Anea (@_anea) from Oh look, an Alt! posed the question:

One of the things that can make us happiest as bloggers is seeing e-mails notifying us of comments on our blogs. However, if we took that away – and the influence it may have over our writing – would we become better bloggers?

Would writing what it really is you want to write make you truer to the purpose that you started the blog for? To write exactly whatever is in your head, rather than worrying about whether or not anyone will find it “interesting” or “good enough” to comment on? For the joy of writing?

Or are comments integral to your blogging experience and if you don’t have them, you don’t write?

Is seeing comments on a post nice? Is having an actual readership nice? Hell, yeah! It feels good –really good, actually. It affirms that other people are actually reading my opinions and being moved enough to either agree or disagree. If you don’t already know that, trust me, it’s an empowering feeling.

See, I started to write Blade Barrier for myself, not for an audience. The blog is an outlet for me to talk about my time in WoW – my wife is not a gamer and looks at me like I’m a lunatic when I exclaim “Nice! Another achievement!” I’m also older than the average player. My friends and neighbors are not into playing, and they honestly eyeball me a bit quirky if I’ve ever broached the subject. So, as far as real life goes, WoW time is solo time. The Blog is a great outlet to share that experience (with just me or with an actual reading audience). I hope my drivel reaches the eyes and minds of other WoW players, and I’ve listed myself over at Blog Azeroth and participate in forums (as well as Single Abstract Noun) to let other folks know I’m here — so yeah I do want people reading and dropping by.

I’m not sure if I won a lottery or that I prematurely climaxed like an overeager teenager (sadly leaving much of my audience unsatisfied), but after being online for only a few days, my seventh post was linked by the Daily Quest feature on WoW.com. My hits skyrocketed from 1-2 per day to 4,500 that day and 2,800 the next, and then slowly declined around 30… Now I’m hanging tough around 25 – 35 hits (at least according to Google Analytics!). I was still exploring my style (which continues), and I’m certain there was nowhere near enough substance or experience to retain that large of an audience. A few comments that were left showed that.

Negative comments are a double edge: my immediate reaction was indignation, especially on the more trollish. However, a few readers (and thank you!) left articulate posts on why they disagreed with my views. I appreciated that deeply because it made me reconsider, take in their points, and actually improved my fun in game (because their suggestions worked!)

On the other side, positive comments just make me happy. When I see that encouragement, I know I’ve reached someone and they get what I’m trying to say. I feel a connection, and it just feels good. That connection is a bit of a drug — you feel that once, and then you need to feel it again and again and again… It’s a toss up as to what is more addicting: playing WoW or blogging about WoW.

Boom, welcome to the podium. Tap the microphone… “Is this thing on?!?” Don’t choke, Artie, because people are listening to you…

Reader comments (vilifying or supportive) are solid proof of a reading audience. When I’m sitting here typing or reviewing the drivel my fingers just churned out, knowing that other people will read this makes me edit it and take a more critical eye. It’s a bit more like work — I mean I have to spell check and everything! But it also results in a result that I’m more proud of because I have critiqued myself and I’m ready for others to review it.

Anea’s question on whether reader comments / fan base demands alter subject matter is quite intriguing. I could see a need to satisfy a mainstream readership (especially on the larger blogs with more followers). It might very well be tempting to modify or perhaps even censor subjects in the hopes of preserving or increasing that readership. However, with ‘lil ole me, that’s not an issue. I do not need to, or even feel the urge, to modify my subjects or content of my post. What I do look at is the quality of my writing within that post… I want my opinions organized, but I won’t (nor need) to sanitize them for a reading audience.

Bottom line, I write whatever I want to write about. I welcome and deeply value reader comments as a form of feedback. Having readers raises my level of effort, and ultimately improves the quality of the site.

Cheers!