I recently received this comment from a Canadian yahoo calling themselves Mr. Comment; the email came from a yahoo.ca address. They wrote: “Saw you wrote some bs about moderating comments on Levine’s blog today, dude you’ve had like 3 comments in 7 years, LOL.”
What I had written to Ken Levine was “I’ve approved comments on my blog since 2010. Some people tell me I’m violating their First Amendment rights if I don’t approve of their scurrilous ranting. Their understanding of the Constitution is… somewhat lacking.”
I’m fascinated by this person. As far as I know, they are a stranger to me, and yet they would see my comment on another blog and decide to make a snarky comment on mine. So now I have 4 comments in 7 years.
For the record, I replied to yahoo something like, “It depends on the topic. I got a few on my anniversary post and more on the sitcom piece. And I got one from you today, so I can walk under ladders.” That’s a Joan Armatrading reference, BTW.
Now, I do get more comments on my Facebook links to my blog posts than the actual site. And I get fewer comments on the blog than I did a decade ago. Some of those were fascinating when two commenters would argue with each other while I’d sit back.
And I did get a lot more responses when I was participating with ABC Wednesday from 2008 through 2019.
But I suppose that’s not the purpose of the exercise.
That said…
I reckon that I do the Ask Roger Anything regularly so that I might have some dialogue on the blog. Yet I will answer your questions, generally within a month, no matter how you transmit them. You may leave your questions, suggestions, and interpolations in the comments section of the blog, of course, but you can also do so on Facebook or Twitter. On Twitter, my name is ersie. Always look for the duck.
Do you prefer to remain anonymous? OK but you’d better tell me that. E-mail me at rogerogreen (AT) gmail (DOT) com, or send me an IM on FB and note that you want to be unnamed. Otherwise, I’ll attribute the queries to you.
Someone – I don’t remember who – noted on their blog a while back that commenting on blogs is less stepping up in a public “speaker’s corner” and more saying something in someone’s living room, and just as you wouldn’t let someone in your living room dump garbage on your furniture, you also have the right not to let them say horrible things in the comms box of your blog.
I know some bloggers are more open about just letting people’s meanness flags fly (and I receive few enough comments, and the only ones I’ve chosen to reject have been clearly spam or contained what were likely malicious links) but I don’t understand the complaint about “First Amendment Rights being violated.” The Amendments prevent the *government* from censoring speech, not private citizens from not allowing a silly and unpleasant comment on their blog.
then again: it does seem to me there are an awful lot of people who only see their “right” to do something and not the responsibilities they may have to other people.
Fifth.
I used to be a member of a NYC online community called “Echo.” It was mostly great fun, with interesting forums and comments and thoughts by people a lot smarter than I am. But here’s the thing, and maybe it is relevant here to the .ca person’s hostility. Most people on Echo didn’t use their own names, just odd and interesting pseudonyms, “Pool”, “Spingo,” etc.
Every year there would be a Christmas party, and it was fascinating because invariably amidst the lively conversation in the room there would be off to the side a group of people with food all over their sweaters, meek and shy and clearly socially challenged, and those were the angriest and most aggressive posters on the forum! I remember looking at their name tags and at them and being amazed. It just reinforced my theory that the net is not just a great hiding place; it’s also a great avenue for reinventing yourself as someone you are decidedly not, unfortunately at the expense of interesting and thoughtful discussion.
I’m annoyed that my countryman is making snarky and uncalled-for remarks on your blog. Very rude, and we Canadians are supposed to be nice, and polite. https://twitter.com/meanwhileincana/status/1240965957033566208?lang=en
(go to YouTube and search “canada goose tigers” for a video of a goose terrorizing a couple of tigers.)
I think XKCD had the best explanation of freedom of speech https://xkcd.com/1357/
I discovered your blog by clicking a link from Dustbury (so sad), and am enjoying reading your work. It’s pretty much the only one I do read on a regular basis. You always have something interesting and new.