What does the comments box offer me?

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   ryankettposted 14 years ago

   I am currently in the process of removing every single RSS feed and news feed.
   
   I figured that they are page leaks, pure and simple. In addition, I am cutting the number of internal links and keeping them as relevant as possible.
   
   Now, what benefit does the comments box offer me? Any? They don't get indexed (the comments), they take time to delete and approve etc, and most importantly it is just a whole host of massive page leaks, they are also a big gap between my content and an AdSense unit.
   
   Why should I keep the comments box? Any insight would be much appreciated.

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      Stevennix2001posted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Well you do offer a lot of valid points, as to why comment boxes are way over rated.  However, speaking solely for me, I'm kind of insecure about my own writing to a point where...well have you ever seen the film, "Late Shift?"  Well, it's basically about the late night fiasco about when Jay Leno and David Letterman fought over who would take over the Tonight Show; once Johnny Carson stepped down.  Well in the film, Dave was portrayed as this highly neurotic guy that would always say things like, "the show sucked because I sucked", or "welcome to my weekend in hell! hee hee!"  In other words, he was his own worst critic.  Or at least, that's how the film displays him.  Anyways, to get back to your question, that kind of sums up my personality when it comes to writing in a nutshell.  The comments for me at least tell me that maybe I'm too hard on myself, and need to stop worrying too damn much.  Then again, you seem like a very emotionally secure enough guy to where you won't need that kind of affirmation. lol.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these highly unstable emotional guys, but I try to be harder on myself, as it keeps my ego in check.  Then again, I can be too hard on myself too, so the comments balance them out.    I apologize if that sounds conceited or needy in anyway, as I'm merely answering your question since you asked. 
      
      another thing to point out is that comments can sometimes offer criticism to help you improve on hubs that you have.  Plus, I always enjoy engaging in conversations with some of my google visitors.  However, that's just me anyways.

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      kimberlyslyricsposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      that really is your analysis Ryan, you know that.  clip it or don't but only you can caress what it offers you.

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      SMOMarketingWizposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      If you think that comment box is an obsolete part then remove it from you page.

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         ryankettposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         The only reason that I really have for deleting it is a possible increase in AdSense CTR as a result of that link unit being directly below the content if the comments box is removed. I'm going to test out that theory with a few busy pages.
         
         Thanks everybody else for the replies too

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   Mark Knowlesposted 14 years ago

   They do get indexed, they do create activity, they do add authority. Depends what you are looking for I guess. I often engage with my readers and commenters so it has value to me and them. I have even picked up several jobs from comment discussions.
   
   If you have no interest in engaging with your audience - they are probably not worth the trouble. I have several accounts where I turn them off because it is an impersonal account and all I want them to do is buy something from Amazon.

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   Susana Sposted 14 years ago

   I've found comments useful for three reasons. One they keep the content fresh and relevant; secondly I've seen google pull up a whole load of long tail searches from phrases in the comments and thirdly they add to the amount of text on the page.
   
   Comments are good if you can get them

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4. 59

   2patriciasposted 14 years ago

   We both find the comments boxes useful.  Our prime objective for writing Hubs is to experiment.  We want to find out what interests people.  We often use the comments to plan what to write about elsewhere, or even to write other hubs.  (You may have noticed that we are not very prolific hub writers though.)
   
   Also, on days when we are feeling neurotic (most days) it's just nice to know that there are people out there.
   
   As a reader of hubs, comments tend to convince us that the hub has some validity.  Perhaps that's the herd instinct, but I think that's partly the way the internet works.

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