Disabling Comments will Lose You Readers

The feeble ritual of sacrosanct spaces

Writers are free to govern their own spaces however they choose. Your boundaries are your own.

But I will never read any article on which comments are disabled.

And I’d be very surprised to discover I’m alone in that resolution.

Why?

• Because, to me, it smacks of cowardice, and I don’t want to reward weakness.

• Because I think having our worldviews and opinions challenged strengthens us and our ability to rationalise, discuss, cogitate and persuade.

• Because I believe that part of developing creativity and expanding your consciousness means developing a thicker skin.

• Because you should be able to defend your perspective and make your case in the face of good faith dissent, even if it is robust.

• Because if you want to make declarations in a global space you should have the courage of your convictions - and if not your commentary belongs at your mum’s dinner table, not the public sphere.

• Because my suspicion, when I see disabled comments, is that your argument is based in conceit, fabrication, immaturity or is unequivocally and indefensibly wrong.

Silencing the Shitlark

Silencing disingenous shitlarks is an easy task, once they reveal themselves as such.

On Substack, you can simply delete individual comments or only allow paid subscribers to comment. On Medium you can hide comments then block the commenter if you really want to send a message.

So I’m forced to wonder whether the person who will not allow a single unwelcome or unflattering comment to exist even temporarily is very fragile, or very controlling.

The only argument in favour of disabling comments appears to amount to “Feelings”.

That’s an argument you are entitled to make, and one which I personally dismiss.

Hiding your reply to my reply

Back when I used to write on Medium, I would sometimes hide replies to my replies when the trolls come out to play, but I always offered new commenters the chance to prove they’re worth listening to.

I use the word troll in its true sense. One who simply wishes to cause dissent, inflame and be provocative. One who is adding no value nor trying to.

I did also sometimes close comments on very old pieces - generally articles published at least a year ago - to avoid missing responses.

I prefer to reply to or at least read and preferably acknowledge most comments, so if I revisit an older piece - generally when searching for a point I have already made to avoid reinventing the wheel - I will sometimes then close comments.

But, again, I won’t read a piece where comments have been removed or disabled from the outset.

This doesn’t just apply to Substack and Medium, I won’t read articles on any publication that performs the ritual of sacrosanct spaces.

On the extremely rare occasions that I visit MSM sites, such as The Telegraph or the Guardian, I also simply click away immediately if there is no public comment section.

Cowardly is as cowardly does

I first developed the habit of checking for open comments a couple of years ago, after a rash of permaffended Medium bloggers announced that from now on they’d be lecturing the world from the safety of a tall tower tucked away behind a moat and drawbridge.

They all vanished, over time, although I may simply have muted them into non existence, and I have a name blindness issue, so I’m not quite certain.

Back when I had an active twitter account, disabling replies also earned you a mute.

If I give your assertions my time and attention I insist upon the right of reply

Right of reply

It’s your right to post whatever you choose. It’s my right to disagree with you. If you want my time and attention in a public sphere, you will allow me the right of public reply.

As a matter of record, it’s extremely rare for me to comment negatively on articles, though I do make the occasional exception.

And I’m certainly not a troll. Thus, if I disagree with you strongly enough to type a reply, that reply matters to me.

Writers may feel they have legitimate reasons for the practice of closing comments, and are absolutely and totally entitled to do so. Their house, their rules.

Just as I have legitimate reasons for simply turning away.

We all have different boundaries, and mine include allowing you a chance to agree or disagree with me in a relevant and reasonable fashion.

Note, I said relevant. I insist that people who wish to argue respond to the words I have used and the points I have raised - not those they would prefer that I had used, or have imagined for themselves.

And I certainly don’t allow trolls free reign, of course

The flip side

On the other side of the coin, I occasionally see writers boasting that they allow trolls free reign, as though that requires courage or is exemplary behaviour.

It does not, and it is not.

It undoubtedly requires a thick skin, but mainly seems to rest upon a bloody minded need to prove yourself to yourself in some intangible way, and is often the mark of a person who can’t bear to lose an argument but will flog a dead horse for days rather than simply blocking.

For some writers, allowing gibbering, cymbal clashing clackwankers free reign is also simply about clicks and engagement. But not all engagement is useful or even marketable.

Pandering to trolls is at best irritating and pointless, and at worst harmful.

By refusing to silence those throwing an ill behaved tantrum in your comment section, you do your readers and the site a disservice.

It’s your home and everyone else is your guest. Allowing your guests to whine, bicker, and spew disingenous abuse into the air is unacceptable. You owe it to your guests to be aware of the atmosphere and escort the drunken fool who just pissed on the carpet to the exit.

Complacently allowing trolls to flood your comment section drags you all into the gutter mind of the trollish and often decreases engagement, as many will stay silent for fear of being targeted by blustering bloviates.

It lowers the perceived value of your piece and makes the site a less enjoyable place to frequent. It’s your duty to shut down trolls, once you realise they are trolling.

So I’m not advocating allowing the trollish free reign.

However, there is a compromise between gleeful idiots capering and drooling through your comments, and slamming the door closed before a single guest can enter.

In conclusion

In conclusion, fellow writers, please know that some will simply not read your pieces where the comments are disabled.

I automatically check that comments are allowed on every article, before I read more than a line or two, and if I do it, you can bet others do too.

I can hear the “Who cares?!” ramping up behind your lips. But, of course, if you comment, you care, even if only enough to aim an insult. Which is rather my point.

Only the foolhardy, obstinate or already famous risk turning future readers away.

Take your job seriously, yourself less so.

And so, my advice - not that you asked for it - would be do not close, but do monitor comment sections.

Unless you enjoy talking only to yourself.

And finally, as always, You do You.

Because, let’s face it, you will anyway.

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