UnPrecedented » Dialogue, monologue or none of the above

Dialogue, monologue or none of the above

Posted on September 14, 2006 by Adam Nussdorfer under Digital communication

The latest edition of the FT’s Martin Lukes (registration req’d) column really made me chuckle. Martin Lukes - for those who don’t know - is a fictional director at a fictional company (creatively called a-b global). Think Beavis and Butthead meet Wall St.

Martin pays the price for having comments available on his website when one of the people who work in a-b global anonymously calls his blog post “drivel”, says his ego has “run riot” and refers to all his posts as “lame”. Martin tries to convince the IT director remove the quote, and then demands hiring external consultants to find the culprit and bring him his head.

It’s an interesting example of when communication can go wrong. When users can give their comments and have anonymity you see conversations become disruptive rather than constructive.

It’s an issue a lot of blogs and other sites struggle with when asking for or allowing comments. How do you keep the dialogue open and encourage the community to contribute, but ensure that the comments actually add to the discussion and not take away from the intent to build a positive experience.

Here are a couple of ideas which could be incorporated (and I’m sure my colleagues will add some more to the mix)
- Have comments authorised, either ask people to register to be able to submit comments or do not allow comments without an email address - as of my colleagues likes to say “make them traceable”
- Only enable comments when you want to have a discussion about something, not when you really have no interest in what anyone really has to say in response
- Participate - don’t let the comments and the community exist without the author, write back when you’re being challenged and show that you are a part of the community and not seeing yourself as some authority.
There’s a real difference between a monologue, a dialogue and an artificial dialogue, be sure you know which one you want your blog to be.
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3 Comments so far

Mark Thomas on September 14th, 2006

First comment.
Woohoo. I mean, Yahoo!
Farhan on September 14th, 2006

Thanks Mark, glad you liked it! Are there lot’s of internal blogs and the like at Yahoo!?
adamnussdorfer on September 15th, 2006

It could be worth considering ‘commenting guidelines’. Matt Cutts guidelines are just an example, but it has worked in terms of ensuring that the comments actually add to the discussion http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/guidelines-for-comments-march-24-2006/