No Comment

One of the most long-term commenters on this blog asked me recently, in effect, "Hey, where'd everybody go?" Which is a good question. The number of comments on this and most other blogs has fallen off considerably in recent times, and it's worth pondering why. But if this is not a question that interests you, then move along: nothing to see here. Something more to your liking will be along soon, I'm sure.

So: it has never been the case that every post on this blog has stimulated a response from my honoured and respected readers, but once upon a time the ones that did could sometimes accumulate quite a long tail of lively commentary. This has been one of the more rewarding aspects of writing a blog, and I always try to make a worthwhile response to anyone who has taken the trouble to comment. We never did get into the extraordinary length and depth of the comments on, say, Language Hat (no relation) [Oh, do stop it, Mike – they know you don't do that blog! Ed.], but, on the other hand, neither was I plagued by the numerous inanely phatic comments that other blogs seemed to attract like flies.

Such comments as do appear here I "moderate" – sadly, this doesn't mean I can edit comments (wouldn't that be fun?), merely choose whether or not to make them public – but I rarely suppress them, even when things veer off topic or get testy; it's all part of the game. Sometimes, I even used to find myself writing a piece in order to provoke a response from one or other of the more frequent commenters. Or, in the case of my old and now late friend Tony (who commented as "Zouk Delors"), carefully stepping around certain issues that I knew would trigger his less, um, reconstructed attitudes and sensitivities.

So here are the stats Blogger provides for a seven day stretch (I started writing this on 21st November, but any recent seven days would do): 

Now, the comment figures are accurate, but the viewing figures are inflated by passing robots and in-and-out ricochets from people looking for something that they didn't find (most likely camera-gear chat). I'd say you could safely knock off at least 1000 or so as fakes and "false drops". So, from about 750 more-or-less meaningful views over those seven days – which is perfectly respectable by my standards – only eight comments were left, and those were from just two readers, doubled by my replies. Which indicates not so much a fall-off in readers, as is only to be expected in Ye Olde Blogge Worlde, as a dramatic decline in the urge to comment. Which is more interesting, no?

There can certainly be problems with leaving a comment on a Blogger blog, which doesn't help. Blogger is a free service from Google, which inevitably means you get what you get, whether you want it or not. For a start, in order to fend off the spammers and click-baiters I have to require commenters to hold an active Google account, which is obviously a barrier to many. Then, quite regularly new tweaks and "features" are introduced without warning which often disrupt the smooth functioning of a blog, most often from the creator's point of view, but which also affect readers. Lately, for example, I notice that the header text setting out my comment moderation policy has vanished. More troubling, though, is when I hear from fully-qualified would-be commenters who say that they tried but failed to leave a comment, and I imagine that for every one of those heroes of perseverance, there are several who think, sod it, who cares? I'm pretty sure I would, too.

In fact, the majority of comments I get these days are private communications from people on my email list, almost entirely actual friends who seem to need a direct prod in the mailbox to be persuaded to read my rantings. Again, this was something I had to set up myself when Google disabled the original "Follow by Email" widget, and didn't replace it with anything similar.

Having a number of regular commenters can itself create problems. As anyone who has given a seminar or workshop will know, a few voluble individuals can silence all the other members of group, unless the seminar leader takes steps to ensure full participation. Many people need time to develop their thoughts, which may be uncertain and provisional, and will often have to be asked a direct question before summoning the courage to speak. Similarly, when visiting any blog with a well-established commentariat, it is always hard to avoid the impression that you have stumbled into a private party, with its own unspoken etiquette and rules of engagement; better to say nothing and "lurk" for a while. In any situation where one-to-one interaction with the silent majority is impractical –  I even hear of so-called "seminars" in our universities now with 200+ participants! – it's next to impossible to devise strategies that might encourage the unknown unknowns to speak up. After all, you're hardly likely to tell your best commenters to shut up for a minute and let the lurkers get a word in, when there may well be no-one else out there with anything to say, anyway.

It's clear that it's the chattier venues like Twitter/X, Threads, and newcomer Bluesky where most people are going for their social media fix, and has been for some time. They may still read a few blogs like this one, but no longer feel the need to participate as commenters. I suppose we blogging hold-outs are rather like old-fashioned charity collectors, rattling a tin on the street, in a world where the charity-conscious mainly donate via standing order and online clicks. You want actual cash, you say? I'm sorry, but who carries loose change in their pockets these days?

In the end, it's pretty obvious why the newer "share, link, and follow" social media have succeeded at the expense of blogs. Let's set aside any condescending remarks about "TL;DR", appropriate as that seems to be for so many of us now. No, it's clear that fewer and fewer people are bothering to share their views with just one self-obsessed stranger in the quiet cul-de-sac of their blog – too much like sharing your opinions about Life, the Universe, and Everything down at the local pub – when there is the very real possibility of being read and followed (or at least me-too "liked") by dozens, hundreds, if not thousands of like-minded strangers; why, you might even attract the attention of Someone Famous, or that crucial mover and shaker who will advance your career to the next level. There's no getting round the fact that a blog is more like a funnel than a megaphone: same shape, but a radically different device.

So I keep thinking I've almost talked myself into signing up for Bluesky. But then I think: just 250 characters? Hmm... Unfortunately, I seem to need to write, and to write at length, more than I need even to be read or "liked". Or, indeed, famous: it goes without saying, obviously, that the massive, world-wide fame and notoriety that would inevitably and instantly follow if I were to join up would seriously disrupt my daily routine and lifestyle. I'm pretty stuck in my ways, now, and to back into the spotlight I seem to have evaded so well so far in my 70 years on the planet would be an intolerable inconvenience. Garn, clear orff, 'fore I sets the dogs on yer! 

Seriously, though, folks... Fewer comments than previously? Not a problem as far as I'm concerned. You are reading this, and that's good enough for me. But, please: don't feel you have to come up with some comment, just to prove me wrong... As John "Cockney" Keats said of poetry, if it comes not as naturally as leaves to a tree, me old china, it had better not come at all...