Shawn Blanc is a full-time intercessory missionary, on top of being a husband, blogger, musician, and a host of other talents. He runs two blogs: The Fight Spot and ShawnBlanc.net.

Shawn has been very successful on building a community of readers on The Fight Spot, so it came as a surprise to me when he launched another blog (ShawnBlanc.net) with comments disabled. Shawn was gracious enough to be interviewed by me and to answer some of my questions about community and disabling comments.

Listed below are ten brief questions regarding community and comments on blogs.

1. Ronald Huereca: You have a very active community on your website The Fight Spot. What is the difference in a community formed around The Fight Spot when compared to your other site ShawnBlanc.net?

Shawn Blanc: For sure the obvious difference is the comments. TFS (The Fight Spot) has comments enabled, while shawnblanc.net does not. Those are two very purposeful decisions I’ve made as to how I view the two sites.

I think of The Fight Spot like a Bible study small group. It’s a safe place for folks to ask questions and state their opinions and give feedback. Sometimes someone just wants to say “thanks for that article”, while other times I’ll get really deep and thought out questions. I’ve set myself up as the Bible Study Leader, and so most of the community reads The Fight Spot to get teachings, encouragement and pastoring.

On the other hand, the community around Shawnblanc.net is quite different indeed. For one, it is a completely different demographic of readers — consisting primarily of Mac savvy web and design geeks. Since comments are not a feature of the site, all the feedback I get comes through direct email or trackbacks.

I think the best way to describe the community around Shawnblanc.net is a bunch of peers hanging out giving each-other high-fives. But really, this describes the vast majority of the Mac Savvy design community in general. My site is just one more URL that has come to the party … so to say.

Ultimately, your site will attract like minded folks. The Fight Spot has a strong community of Christians going after God, and Shawnblanc.net has a strong community of geeks who like gadgets. For me, instead of developing one blog that blended the two (which is what I tried to do for a while on TFS) it is easier and more fun to have two sites devoted to each.

One more thing I’ll add, it was a whole lot easier to build the readership base on Shawnblanc.net than it was on TFS. What took me 18 months on TFS has taken me 7 weeks on shawnblanc.net.

2. Ronald: You’ve noted that it has taken you only 7 weeks to build a readership base for ShawnBlanc.net. And this without comments disabled. Why do you think it has taken you a fraction of the time to develop your audience for ShawnBlanc.net vs. TFS?

Shawn: That is an easy question for me to answer. First off, I owe a lot to John Gruber for putting a few of my posts onto his Linked List. The people that read Daring Fireball are exactly the sort of people that would like my weblog as well. Having exposure through DF helped a ton.

Secondly is just the basics of the readership. Shawnblanc.net is a design and mac weblog. Folks that are interested in those topics are much more dominant on the web. Or, in other words: It’s a much more populated pond.

3. Ronald: What benefits have you seen over maintaining and writing for a blog such as ShawnBlanc.net over writing and maintaining other blogs?

Shawn: I’ve really only maintained one other blog: The Fight Spot. The main benefit is basically what I mentioned earlier. By me writing and maintaining two different weblogs with focused topics I’m able to really build each site with more focus.

On The Fight Spot I had a very limited readership that liked the Christian topics, the design topics and the Mac topics. I basically had four groups of readers: One group that liked the Christian posts, one that liked the design posts, one that like the Mac posts and one that liked all three. It was fascinating to see the different readers commenting on “their” posts.

By maintaining a site that is now totally devoted to Mac nerdery, etc. I am able to go as deep into that topic as I want without blowing off readers that aren’t into it. And the same goes for The Fight Spot.

4. Ronald: Chris Garrett has been quoted as saying, “Without community your site is still a blog, but it is a blog without a soul.”

Whether or not you agree with Chris’s observation, What would be your advice for building a community around a site without comments?

Shawn: Well, I’d say it’s pretty obvious I don’t agree just by the fact I don’t have comments enabled on Shawnblanc.net. I do think that comments on a weblog can and often do bring community to that website. But then who is the weblog for? Is it for the readers or the writer? I found that regular commentors come and go. They are people that like what I have to say but does that mean I should let them be in charge of what I write about? Sometimes, sure.

On Shawnblanc.net I’m not so much trying to build a community. I love it when people like what I have to say and let me know, but that’s not my goal. My goal is to write about the things that are interesting and worthwhile to me. I don’t want to spend my time trying to please the people that comment on my site. I’d rather take that time to write an article that is worth the time it takes me write and worth the time it takes someone else to read. So at the end of the day, my website isn’t so much for others as it is for me. Though others are obviously invited to enjoy it as well. And that is what I think builds community. Being an author that is confident in my topics, proud of what I have to say and not concerned about who is or isn’t reading my articles. That will attract people.

