Monday, April 25, 2011

Comments?

Comments like this are not helpful, and are deleted.

I have enabled comments on this blog, which are moderated.  Why?  Because I write this blog for my own recreation. If you want to read it, fine.  If not, I never forced you to, so go away.

I don't get a lot of comments on this blog, and that is OK with me.

Most comments are constructive, analytical, well-thought-out, and useful, even if they disagree with my point of view.  These get posted.

Others are badly typed "You Suck!" kind of comments, which are apparently from drunk people, or possibly from my family members, who reading this blog, realize that I will not now, or ever, "loan them money".  These get deleted.

Others are from people who are not very bright, type in ALL CAPS or read three sentences of a blog entry and then fire off a Flame.  These get deleted as well.

And then there are the cleverly (or not so cleverly) designed SPAM posts.  If I post about installing a pool, for example, someone chimes in with "Pools are a lot of fun!" with a hyperlink to their pool dealership.  Subtle?  Not really.  And yes, those go in the Spam can as well.

Got several of those on the "Fake Rolex" posting I did.

So yes, while  I appreciate the comments, don't bother with one-liners and "you suck" kinds of postings, or SPAM postings.  They will never see the light of day.  What's the point in posting trash like that?  It just gives a blog a negative vibe.

And yet, I see other blogs where the authors allow anyone to post - and the comments section quickly fills up with links to Russian porn sites, fake Rolex watches, or work-at-home scams.  The blog takes on a neglected, dusty air, is if whoever wrote it, well, just doesn't give a damn anymore.

Anyway, that's my comments policy, in case you were interested.  It really is just common sense, if you think about it.

UPDATE:  Because of the increased number of comments I am receiving (up from 1  a month to several a day) I have to add more filter criteria.

1.  NO ANONYMOUS COMMENTS.  Sorry, but these tend to be the least useful and most annoying types of comments - people hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet.

2.  No "YOU SUCK" type comments.  Got an issue?  State your case clearly and calmly.  Comments with gratuitous slurs are just deleted.

3.  No Endless comments.  Beating a dead horse to death rarely accomplishes anything.

I did not write this blog with the idea of starting an interactive site. Maybe I should just disable comments entirely.

And if you don't like it, see my posting "I'm Right, You're Wrong, Get Over it!".  My blog, I make the rules, it is a dictatorship, not a democracy.

Start your own blog!  The most annoying  comments are from people who have no blogs of their own (big surprised, eh?)

UPDATE: Even under these guidelines, we still get SPAM and BOTS (Spammers never follow guidelines, rules, protocols, etc., nor do TROLLS).   So we ended up disabling comments. Sorry!