I think it can also depend on the area your blog's in. When I launched
The Office Diet, I deliberately chose to switch comments off. There were a few reasons for that:
- Dieting/health blogs seem to attract a disproportionate number of weirdos and spam comments
- I'm trying to market it as a "website" rather than just a "blog" (aiming at people who don't usually read blogs).
- I don't want content on my site which I haven't written or selected myself
- I hope my site is one day as popular as Steve's and has lots of similarly-engaged readers
The main drawback for me is that I love getting feedback, and although I've had some lovely emails and comments on various forums, I'd probably get more if I had comments on. It also makes it hard to build up a relationship with readers.
Perhaps it's worth sitting down and thinking through the pros and cons of having comments on your blog?
Best wishes, and good luck blogging,
Ali