Should a blog have a comments section?

Even before I started my YouTube channel, one of my biggest fears was the comments section.

Part of me was afraid of toxic comments ruining my peace of mind.

But the bigger fear was that nobody would care. Zero comments. Equally devastating.

Managing comments is also a time sink. If someone takes the time to leave a thoughtful comment, it feels rude not to reply, right?

At one point, I was seriously considering turning off comments entirely if I ever started YouTube. Just focus on creating and ignore the whole thing.

No comments section means you never have to worry about how many comments you got.

But disabling comments works against the algorithm, and I personally love reading YouTube comments. A video without comments feels weird.

Both sides have a point. That’s what makes it so hard. “Should I enable comments?” kept bouncing around in my head.

Same goes for blogging. I liked the quiet of a comment-free blog, but I also noticed that the experience of leaving a comment directly on JN’s blog via RSS felt way better than my site asking readers to email me.

While researching, I came across an interesting debate. In 2011, a company invited two successful bloggers, Pat Flynn and Everett Bogue, to debate whether blogs should have comments.

For comments (Pat Flynn)

Pat argued that a blog without comments isn’t really a blog, because blogging is fundamentally about two-way communication and community building. His key points:

• Extra perspectives: Reader comments are often more valuable than the post itself, filling in blind spots the author missed
• Social proof: A flood of comments creates social proof, like a long line outside a restaurant that makes passersby curious
• Reader insights: Comments are the easiest way to understand what readers need, helping you decide what to write or build next
• Human touch: Publicly responding to comments makes the author feel more approachable
• Higher conversion: Once a reader takes action on your blog (like commenting), they’re more likely to take other actions like subscribing or buying

Against comments (Everett Bogue)

Everett had a blog where every post got 50-150 comments. But he chose to turn them off and called it the best decision he ever made:

• Time cost: Managing comments turned him from a freelancer back into someone chained to a desk. After turning them off, he only needed to work less than eight hours a week
• Creative quality: He realized he was unconsciously writing for the lowest common denominator, dulling the edge and boldness of his content. He wanted to create for himself, not for readers. (This reminds me of Mark Manson shutting down his hugely successful interview podcast and completely pivoting because he was frustrated about not being able to offend guests.)

He broke down who actually comments: only 5% of readers leave a comment.

• 50% are newbie bloggers trying to get noticed (almost nobody clicks their links)
• 25% are confused drive-by visitors or trolls
• Only 25% are genuinely thoughtful readers

And those 25% of quality readers would be better off building their own blogs and responding with hyperlinks and their own posts. That creates far more SEO value and community interaction than any comment.

He also raised an interesting counter-question: we encourage readers to spend time leaving comments everywhere, but wouldn’t their time be better spent building their own digital platform?

Verdict

Like most things in life, the verdict is that there is no verdict. Both sides have trade-offs. It all comes down to what you value.

The debaters’ backgrounds are worth considering too.

Pat was more of a maximalist. He wanted to maximize fame and fortune, doing a little bit of everything: books, podcasts, online courses, communities, YouTube, Shorts. For him, growing the community was everything.

Everett was someone I’d never heard of before, but he wrote a book called The Art of Being Minimalist and seemed like a pretty extreme minimalist. For him, what mattered most was his time and white space. (Apparently he later did some pretty radical things, like claiming to be a new kind of human.)

The funny thing is that 15 years later, neither of them blogs anymore.

Still no verdict, but their debate was fascinating and gave me some ideas.

So, should I enable comments?

I blog mainly because I want to connect with people. Plus, Derek Sivers has a comments section!

I tend to overthink things before I even try them. But planning the perfect route on an unexplored map is putting the cart before the horse. Better to run a small experiment and see how it goes. If I don’t like it after a few months, I’ll just turn it off. This is my castle, after all. Easy peasy.

Inspired by JN’s comment system, I set up ArtalkJS for every post. I also added a recent comments page to see all comments at a glance.

Feel free to leave a comment! I can’t promise I’ll reply to every one, but I’ll definitely read them all.

If you enjoy my writing, you’re also welcome to leave a comment on any of my past posts, like your favorite game mindset. I’m curious which one resonates most, or which one feels like a stretch.

Maybe enabling comments will be the best decision I’ve ever made for this blog. Or maybe I’ll turn them off within a month. But how would I know without trying?

Alex Hsu

Indie developer, AI music miner, aspiring writer, ADHD.
Documenting my journey of personal growth and the pursuit of simplicity.