A blog without comments is like a Christian who never goes to church.

I’ve actually argued before that a wiki that doesn’t allow anonymous or self-registered edits, is not a real wiki.

I take issue with a blog post that seeks to stir up controversy but refuses to take feedback through the comment thread.

Take a lecture, add interaction, you have something more like a workshop–you no longer can really call it a lecture. Maybe you can call them both “sessions”.

I think the same thing happens with blogs (w/ and w/o comments). You have 2 rather different things.

Either you say comments or no comments doesn’t matter at all–they are both true blogs (so the question “which is truer?” is irrelevant). Or, you say it does matter, and you don’t pit the 2 against each other. To compare the two, you then have to ask more specific questions (“which is better at accomplishing x ?)

It’s Friday, and I’ve been sitting at a computer too long, so I don’t know if that makes sense.

my gut reaction is to answer the title question with a resounding “yep”. but, do i have back up my gut reaction.

please do not comment on this comment. i’m turning comments off.

see? yucky. i no likey.

if you don’t comment or have comments what’s the purpose. Instead of a blog, wouldn’t it be called a website. =|

jennapants-

taking my ramblings from above– maybe your example would be like someone going to a session and wanting it to be a workshop, but it’s really a lecture. They’ll get ticked because the guy is spouting off whatever, and they can’t interact. Maybe the person next to them was wanting/expecting a lecture, so they are fine with the format.

Sorry–you said not to comment on your comment ;)

No. A blog is real whether comments are allowed and made, allowed but not made and whether comments are, strangely, not allowed!

I post on my blog to let things “get out of my head,” to practice the art of writing (an author in my congregation keeps encouraging me to do this), and to put ideas out there that some may stumble across. If I judged my blog’s “real-ness” by the comments, then it would prove “unreal” and I’d just shut it down. I find those times I dwell on the lack of comments to be very self-centered. A self-pity party is on the make when I get all morose and pouty about no comments. When I forget all that, set my selfish pride in the backyard, the fact that I get one comment per every dozen or so posts doesn’t matter. It’s kinda like judging a church’s “real-ness” by how many people attend it.

Because I cover each topic with excellence and perfection, my readers find that there is absolutely nothing to add.

Daring Fireball

The blog I have consistently read for the longest period of time.

No comments. No trackbacks.

Good to know mine is still legit, yet as a blogger it sure is motivating to get some positive reinforcement. I think it’s like the old axiom about friendship: To get good comments you have to give them.

I do read a lot of blog that allow comments and a lot of blog that doesn’t allow comments.

Here is the list of real blogs that doesn’t allow comments:
Albert Mohler
Sovereign Grace Ministries
Girl Talk
Desiring God (by they do allow to respond but not comment on it where everyone can read it.)

Hungry to eat His Word,
‘Guerite ~ BoldLion

I agree with Tony C.

Like Kelly pointed out, conversation is key. That’s the lynchpin to social media, and the blog is the poster child for social media.