Comment on comments

I had an email chat about comments on blogs recently, and thought some of it might be worth quoting here, slightly revised:

I prefer having comments via email over a comment function on the blog. When I had Comments, I did not get many comments, I had to police a lot of spam and semispam, and when a flurry of comments did develop once in a while, it seemed they often went off on tangents that had little or nothing to do with the blog itself. Get yourself your own damn blog, I found myself thinking, don't crud up mine.

Some popular/populist blogs thrive on being reader-driven. But mostly I read blogs from an interest in the blogger and skip the comments as much less interesting. The blogs I like best post comments received by email when they seem worthwhile -- and I've imitated that process.

That's not to say I do not value or welcome comments. I greatly appreciate them. I still post all worthwhile comments (virtually all of them, since comment by email seems to have eliminated spam and crazies).

Comments welcome.