I don’t think there’s a person that hasn’t pushed weblog commenting more than myself. The conversations, the discussions, the fun we’ve had has been a treat and a joy and a revelation. Lately though, I’m finding that comments are a mixed blessing. I’ve had a lot of problems with anonymous posters, particularly nasty anonymous posters. (Don’t bother looking for them – I’ve deleted most of them, and blocked their IPs.) In addition, the comment spammers have been stopping by daily now, not to mention the folks getting here on Google and saying the most bizarre stuff.
(Is it just my imagination, or are there a lot of school kids using weblogs for their homework, now?)
I’ve been thinking about taking comments down for a time now, but I hesitated because I don’t want to shut down conversations. Through these conversations I have met people, friends, who I have come to cherish, and that’s been a gift, a true gift. But then I look at Dorothea and she has conversations and connects with people all without comments, and I think maybe for now, this isn’t such a bad thing.
My altered attitude about comments has a great deal to do with the war and the stress it generates; this in addition to some personal worries and the stress they’re causing. Mostly, though, this has to do with me wanting to do something different with my writing. I have found the number of comments I get is inversely proportional to the type of writing I would like to do. No matter how confident you are – and I’m not – this is a bit discouraging.
So, temporarily, I’m turning weblog comments off. This is not a reflection on current discussions – just me wanting to take a breather is all.
