Quick! Before It’s Too Late!
What if a horrible virus was sweeping across the Internet, pulling apart the emulsion of comments and blog content and deleting one entirely. Entirely means entirely; there are no loop holes to this what if: any cut-and-paste jobs, Google Reader stars, any emailed version of comments or posts — all of them gone when they disappear from the url. But this virus is also merciful (perhaps invented by a white hat hacker) and gives you ten seconds to choose one or the other.
Which will you save: all of your comments, which obviously speak about the post and may even contain a quote or two, but you’ll be left without any of your content OR all of your blog posts, which obviously record your life, but you’ll be left without any reminders of the support or advice you received.
Which are you saving: comments or blog posts?
31 comments
My answer in 10sec. Posts. For the first three years I blogged I had very very few comments. Over the last two years comments have grown but since only a quarter or so of my posts receive comments, I would have to save the posts.
I would save the posts for sure. The comments probably would even make sense without the post.
“what an amazing post” ….hmmm I wonder what I wrote?
wouldn’t make sense
The posts!! Rally the troop and save the posts!!!!!
Definitely the posts….as much as I love my comments, because they give me love and support I can get no where but in this community, the posts are just like you said, a record of my life. I would be terribly sad to lose the comments, but here’s hoping if I still had the posts, I would be able to get new comments and still be able to offer someone else in this community a little insight on the different paths IF can lead someone. My whole purpose of blogging was selfish, to get it out of my head. But there is a small part of me who hoped my story could offer someone else a little hope or peace in knowing they are not alone on this journey.
Well, I think I’ve rambled enough…my comment is longer than your post!
Posts but maybe this is a reminder to be anal and back up both daily?
Posts. I have far more posts than I do comments. I have a ton of posts without comments, even the really really important ones. My blog has been being written for 6 years. Sometimes it’s the only way I remember the details of things. I would be devastated if I lost my blog posts.
Posts! I don’t have any comments… not one… haha… I tricked the virus!
Happy holidays, Mel!
Definitely posts!
The posts, no question. They are my record of how I finally came to have my sons.
P.S. Although I will admit that the support and advice I’ve received in my comments have been great, I’d have written my blog regardless. . . and didn’t have a lot of comments in the beginning (and have never had a HUGE following).
that’s an easy decision for me – the posts. i write my blog for the posts themselves, not for the comments. i mean, comments are nice and all, but that is not why i blog. it is more of a diary, a record, for me.
i’ve never been interested in “building a following” or checking out my blog stats or any of that. i get a few comments and support, but that is not the goal of the blog – to have lots of readers. my blog is about me writing and getting my thoughts on paper, for the record, to help me sort things out, to remember where i was during a hellish time.
Posts. I write for myself, not an audience, and so I can remember things later (my memory is terrible).
Yes, posts, definitely. I find that the support is always there, no matter how long I go away for. But my thoughts? Those change, and that perfectly crafted expression of my reality in that moment? Impossible to recreate.
Without a 2nd thought, posts. Which is an interesting (considering everyone thus far as said the same), as to why so many of us so want increased traffic and comments…
That is interesting to notice — which the begs the question why the focus at conferences isn’t more about building great content but instead is about getting more hits.
Posts. Absolutely. For all the reasons already cited.
Absolutely, the posts. They are my story. They are part of me and who I am.
Good point about content vs hits, Mel.
This made me laugh b/c I immediately thought — the comments! I’d save the comments! Making me an outlier, but, and this is (I suspect) an important “detail,” I don’t blog. So both in my case are hypothetical and I believe (probably incorrectly) that I remember “how I got here.”
Ha. Great post, Mel. Very interesting question!
The posts, definitely. I still have the warm fuzzy feelings from the comments.
Posts. Definitely posts. No question. They are a piece of me, and while I so appreciate the comments, the posts are what I go back and read because they are of me, the better explain to me who I am and where I’ve come from. The posts mean so much to me.
For some reason this post finally made me feel the urgent need to back up my wordpress.com blog. Can you direct me to your post with directions on how to (most easily) do that? Thanks!
the posts. without question.
I’d save the comments too. I know (sort of) how I feel about things…
Posts. Comments are a sense of communtiy, but you need the posts to serve as the base of that community.
Posts. Because without them, I might be lost in my own kitchen.
(not to mention I would have lost some of the small and intimate details of stories that I only remembered when I’ve written them down …)
The posts.
Like the majority of people, the posts! There are so many details I would forget otherwise.
Posts for sure! I blog 1st & formost as a record for myself & my daughter. It would break my heart to lose the comments & reminders of support but I would much rather preserve my posts.
I’m going to sound smug. I have all my posts backed up – in fact I write them first in a document, then copy into my blog. So I’d save the comments.