It’s the The Virtual Investor I wonder about – you’ve always been a Virtual Investor. Maybe it should just read “Vitual Investor”.

I think you’re right to define a clear scope for your blog. I found having a specific focus, defined when I first started, helped enormously to inform me about what was relevant to write about – and what others wanted to interact with.

Ron

Companies want us to invest our time in their product, often to the exclusion of their rivals (it’s hard to use multiple email services, multiple calendars, etc), and I could write from the perspective of how good an investment that would be, etc.

I dunno, is this a lame idea or does it have legs?

Yes, well I’m still toying with the idea of having the underlying perspective of this blog come from someone who is investing in the industry… it’s companies, markets, opportunities, etc.

Now, I don’t have the kind of money (yet) to do any financial investing, but I do feel I am investing my time (yes, that old yarn) so to some extent I am ‘virtually investing’.

Frankie: I’m not sure about it yet, but I’ve left it up there partly to remind me of that idea and also to see if anyone would notice.

I also got fed up of writing stupid lines very few weeks like “first there is a mountain, then there isn’t, then there is’ etc.

I genuinely think comments form part of what a blog is, and I side with the camp who believe ‘if it ain’t got comments, it ain’t a blog’. People can call anything a blog, I guess, but the spirit for me is making a point and then giving others the opportunity to respond, disagree, add weight, etc etc.

I have ooodles of respect for Seth, but I don’t totally buy his reasons for not having comments.

For me, what makes blogs like TechCrunch interesting is not just what Arrington has to say, but the comments and discussion that occur around the posts. That’s often where the juicy bits of info lie (and are lost on those who simply browse over the RSS feed — that too needs to be better sorted by feed readers).

In the same way, if I make a point or a viewpoint I genuinely + firmly want to know what people have to say about it. We’ve all changed a viewpoint at some point in our life after hearing a valid counter argument, etc.

People like Dave Winer (who’s been very public about not having comments) use their blog to get their message out and I don’t think are so bothered abut what the ‘great unwashed’ have to say about it. People like Dave will receive council from their inner-circle peers via private communications. And hey, if Dave really did invent RSS then why was reflecting comments added as a generally unsupported after-thought rather than an integral part of the spec?

That doesn’t explain Seth Godin’s position, however which I do find curious. His reasoning seems to be allocated around time – that he doesn’t have time to answer all of them and he doesn’t have time to think/curate them. That’s a shame and I do agree that it takes time, however it’s time that I and many others feel is worthwhile (in fact in my original post I’ve stated I’m going to spend more time on comments this year!).

What do others think?

You’ve got the right look going here.