BRUCE CHARLTON, writing at his blog, praises the extremely time-consuming, but rewarding format for commenting at this blog. He writes:

I am not a huge fan of comments on blogs.

Indeed, when I first began looking at blogs and for quite a while, I was put-off reading several blogs (despite enjoying the postings) because of the comments.

The postings might be good, but the world of the comments that followed them was horrific.

So, in general I heartily dislike most comment sections on most blogs – especially popular blogs.

I find it hard to resist looking at the comments, but almost always wish that I had not.

I often leave a blog having had the good effects of the posting removed, and sometimes reversed, by the bad effects of the comment section.

Comments are best on small blogs with a keen readership; and I most enjoy the style of heavily-controlled commenting which is used by (for example) Lawrence Auster at View from the Right and Laura Wood at Thinking Housewife.

I agree with him about the open comments sections at many blogs. Anarchy reigns. Small fights break out. Long-winded commenters divert the thread of the conversation. But the main reason I follow this format, which I obviously learned from Lawrence Auster, is to keep myself engaged in the conversation. Some bloggers are able to remain engaged with a looser format, but for me it would be a serious temptation to let things proceed on automatic pilot. It’s not as if there aren’t always plenty of other things to do.

Some readers do not like this system and think it places too much control in my hands. There are plenty of other sites where they can write in more spontaneously. If I remain heavily involved, I can spot significant points and amplify them in other posts. Sometimes readers write in thoughts that are tangential to the main conversation, but I often keep them in mind and these comments indirectly feed the ongoing debate. This is a living conversation. Time is precious. There are many polished works to read.Why waste one’s time on half-baked meanderings?

There are occasions when I must ignore worthy comments or suggestions so that I can move on to other topics and work on longer essays. For instance, someone wrote to me over a month ago and asked for suggestions in child-rearing books. There is an author I want to write about in response, but I haven’t been able to get to it yet. If I disregard a note from a reader, it may be because I am working on these other things.

                                                                     — Comments —

Jesse Powell writes:

I’d like to add, from the point of view of a commenter, I appreciate Laura’s style of heavily controlling comments and sometimes abbreviating comments and doing some editing on them. When I send in a comment I try to make sure I am adding in something useful to the conversation and I am mindful of the quality of my writing and try to make my comments compact and to the point. The comments I send don’t always see the light of day, but I know many more people read what I say as a mere commenter precisely because Laura keeps her comments under control and on topic, meaning I don’t have to compete with a horde of babbling nonsense in order to be heard.

It is true, the comments at this website add a great deal of value to whatever the original post has to say, and this would not be true without the effort involved in heavily moderating comments. When I send in a comment to this website my orientation is not “this is my opinion,” it is instead “this is I think might add to the discussion or be of benefit to your readers” and then I let Laura decide if what I send provides a benefit or not. If the comments weren’t moderated I think my orientation would be much more egocentric and the goal would be “to be heard” but with the moderation Laura provides my comments instead “are a service to the community” and I in turn get the benefit of being among the privileged select few when my comments are deemed worthy and of value to the community I wish to promote and be a part of. 

I think a large part of the success and popularity of this website is precisely because Laura is able to draw in active participation and support from her readers. Everybody can see that Laura is not just a one woman show here, that she has many supporters that send her material for article ideas in addition to the comments that are submitted. Laura mentions that moderating comments helps her stay engaged and interested in the subject material on her blog; I think it is also true that Laura moderating comments and posting on subject ideas that her readers send her helps her readers to be more engaged and interested in offering support to her blog. If Laura took a more hands off approach of simply posting on a subject and then letting the comments be what they will then the impression would be that The Thinking Housewife is just a one woman show and the incentive would not be so strong to send in story ideas or to put in effort into ones comments.

Laura writes:

Thank you for your contributions to the discussion here.

Fred Owens writes:

I read Thinking Housewife and send in my comments, not just because of the content , but also because of the format. It is very well done. The comments are carefully edited which is a lot of work and I much appreciate your effort.

Laura writes:

Thank you.

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