Ooooh look, even the “Subscribe” page has a SolidWallOfWriting!

Although I initially figured that the last thing anyone needs is me writing to them to tell them to read more, I thought long and hard about having a subscribe button and finally realised that it’s not a bad idea if I actually want people to read my work. My crazy idea that people would check in every once in a while because they wanted to and not just because they were prompted to was clearly Bonkers.

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There’s no comments section on The Wall.

If you’ve read something and feel compelled to respond — whether in agreement, disagreement, or outright rage — this is where you do it.

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Not all are replied to.

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Read on for Bonus content about why you’ll never see a comments section on the wall.

Comments would be great if it wasn’t for the fact that usually they’re not.

There was never going to be a “members area,” and a “pay option,” and an “I want to sell you something” option. I have no interest in those things. I don’t want to sell anything. I don’t want some people to pay to read whilst others get less content because they don’t want to pay.

I often feel it’s only the convention of having these things that compels people to provide them. The one thing you definitely won’t see is anywhere to leave comments. I could have just left it alone and left people wondering why I forgot to put a comments section anywhere, but, I actually want to be somewhat vocal about it and promote the idea of a world where a website without a comments section is not something freakish.

Too many comments in comment sections seem like knee jerk reactions, not thought through and often they seem to serve little purpose and sadly don’t produce debate or discussion. Reading comments on anyone’s work can often feel like being in a room of hecklers heckling from the safety of their keyboard.

I also think that there’s something terribly wrong about someone reading an article and then reading the comments and being more invested in what they’ve read in short snappy punchy comments than in the article they’ve read. It often seems to be that people believe the comments sections more than the actual main body of text. This might be testament to the quality of a clickbait style of online journalism and it’s fair enough to say that anything that’s lured you in with a flashy headline, only to end up as a nothing story, probably deserves all the trolling it gets.

There’s too much power given to comments and online reviews andI don’t want to give a forum for trolling, whether it’s well natured or no. I’m not sure where and when we collectively got it into our heads that it’s the norm for everyone to be able to comment, to heckle, to troll, like it’s a God given right. The real life equivalent that comes to mind is someone going into the Tate Modern during the Summer exhibition and scribbling underneath any piece of art, “How long did this crap take you?” Or being more positive, “Yay! I like your work.” 

I am however open to the ideas of abusive emails. At least that takes time and effort, and you have to be really invested in what you’ve read, for good or bad, to do that.

They say, “Dance like no one else is watching.” I think there is a writer’s version. “Write like no one else will read it." Write with no need for comments, or fan or subscribers ever had. You just keep on writing, because you have to write, It’s you and your words and nothing else.

How would you respond? What comments could you possibly have? Wouldn’t it just look like this?

Comments:

Too many words man.

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So, do you have a comments section or not?

Comments:

I don’t like comments either.

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This page had no pictures. Please add pictures.

Comments:

My comment is - You suck.

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Here, have some happy Emojis to cheer you up. 😁🌈🦄💗🍾🤗💯⭐