in what subjects are still a live next year, next month etc etc.
22 - Jim Carruthers
Oh, that would be great because it would allow some sort of threading (something I miss from BBS days) It's something I have to do artificially via a text editor now.
and of course I haven't read the following comments.
23 - Dew
Just curious: Since all the blogs are stored anyway; can a page be created that lists all the articles
chronologically? Or is that asking too much> :-)
24 - Eric Olsen
Dew, you can get a listing of all articles by category or subcategory listed in reverse chronological order. You have to find one post that has the category or subcategory you are interested in, then click on the blue link between the end of the post and the beginning of the comments.
25 - The Theory
and on a totally unrelated topic... can more categories be added to the sub-category list? Because whenever I do a sports feature, I don't have a subcategory to place it.
And there should be a subcategory for indie music.