tecznotes

This is currently old-news, but I'm still playing catch-up after my travels. 37 Signals has disabled comments on their weblog. Can't say I'm their biggest fan, but I always made a point of reading their blog, mostly for the discussion in the comments. I do this with Slashdot, and I'm starting with Digg, too. Sites with vocal and frequent feedback are like the watering holes of the internet, useful more for the other visitors they attract than the inherent local value they provide. Given that 37S had just recently started up their Deck advertising network (...if you want to reach the influencers, buy a card...), I can't understand why they would remove a major traffic driver to their site. Now, there's nothing on the website that's not already in my RSS reader, and the quality of the Signals' own postings have show a marked deterioration lately anyway. I really don't have a reason to swing by anymore, which makes ads purchased in the Deck less valuable. Eric has also noticed that more NYTimes articles are beginning to disappear behind their Times Select "pay wall," another instance of forum owners sabotaging their own relevance.