Your Comments
I wish I could make this site show you this page after you comment. Or before. But of course I can’t make you read it.
Look.
A lot of people comment here on my stuff. I don’t know why. Almost none of you leave me contact information. I don’t know what you think I’d try to sell you with your email address. The reason the software asks for it is so that when I want to have a conversation with you about what you wrote, I can do it, privately. You’re not really going to keep on coming back here checking to see if I’ve responded to you, are you? No, of course not.
Actually, let’s have some philosophy so we both understand what principles are at work here. I consider your comments and feedback to be the digital equivalent of bathroom stall scribblings. Especially if you don’t leave your full name and your email address. It’s the internet, you can have anonymity if you really insist, but if you give me almost nothing and are anonymous about it, what makes you think I’m going to put up with it if I don’t have to? Grow up.
So your comments are mine to do whatever I want with. If you’re rude, I’m going to delete them. If your comments make it clear you didn’t read the essay at all, I’m going to delete them. If you really actually clarify something, but are a jerk about it, I might fix the entry and delete your comment, giving you no credit. If you don’t leave me anything resembling a name, I might do that even if you’re nice. You might turn into “Somebody” in an attribution.
In fact, really, the only time I want to see your comments is when I write the kind of essay that makes having a lot of comments useful. As far as I know I’ve only done that once (The Quicksort Shootout). When I’m talking about some detail of my religion, you’re especially not welcome to come in and tell me why you’re an atheist or why I’m going to burn in hell for not being a Muslim (yes, both of those have happened).
Also, don’t misunderstand me: these rules apply to you, not me. I can be as rude as I like— it’s my damn blog, not yours. If you want to be rude, get your own and link to me; I’ve done it to other people, it can be your turn too. Just don’t expect me to host it. Is this fair? No. Is it freedom of speech? No. But it is my bathroom stall, you’re using my marker, and I have my very own Mr. Clean Magic Eraser™.=> nil