I've been thinking of constructing a comments section-- maybe inviting comments by email and then putting them in a separate text file linked to this one--- because comments can be very valuable. Economists are used to doing everything they can to get comments on their working papers, because it's very hard to get people to read them carefully and find mistakes and places for improvement. Indeed, one reason to have a co-author is to have someone else who will check your algebra. Weblogs are not the same thing, but I've gotten lots of good emails correcting mistakes and suggesting extensions. I've also gotten lots of bad emails, and lots of ones with repetitive points. I'm slowly working my way through them, but a comments section would allow them to be answered en masse or by other readers.

On the other hand, it would be extra work for me to either construct the comments page or move over to weblog software. And the Curmudgeonly Clerk makes good arguments against Comment Sections. They defeat the purpose of a weblog (as opposed to a message list) which is to have a website where you get information and opinion carefully selected by one person or a group of like- minded people, as opposed to a free-for-all. Emails to the weblog author allow him to filter and edit, so the most important stuff still gets through, and if the reader wants a debate, he can start his own weblog or read four different weblogs on the same subject, or even use email to try to incite a debate between two weblog authors he likes to read. Being undecided, I'll leave things as they are for now.

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