Removing the Comments Section

04 Feb, 2025

some background with my comment sections

I've been thinking about my comment section recently. I first used Komments at the end of each blog post I shared as an external link that you could click on, and it would redirect you to a page where you can leave a comment. I would need to approve these manually before it would appear. I got 1 comment before switching to this neat Bluesky integration that allows you to use Bluesky threads as a comment section! I still think it's pretty neat. You can find the tutorial for doing so by elmc here. It required a little tweaking to look how I wanted it, and I was satisfied with it for a while.

It looks like this if you're curious (from my other post on Britta Food4Dogs):

Also, Brandon, if you're reading this - thank you so much for liking my posts and responding! I always like to see you around :)

why comments?

I think I've been thinking of comments from a very binary perspective. As I've used typical social media from the likes of Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, etc., I've gotten used to the idea that posts just come with comments. And if they don't: they look odd, and there might be a mis-opportunity for any sort of engagement beyond liking/loving the post.

In general, I like to get comments from people - hearing feedback, thoughts, and especially personal experiences from readers or friends is a pretty nice feeling! And so, I got those set up.

changing things up around here :)

I've recently read gobino's blog post on Making Bear Interactions Easier where Steve shares how he allows his readers opportunities to engage with his posts by embedding his Letterbird contact form as well as provide links to his Mastodon and BlueSky profiles at the very end of each of his posts.

One downside of using my BlueSky comments method is that you would need a BlueSky account to comment on the thread. I could imagine that it wouldn't be too inviting to someone who does not wish to create a new account on a social media they don't want to use just to comment on a random blog post! And, even if you do have an account - when you click on the reply button, it will open up the app/website to the thread before you can reply. So, it wouldn't be as intuitive as typical forum-like comment sections where you could directly respond under a post.

Although this means that comments would not be publicly visible, this also means that interactions could be more personal and, perhaps, even more intentional. Of course, I'm not saying that all comment sections are not worthwhile, but, at least for me, when I'm writing an email to someone - I find myself being more intentional with what I'm writing. Perhaps it's some weird perception shift when I'm typing in a little contact form or when I'm using my email client, but that's my perspective. It also makes me feel more connected with the other person on the other end because I know they're the only person reading it - and I want them to be clear with how I feel about what they wrote and how it did or did not resonate with me.

Additionally, I personally do find it a little bit demotivating seeing the 0 replies under my posts. It doesn't make too much sense as I do understand that the worth of my writing or thoughts is not based on any metrics that my comments section can give me, but it still does bring up the question of whether anyone really finds my writing interesting. It brings back memories of me anxiously looking at my likes counts on Facebook when I was younger, and, I know enough that that's not a particularly healthy feeling or habit to have.

And, so: I will be changing out my BlueSky comment section to include a toggle that reveals my Letterbird Contact Form as well as a section for people to reach out to me via my BlueSky account. I've decided to include the second option in case that might be something someone prefers to use - and they can DM me personally there.

conclusion?

There's not much of a conclusion here, honestly. I would just say that feel free to use comments sections if you want to. It's a pretty cool tool that you can add to your blog, and there are some pros to having comments that you might value more over having direct lines of communications like I've mentioned. I can see how it can make some other users who are already used to using comments sections more likely to engage. However, if you're like me, and you might spend too much time thinking about all of this - add a simple contact form to your post templates! Even a direct link that directs readers to your contact form doesn't require the paid subscription (if you're using Bear) works just as well.

Thank you so much for reading this post! Feel free to reach out to me using my contact form or via Bluesky anytime :)

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