Disagreement: It's A Good Thing

I recently had a disagreement with a friend. I don't want to go into details, but I had removed a comment he left on a post to this blog that was more of a "funny barb" between friends than it was real dialogue that encouraged discussion on the topic. I think he was offended that I removed his remarks, and we traded emails as to my reasons.

I am a fan of comments on blogs. I rarely remove them. In fact, my hope is that more readers (friends and strangers) will take the time to add to the discussion of the pontifications found here. However, I do think they should either compliment, disagree or otherwise relate to the topic. (*and should not be anonymous....come on, if you have a comment, use your real name!!!)

I get a lot of comments that are from other bloggers who are promoting their own blogs which are so unrelated it is silly. Often they will say something like this: "Hey, you have a great blog here. You should check out what I wrote on my site that deals with organic home cleaning products. It is called Green and Clean. Click here." I remove such comments because they are of no benefit to the readers of The Some Assembly Required Blog.

The same goes for my friends who make unrelated, humorous or personal comments. If it does not advance the discussion, I am not sure that those who spend their time reading this blog are interested. (Feel free to tell me if I am wrong. I do not delete comments that disagree with my points as long as they are civil).

I did not remove his comment as a personal assault. I removed it because someone pointed out to me that such comments detract from the blog. I agreed.

Our email disagreement was civil and he made some great points. I will not publish them here, as they were a personal exchange....but I did like the back and forth. I think we learn from conflict. If everyone we encounter always agrees with us, I do not think we learn and grow. I do not believe this hurt our friendship, in fact, I thank him for his thoughts on the matter.

It is like politics. Too often people shy away from talking politics with those whom do not share the same beliefs. But if all you do is talk with those who see the world as you do, then you run the risk of missing out on valuable other points of view. I enjoy a heated (but informed and respectful) political discussion. I often learn things in such exchanges. The same is true in the blogosphere.

So what do you think about this? Please leave a comment (and maybe I wont delete it!!!).

Have A Great Day.

Thom Singer
www.thomsinger.com
thom@thomsinger.com