Comments are dead, long live comments

**ian** · October 8th, 2010, 4:06 PM

So it seems to be the popular and 'minimalist' thing to do right now in the blogging world (apparently) to remove comments from sites. I guess they have a point, seeing as more and more people share things they find on Facebook and Twitter instead of commenting directly onto a site.

This site has noticed the decline, and instead of a comment box for the articles, you can simple tweet your thoughts on it by authorising directly with Twitter.

Seems like a pretty good idea for those of us that have sites with visitors interested in social media and the like. Wordpress template sites, for example. What do you reckon? Will this take off and see the end of normal blog comments?

**Clinton** · October 9th, 2010, 4:08 AM

the end of normal blog comments

Yesterady, I left a blog comment yesterday in flipfilter's page about 100,000 crap sites headed for Flippa. It would probably fill an A4.

David Fairley, the website broker, and I had an exchange via the comments on this page at Elliot's blog that would make a little ebook on its own.

Using Twitter is an alternative if, I suppose, you're hoping for replies like "Great post, keep up the good work"

**JJMcClure** · October 9th, 2010, 5:51 AM

I'll never tweet a response to an article, if I'm going to say something it's going to be more than 146 chars or whatever you get on twitter. How can such a short post be useful and if it's not useful what's the point of leaving it. If this trend continues blogs will lose a ton of traffic I think. Sounds like the blog owners in question are trying to leverage social media to make their blogs more popular and it could backfire big time.

**Kay** · October 9th, 2010, 6:19 AM

I'm no expert on the matter from any SEO or social media POV or any of that kind of stuff. I allow comments on my blog because I enjoy them and it adds to the community feel of the place.

People can ask me questions or to clarify something. They can also give me feedback - one of my all-time favourites was in a posting where I had referred to rabbits as rodents. Someone corrected me to say that rabbits aren't rodents, they're lagomorphs!

I would be really disappointed if people stopped commenting. It would take a lot of pleasure out of running my foodie blog.

**Dreemer** · October 9th, 2010, 1:15 PM

Matt Cutts alwats said google was big on comments, or user generated content as he put it. I couldnt imagine commenting going away, this is probably just a phase.

**flipfilter** · October 16th, 2010, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Clinton

Yesterady, I left a blog comment yesterday in flipfilter's page about 100,000 crap sites headed for Flippa. It would probably fill an A4.
"

Thanks to your comments, I've had to add more storage space to my server

I love comments as a blogger; when you take time out to write a well thought out post, getting a 146 char comment would be like leaving a 50 pence tip for a meal!

**Clinton** · October 16th, 2010, 10:29 AM

Well, at least you publish my comments

Even when you may not like them.

We know that companies like Flippa allow only those comments they like (usually lavishing praise on them) and delete the ones they don't.

**flipfilter** · October 16th, 2010, 10:37 AM

It reminds me of when the sh!t was hitting the fan earlier this year regarding fraud, and they published a post on what to look for in order to trust a seller (or something similar) and offered a prize for the best suggestion.

I commented that you should ask for a photo of the seller and see how close together his eyebrows were.

Needless to say, I didn't get my comment approved (nor did I win the prize)

**3Six** · October 19th, 2010, 10:19 AM

A prize for the best suggestion? Your mistake was making the suggestion at Flippa.

We've had threads about how devious they are in deleting what they don't like. If you want to make a suggestion you do it here!

I've got a suggestion: There is no perfect way of judging whether you can trust a seller, but here's one good indicator. The fewer the auctions he's got in Flippa the more likely he can be trusted.

I'd be interested in hearing any other suggestions

**Bryan** · October 20th, 2010, 5:17 AM

Originally Posted by 3Six

I've got a suggestion: There is no perfect way of judging whether you can trust a seller, but here's one good indicator. The fewer the auctions he's got in Flippa the more likely he can be trusted.

This is probably something that would deserve a thread on its own.

But yes - very good thinking! I'd assume this is true in 85% of the cases as people who sell 3 sites per week are typically either turnkey sellers or those that buy sites, fluff up the stats (often fake them) and proceed to resell them. The remaining 15% is probably split almost equally amongst brokers and those that simply buy undervalued sites and re-sell them right away, without misrepresenting the stats.

What's interesting is that this is exactly the opposite to what the vast majority seem to think, i.e. more past auctions = more trustworthy seller. Almost the same thing that's happening with forums (higher post count = higher reputation = more trustworthy person .. which in many cases is obviously oh so far from the reality).