Kos alum Billmon, who's been known to go through periodic stages of blog burnout -- perhaps due to the
snark shortage recently identified by Hunter -- has decided to remove comments from the Whiskey Bar. His post explaining said decision is
here.
I've been a big fan of Billmon from way back in the virtual day (I still remember the hilarious
first post I saw him make on DKos) and I'll certainly keep reading him, but I'm curious as to what you ladies & gentlemen think of the idea of the commentless blog. Juan Cole and Josh Marshall are the only blogs I read that don't allow for comments, and I think that only works for them before they're considered authorities more than pundits.
I've always thought that comments are a vital part of a good blog because if the blogger says something poorly reasoned or just plain stupid, he or she can be called on it publicly and quickly. It keeps 'em honest, as they say. I'm definitely not specifically accusing Billmon of this, but I feel that a blogger who does not enable comments on his blog does so primarily because they don't want the inconsistencies in their arguments to be exposed (coughcoughandrewsullivancough.)
Are there any blogs you read that you feel benefit from not having comments? Do you read comments on most blogs you read, or do you just read the main page?