Seth’s blog post today about ‘Demonization‘ is pretty ironic and somewhat comical since the very thing he is suggesting to the thousands (if not millions) of people that read his material is something that he isn’t really doing.
I think it is punctuated even more since the very vehicle through and by which he is pontificating from is the very vehicle in which he has disabled that which he is preaching today:
So, if you want to not be hated, open up. Let people in. Engage. Interact.
Perhaps, dearest Seth, you should make it so that people can better “engage” and “interact” with you by letting them connect and communicate with you directly…? How about “letting us in?”
How about turning on those comments… hmmm?
I personally don’t demonize you, but I know many who do.
On a sidenote… do you know of any Pastors that don’t have comments turned on?
[Image from ThomasThomas]
I so agree! I have often wanted to comment on one of his posts. I feel the same way about pastors and leaders on Twitter who follow very few, keeping people from being able to DM them. If you want to social network, play the whole game. Good post
I know lots of pastors that don't have "comments" turned on anywhere in their ministry, much less their blog.
Ouch! Good point!
well you just happen to hit on one of my biggest pet peeves ever about a blog… John Piper comes to mind immediately, but there are a few pastors that don't allow comments, and I rarely read their blogs. I wrote a post a while back called "5 Steps on How to Improve a Blog in 2009" (sorry for the self plug http://twurl.nl/6x2d2u ) and that was the last bit of my rant, allowing comments.
It doesn't bring out any positive feelings in your readers minds (at least not my mind) to not allow comments, and I rarely read blogs that don't allow comments (Seth's would be the exception but I still don't care for it).
Seth's post ought to be placed in the dictionary next to "irony."
In the case of ministry blogs, I think one reason they don't open comments is they are afraid of the kinds of vicious attack dog "debates" they see on other religious blogs. Not saying that's a justified reason, I just know from experience working with some online ministries that that is why they don't open up.
I know Perry Noble has them turned off. I’m not sure, but I last I heard Gary Lamb & Shaun King were both toying with the idea as well.
Gary Lamb has never had his comments on nor does Steven Furtick. I appreciate that Mark Batterson and Ed Stetzer do but they rarely interact with the comments.
I think what Godin's saying is true. I think in ministry we do sometimes get so emotionally attached to some programs or organization that we can't "hate it" or "objectify" it–so we just keep it around because we are married to it. I see your point though, being able to comment and interact makes the experience for the reader more personal. Maybe that's just it, Godin doesn't want people to be "in" so they can be more objective when they read his stuff and not just take his word for it, but apply it to their organization or company and see if it sticks. Good post!
re: comments. Thank You, for having comments turned on! I will mention though, I don't see you comment in response nearly so often to the discussions that begin >here<, nearly so often as you used too…..
@Ben LOL!
A few weeks ago Frank Viola (author of Pagan Christianity & Reimaging Church) posted on his blog “I shall be pulling a Brian McLaren, Francis Chan, and John Eldredge. Comments will be closed.”
Honestly, if your blog is getting mega amounts of comments and you have more important things to do than moderate them what’s the alternative? Hiring a full-time moderator?
- Paul
Frank has a blog? Funny how the guy I always thought was a heretic is "pulling a McLaren…" who is a noted heretic.
Good thing I dont know his site, and he closed his comments that day.
I am a pastor and have a blog with the comments "turned on." While this is not a huge issue as I see 20 people a day on my site, I can see how a pastor of a large church might turn this feature off. Many people think pastoring is all "sunshine and kittens." I mean heck, work one day a week? Sign me up. Right? But that is not reality. Pastors are under fire from critics all the time. I do not believe they should ignore their critics, but in some cases, for their own sanity, they should shield themselves from some criticism. While you and I, and most of your readers may wish to converse in normal dialog or leave encouraging comments, many others are wackos who just want to wreck havoc on God's people, especially pastors.
In truth, I feel that many pastors use blogs as an extension of their sermon and do receive feedback and commentary from their inner-circle and some select outsiders (those who have proven wise).
This is often done for the sanity of the pastor who is being attacked from all sides, all the time.
-Don-
oh man, commenting is where it's at –
that's where you open up and participate.
you can't say that and not allow that.
Although he probably gets flooded with comments and really can't keep up.
Speak the truth in love! I love both the posts and the comments! Good job all. I understand there is a volume issue in the more popular blogs, but if you are not going to interact with your audience you are not embracing the true spirit of what blogging is all about. If you do not want interaction, do not use an interactive media to communicate your message.
1. Why do we assume blogging has to be dialogue? Surely there's room for content writing that is pure monologue? There's not one way to blog.
