Considering your recent decision to turn off comments for the most part, and your justification that after all, this has always been more a lecture than a discussion … How would you respond to Namoi 2007 saying, “You’ll lose the respect of everyone except your sister and your mother, but whatever”?

PS: I know the question mark outside the quote isn’t technically correct, but the quote itself isn’t a question. So to me this makes more sense. And I think breaking rules is fine as long as it’s on purpose. Like starting three sentences in a row with conjunctions.

PPS: I agree with the spirit of Naomi 2007, *and* with the pragmatism of Naomi 2009. Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.

As far as the issue of deleting comments, I am somewhere in the middle. I will happily post comments that disagree with me. I do expect some level of rational discussion, though. I’ve never gotten one, but if I simply got a comment that read “You #$%@” I wouldn’t bother posting it, just as I don’t post spam. Other than spam, I’ve turned thumbs down on exactly one comment so far – I had posted about my sadness over the impending demise of Anne Frank’s tree, and someone chose to leave a completely unrelated anti-Semitic accusation. Out of respect for the memory of Anne Frank, I chose not to permit a post which focused on her to be polluted by that kind of crap. On any other post, I’d gladly have allowed it – and then ripped the stupid jerk to pieces publicly for being so utterly stupid as to believe in such idiotic filth.

Perhaps that editorial decision will cost me the respect of the commenter (the only one who knew of the comment, since he chose not to provide any information whereby I could invite him to debate his views on another post), or of anyone who reads this comment. I can live with that. It is true that our readers are free to move on if they don’t like our policies – or even if we fail to post regularly, as I confess has been my fault for a while, for various reasons. We have no claim on their attention. On the other hand, as long as a blogger is honest about their attitude towards comments (and I don’t think anyone who has read my blog even once would be surprised that I canned an anti-Semitic comment on a post devoted to Anne Frank) I don’t think potential commenters have any claim to a right to have their opinions aired on that blog. They are always free to air them on their own blog, after all.

I went back and read James’ original comment and, to be frank, I never “got” that he was talking directly to you. I took his post as a roundtable-discussion kind of comment.

Sweetie, you HAVE to develop a thicker skin. As you continue in your career, you’re going to hear people call you every name in the book and maybe even threaten you with physical violence–just because THEIR small minds need to make you “wrong” so they can feel “right”.

Are you REALLY cut out for that?

@Naomi – Thanks. You’re right. For some reason women and moms can get downright nasty to each other online. I’ve witnessed some things on boards that would be reprehensible in face to face society.

@Lisa I’ve said other places that I wasn’t offended per se, but confused at the time. And reacted badly. I’m not sure anyone would react well to being called an illegitimate writer, which is what I interpreted it to be at the time.

@James I am throwing the baby out with the bathwater there too.