I’ll be honest. I didn’t read all of “Commented Out”, Khoi Vinh’s latest piece. Marco Arment linked to it with some great commentary, though:
Comments have always been a dysfunctional medium. They solve a real problem: authors’ need for validation, criticism, and feedback. But they solve it in a way that discourages civility and following up, and encourages hatred and spam.
Because of this, I’ve struggled with the question as to whether or not to continue to allow comments on Geek & Mild. I value feedback and personally appreciate the ability to comment on others’ blogs, but the battle against spam has left me weary and considering the benefit-cost ratio of leaving comments enabled.