Most people start a blog as a way to share their thoughts and establish a community around their site. A blog is a two way conversation. The blogger has a voice and a vision of where he wants his blog to go. But at the same time, the community around the blog has a voice that we you hear via the comments. Because of that, I think comments are very valuable in growing the community.

Since the conversation is initiated and controlled by the blogger, he does have the power to influence where the conversation goes.

Khalid

I feel the same way about comments expanding on points in the post and making me think too. I do understand the point that you don’t want to stifle your own voice to pander to comments, but I think it’s a wise person that listens to other points of views and is willing to adjust thinking based on new information. None of us is perfect. I’m happy when someone can let me know what I’m doing wrong or where I might be off base. It helps me get things right the next time.

I try to be the same when leaving comments. I’m guilty of starting a comment with nice post, but I do my best to add something more. I’m sure I’ve left my share of meaningless posts, but it’s not my intention.

I haven’t had too much of a problem with trolls either, but I suspect as both our blogs grow we’ll get more. I don’t have the acceptable comment thing here either. I try more to set the tone with my own writing and the way I respond to comments, but at some point it might be something to add.

And absolutely a troll is not automatically someone who disagrees.

As to fostering a community, I think there are three ways to do that. First, I go and leave comments on blogs I like and think are well written. I do this in the hopes that they’ll get to know me and come and see what I’m saying on my blog and hopefully comment. I’m pretty selective about where I comment as I’m hoping to attract smart people with definite opinions to my blog.

The second thing I do is try to leave the type of comments on other people’s blogs that I would like them to leave on mine. I rarely leave “Good post” or “Great job” comments. I try to leave substantive comments that enlarge on the point of the post or which move the discussion along. Again, my hope is that people will see my comments and take them as a guide when commenting on my blog.

The third thing is to get rid of the trolls as soon as possible. So far I haven’t had much of a problem with that on my blog, but I know other bloggers do have that issue. I think a clear statment somewhere on your blog regarding what sorts of comments are acceptable and what aren’t is a must (and something I don’t have on my own blog at the moment). I also think you need to be prepared to ban people who are not contributing to the discussion in a meaningful way. I think you also have to be secure enough to be able to understand the difference between those who respectfully disagree with you and those who are just jerks. Debate and discussion of alternate viewpoints can be a good thing. Personal attacks and general crappy behavior should be stopped as soon as possible.