Great post Sarah and the comments here (which are great) are exactly why this trend is a bad one for the web/blogging.

While it (may) be the right thing for copyblogger as a business I had a worrying feeling at the time that many smaller sites would follow their lead and by doing so they are shutting off a great opportunity to build real relationships and a community. In a virtual world we need to build the trust of our audience and interaction through comments has always been an important part of building that trust - an ice breaker if you like.

I double taked when I originally saw the email come in from copyblogger and 5 minutes later (having read their article and verified that it wasn't some clever clickbait) I was furiously typing away at my reply post as it was something I felt strongly about.

Hopefully posts like this will help to reverse the trend. Comments matter.