Disabling Comments

I think, for me, the difference lies between constructive comments (which I welcome, even if they disagree) vs hateful/spiteful comments (which I would delete but gratefully haven't received to date).

On my fear of flying piece, I was touched so many great comments were from people not afraid to fly...yet they read my article. If someone said, "you idiot, I don't get wimps who are afraid to fly" that adds nothing to my article. If someone listed all of the benefits of flying I am missing out on, how could that not add richness and well-roundedness to my article? That is how I do it...would love to hear how others decide what to post or delete.

Though I hold comments to scan for spammy posts, I don't want to censor those who don't agree with me and I think it adds something for my readers, so I post them no matter their view. There are all sorts of writers out there - that's just the type I am - I have my opinion pieces but love to engage in discussion and hear something new...feeling certain that learning is a journey without an end and unwilling to ever think I know all I need to in this life.

frugalrvers, I don't like engaging in discussion. I'd rather be doing something else. Different strokes for different blokes, I think...

Just adding to this...

I don't think that comments from other people legitimize a piece. Not for me, anyway. I check out the articles against recognized factual sources. I carry a fair amount of those inside my head because I read a lot. Stuff that I don't know, it takes a few minutes to search for it on the web. 

Also, those articles of mine that do well without comments have never needed to be legitimized by comments. They are still read widely.

My conclusion is that I think what it is one is writing about. I don't generally write about products but I am now trying.

Keep in mind that comments are not just moderated for yourself but for your readers best interest  If you let anything post you could be putting that feeling you get from a negative post on to your readers- nothing sucks worse than reading an amazing article only to see a lot of trolling in the comments- personally I don't let anything that doesn't elate or add to the discussion, in a positive way- you can speak your mind against something without insulting the reader or author. I don't care what anyone thinks of my commenting moderation methods, I simply will not allow negative posting even if it's informative...I will often extract the value from it and simply add it to the post at the end (in my own words) and give credit to the name of the commenter... preserving the optimism of my work is vital to me and my readers I think.

Jerrico_Usher, I agree with you.