Comments Catchup Day No More

Last year I began devoting Sundays strictly to reading and answering comments left here at PBW; something I've never been very good at doing. For a few months it worked, too. Having an entire day to review the week's posts and chat with my visitors helped me be more responsive and show my appreciation for those of you who brave the comment form to leave some remarks.

The number of comments began to decline almost immediately in the wake of this feature, however, and I think that may be due to me trying to answer all of them. Also, I'm not always able to spend even one day per week answering comments; often bad weather or the usual domestic disasters conspire to keep me offline. Seems silly to schedule a day to answer comments and then not be able to show up and do that.

So my first change to the blog for 2014 is to eliminate comments catchup day. I will try to keep responding to the comments you leave here, although I can't promise when. I'll also skip answering any comments that don't really invite or need a reply from me.

Comments will remain on moderation, primarily to prevent SPAMmers from flooding them with their dreck, as I still get hit about five or ten times a week from those pinheads. For any questions you have about comments here at the blog, see section E. on the About PBW page over there on the sidebar.

Round About

As some of my regulars have noticed, we're experiencing an influx of new visitors to the blog. There are two possible reasons for this:

A. I've suddenly and mysteriously become wonderfully wise, totally hot, and simply irresistible.

B. I wrote a funny post about self-publishing.*

Modesty (plus the fact that I'm sitting here in my ancient fuzzy bathrobe and unmatched socks) has me leaning more toward B.

For those of you who are new to PBW, I started this blog in 2004 for some writer friends, and it evolved over the years into what it is today. As far as content goes I mainly talk shop, post sub ops and find whatever free stuff I can that may be of use to working writers. I also write humor, satire and parodies now and then to share some laughs about the writing life and the biz.

Please be advised that I am not on Twitter, Facebook or get involved in anything outside PBW, nor do I have the time or the ability to become involved in social media. Please do not e-mail asking me where my accounts or feeds are or to friend or follow you.

We have a fair amount of readers who stop in here; many belong to my long-suffering but wonderfully loyal readership. The writers are huge readers, too; occupational hazard. My regular visitors and blogpals are quite knowledgeable about books and authors, and have great insight to offer about what they enjoy reading. If you're looking for a great book, definitely read the comments; my people are like a living database of terrific stories.

My blogpals and I do welcome all writers, no matter where you are with your work, how you publish, what genre you publish or how much you've sold. If you write for fun and never intend to publish anything, you're still one of us. Everyone is invited to stop in whenever you like, share your thoughts, contribute ideas, and take away what you find helpful or want to test-drive.

For everything else you new folks might need to know about me and my blog, please visit the About PBW page.

*Which was actually a spoof of one I wrote about traditional publishing.

Graphic credit: © Yellowj | Dreamstime.com

How to Post Comments

The names of the winners of the Blaze Bonanza giveaway are listed directly under this post.

After several days of mulling over the responses and suggestions offered during last week's visitor poll I asked Tom to disable the anonymous comment option.* I'm not happy about it, but I'm done catering to trolls and cowards. Thus I must impose on the rest of you to take an extra step to participate in discussions here, but the majority of you seem to be okay with that. I apologize to those who aren't.

When you go to comment on PBW now, you'll see the following choices:

Google/Blogger

Open ID: LiveJournal, Wordpress, Typepad, AIM (AOL Instant Message)

1. To use the Google/Blogger option, you need to sign in with your Google account ID [two entry fields, in which you enter your account ID name and your password]

Joining Blogger is free, but requires you open a Google Account (also free.) You can get more information and take a tour of Blogger here.

2. To use the LiveJournal option, you need to enter your LiveJournal URL: http://(user name).livejournal.com

Joining LiveJournal is completely free, and you can learn more about it and sign up here.

3. To use the Wordpress option, you need to enter your Wordpress URL: http://(user name).wordpress.com

WordPress also offers free blogs, but they may stick Google ads on your blog. You can read more about them here.

4. To use the Typepad option, you need to enter your Typepad profile URL: http://profile.typekey.com/(user name)

Typepad is not free, but offers a 14-day trial membership, and you can learn more that here.

5. To use the AIM, or AOL Instant Messenger option, you need to enter your AOL ID URL: http://openid.aol.com/(user name)

AIM is also free, even if you don't subscribe to AOL as your Internet Service Provider. You will have to create a screen name, or use an existing e-mail account as a screen name, and you can read more on that here.

