A comment on comments
Hi. This is your friendly neighborhood blogger, writing from his couch, on a weekend away from his day-job. Whilst I am something of a small-fry in the world of internet writing, I am however, rather thoughtful about what I put into the stream of data here in Ye Olde Interweb. As such, I will appreciate thoughtfulness in regards to what is left for others and me in the comments section.
I’m specifically addressing the topic because I had a comment on my last post about language and banking that came from a source that only labeled itself with a fake name, and hid behind a proxy, and left a fake email address… While at the same time, only vaguely addressing the matter of the article, but numbingly without specifics. As such, I pressed the matter with a reply asking for more focus or specificity. I got none in a few days, and as such, I removed the comment along with my reply to it.
Last night it occurred to me that I could have a dual pointed list that strikes into requirements for people commenting.
You have two pillars of access to respectable commenting:
1. Known origin, eg. Your name or group, represented with a true name and ping-back – available. 2. Clarity within your response.
Understand: Being clear about your response will still be respected if you wish to cloak your personhood. Simply don’t be vague. I respect internet anonymity, but don’t waste my time with cryptic crap I should decode. I’m not going to. I’m from a tradition of being straight about things. Just say what you’ve got to say.
On the other hand if you must be vague, let me know who you are. If my friend (or some dude I’ve never met who happened by the blog by accident) named Ted wants to say “Dude, neat!” Or perhaps, “Dude, that was dumb,” to a 1,265 word essay that I’ve devised on butternut squash and how the smell of kitchens sometimes reminds me of handball courts and the noise of that little blue ball, bouncing off the walls, that’s fine! It’s Ted. I’m okay with that! Lol! I know he’s a real person somewhere with a face. This is a personal blog. Ted can post what he feels like; Friend Ted, or Random Ted.
But you can’t have both~ You’re welcome to one of them, but not both. Otherwise, you are pointlessly using up valuable ones and zeros that could be more wisely allocated.
Thanks for playing.