4 Reasons You and I Might Consider Closing Old Comments

Dear Reader,

If you drop by here on the regs you probably enjoy our sense of community.

There is a lot to talk about at Dear Blogger. Lots of blogging answers, and lots of places to add your knowledge.

But lately I’ve realized a potential problem: Having too many places to chat around here might distract readers, thin out our discussions and even overwhelm newcomers.

In this post I am asking my readers what you would think if I closed comments on older posts and pages…

Especially you club members, help me out! I know I’m going to forget a couple good points here so jump in the comments below this post and tell me what’s up.

Too many simultaneous discussions

Take this situation for example:

You show up to high school history class one rainy Wednesday. The teacher, a nice guy, opens with “Hello students! Today, we can talk about History, or Chemistry or even Trigonometry too. Whatever you want, really!”

While you might be intrigued by this proposition (maybe you like Trig more than History) the result would probably not be productive.

In the same way that History, Chem, and Trig are all high school topics, things like landing pages, upselling, and review sites are all blogging topics.

But that does not mean we should talk about them simultaneously. Talking about them individually, then finishing a discussion, might actually result in more good actions taken on your end. Ideas might sink in deeper…

Overall, here is why leaving comments open can be harmful:

• Unfocused discussion
  To many topics…see example above
• Newcomer confusion
  You show up here and get overwhelmed
• No sense of urgency
  Why would you bother to comment today when you can tomorrow…or next week?

An added point is that I’m more than willing to chat about say landing pages on a post covering about me pages. Rando convos are the best and I don’t mind this at all.

But knowing where the discussion is at the moment could really tighten up lose ends in our community.

Why closing comments might be the key

Closing comments on older posts might at first seem like the oddest, most counterintuitive way to help discussion.

But having mulled this over for several nights I can see some positives in it. And, well there’s always this classic advice:

“When you think of something once, it’s an idea. Twice, it’s a good idea. Thrice, and you should have done it yesterday.” Tweet this quote.

Anyways, closing comments on older posts could I think…

1. Focus our discussion
   It could be fun to just chat about one specific thing, then move on.
2. Increase average learning
   We could dig deeper on each topic and produce some powerful lessons.
3. Help you take action sooner
   Knowing that comments will close and that a new topic is right around the corner might convince you to implement my answers on your blog that much sooner.
4. Convince stragglers
   A heightened sense of urgency might convince you maybe I’ll comment laterers to finally join in 😉

I know that this is only four reasons but I wanted to kick this off then see what you think. What other benefits (or costs) are tied with closing comments?

Would the blog lose out on social proof?

It would definitely lose on the spam!

Here are a couple different solutions for you to ponder before we hit the comments. I could close comments on all older posts, or on everything except the three most recent posts, or on the newest post + a couple pages…

Open-ended at this point, so tell me what you think.

Need your expert advice

Have you tried closing comments at your blog? Did people get angry?

Do you see most blogs allowing comments forever, or closing them at some point?

Given how many folks have come to rely on Dear Blogger for their daily dose of blogging answers I really want to hear from club members and find out if this is a good decision.

Or a catastrophic one…

You newcomers can chime in too! Let’s see what we can figure out in the comments.