Comments on: Director’s Commentary http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/ Things that Eric A. Meyer, CSS expert, writes about on his personal Web site; it's largely Web standards and Web technology, but also various bits of culture, politics, personal observations, and other miscellaneous stuff Fri, 25 May 2012 05:31:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: citra kurniawan, ST http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-242815 citra kurniawan, ST Mon, 08 Oct 2007 02:39:06 +0000 http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-242815 It's good.Encouraging good comments is probably even harder than just writing good posts Thank 4 ur Sharing Experience It’s good.Encouraging good comments is probably even harder than just writing good posts

Thank 4 ur Sharing Experience

]]> By: Isaac Lin http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-239033 Isaac Lin Sat, 29 Sep 2007 03:45:19 +0000 http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-239033 Comment threads on blogs have followed the same pattern as other discussion forums (Usenet, bulletin boards, mailing lists) in spawning off far too many discussions <a href="http://www.carrotpatch.org/blog/2004/11/what-alas-many-blog-comment-threads.html" rel="nofollow">that look like this</a>. There are unfortunately some people who would leave their employer vulnerable to accusations of censoring negative comments if they screened out non-productive comments -- Raymond Chen's popular "Old New Thing" blog being one example. One tactic Raymond tried was to have a "Nitpicker's corner" where he pre-emptively addressed potential nitpicks by qualifying everything he said, to ridiculous extremes. The community seems to have picked up the slack and started policing the comments for him, slapping down the noisemakers, and Nitpicker's corner is currently on haitus (in a way I miss it as it was rather funny, but it did end up drawing too much attention in the comments). Comment threads on blogs have followed the same pattern as other discussion forums (Usenet, bulletin boards, mailing lists) in spawning off far too many discussions that look like this. There are unfortunately some people who would leave their employer vulnerable to accusations of censoring negative comments if they screened out non-productive comments — Raymond Chen’s popular “Old New Thing” blog being one example.

One tactic Raymond tried was to have a “Nitpicker’s corner” where he pre-emptively addressed potential nitpicks by qualifying everything he said, to ridiculous extremes. The community seems to have picked up the slack and started policing the comments for him, slapping down the noisemakers, and Nitpicker’s corner is currently on haitus (in a way I miss it as it was rather funny, but it did end up drawing too much attention in the comments).

]]> By: Being Amber Rhea » Blog Archive » links for 2007-09-25 http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237735 Being Amber Rhea » Blog Archive » links for 2007-09-25 Tue, 25 Sep 2007 23:31:02 +0000 http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237735 [...] Eric’s Archived Thoughts: Director’s Commentary Again with the basics. Why is this such a difficult concept? “Y"see, this here blog is to me an extension of my home. In my house, some things are acceptable and others are not. Nobody is allowed to smoke in my house, for example.” (tags: blogging blogs comments community freespeech communication internet web) [...] [...] Eric’s Archived Thoughts: Director’s Commentary Again with the basics. Why is this such a difficult concept? “Y”see, this here blog is to me an extension of my home. In my house, some things are acceptable and others are not. Nobody is allowed to smoke in my house, for example.” (tags: blogging blogs comments community freespeech communication internet web) [...]

]]> By: Georg http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237648 Georg Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:28:35 +0000 http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237648 Not being one who comment often on blogs, I see the ability to comment as a sign of willingness on the author's part to discuss the subject at hand. Good - maybe I will if I want to share information or opinions on the subject. That some see the ability to comment as an opportunity to comment on everything <em>but</em> the subject at hand, or to go overboard in their use of language no matter how close to or far from the subject their comments end up being, is unfortunate. Reading such comments may also have the effect of keeping some people, like myself, from commenting even if we have something of value to share, which IMO is even more unfortunate. I don't blog since I'm not too happy with any of the tools at hand, and don't like the thought of having long trails (archives) of obsolete thoughts and stuff hanging around out here. If I find the right tool on day, then I might blog about subjects suitable for comments. On the other hand, I don't write articles in isolation, as people do read and comment on them behind the scene. This means a good deal of thought has to go into whatever I publish, and I don't think the process would change much with a change of publishing-format. Freedom of expression is, and has always been, under threat. To protect it we have to allow everyone to express themselves about just about everything, but not necessarily in whatever way they want and wherever they want. I think you know how to keep the balance on your own blog (and I won't smoke in your home). Not being one who comment often on blogs, I see the ability to comment as a sign of willingness on the author’s part to discuss the subject at hand. Good – maybe I will if I want to share information or opinions on the subject.

That some see the ability to comment as an opportunity to comment on everything but the subject at hand, or to go overboard in their use of language no matter how close to or far from the subject their comments end up being, is unfortunate. Reading such comments may also have the effect of keeping some people, like myself, from commenting even if we have something of value to share, which IMO is even more unfortunate.

I don’t blog since I’m not too happy with any of the tools at hand, and don’t like the thought of having long trails (archives) of obsolete thoughts and stuff hanging around out here. If I find the right tool on day, then I might blog about subjects suitable for comments.

On the other hand, I don’t write articles in isolation, as people do read and comment on them behind the scene. This means a good deal of thought has to go into whatever I publish, and I don’t think the process would change much with a change of publishing-format.

Freedom of expression is, and has always been, under threat. To protect it we have to allow everyone to express themselves about just about everything, but not necessarily in whatever way they want and wherever they want. I think you know how to keep the balance on your own blog (and I won’t smoke in your home).

]]> By: Laura Whitehead http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237318 Laura Whitehead Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:11:16 +0000 http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237318 Well said! I'm on of your long running fans for may years now, and don't beleive I've ever commented on your blog as yet, so here I am finally commenting. My comments on my blog help to shape the content of my blog too, those that create discussion and participation are the areas my blog is reaching to. Allow comments although keep moderating them too! (Just in case!) Well said!
I’m on of your long running fans for may years now, and don’t beleive I’ve ever commented on your blog as yet, so here I am finally commenting.
My comments on my blog help to shape the content of my blog too, those that create discussion and participation are the areas my blog is reaching to.
Allow comments although keep moderating them too! (Just in case!)

]]> By: Michael from Pro Blog Design http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237288 Michael from Pro Blog Design Mon, 24 Sep 2007 19:05:10 +0000 http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237288 Well said. Encouraging good comments is probably even harder than just writing good posts. On my blog, I respond to every comment, and love the discussions that ensue. I'm quite happy to admit that often you will learn even more from reading the comments than you will from reading the article. It's a fantastic environement. :) The bit I know that I'm weak at is filtering comments. There have been a few that I would rather hadn't been posted, and others that didn't really add anything. I suppose I could make the conversation stronger if I filtered a few of them, but I just can't help it, and the blog is small enough to get away with it any way I suppose. Well said. Encouraging good comments is probably even harder than just writing good posts. On my blog, I respond to every comment, and love the discussions that ensue. I’m quite happy to admit that often you will learn even more from reading the comments than you will from reading the article. It’s a fantastic environement. :)

The bit I know that I’m weak at is filtering comments. There have been a few that I would rather hadn’t been posted, and others that didn’t really add anything. I suppose I could make the conversation stronger if I filtered a few of them, but I just can’t help it, and the blog is small enough to get away with it any way I suppose.

]]> By: Hamish M http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237271 Hamish M Mon, 24 Sep 2007 18:19:09 +0000 http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2007/09/24/directors-commentary/#comment-237271 Well put Eric, very well put. Well put Eric, very well put.

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