On my own blog - started over twenty years ago - spam was always a problem. I'd sometimes get good exchanges involving real people, but not often enough to be w

On my own blog - started over twenty years ago - spam was always a problem. I'd sometimes get good exchanges involving real people, but not often enough to be worth wading through the spam. On the few blogs I've visited in the last few years that have comments, there seems to be another problem - groupthink. Such blogs tend to attract very devoted regulars, who often converge on a very particular set of opinions on the blog's topics. Sure, they have their internal disagreements and conflicts, just like the mean girls in Heathers, but that's nothing compared to the way they'll gang up and harass anyone who doesn't kowtow to the clique as a whole. Even when it's a not-quite-regular (i.e. repeat visitor over a long period) in generally good standing, disagreeing on a fairly minor point, they'll get absolutely hammered into silence or departure. Sometimes it's not deliberate or coordinated, just people who all like to have their own say and don't stop to consider whether the not-so-nice thing they're about to say has already been said by ten others. Other times it seems more like a peer-pressure thing, scoring points (or even competing) with each other by each trying to take their best shot at the Target Of The Day. This consolidation tends to compound over time, too, so the oldest blogs tend to be the worst afflicted. Either way, it turns the comment section into an exclusive social club, and precludes any substantive discussion. I can think of several blogs where I've seen this play out, and not one where real discussion has continued over the long term. So yes, maybe there are some exceptions somewhere, but at a first approximation blog comments are (and certainly should be) a thing of the past.