Comments v. Reblogs

Marco wrote:

This is exactly the rationale behind using reblogs as a means of debate and discussion.

The main reason I don’t allow comments is that I want to inspire debate. I think people do their best writing when they’re forced to defend their ideas on their own turf. It’s one thing to leave a comment on someone else’s blog, but quite another to put your argument in front of your own readers. It forces a level of consideration that, without fail, results in a higher quality exchange of ideas. —Alex Payne

No, reblogs do not serve as suitable “means of debate and discussion” in the same manner as comments.

Marco, I love Tumblr and believe it to be spectacular in how polished and fantastic a platform can be. And uncanny how just about every feature request I’ve desired has become implemented in a quality fashion. But reblogging is a poor substitute for commenting.

Reblogged posts are “tied” to a specific format. For instance, this very “quote” post, that I attempted to reblog, but I had to create as a “text” post, due to formatting concerns (as rendering this very text as a “quote source” would be an aesthetic abomination). Granted, might only be an issue for some Tumblr setups, but semantically, it makes sense that a photo caption or quote would be expounded upon in a lengthier post format.

Most reblogs are verbatim reproductions of the original post. A phenomenon that might be alleviated somewhat with the advent of the Tumblr “likes” feature, but I still see a great bit of reblogging that is of a “repeat only” nature. And it may not be evident from the Tumblr staff post reblogs, which are more likely to have additional text tacked on.

Unlike comments, following a reblog response stream is a tedious affair. Simple “he said, she said” encounters are simple, but a “thread” that winds its way through dozens of posters is cumbersome to traverse. Originally, when it was apparent that Tumblr would make the reblog the engine to accomodate reader feedback, I figured down the road would be a novel, nifty interface to facilitate that “follow flow”.

Institution of a responder wall of segregation. Readers who don’t have Tumblr accounts are silenced. Perhaps somebody who stumbles across a post has something of great value to add to the discussion (or the referenced article or source) does not wish to become a Tumblr creator, but is impelled to add an informed take.

Yes, I concede to all the considerations the anti-comment comment crowd casts — spam, the hateful ad hominem attacks, name calling, etc.…

And despite my Tumblr contrarian beliefs on comments philosophy, it’s really not a big deal for the simple truth that if a reader is so alarmed and stricken to respond, she can create a Tumblr log of her own (or WordPress/Blogger blog, Google page, etc.…) in less than 10 minutes to obtain a means of dissent.