Over the past few days I’ve read posts by Timothy Gowers on his polymath project and by Lewis Shepard on the most recent failure to connect the dots among available pieces of intelligence in order to head off a terrorist attack. The posts themselves are excellent, but what really struck me was how thoroughly both authors responded to comments on their blogs.
As Julien Le Nestour and others have pointed out, this is not something I’ve done. I’ve always considered comments important and actively solicited them in most posts, but have rarely responded directly to them. I’ve considered them a way for folk to air their ideas rather than to engage in a dialogue with me.
I see now that this was shortsighted, and that interacting with commenters is a great way to make a blog more dynamic and valuable for its readers. So my resolution for 2010 is to be a more active responder to what others are saying here. I can’t promise that I’ll reply to every comment, but I will reply to more of them.
How can I best do this? What advice do you have about how to respond well to blog comments? Leave a comment, please; I’ll use it as an opportunity to start practicing… 
And Happy New Year!
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
I've been guilty of the same thing Andrew! Sometimes I think that me keeping out the way makes it easier for readers to talk amongst themselves. Funnily enough one my best recent comment threads was around the terrorist threat and as I said to my wife I love nothing better than when a post kicks of a great, grown-up conversation about stuff that matters.
http://euansemple.com/theobvious/2010/1/2/terro...
I was blown away by how thoroughly Shepard responded. Sometimes, it makes sense to write another post. In many cases, addressing point by point is easier, at least for me. I know that responding builds community and demonstrates that the blog's owner(s) are listening to the readers and addressing concerns. Great posts stimulate great comments, as demonstrated by Shepard's example. Often, I find that in situations like that, the most valuable insights, links and opinion may be found in those reactions, not the original work.
Advice? Thank visitors for taking the time to comment – that's a gift of social capitol – even if it's a negative response. Respond to constructive criticism substantively, moderate personal attacks out of the stream. Highlight truly great comments with “UPDATE” or by tweeting them out or linking to them in later posts.
Avoid flamewars that don't have anything to do with a topic. And keep a sense of humor: online interaction often leaves traditional notions of courtesy or etiquette in the digital dustbin.
I love that, too, and I'm also going to start participating more in the conversations that spring up in the comments section of my posts.
Always a pleasure to hear from you, Euan – Happy New Year!
Thanks for the great advice, and for your series of perceptive comments here over many months; they're much appreciated.
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(how'd I do?
A little bit of a conundrum. The quality of the content is what generates the feedback and retains the audience. There generally is plenty to be gained from interacting with the audience – but the cost is reduced time to generate new, original, content.
You did well, Prof. Now, how do I get you to come over and grace the comments on my blog?
Nice resolution – really. The words that pop out for me, and then putting together are: Engage(ment) leads to a great Dynamic, which increases the Value. I try to understand how readers make the leaps they do (not sure I get there). This thought process may aid you in future posts. I will certainly come back to this post and see what others have to say as well.
Yep – I think one key is to keep replies short, so as not to use up to much authorial bandwidth…
Mitch, thanks for the tips – I will keep them in mind.
Fred Wilson does a great does a really good job over at http://avc.com. He'd be a good model to follow.
Andrew,
This is good news to hear from you, and I think you will come to be glad you made it and followed up on it. I would simply say that you are going to find comments that are confusing, or appear of little value. When you find one confusing or potentially useless (but not outright dumb), you may want to consider simply asking them to refine it into a better question or rephrase the response. This will illicit more conversation, and may bring to light the point they were really taking the time to try to make.
Best wishes on your NYR.
Great idea. I also find that I get a LOT more from comments the second time I read them.
Thanks – I'll check it out…
The shoutout was richly deserved. Thanks for all your good work and sharp thinking. I'm sure we'll see each other in 2010…
These are hugely important and rare skills. Too many people just want to talk about themselves, to the detriment of all involved…
I like the idea where every actions stay within our own domain. UI is getting better.
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I like that idea, but I don't know if the DISQUS system enables comment ratings…
you are having such good realization there…
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