Comments seem to be one of the primary ways that a community forms. A bunch of people read a piece of content, a few comment, then a few more respond to the comments... and voila, an interesting discussion is born. Why then would one choose to not allow comments to their content?
A few observations about the commenting options that a few bloggers have chosen: this, as a follow up to some notes about syndication options.
No Comments
The question: Allow user comments to my blog posts or not?
The GoogleBlog does not accept user comments. The exception is if you are a clever hacker. Then you have full authority to make any post you like... or a ummm, "fake post", as Google calls it.
Seth Godin doesn't accept user comments on his blog either. However, similar to the Google Blog, he does accept TrackBacks, which some may view as a form of comments. The problem with this view is that TrackBacks don't effectively enable users to interact. They are entirely different from comments both in functionality and purpose. I plan to discuss TrackBacks, specifically, in a future post.
Anonymous Comments
The question: Allow anonymous users to comment or force them to register first?
TechCrunch seems to be all about creating an open community for their readers. They, kindly, do not require users to register before leaving comments about a post. And, in my opinion, are rewarded for it.
On the other side is the Freakonomics Blog, which does not allow anonymous comments. Although the registration process isn't terrible, you have to believe that it does keep a fairly large percentage of their readers from commenting. On the positive side, perhaps this is precisely why they don't allow anonymous users to comment. To ensure that when comments are left the user had to put in a little effort.
Perhaps one of the primary issues in play with comment options is SPAM. For bloggers who get a lot of traffic, that squirmy stuff can be a serious issue. However, there are many good software tools available to fight it.
For example, Community Server has six different configurable rules. In addition, a rule created by Thomas Freudenberg, which is based on Akismet, can be used. So, if SPAM is one of the reasons you have chosen not to enable comments or only allow registered users to comment, it shouldn't be.