It would make me very happy if some of you turned this hassle into a writing opportunity. You know how I harp on journaling and writing daily, and if you've never written an online journal or blog it might be fun to start one now. Most of the free sites offer a private option, so you don't have to share your blog with the rest of the world. I've been using Blogger for seven years now, and while I've had some problems here and there, the service for the most part has been good.

As for those writers who scoff at the idea of a free weblog being worthwhile, consider that I've never paid a dime for PBW, and it's proven a hundred times more popular than any other online site I've had.

*Added, 10/31/08: Some time after this post Tom and I quietly re-enabled the anonymous comment option. I Still reserve the right to delete any anonymous comment I feel is SPAM or inappropriate.

Visitor Poll

I enabled anonymous comments on PBW mainly to protect the identity of visitors who are minors, and professionals who don't want their opinions used against them. I know some of my regulars are lurkers who prefer to use the anonymous option, too. However, lately Tom and I are seeing a lot more anonymous snotty comments being left for posts that cannot be considered offensive by any means. In hopes of being fair (and because I don't like censoring comments) I've let most of them squeak by, but this seems to be only encouraging the trolls.

Here's my view: leaving anonymous snotty comments on someone else's blog or web site is cowardly. If you have a problem with me or what I post here, then I can't imagine why you'd even want to read my blog, much less comment on it. But if you do feel that strongly about your point of view, and you simply have to post it onto my blog, why not sign your name to it? Seriously, what are you afraid of?

I'd like to impose on my non-troll visitors and ask if you all would let me know in how you feel about the anonymous comment option. Should I keep it enabled, or should I do away with it? Is there another option I'm not considering? I guess I could start censoring comments -- at the moment we only delete SPAM and inappropriate/offensive comments -- but if it gets to that point, I feel like I might as well shut down comments altogether. And yeah, then the trolls win.

Anyway, when you have a chance, let me know what you think about the situation in comments.

New Comments Policy

I'm running behind again (huge surprise, that) so I'll wrap up the Friday 20 and post the winner of the Readerisms contest a little later on today.

I appreciate everyone sharing their opinions and ideas on what to do about the anonymous trolls showing up in comments. With your help, and a little inspiration from my late friend the tiny tree-lover, I think I've come up with a very poetic solution.

We'll go with option #1, and leave comments open and (with two exceptions) uncensored. I'm sorry, but I'm not prepared to give up what I have yet. I also want to emphasize that anonymous commenters and lurkers are welcome here. I encourage those of you who are under the age of 18 to use the anonymous option as extra identity protection. I've never installed any visitor counters or ISP loggers, so everyone can always visit and talk about the biz freely without worrying that I'm snooping around to find out who you are.

The two exceptions on comments:

1. Obvious SPAM will be deleted, as before. I don't run ads on this blog, and I won't have them dumped in my comments.

2. Any comments left by trolls (anonymous or otherwise) that I deem inappropriate (because hey, it's my blog) will be given PBW's new bonsai treatment.

Here's what one hostile comment looks like after I've run it through the bonsai machine and added some strategic punctuation:

I included the future to start one, either, by sending you into a tenuous and fearful position. If my blog, given your blog everyday would believe that you would think so. I am particularly sorry that you link. I included the bit about what I am not to be your opinion of mind. It's like a statement such as I would believe that you would believe that you would believe that you would believe that you would believe that you would think so everyday. I am not trying to prevent the future. To remove your blog everyday would be akin to stalking. We have a personal relationship and if given your opinion fearful position. It may be your opinion of my blog, given your contact information. Prevent me. Remove your safety!

Isn't that beautiful? Man, I love that generator.

Now, you ask, what is inappropriate? Most of you have been around long enough to know I don't get into fights with the disgruntled. I'm not unreasonable; I've never had a problem with comments that involve debates, disagreements, or general expressions of frustration. Neither do my regular visitors. We've really had a remarkably long run here without the trolls, so I think we're a little spoiled.

Personal attacks, tantrums, hate-mongering, trash baiting and assorted spleen-venting are not welcome here. So if that's all you have to offer, take it somewhere else, or I will bonsai your obnoxious ass.

Thanks again for your help, patience and cooperation.