Commenting on A Head Full of Wishes

Simon Reynolds recently wrote a piece for the Guardian on blogging and accompanied it with more context, and follow-ups on his own Blissblog and pointed out that “Blogging has become more of a solitary activity. A blogpost will be sparked by something ‘out there,’ or by something within, but rarely in response to another blog” - related to this is the parallel demise of commentary and discussion.

So, when I changed blogging platforms a few years ago I ditched the comments, almost no one was commenting, and too much time was spent dealing with the tiresome comment spam. But I miss it, I miss even the occasional comment I got and have over the years tried to resurrect commenting using Reddit (that didn’t really work, although the subreddit is still there ticking over quietly), using Github (which was a crap idea since it required commenters to have a Github account and who, except techies have one of those?)

But, I don’t give up so easy, so today I started a 14 day trial of a different commenting platform, so, for the next couple of weeks at least you will see a comments box like the one down there ↓ - if you see it, and have something to say, please feel free to leave a comment. If things seem, even slightly positive I may keep it up. If not, I’ll go back to my solitary blogging life.

Here’s a bit more of that Guardian article… I could have written this (if I had the eloquence):

I miss the inter-blog chatter of the 2000s, but in truth, connectivity was only ever part of the appeal. I’d do this even if no one read it. Blogging, for me, is the perfect format. No restrictions when it comes to length or brevity: a post can be a considered and meticulously composed 3,000-word essay, or a spurted splat of speculation or whimsy. No rules about structure or consistency of tone. A blogpost can be half-baked and barely proved: I feel zero responsibility to “do my research” before pontificating. Purely for my own pleasure, I do often go deep. But it’s nearer the truth to say that some posts are outcomes of rambles across the archives of the internet, byproducts of the odd information trawled up and the lateral connections created.

Simon Reynolds - "I'll never stop blogging" - The Guardian, 26th December 2023