On a whim, I decided to limit the amount of time the comment form is available on this site. 2 weeks. I saw a tweet from Fred Wilson1 and read the linked article. I continued to read the article that MG2 linked to and found myself rethinking blogs and comments.

This is a place for me to let people know what I think on certain issues when 140 characters isn’t enough, to do product reviews, or write tutorials. I’m not looking for comments from people telling me that my review was super helpful. That’s nice, but send me a note on twitter or send an email. I want comments that add to the article. If I missed a fact or you have an idea on how to do something better, that’s useful. After 2 weeks, the chance of useful comments goes down and the chance of “Good job!” goes way up – especially since I write mostly about technology that could be completely different from one day to the next. And if you really need to talk to me about an article or correct something I’ve said after 2 weeks, feel free to send an email. I’m always willing to have a conversation about the stuff I’m writing here.

  1. It’s important to note that Fred Wilson is an investor in Disqus, which is what I use here. Though, as MG points out in a follow up, he wouldn’t have invested if he didn’t believe in comments online. ↩
  2. After reading MG’s follow up, I don’t think he’s against comments in general, but doesn’t feel that they’re necessary in his case. I know he made a point of saying that comment systems are a facade, but in the last article he admits that comments can be useful on a case-by-case basis. ↩