Blogs Don't Need Comments

Posted on May 17, 2005

The debate over whether or not blogs need features like comments or trackbacks has been going on for a while and is unlikely to end soon. A couple weeks ago we posted in a blog entry that, "Do blogs need comments? Some blogs have them and some do not. Some blogs have filtered comments and some do not. There are no comments on Bloggers Blog so far but we still begin and continue discussions taking place across blogs and the Internet."

Fredrick at CorporateBlogging.info has made a similar point: "In summary: Blogging is about conversation. Comments is a very good tool to strenghten conversation, but the fundamental tool is linking. Defining blogs from a "comments or no comments"-perspective is nothing but a way of making blogs a less profound change of communication than they are."

Hyperlinks in blog entries and the discussion of news article and stories on other blogs continues or starts a discussion and this is what blogging is. Features like comments and trackbacks add community features to your blog that might be useful for increasing traffic and building a readership -- but they are not required for a "blog" to be a blog.