Ben Nesvig @BenNesvig: Good idea or bad idea to read comments on my blog posts that get syndicated elsewhere?
ANSWER:
First off, I always read the comments on MY OWN blog. But I try not to read too much on others when I syndicate.
Claudia begs me not to read comments whenever I syndicate onto other blogs. Particularly Yahoo Finance is the worst. But I do anyway. And then I regret it. Everyone is accusing me of something. Usually either being ugly, being stupid, or both. Sometimes I’ve gotten death threats in comments. About one in fifty comments will happen to find the right button to push that will bother me.
But I try not to respond. When someone comments on the Internet they are just taking the worst qualities of themselves and throwing them at you. This is not an excuse. This is also not saying they are wrong. They might, purely by luck or accident, actually be saying true things about me. But it’s really a mirror they are yelling at. That’s why it’s pointless to look at or comment on the comments. Just like when I respond, it’s not really them I am responding to. I am also just putting up my own insecurities, my own fears, that have nothing to do with the person I’m responding to. And that’s all Internet comments are. A battle of insecurities.
But sometimes they are painful. Sometimes I am itching to respond. And on my worst days, sometimes I do respond and then regret it.
Better to have spent the time with Claudia instead.