I've enjoyed many of the comments myself; there have been some detailed debates over the years. That said (having started my own lower profile blog lately) I can see why you're thinking it's dropped off a bit in terms of quality. I'd say leave the option there unless it's just more trouble than it's worth.

Posted by: Ned R. at September 16, 2007 01:11 PM | Permalink to this comment

I'd prefer to see the comments stay, at least for a little while longer. I admit that they vary in number and content, but sometimes there will be a useful remark or link. But if you turn off comments, I'd understand.

Posted by: Quiddity at September 16, 2007 05:14 PM | Permalink to this comment

There are a couple of commenters who insights are always worth a read. Zathras, to pick one I have mentioned before, doesn't have a better venue (that I've been able to discover).

Drive-by does predominate, though, so the decision is understandable.

Posted by: CharleyCarp at September 16, 2007 05:25 PM | Permalink to this comment

That's a tough call as I love being able to participate here regardless of the mediocrity of my input, but I do have to admit that, as a whole, the comments do tend to lower the quality of your rather excellent work. Do whatever you want with the comments as long as you don't stop writing for public consumption.

Posted by: FGF at September 16, 2007 08:34 PM | Permalink to this comment

Not sure what the negatives of keeping the comments are. Do you have to moderate them? If they're not more trouble, I'd love to see them stay. They are often interesting.

Posted by: Gus at September 16, 2007 11:07 PM | Permalink to this comment

Agreed wit Gus. Some responses are mediocre, but its certainly interesting to see how the "other" side thinks.

(I'm sure the "other" side feels the same way.)

Lots of emotion interspersed with spots of very cogent analysis...

If anything written here bothers folks, they can just not bother with the comments.

Posted by: Walt Sherrill at September 16, 2007 11:38 PM | Permalink to this comment

Comment sections are a reflection of what a blog's proprietor thinks the blog should be. Some of the best political blogs don't enable comments at all; some bloggers are self-conscious about their role as host of a group of regular commenters. Some -- Dan Drezner, I suspect, is one of these -- enable comments just because they are less trouble than reading a lot of e-mail from commenters would be.

A decision as to whether to maintain a comment section is easier if one knows what one wants out of a blog. This is easier for single bloggers with free time, married bloggers with collaborators, and bloggers who write as much for enjoyment as to advance ideas than it is for most people. The fact is that most people don't blog; all other considerations aside, it takes a lot of time to do well.

I have no special insight into Greg's thinking, but I would guess his reasons for blogging were clearer to him three years ago than they are now. His family situation has changed and his career has advanced; he doesn't get any revenue from Belgravia Dispatch, and because he does not often stray from foreign policy there is a limit on the number of things he can say that he has not said many times already. Which is also true of some commenters; I suppose that goes without saying.

Very irregular posting means a smaller audience, and fewer comments. The people who really want to tell a blogger something can always e-mail, and really good commenters will tend not to spend much time on sites where their comments will not be read by many people anyway. Also the comment functions in Movable Type aren't a lot of trouble, but they are one more thing to worry about. So, disabling comments probably makes sense in this case.

Posted by: Zathras at September 17, 2007 12:52 AM | Permalink to this comment

Since it is your blog site, you can obviously decide on the propriety or otherwise of comments:they seem to be on one side or the other of any topic, and some are just plain emoting , vile and without value. However, some do contribute to the quality of the debate.

Posted by: Buddy at September 17, 2007 07:34 AM | Permalink to this comment

If you pull the comments now you'll be sending a message to the bad comments that they have won, emboldening them to mediocratize other blogs the way they have tried here. Far from pulling back, it's time for a surge in new comments, perhaps by calling up some previously made comments or extending the tours of comments currently on the blog. When new good comments stand up, they can be taken down. Besides, do you think that the bad comments will ever leave you alone? They'll follow you home. As LBJ once said: "If you sweep the porch, the communists will be in your e-mail."

Can I say that comments have made this blog better? I don't know. History, the muse of deciding things, will judge. But I do know that we have to support the comments, even if we don't support their mission. I have before me a comment made by a commenter whose previous blogger turned off comments. It reads "Freedom's just another word for something that's not free, in the way that a free car wash or lube is really not free when you factor in other things. A blog without comments is like a country where the people can't vote. So they are free but don't have freedom."

It's true, but even so, there are limits. However, rather than a precipitous 'commentus interruptus', which would leave everyone unsatisfied, I'd recommend a gradual withdrawal.

Posted by: odradek at September 17, 2007 08:56 AM | Permalink to this comment

I think perhaps that both viewpoints and the political state of play on Iraq have hardened to such an extent that all that is possible is drive-by emoting. Bush will not withdraw. And it is clear, now, that there are not the votes in Congress to make him. So, really, what is there to discuss?

As an alternative -- if you value the comments -- keep them open on issues other than Iraq.

Posted by: Appalled Moderate at September 17, 2007 09:01 AM | Permalink to this comment

Unfortunately, A.M.'s suggestion above would probably end up having the same effect as closing comments down entirely. Even more unfortunately, the war in Iraq (and the Israeli/Palestinian issue) are the major foreign-policy sorepoints at the moment - and the two issues that tend to draw the most blog-commentary: little of it enlightening (unlike Greg's posts!).

For me, I'd vote for keeping comments (for now): we do get the occasional good input (a la Zathras) - and the trolls are easy enough to ignore.

Posted by: Jay C at September 17, 2007 10:49 AM | Permalink to this comment

Odradek gives another example of why it's nice to have comments. Some commenters are funny (intentionally or not)! Humor is always welcome.

Posted by: Gus at September 17, 2007 01:06 PM | Permalink to this comment

odradek: Most well said! I am glad there are still some patriots, who recognize the importance of fighting for the Land of Comment Liberty, as our forebloggers established!

Posted by: Howie Despere at September 17, 2007 01:48 PM | Permalink to this comment

Keep the comments, unless they're terribly time-consuming to administer. If we could get another really rousing baby-raping thread going, well, that'd be worth the time right there.

Posted by: LL at September 19, 2007 02:04 AM | Permalink to this comment