I’ve finally done something I’ve been wanting to do for a while now: Remove the comments section on posts. Now let me start by saying I’ve got absolutely nothing against feedback, and quite the opposite, I’ve always enjoyed receiving it — there have been 14,500 comments posted to this site since its launch back in 2002 (and far too much spam to mention) — and that goes for feedback that comes through Twitter as well. It just somehow feels like a vestige of another era, and to be honest, the number of comments that are posted here has definitely gone down over the past year or so, especially following the launch of SNOW Magazine.
The thing that inspired me to make the change was seeing how Information Architects deals with comments on its site. It doesn’t. iA only adds a link to its Twitter account, and for those who followed the passionate discussion that followed Oliver’s first impressions of WIRED Magazine on the iPad, you’re well aware that it certainly didn’t hurt any, and in fact it was quite interesting to see where those discussions ended up taking place (on Twitter and on Flickr, as well as on other blogs).
So I’ve pretty much done the same, and now at the bottom of every post you’ll simply find an invitation to offer feedback through Twitter or Facebook. I’m really interested to see how it’ll all work, and welcome you to get in touch that way — and active as I am on Twitter, you’re bound to hear from me faster than you would here on the site. Of course, another bonus to this is that I won’t have to deal with comment spam anymore — YES!
I’m still unsure if it’s something I want to do for SNOW Magazine, but I am considering it. Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this, let’s just take it elsewhere.
