Comments
Several times in the past I [and others] have been accused of deleting comments. This is supposedly to make my audience appear supportive of all I write.
I have written some stuff in the past which has sparked some controversy and I have received my share of negative comments.
I don’t mind someone disagreeing with me. In fact I welcome it as it can lead to an interesting debate. Strangely enough though, when I write something I think will cause a comment war, people just come along and agree with me. Am I so in tune with the Great Unwashed?
My policy is pretty straightforward.
I will block a comment if I think it is spam.
I will block a comment if it is defamatory or if it is blatantly abusive towards another commenter.
I will block a comment if it is obviously from a nut case.
I have my own little pet nut case who is intrigued with this site for some reason. I told him to fuck off in the past, and when he didn’t I added him to Askimet so he is now a bone fide spammer. That didn’t stop him though – it just meant that all his comments are deleted in my regular spam clean out.
He still writes occasionally, even though he gets nowhere. I see his name crop up in the spam list and I just click on “Delete all” and away he goes.
A few days ago, I took the piss out of parking wardens.
My nut case [I’ll call him SS] took grave exception to this. I noticed he had commented on it and for once I read what he had to say.
“so this is how you treat civil servants.” he says. “Of course it is”, is my reply. These little Jobsworths are put on this planet to make my life a misery so it is beholden on me to reciprocate.
“you tricked him out of getting the fee he deserved.” he continues. I love this. The fee he deserved? For fuck’s sake! He doesn’t deserve anything. He is not providing a service – he is charging me a fee for parking on a public road. Anyway, he doesn’t get the fee. He gets a salary. The money goes to the council so that they can enjoy expensive and useless trips abroad.
“the great thing about [his little group] is that it encourages civil honesty, something you clearly lack and then you boast about your shameful behavior on your blog” Yes. I am so ashamed. I cannot live with myself. I am the most uncivilly dishonest person I know of.
“..how petulant and sad.” he says. I am confused here. Is he talking about himself? That is the most petulant and the saddest comment I have ever not received on my site, so it must be himself he’s talking about.
I hope he continues to write. I’m not taking him out of the spam listing, but I will watch out for his comments in future. They always give me a laugh.
I blame Harney.
The mental institutions need a lot more funding.
Sorry Grandad, but you advertised him a bit too good. I, being the official and frequent not-yet-populating-the-spam-list reader, demand his comments here.
I have the right to read them!
The mental institutions have been closed here and the inmates are all on the loose – scarey isn’t it?
Jedrzej – Sorry. No chance. If I let even one of his comments through he’ll start posting his insane philosophies all aver the gaff. If it makes you feel any better, I’ll pass on the better ones.
Kate – It’s the same here. They walk out of the loony bins and straight to the nearest keyboard so they can comment on my site. *sigh*
The problem with most insane comments, and the root cause of 80% of computer problems can be found somewhere between the keyboard and the chair.
Keiron – I thought that was nearer to 95%?
Well, I assumed that the reality of the situation was that you most likely used the charm you try to deny to have to ask the warden if you could just pop in to collect your glasses as you had no change and would only be a moment, and that your post was in fact a humerous revision of the facts.
That’s what I assumed, cos that’s what I probably would have done.
Why would anyone be paranoid enough to assume that you were some sort of evil deceit merchant out to deny civil servants their return of work. How paranoid is that chap? Why oh why does he waste his time abusing people he disagrees with? Why not just (metaphorically) walk away? Too much time on his hands I suppose. Is it Victor Meldrew?
Yes, it would make me feel better.
You see, my point is not to be taking a piss of the nutcase spammer. I know they are boring. But sometimes in my life I meet people who are so entirely and unbelievably wrong in everything they say and think that they could serve as a perfect examples, a guidance: how not to live, what not to think. This guy seems like he may be one of them.
Unfortunately, there a lot of sad people out there that don’t seem to have anything better to do with their time and lives. I always moderate my blog because I started getting critisism on my views of parenting and the way I do things. It’s my blog and again, it gets back to that freedom of speech thing. But, that said there are those are just not sane. They need to feed their egos by being critical and hurtful. Most of all WHERE IS THEIR SENSE OF HUMOUR? I mean that post about the traffic warden was just plain funny. Are you telling me the man would be happy if he got a ticket? Sigh*** 🙂
I rarely ever have to moderate comments these days. With the exception of new visitors to my blog, they all get caught by Akismet.
Thrifty – You are near the mark, but not quite on it! Yer Man is worse than Victor Meldrew, in that he has a strange agenda which he keeps on about.
Jedrzej – Normally I leave them in peace, but this bloke is so off the wall that he deserves a quote. He lives in a very strange world of his own which would be really funny if he didn’t take it so seriously.
Tricia – You have hit the bullseye. WHERE IS THEIR SENSE OF HUMOUR! Indeed. Some people would watch Fawlty Towers and report them to the authorities..!
TheChridD – Is that where all my comments go?
Thankfully, it’s not 🙂
ah jeez, what a tool. he is not from dublin by any chance is he? most of those types are
aw man! I love a good argument. I wish I could see it.
“I will block a comment if it is obviously from a nut case.”
So when you start blocking mine, there’s a one-in-three chance that I need psychiatric help?
“Behavior”
He’s American. I’d ban him immediately just for that.
Dankoozy – Be fair. There are one or two sane people in Dublin but their days are numbered.
Kae – You have. I have put the entire comment up. Maybe I should ask him to do a guest post?
BBB – I think that would be a case of ‘too little; too late’. Have you thought of trying a lobotomy?
Bock – Good thinking, but either he can’t spell, he’s using an American spell-checker or he watches too much television [my money is on the latter]. He’s Irish, God help us.
I’d say the American spell-checker. Either that or he’s spending too much time on internet forums and in chat rooms talking to Americans…