So I guess my point here is that you can build community with or without comments. It’s up to you. But I think content suffers when the author allows the readers to control the site.

5. Ronald: There are some in the blogosphere who think that turning off comments on a blog is killing a potential community. Others think that turning off comments is a slap in the face of readers. What was in the decision-making process behind leaving comments off on ShawnBlanc.net? And how do you feel about such criticism over disabling comments on a blog?

Shawn: I have read quite a few posts that folks have written with their view towards comments. Most that are pro-comments say that, like you said, it’s rude to the reader and it is snotty of the writer.

I wrote my own opinion piece on this very subject not too long ago, Blog Comments Are Like Cash. My point was that comments, like finances, make an excellent slave and a horrible master. In the case of Shawnblanc.net I feel that having comments disabled is a gift to the reader. Once they have read an article they are in no obligation to do anything else. The article is simply there for their enjoyment. I don’t ask anything in return.

If a reader does want to get in touch with me and state something I have made it more than easy to contact me. Which brings me to another point. The correspondence I have gotten through email has been overwhelmingly positive. Almost every single email I get from a reader is pointing out a link I may like (which often I do), a typo I’ve made on my site (which often I do those too), or just a note to say “hi”.

I have nothing against sites with comments turned on. Heck, I maintain one! My guess is that those who criticize websites for disabling comments probably write a pretty boring weblog because they are most likely not thinking for themselves. Their blog probably looks and sounds like every other one out there.

6. Ronald: How has disabling comments benefited your readers in general?

Shawn: I would say that it has benefited them in two ways.

First off, by not having to maintain, filter and reply to comments on Shawnblanc.net I have more time to write - thus more and better content.

Secondly, like I stated earlier, it is a gift to them. The article is there for them to read at their leisure. Once they’ve read there is no pressure to post a comment as if they are ‘checking in’. They don’t have to feel guilty for lurking.

By publishing Shawnblanc.net I have gotten a new paradigm towards comments on weblogs. I very rarely comment anymore. Not because I’m not reading, but because if an article stands for itself, it doesn’t need my comment of approval. Instead I would rather write a personal email to the author or give them a link on my site.

7. Ronald: Shawn, that’s a very interesting observation regarding an article being able to stand on its own. You obviously don’t base the success of your articles on comments. What would be your criteria for a successful article on ShawnBlanc.net?

Shawn: My criteria is simple. I have two standards for a succesful article. (1) Did I say what I wanted to say? (2) Is it a well written piece?

Oh, and (3) Does my wife like it? She’s my editor, you know.

8. Ronald: You’ve mentioned that bloggers who criticize websites for disabling comments are basically echoing what everyone else is saying. What would you say to the blogger who writes and bases an article’s success only on comments?

Shawn: I didn’t mean to convey that all bloggers who criticize disabled comments are only echoes. What I meant was that probably many of those bloggers are criticizing because they don’t know any different.

I would say to the blogger who writes and bases their article’s success only on comments that he has a long and emotional roller coaster ahead. I don’t know how many times I’ve written something random and spontaneous on The Fight Spot and it got several comments only to write something that was (in my opinion) outstanding and have it get very little response. I think just about everyone has had the same thing happen on their site. So when an article’s success is based on comments, the author begins to work the system to get more comments. Not that that is wrong, but is there a point or a purpose? Who cares if your post has a million comments, did you say anything that has any real weight or value? I think having comments enabled should be for the purpose of conversation, not voting.

9. Ronald: You’ve mentioned previously that the e-mail correspondence (from readers on ShawnBlanc.net) has been overwhelmingly positive. How has an e-mail-only option impacted your relationships with the readers?

Shawn: Having an email only option on my site means I don’t hear as many reader’s opinions. However, those I do hear from, there seems to be a deeper level of communication. I have gotten many emails from readers just sharing stories about their new iPhone or their Mac, or a funny experience with a client. I think those are great.

So although I don’t know as many names, I am “connecting” with more people. If that makes sense.

10. Ronald: And a silly question. You’ve been elected mayor of the blogosphere. What law would you pass first?

Shawn: I would ban those sidebar blog hit counters with the flaming numbers. Oh, and free ice cream for everyone!

Interview Conclusion

Shawn is a good example of a blogger who has successful blogs with and without comments. It’s a tough debate whether or not a blog should have comments, but I feel this interview with Shawn raised a benefit of a doubt with regards to bloggers who disable comments. In the end, I think it boils down to the blogger’s intentions and his or her view of the readership.

If you have any thoughts on the interview or wish to express your view on comments in weblogs, please feel free to share in the comment section. Thank you for reading.

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