- Sidebar changes: I decided to move some blogs that are moribund to a new section called "Gone But Not Forgotten." The good news is that two of the bloggers in question, Leo Pusateri and esteemed MOB Mayor JRoosh, are still in the game, but now blogging at Freedom Dogs and Shot in the Dark, respectively. I still recommend all these blogs as a resource, because they were really good. But we need to look forward. I've also added six new blogs to my recommended blog list. Two of these bloggers, Cuffy Meigs and Jim Treacher, have well-deserved national followings. I've also added Currency Lad, an Australian blogger that I came across recently who is really a wonderful essayist. And I've added three MOB blogs that I like: Bike Bubba's Bits, Joe Repya's Eagle's Nest and The Far Wright.
- The election is over, so I've deleted the links to the campaign websites. I sincerely hope that I get to add some of those websites back to my sidebar when the next election cycle begins. That will probably be in about 10-15 days, I'm afraid.
- I'm considering a few changes to my comments section. I've always allowed anonymous commenters, but I'm not sure that I want to continue that practice. As it happens, my most prominent anonymous commenter isn't anonymous at all because he signs every comment he makes. Still, as this feature continues to mature, I'm feeling a little less comfortable with having anonymous commentary. I haven't decided on anything yet, but that may change. Let me know your thoughts on this.
More soon - thanks to all for your continuing support of this feature.
6 comments:
Mark,
I am Mike's, your little, actually baby brother's friend. He sent the link for here along with a link to his blog a couple months ago. I have been following your's and his by swinging by every few days. I do not always completely agree with some of your stances, but that is going to happen while the U.S. is still free. I do enjoy reading your blog and I especially agree with your presentation. You do not come across as bitter or angry about issues that you could easily do so on. I crack up every time I read the portside label that you throw out there. That is a very good one. I will keep on reading if you keep on posting.
Have a good one and God Bless,
Jason J. Peterson
Spokane, Washington
Mr. D.
You can leave the anonymous commenter's voices muzzled if you choose. You do this at the peril of losing true open discourse and freedom of speech. I find your thoughts eerily similar to the thoughts of Union Boss's wanting to due away with anonymous voting. You can do what you want, but I can vote with my feet.
Thanks, Jason. I appreciate your visits.
2nd anonymous -- I may not have explained myself well enough on my rationale. I've been fortunate that most of my anonymous commenters have been well-mannered, but the danger with allowing anonymous commenters is that cheap shot artists and spammers sometimes start to take over. My concern is that, as my readership increases, that more flame war trolls may start coming here. I've seen that happen on a lot of other blogs and I don't want it here.
If I were to institute a no-anonymous commenter rule, what would happen is that a commenter would have to sign in using a Blogger ID. It's easy enough to do, but I realize that some people view it as an imposition or invasion of privacy. That's why I'm asking the question. The other option is to moderate comments, which would put comments in a queue, allowing me to approve comments before they appear here.
Trust me -- I have no interest in being a union boss. I do have interest in keeping things civil, though. And your comment was civil and I appreciate it.
At the blogs I contibute to we have releuctantly found that moderated comments works the best.
We started out wide open and uncensored but too often had to scramble to remove comments from people who thought they were clever posting obscene or potentially libelous material.
Blogger does have an option that can immediately notify you by e-mail when a comment comes in and allows for accepting or rejecting the comment via e-mail so prompt processing of comments hasn't been a problem even though all of us have day jobs and real lives.
As far as "Anonymous" comments go we have, with a little success, attempted to spread the word that commenter's identies are just as well protected if they use the "Name/URL" option with a handle of thier choice. This handle does not have to be a Blogger account as I have demonstrated with this comment (for the record, this is "Right Hook", but you wouldn't know it if I did not choose to tell you).
The biggest problem with anonymous comments is that if you happen to invoke a lot of comments that you want to respond to it sometimes can get confusing to both the responder, readers, and other commenters as to which "anonymous" is being addressed.
i just try to leave commenting as open and easy as possible for as many as i can.
i get a bot poster every month or so, delete it, and move on.
i never had troll issues though.
I am continually troubled by the frequency with which I encounter vicious and offensive attacks on the internet. Not toward myself, but I notice this in popular blogs, when someone has taken a controversial stand. I feel disgusted with the way people behave sometimes - like the internet allows them a no consequences opportunity to use violent and rude language. My personal opinion, is that identity allows for a measure of psychological accountability, even if it's an internet identity only, which can't be traced to the person. I don't believe removing the anonymous option puts your readers in peril of free discourse. Freedom of Speech means being able to be identified as the speaker. Not hiding in the dark.
USA! USA!
Also, I took the anon option of my own blog, because *not knowing* drove me nuts. Maybe that brings me less commenters; so be it.
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