July 10, 2005

A few words on comments.

Well I have been arguing with myself for a couple days about this. As many of you are aware Mike Pechar hit a home run on the London bombings the other day. He had more trackbacks than a dog has fleas. Also he was drawing comments from the world over at an astonishing rate. Well that was until a couple comments seemed to slow many others down or drive them away all together. I’m really trying hard to say this in fair and unbiased manner. So if I piss anyone off I just want to say up front that is not my intention. I hope that we can all enjoy the web site and have our comments read by the widest possible audience.

I noted that the thread was accumulating comments left and right. We were picking up new readers. All our statements and comments were being read not only by regulars here but also potential new readers as well. People from all over the world. Then came the insults to the queen and the profanity. Personally I thought that the insults the queen were particularly in bad taste considering the events of the day. After that it became the Greg and Carlos show. Other comments especially from new readers seemed to vanish. I think Mike’s thread could have easily went over two hundred comments had we just thought about it for a few more seconds before we hit that post button. See not only did Mike loose readers so did you. I know several of you like to go around and piss on every post like a dog on patrol. That is fine and dandy with me. For the most part I enjoy most of it. If you would just take a couple minutes to consider what thread you are on and also that you are shitting in your own nest. You not only drive off Mike’s readers, which was totally unfair to him. You also drive off readers of your own comments and ideas.

I’m not really into banning and if you think that deleting comments is that hard I’m sure I can figure it out should I choose to. I have pretty much free rein as far as permissions go. And it’s mostly a matter of point and click and taking the time to do so. All I ask is that you consider the thread and if you want to piss all over one choose an appropriate thread. Any thread is OK with me after the other comments have died out a bit but this one was still pretty active. Like I say you not only drove off Mike’s readers but yours as well. I see you guys out here every day and I know and understand what is jest and what is not(well at least some days). But other readers especially on a day when we have the potential to grow our audience are not used to that and may be quickly put off.

So this is just some friendly advice. Carlos and Greg are just the examples of the day and are by no means the only ones. In fact they come up with some really good stuff some days. I think a lot of people come here just to read the arguments and your comments are welcome on my threads and appreciated. Characters like Greg that people love to hate draw an audience to a certain extent. I’m not sure where the line should be but I think we may have crossed over it the other day. So I’m not trying to pick on you guys it’s just that on that day you happened to be the ones I noticed. Also YBP seems to have a pretty good sense of what is a little too much and I appreciate his attempt to bring order to the thread.

For any new readers it’s just that way and you may have to overlook a few things but don’t let it discourage you from posting a comment. Just ignore it if you can. Should you confront them, that is just more encouragement for them. They are pretty good at arguing so you may loose that fight. Well that’s all the preaching I have in me for today. I’m sure Rusty will have his own opinion about this. I really don’t know what that will be he is pretty tolerant as I am. Just a few more seconds of thought and all of us could have picked up more readers for all the authors and also the commentators. Radical statements do get attention both good and bad and I see that some of you make them just to get notice. Be careful that you attract readers and don’t drive them off. It’s a thin line for sure and walking it is difficult, try not to get too carried away. I thought about addressing each of you on a personal level by email. So please by all means feel free to email me or post your dissent or agreement below.

And Y’all have a good one.