I’m like everyone else. I watch my blog comments and lens guestbooks like a hawk, reading every word people have written and hinging my very existence on the kind words.

Okay, I lied. I do watch for comments, but what I really look for are those comments that are in disagreement with any points I made in my post. Not the nasty comments that are loaded with childish tantrums (those get axed in a heartbeat), but the ones that invite me, or any visitor, into a civil discourse.

Those comments usually provide the three E’s (Entertain, Engage, and Educate) that provide the foundation of a solid post. A great post will do the one thing that every post should do; provide a solution.

My all time favorite lens guestbook is the one at my Somali Pirates lens. In that guestbook a lensmaster went toe to toe with me in a highly engaging and entertaining debate. There were no angry words tossed out, no name calling, just two adults discussing their individual points of view.

This isn’t always the case as often the heat builds up in an opinion trade off. When the debate starts to escalate into something ugly, it’s up to the author to gracefully bow out and end the exchange.

In my opinion we should encourage differing points of view and not censor comments to always agree with the author. The opportunity to educate dies when we do that and posts become propaganda. I know that I, for one, don’t have all the right answers, but I’ll debate my side until convinced otherwise.

I do love to learn, no matter how much the lesson smarts.

Engaging discussions can also be entertaining. When readers see a hardy debate taking place in the comments/guestbook, they are likely to go back and reread the post so they can join in on the fray.

We all are opinionated, yet a lot of us are hurt when they find out that some folks don’t have the same opinions as we do. There is no changing human nature, so those that are hurt easy are left with some tough choices. They can either delete all opposing views (which will still hurt because they know a reader didn’t agree), write posts that are non-opinionated and purely “how to”,  allow no comments or guestbooks (which will keep them from all the agreeing comments, or the authors can try let the debate happen without their participation (ha!).

I understand that life is a hollow popularity contest for some, but for me, I want to learn and discuss. I don’t want to be censored, so I will allow everyone to have the chance to openly discuss their opposition in blog comments, even if I am always right.

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