The Hidden Power of Comments: Why What We Say Online Could Change Everything

There have been a few Mastodon polls and posts lately about comments on blog posts — namely, do you allow comments or not?

I enjoy interacting with readers and encourage people to respond via email, but I don’t have open comments on the site. The reason? Open comments are a recipe for disaster and spam (see literally any example of a comment feed online).

Email responses are typically far more civilized and interesting. I rarely have someone who takes the time to write an email filled with hateful or hurtful nonsense, which I consider a win. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to connect with people via email — it’s like having pen pals all over the world.

Comments on Medium, however, are a mixed bag.

With the exception of my latest Substack piece — which got a lot of (mostly) legitimate responses — my Medium comments are often what I consider spam. They come in two forms:

1. People who want to write for The Writing Cooperative. These comments are typically some kind of plea and their Medium username. These are all well and good, the publication is popular, but I could spell out how to become a contributor more clearly if I tried. Hint: It’s here.
2. People who want to summarize the article in their comment. These are likely AI-generated and serve absolutely zero purpose other than potentially getting people to engage with them. Maybe? One was recently so bad that they forgot the summary part. Either the “person” realized it after a few hours or Medium deleted it because the comment eventually vanished.

I call both of these types of comments spam because that’s exactly what they are — they’re unwanted digital intrusions that are little more than “brand awareness.” The brand in question? Each “unique” user.

It is extremely disheartening to publish something, and then the comments are nothing more than requests…