2. At a certain tipping point of notoriety, people would spend more time putting out comment fires and responding than they would spend actually doing the thing that gave them the platform to speak from in the first place.
3. Comments only work when there's community and a general sense of decorum. Places where they do work (e.g. here) work because the people have a vested interest in the discussion, the author wants dialogue, the people have a sense of tact, etc. Places where they don't work (e.g. YouTube) fail because there's no community. There's no accountability in Anonymity Land, so there's no tact. If an author doesn't want to make the time to build community around their content/writing, can you fault them for not allowing comments?
I think if you are going to put your thoughts out there on a platform that is typically used for interacting then you should be willing to accept the comments that arise AND even respond to them. I don't think it is reasonable to expect someone with a popular blog to respond to EVERY comment but they should at least be checking in and responding once in a while. Craig Groeschel immediately comes to mind as someone who exemplifies this.
I think a greater irony would be if you were to turn off comments for just this one entry.
I agree entirely. If a leader or pastor is willing to engage the culture and community through an online medium, they need to provide some solid method for dialogue and challenge. That could be comments or forums. If they are concerned about the trolls, flamers and unstable wack-jobs (of which I am one) out there, they can simply turn on comment moderation, and not worry about the overly offensive responses being published.
If we don't allow others to challenge and critique us, we cripple our own growth…
But some people are just mean and do not want to grow you, they want to cut you down and hurt you. Should we allow them to comment too?
Yeah I thought of Furtick right away. It's really a shame too because I'd love to hear what Furtick-following-types think about certain topics. Some blogs I follow more because of the commenting community than the actual author.
The author ignites the fuse and the community implements the explosion of ideas, advice, experience and truth.
peace|dewde
i got a good laugh when i saw that this morning.usually he has some pretty good insight, but i agree with you on this one…i'm want to snoop around and find out WHY he doesn't allow comments and report back.
"Why Seth Doesn't Have Comments"(sounds like an excuse) …http://bit.ly/wW6uZ
is it fair for me to step out and call, "B.S.?"
that's a lousy explanation.
I second that notion, good callSent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
From: IntenseDebate Notifications
Well to be fair, Seth does allow trackbacks which are a form of commenting….
Agree Seth's post is ironic, and reminiscent of the old saying about pointing a finger at yourself anytime you decide to point one at others. That said, I think people tend to respect you more it you "walk your talk, " and in that spirit I encourage Seth to let us in, engage us in conversation and interact. I love his message and welcome his participation.
I agree but also realize that by turning on comments for such a largely read blog that he (or others with very large platforms) would likely need an assistant to monitor the volume of comments or else they’d spend all their time as a comment moderator.
While I'd love the ability to interact with the blog post author and probably even moreso the commenting community, I see pros and cons for both sides. For pastors, there is that degree of those who would waste valuable comment space with their attempts to tear down the pastor or get into a debate online in disagreement over silly things. That stinks and wastes the pastors time. Those pastors could alleviate that though with a simple disclaimer above comments that reads "No negative comments will be posted." Then just turn moderation on… but there again it gets into a time issue and likely having to have an assistant monitor all comments.
I will step up in Seth's defense on connecting though. He has always been quite responsive to me via email. Whenever I have sent him an email, he has always replied directly.
sheesh. I'm sure you didn't mean this post to come across as supercilious and a little nasty, but it did.
there are lots of ways to get closer to people, don't you think? lots of ways to answer email, go to conferences, run a free MBA program, contribute time and money and attention. If you'd like me to apologize for not running my blog in a way you see fit, consider this that apology.
In fact, if you look at some of the most disliked and demonized bloggers out there, they DO have comments turned on. That's because a soapbox is not the same as interaction, and because giving people a chance to vent is not the same as making it clear that you're listening.
I don't view the web as a fun wrestling match, and I'm sorry if that disappoints some people. Too many more important things to do and work on, at least for me.
Thanks for coming in.
very cool that you responded. And true that even disliked bloggers have comments turned on.
but am a believer that the best conversation is happening in the comments. So many people can't make it to conferences or programs, emails won't all get answered, even at the conferences the communication is one way – one person to the masses.
But here, in this comment – people can interact and engage; one on one, on to many, many to one. They can be heard and respected.
He doesn't have comments but he has trackbacks, and I'd wager he checks on reply posts pretty thoroughly.
Without Jesus, there's no medicine that will fix any of us. I'm praying Seth will realize that soon.
I hear that.
Comment away. I know lot of pastor who don't have comments on, it's just like they want everyone to follow them on Twitter, but they don't follow anybody. It's about learning from our "tribe" right?
sometimes a tribe can get tired of it's leader…