Yesterday, the PatentFizz inbox had an interesting question from a user:  Why did you make the commenting system so open?

The answer is simple - open is better.  I believe an open commenting system will actually encourage the production of relevant information, while a closed system will discourage it.

Here’s a quote from an interview I did awhile back that, I think, answers the question concisely:

“While building PatentFizz, our completely open system for community review of issued patents, I asked whether the acceptance of all comments is really all that detrimental to a community review system. I concluded that open is better. At PatentFizz, anyone can submit any comment on an issued patent. While this open process results in more comments that likely have no impact on patentability, I believe that it engages the community more effectively than a system backed by reputation ratings. Ultimately, it should produce better information…and better patents.”